![\"Donovan](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Donovan-Nichols-with-sign-that-started-it-all.jpg\")
<\/a>Donovan Nichols stood beneath the sign that inspired his Rocket Room. As an undergraduate in 2002, he picked up the sign that hung in Rocky’s Attic during the 1980s.<\/p><\/div>\u201cThe whole idea has been 14 years in the making,\u201d he said looking around his basement walls emblazoned with UT jerseys, ticket stubs, posters, stories and more. \u201cBut actually putting this together took about five months.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed to a wooden sign featuring old Rocket and UT logos that bookend the stenciled name \u201cRocket Room.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sign is actually what started the whole idea. When I was a student, I was walking around with Tom Trimble [then associate director of the Student Union] in Rocky\u2019s Attic, and this sign was sitting in a corner,\u201d Nichols recalled. \u201cTom said it was a sign that was hanging in Rocky\u2019s Attic in the 1980s, and he said, \u2018We\u2019re probably going to throw it out.\u2019 And I said, \u2018No, you\u2019re not.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Donovan](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Blue-Crew-uniform.jpg\")
<\/a>Donovan Nichols’ Blue Crew uniform is among the memorabilia featured in the Rocket Room. He and friend Jason Rodriguez started the masked spirited squad when they were undergraduates in 2000.<\/p><\/div>It was 2002 when Nichols rescued the relic and stored it at his parents\u2019 house until now.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack then, I said, \u2018When I have my own house, I\u2019m going to create a Rocket Room. I\u2019m going to carpet it with field turf and put that sign in it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
With a head\u2019s up and permission from Athletics, Nichols snagged pieces of turf in April during the Glass Bowl renovations. Prepping it for installation took most of the summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe turf fibers are about an inch long with about a half inch of infill \u2014\u00a0sand granules and rubber pellets to make it feel more like real grass \u2014 so I had to get all of that infill out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/bar.jpg\")
<\/a>The bar in Donovan Nichols’ Rocket Room features turf from the blue rocket that was in the center of the field in the Glass Bowl.<\/p><\/div>After power-washing and scrubbing the turf, Nichols cut and put pieces together to resemble a field with help from his girlfriend, Alycia Demey; friend and UT alumnus, Rob Bleile; and father, Tom Nichols. <\/p>\n
The bar features a piece of the blue rocket from the center of the field. \u201cI was lucky enough to get that piece, so I wanted to showcase it,\u201d Nichols said.<\/p>\n
Collecting UT memorabilia started during his undergraduate days when he helped establish a tradition. The year was 2000, and Nichols and his friend, Jason Rodriguez, created Blue Crew.<\/p>\n
![\"Bobbleheads](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/bobblehead-close-up-Candle-and-Rocky.jpg\")
<\/a>Bobbleheads of Football Coach Jason Candle and Rocky sit atop the bar.<\/p><\/div>\u201cBlue Crew\u2019s first game ever was traveling to Penn State. There were four of us that went. About 92,000 people were in the stadium, and only about 2,000 of which were Toledo fans, but we were louder the entire game,\u201d Nichols said pointing to a story about UT\u2019s upset of the Nittany Lions, 24-6. \u201cThat was a really cool experience for me because that was the founding of Blue Crew.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the Rocket Fanatic group from the 1990s that inspired Nichols and Rodriguez to start the masked spirited squad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to create something that emulated the Rocket Fanatic group, but do something that would continue the spirit even after we graduated,\u201d\u00a0Nichols explained. \u201cSo we decided to wear the masks and wigs so we would cloak our identities because it wasn\u2019t about us being the spirited students, it was about having the positive energy and the positive spirit always represented at the University.\u201d<\/p>\n
He still radiates that energy and excitement for the Rockets and his alma mater. Standing by his Blue Crew uniform, he said, \u201cMy mask is signed by Chester Taylor, who was one of the great UT football players. I have a poster of him and a jersey. He was a running back for the Minnesota Vikings and a couple other NFL teams. I try to pay tribute to some of the players who were around when I was a student because I knew some of them. In the stairwell, there\u2019s a poster of [quarterback] Bruce Gradkowski and [wide receiver] Lance Moore, both who were students when I was around, and I have pictures of them in the NFL as well to display their success.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Ealey-jersey.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"The](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/GMAC-poster.jpg\")
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