Middle Georgia State University (MGA) Knights baseball will host the third annual “Stuckey’s Day” at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, April 15.

The Knights will take on Talladega College at Stuckey Field on MGA’s Cochran Campus. Special guest Stephanie Stuckey, who currently is rebuilding the brand her family created, will toss the ceremonial first pitch and give away some Stuckey’s pecan log rolls and other merchandise.

Two other special events will also take place before the game: MGA will recognize team members who are about to graduate as part of “Senior Day,” as well as honor alumni (and their coaches) who played for Middle Georgia College’s 1979 and 1980 NJCAA National Championship teams.* Middle Georgia College is now part of Middle Georgia State University.

Admission is free and the public is invited.

Stuckey’s Day originated in 2021 when Kathy Wilson, mother of player Ryan Wilson, wondered if the name of the baseball field on the Cochran Campus had anything to do with the family behind the Stuckey’s roadside stores she remembered so fondly from her childhood.

As she soon discovered, it did.

Stuckey Field got its name in the late 1970s, according to Robert Sapp, the legendary baseball coach who led Middle Georgia College (now MGA) to four National Junior College Athletic Association championships. Sapp had been the team’s coach for about a year when he began trying to raise money to install light poles at the then-unnamed campus baseball field so the team could play night games. He approached the Stuckey family, which contributed $10,000. That donation, according to Sapp, helped attract a few additional private donations, as well as some public funding through the state legislature.

Founded by the Stuckey family in Eastman in 1937, the iconic roadside store chain was popular for many years with travelers, who stopped to eat at the restaurants, shop the novelty sections, and buy the trademark pecan log rolls and divinity. Stuckey’s roadside stores stood out for their teal blue roofs.

The chain’s popularity later waned and ownership changed hands. In 2019, Stephanie Stuckey – a lawyer specializing in environmental issues and a former member of the Georgia House of Representatives - reacquired the company her family founded and is currently rebuilding the brand, gaining something of a national following in the process by promoting the vision of the “great American road trip.”

Stuckey has expanded the brand into candy manufacturing with the purchase of a pecan shelling and candy plant in Wrens, Ga. She hopes to eventually own a handful of Stuckey’s interstate stores to revive the original premise behind the company as a “roadside oasis.”**

“We’re excited to host ‘Stuckey’s Day’ again this year,” said Julie Davis, MGA’s interim vice president of University Advancement who helps organize the event. “It’s a fun way to pay tribute to an interesting piece of history on the University’s oldest campus.”