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Fries Are A Plant Measure Of Success

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By SCOTT PURKS, Tribune correspondent

Published: September 21, 2007

TAMPA - If you measured the success of Plant High's 2006 football season in french fries, you would start by placing 250,000 french fries end to end.

'Now,' said Rhee Pelaez, who at least had a hand in cooking each of those 250,000 french fries last season, 'you must remember that all french fries are a different length.'

OK, so let's give each fry an average of 2 inches, which gives you 500,000 inches of fries - or almost 8 miles.

'And that, my friends,' Pelaez said, 'is a very successful season.'

Any other season, said Pelaez, who has been running Plant's concession stand for 21 years, he would have fried less than 2 miles.

The difference is easy to figure: Plant hosted four playoff games, with 7,000 fans at each one, including a 20-15 victory against Miami Booker T. Washington in the Class 4A state semifinal. That night, Pelaez said, 'we went through 18 boxes.'

With 2,000 in a box, that's 36,000 fries.

'I'll be honest,' Pelaez said. 'We ran out of fries that night. Sold 'em all. ... Never happened before. ... Amazing.'

Oh yeah, they also sold 700 hot dogs and 135 pizzas.

Imagine, Pelaez said, if 7,000 people went to McDonald's in three hours one night.

'Would they be able to handle it?' he asked. 'I don't think so.

'We did. And you know what? We did it as a happy family,' Pelaez said. 'Parents, family including Pelaez's sister, Eileen, who has worked Plant's concession stand every Friday for 15 years. I mean, we were working our tails off. My feet swelled up like balloons. I went in with a D-width shoe and walked out with triple E's.'

But why? Pelaez doesn't get paid.

Even though he does all the inventory. Buys all the stuff. Picks it up in his truck. Carts it all to the concession stand.

'Look,' said Pelaez, who graduated from Plant in 1969, 'I had three kids graduate from here Keith, 1990; Nicole, 1994; and Karen, 2001, and they had the time of their lives and then all went on to college.'

Pelaez has had more than 30 relatives go to Plant, the most recent being his grandson, Marcus, a sophomore, who just might help grandpa in the concession stand tonight.

French fries?

'Oh, I'll get about 14 boxes, just to be safe,' Pelaez said. 'Ever since we won the state title last year with a 15-0 season french fry sales have gone through the roof.'

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