Former Auburn University head football coach Pat Dye visited LaGrange on Friday morning just to plant a Japanese maple in the yard of John and Kathy Vollenweider on Priddy Road.

John Vollenweider, a dentist for 31 years, paid $3,000 for the tree at the annual Blue Jean Ball auction at Dye’s 740-acre Japanese maple farm near Auburn, Ala. Dye raises money for the school’s nursing program because his “spousal equivalent,” Dr. Nancy McDonald, taught nursing at Auburn for 25 years and was an assistant dean at the nursing school.

“That’s a lot of money for a tree, but it’s for a good cause,” said Vollenweider, an Auburn graduate who has two Japanese maples at his dental office. “I said, ‘If I buy that tree, will you come and plant it?’ and he said, ‘Yes.’”

Dye, 70, said Vollenweider selected a “perfect” spot for the tree, adding, “You couldn’t have designed a better place for it. It will have the morning sun and the afternoon shade, and that’s what you want.”

Years ago, Dye received a 40-year-old Japanese maple as a gift and planted it beside a 150-year-old house he had restored.

“I developed a passion for the trees,” he said, and now he has nearly 700 of them in at least 60 different varieties.

This was the ninth year for auction, which has raised more than $500,000 for the nursing program.

In recent years, Dye has struck up a friendship with Nelle Harper Lee of Monroeville, Ala., whose only novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and became a movie starring Gregory Peck. After reading the novel, Dye arranged to meet her, and they’ve exchanged several letters. She’s now 83 and living in a nursing home.

They both had been friends of Paul “Bear” Bryant, and Dye was a defensive assistant coach under Bryant at the University of Alabama.

Dye got her to sign a copy of her book in which she wrote, “To Pat, with much admiration and much affection.” Dye also signed the book, saying, “Thanks for allowing me to visit.” It fetched $8,000 at Dye’s auction.

“It’s the only copy of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ signed by Harper Lee and Pat Dye,” he said.

Dye has a career coaching record of 153-62-5 in 19 seasons, and his record at Auburn was 99-39-4 from 1981 through 1992.

On Nov. 19, 2005, the playing surface at Jordan-Hare Stadium was named Pay Dye Field and in 2005 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@ lagrangenews .com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.