Exploring BYU Star Richie Saunders’s Family Link to Tater Tots
Richie Saunders and tater tots? Here’s how the BYU Cougars standout has a unique connection to the beloved side dish created by Ore-Ida.
After BYU’s first-round win against VCU in the NCAA Tournament earlier this March, the Cougars’ players in the locker room started chanting about tater tots, aimed at their best player, Richie Saunders. But why? Were they urging Saunders, who scored a team-leading 16 points, to celebrate with a meal featuring this popular treat?
The truth is, Saunders has a distinct family connection to the tater tot.
Saunders’s Link to Tater Tots
How does Richie Saunders relate to tater tots, you may wonder? Saunders’s great-grandfather, Francis Nephi Grigg, or F. Nephi Grigg, invented the tater tot at a frozen food facility in Ontario, Oregon, back in 1953. Grigg, along with his brother Golden T. Grigg, co-founded Ore-Ida, the company that owns the trademark for the name “Tater Tots” today.
The tale goes that, during the post-World War II food boom of the 1950s, Ore-Ida Foods increased its french fry production. As potatoes were sliced into fries, scraps were left over. Initially, these potato bits were sold to feed livestock. However, Grigg saw an opportunity and thought these leftovers were being wasted. So, he had the scraps mashed and shaped into little bite-sized pieces using a machine his brothers called the “Holey Board,” then seasoned and fried them. In 1955, the snack was named “Tater Tots” after a naming contest among the workers at the plant, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
How is Richie Saunders Connected to F. Nephi Grigg?
Saunders’s grandmother, Delma Grigg Saunders, was the oldest of F. Nephi Grigg’s eight children, making Saunders the great-grandson of the man who invented the tater tot.
Richie Saunders’s Tater Tots NIL Partnership
On March 20, just before BYU’s victory over VCU, Ore-Ida announced a partnership with Saunders via a post on its X account.
“We’re teaming up with basketball star Richie Saunders, the great-grandson of Ore-Ida founder and inventor of Tater Tots, to give away free tots if Richie’s team wins today,” the company posted. “If they win, our 30-minute ‘Tot Clock’ will start, and fans can claim their free tots through the link in our IG bio after the game.”
After any Cougars win, Ore-Ida kicks off a 30-minute “Tot Clock,” offering fans half an hour to go to a link on the company’s Instagram bio to claim a free Ore-Ida Tater Tots product.
As it turns out, the shots have been dropping and the tots have been flying, as BYU triumphed over No. 3 Wisconsin 91–89 on Saturday, allowing fans a second chance for some free tater tots.
This Saunders-tater tot tie has certainly made March Madness even more entertaining.
Can Saunders and his team keep the good times—and tots—coming with another win? BYU’s next challenge is against the second-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sweet 16 on Thursday at 7:09 p.m. ET. One thing is certain: every fan, aside from those supporting BYU’s opponents, will be cheering for the Cougars, all for a very tasty reason.
