A MARCH Madness star has an interesting ancestry, to say the least.
A BYU Cougars player’s great-grandfather invented a legendary American snack that is worth over $1 billion.
The 23-year-old forward Richie Saunders has helped lead BYU to advance to the Sweet 16.
They are four wins away from winning the 2024-25 NCAA Tournament.
But when it comes to BYU, the world has seemingly been more interested in Saunders’s family history rather than the team as well as his on-the-court play.
The junior is the great-grandson of Francis Nephi Grigg, also known as F. Nephi Grigg, who was the investor of the tater tot.
Griff and his brother co-founded the company Ore-Ida back in 1953.
The company, to this day, owns the copyright to the name “Tater Tots” and is worth $1.5 billion.
Saunders’ grandmother was the oldest of Grigg’s eight children.
So Saunders is the great-grandson of the potato snack inventor.
The world has taken notice of that fact as Ore-Ida announced a NIL partnership with Saunders just hours before BYU’s win over VCU.
“We’re teaming up with basketball hotshot 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 wrote.
“If they win, the countdown for our 30-minute ‘Tot Clock’ will begin at the link in our IG bio post-game.”
Saunders helped fans claim the free tater tots reward after the win in the first round.
Then, BYU won their next game, beating Wisconsin in the Round of 32 as Saunders scored 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting along with 3-of-4 from downtown and seven rebounds.
Saunders gave fans a second chance to win a free portion of the potato snack.
BYU was the six-seed, while the Baders were the three-seed in the contest.
Ore-IdaOre-Ida, which was founded by Saunders’s great-grandfather, will give away free tater tots in honor of the BYU statr[/caption]“It’s hilarious. I don’t know where they came out of. It came out of nowhere,” Saunders said about the talk about his great-grandfather before the tournament.
“My great-grandpa founded Ore-Ida, which founded the tater tot.
“I don’t even know how it got started.”
Saunders and the Cougars are now set to face the Alabama Crimson Tide, and the winner will advance to the Elite Eight.
The family descendant of a $1.5 billion company-maker will hope to lead BYU to its first Elite Eight game since 1981.
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