Stagg (tree)

The Stagg tree (formerly known as the Day Tree) is a giant sequoia in Alder Creek Grove in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. It is the fifth largest tree in the world and is believed to be over 3,000 years old. The tree was renamed around 1960 for Amos Alonzo Stagg (1862-1965), a pioneering football coach at the University of Chicago who spent much of the last several decades of his life coaching in Stockton in the nearby San Joaquin Valley. In 1993 a group of climbers scaled the full height of the tree and discovered a hollow room inside its trunk near the very top. It is currently under private ownership; the property is owned by the Rouch family. It, however, remains accessible to the public.