Like Lucy heartlessly yanking the football away from Charlie Brown, a storm earlier this year has sidelined Anniston's most reliable neon kicker.

The animated Goal Post Bar-B-Q sign has not cast its amber and green glow over Quintard Avenue in months, said Lamar Phillips, owner of Goal Post since 2002. Storm winds took the sign out of commission in the spring and blew off of the sign two of the footballs on the path through the uprights. The sign needs transformer work done, and the two footballs need to be rebuilt, he said.

Phillips said he had hoped to have the sign restored to working condition by the start of football season, but he'll have to instead wait until he can raise the funds necessary to get it fixed.

"The last transformer I bought was $3,000, and the neon footballs are $125 a piece," he said.

The Goal Post kicker has been launching footballs through the uprights since the mid-1950s, Phillips said.

"I grew up on 19th and Gurnee, and we'd go visit my grandparents on the weekend. I knew we'd almost be home when I saw the sign," he said. "We'd come back at night and see the guy kicking."

It was the last working neon business sign in the area before it went out of commission, according to Rick Casey, designer at Noble Signs.

"You don't see too many of those around anymore. They're a work of art," said Casey.

Neon design enthusiasts say signs like the one at Goal Post Bar-B-Q are a piece of Americana, representative of a time gone by in cities and towns across the United States.

"A sign like this is an icon for the town," said Tod Swormstedt, founder of the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati.

"The '50s were wide open for signs like this," said Swormstedt. "It was the post-World War II era; times were good in the U.S., and the signs reflected the happy days and prosperity of America."

"There was a lot of redevelopment of urban areas in the 1960s, and people viewed signs like this as clutter. But what was clutter in the '60s is hip again; it's an emotional tie to when times were simpler and happier," he said.

Another neon sign historian said there's nothing else in the country quite like the Goal Post kicker.

"It's a one-of-a-kind sign," said David Benko, curator of the National Neon Sign Museum in Vancouver, Wash. "Something like the Goal Post sign has great value because so many of these signs have disappeared from the American landscape."

Casey expressed concern that the sign may be in the fourth quarter of its life if it doesn't get the attention it needs.

"Signs like that are made out of sheet metal, and after a bit of time, it starts deteriorating because water collects in them and starts to rust," said Casey. "If it doesn't get some attention over the next few years, it's going to get to the point where it could become unsafe.

"I'd hate to see that happen. As a kid, I remember seeing that player kick that football."

Betsy Bean, executive director of downtown development group Spirit of Anniston, said she'd also like to see the sign restored.

"It brings back memories of bright lights, the excitement of downtown, and the wealth of the community," said Bean. "I'm sure it would be a great draw if they got it working again."