It was three days before Christmas and Bill McTaggart had a surefire plan for the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Fla.

The bearded, 65-year-old Lawrence post office worker would go to the Kansas University-North Carolina State football game, sit in the stands in a borrowed Santa suit, and when the ESPN cameras panned the audience “like they always do,” he’d hold up his “Marry Me Shannon?” sign, and his longtime lady friend Shannon Royer would swoon in front of her television set while watching the game in her Lawrence home.

Didn’t happen.

“I asked two different ESPN camera operators to include me and my sign in their shots and they just waved me out of the way,” said a discouraged McTaggart. “One was only 6 feet away taking pictures of students and he just plain said no.”

Before game time, the man with the plan was hard to miss as he stood under the stands at Citrus Bowl Stadium with his daughter, Sharron. His bright red suit, white Mickey Mouse gloves and full beard topped off by plastic Jayhawk headwear jumped out of the darkness in the concession stand area. After he described his romantic mission to a curious photographer, he posed for a picture, waving and holding his neatly lettered sign.

That photograph, along with dozens more from the game, was sent back to the Journal-World. Some were published in the newspaper and the rest were posted on kusports.com. McTaggart’s photo appeared only on the Web.

The morning after the game, a friend of the unsuspecting Royer called, asking her if she’d seen McTaggart’s grandstand play. Her source tipped her that the potential groom planned to follow up his prime-time production with an in-person proposal on Christmas Eve.

“I panicked because I hadn’t watched the game, but Bill had asked me to videotape it,” Royer recalled. “I played the entire game on fast-forward and he wasn’t there. … I was a little disappointed.”

So she sat down at her computer, did a Web search and found Bill’s proposal picture on kusports.com.

Bill McTaggart gives a wave before trying his luck at getting on national television Dec. 22 at the Tangerine Bowl. The Lawrence resident carried the Santa suit and sign to Orlando, Fla., hoping an ESPN cameraman would photograph him and his sign asking Shannon Royer, his longtime Lawrence girlfriend, to marry him. ESPN wasn't interested, so he asked the old-fashioned way -- in person on Christmas Eve.

Was she excited?

“You would not believe,” she said, beaming.

The proposal has been a long time coming. The couple have dated steadily since being introduced in 1980 at a friend’s dinner party.

“I sent that photo’s address to about 20 friends and family members, fast,” Royer said.

But when McTaggart called, asking if she’d read the Journal-World or looked at pictures online, she played it cool.

“I told him I’d read everything there was about the game,” she said.

Now newly engaged, Shannon Royer and Bill McTaggart of Lawrence aren't rushing to set a wedding date. The couple have been dating since 1980.

McTaggart returned from Florida in time for the annual Christmas Eve dinner at Royer’s brother’s house in Kansas City. He barely made it in the door before the surprise table was turned.

“I shooed everyone into the back room, met him at the door and handed him a small Christmas package. I told him he had to open it right there and right now,” the 46-year old Royer said.

Inside the package was a printout of McTaggart’s photo from the Web site.

“Once he opened the package he asked me to marry him,” she recalled with misty eyes, “and we both started crying and laughing.

“It was awesome. … We are so devoted to one another.”

So, is there a wedding date for the patient financial officer of Kansas University’s library system and her best friend?

“Look, it’s taken us 23 years to get this far,” Royer said. “We have to buy a house, combine two households — Bill’s a collector with lots of stuff — we’ve got to get Bill back in good physical condition (he’s recovering from a heart attack), so we’re not rushing.”