Kingsburg

Kiffin -- honoring NCAA rules that prohibit coaches from initiating contact with recruits at this time of the year -- then called Kingsburg coach Dave Steele, asking for a return call from Bray.

Home By Andy Boogaard / The Fresno Bee 2009

We want you to have to go to the dentist, says Dan Spain, vice president of sales and marketing at Kingsburg Orchards of Kingsburg, Calif., one of the big growers of specialty hybrid fruit.

When Apricot Met Plum... Melanie Grayce West 2011

Ariel Zambelich for The Wall Street Journal Sample fruits were laid out on a conference table as growers at Kingsburg Orchards took part in a recent tasting.

Creating New Fruit 2011

Mr. Spain says Kingsburg has identified fruits that appeal to specific age groups and palates.

When Apricot Met Plum... Melanie Grayce West 2011

Kingsburg sells 10 kinds of peacharines -- a fruit designed to taste like a peach and crunch like a nectarine, but with minimal fuzz on the skin.

Creating New Fruit 2011

Kingsburg Orchards sells more than 210 varieties of fruit, about half of which are interspecific.

Creating New Fruit 2011

Ariel Zambelich for The Wall Street Journal Jon Quisenberry of Bradford Farms -- a genetic breeder -- picks samples of interspecific plums from the trees at Kingsburg Orchards in Kingsburg, Calif., to be tasted for specific qualities, such as flavor, size and production value.

Creating New Fruit 2011

We want you to have to go to the dentist, says Dan Spain, vice president of sales and marketing at Kingsburg Orchards.

Creating New Fruit 2011

Kingsburg, out in the San Joaquin Valley, was about as flat, hot, and white as America got.

Into the Story DAVID MARANISS 2010

When Rafer was a junior in high school, Kingsburg Vikings track coach Murl Dotson drove him down to watch a decathlon meet in Tulare, California, the hometown of Bob Mathias, the 1948 and 1952 Olympic decathlon champion.

Into the Story DAVID MARANISS 2010