September 18, 2025 • 35 mins
The old head in me talks about the old days. When there were different traditions for high school sports and how things have changed. #WeGotSpirit
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Fight Fight Ran and White Fight and we're back Fan
Poll Sports, a true Tex sports podcast for the true
(00:34):
tex sports fan.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Once again.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I'm your host, Ronnie Langford, back at it this time
all alone with my thoughts and with the craziness that's.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Running around in my brain. Back at it here on
Fan Poles Sports.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
You know, the football season has begun. School has been
back for a few weeks now. You know, everybody's setting
settling in from the teachers and staff, obviously, the kids
are finally back into school mode and everything. And I
see all my friends posting pictures of the kids that
they have in high school, the grandkids that they have
(01:10):
in school, nephews and nieces. So, you know, as I
was looking at Facebook and stuff the last few days, Instagram,
stuff like that, I started to realize, like, man, a
lot of things have changed when it comes to high
school sports and some of the pageantry that comes with that.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
There's a lot of great traditions still out there.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Believe me when I tell you, there's still a lot
of fun stuff that people do with their schools and
their groups and their teams, and and you know, it's
it's again. It's great to see. It's wonderful to see.
But I was thinking about, Man, there's a few things
that have changed. There's a few things that are no
longer there, and some of them are kind of sad
that we are not showing or having given the op
(02:00):
opportunity to have these things out there for the younger generation,
for the kids that are experiencing high school life.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
One of those things was the preparation going into the
football season, and then of course the week of the games,
and the preparation of not only the cheerleaders and pep squads,
but some of the student councils and some of the
bands and some of the stuff like that that would
get together and put together quite possibly some of the
(02:33):
greatest things in the history of high school sports. And
I'm talking about breakthrough banners. Okay, if you never spent
the time sitting there with butcher paper rolls of butcher
paper and wheeling a.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Cart down a hall or you know.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Just walking across you know, mall area or the cafeteria
or a hallway, the gym, whatever wherever it was, if
you didn't spend time in your high school life doing
one of those banners, and especially nowadays because they don't,
(03:18):
then you're missing out because there was nothing more fun
then figuring out just how big you were gonna make
that banner and who was gonna be out there helping
you hold that banner up. Now, believe me when.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I tell you, Okay, believe me when I tell.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
You, the bigger the opponent, the bigger the game, the
bigger the banner.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And so just think about those of you that are
in the age racket that I am. In the youthfulness
of our fifties. Okay, we saw a lot of big
stuff back in the day, right, big hair, big bands,
big everything. Okay, I mean everything was bigger and better
(04:08):
in the eighties and early nineties.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
And that was breakthrough banners.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Those things were massive and part of everything that went on,
part of the high school experience, whether you were on
a football team or not, that was the connection that
every kid that helped to create those banners. That was
your connection to that team. Those guys on that team
(04:40):
were your teammates, they were your neighbors, they were your
family members, they were your best friends. Right, everybody had
some sort of connection to that team because you knew
somebody on the team.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
But the only time.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
That you could say that you were a part of
that is when you were part of the other stuff
that came with it.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And one of the other things that came with it was.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Participating in making breakthrough banners and.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Being in the band for four years was I mean,
it was fun.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I had a great time from the moment that I
was a freshman to the Chili Bowl that ended my
marching career, I had a blast. Okay, the games didn't
always turn out the way I had hoped. My freshman
and sophomore year we had a great football program. My
junior year we were okay, but we didn't do anything special.
(05:35):
My senior year, we weren't very good. Shout out to
Rylo and Roland and toy Lboard, Miguel Derek Hill. I mean,
there's countless guys that were in my senior class that
were that were on there on that team, and I
apologize for not remembering everybody that was on the team
(05:56):
back in the day. But you know, one of the
things that I got to participate in from time to
time was making these banners. And you know, it was
always hard to to do some of this stuff because
I was in the band because right around the time
that people were getting together to put stuff like this together.
I was out on a parking lot, asphalt, scorching hot sun,
(06:20):
and you know, perfecting the halftime show or doing whatever
we needed to to get ready for Friday. It was
a little more difficult for me to participate in some
of it. But there were a few banners. There were
a few moments that I got to share.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
One that comes to mind, shout out to my boy Mark.
I should have had him on here for this one
because he probably would remember this. I believe he was
part of the group that painted pretty much a cemetery
on a banner, greystones, headstones, whatever you want to call
(06:57):
him across it big buffalo up there.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
It said no remorse, no surrender.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I'll never forget that breakthrough banner Class of eighty eight
undefeated team they there was. It was a cool banner.
It it was everything. I don't I want to say
that it was for the Sam Houston game, which was huge,
huge game that year, but it may not have been that.
It may have been a Chili Bowl game, I'm not sure,
(07:26):
but it was. It was a memorable banner because of
the graphic that they put together up there, you know,
and you you had, you know, the typical banners, you know, smashed,
the bulldogs, smear laner, you know, rope, the rope, the mustangs,
stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
That was fun. It was cool. And the guys that.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Were in commercial art, which by the way, I was
in commercial art for one year. I cannot draw, Okay.
I was awful at drawing. I was terrible at drawing.
I had no business in that class. Do I have
some creative ideas, sure, and I'll be glad to pass
those along to somebody and somebody can make that idea
(08:08):
come to life.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I couldn't, okay, but you know whatever.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
To see some of the talent that was out there
at Fox Tech during those years that I was there,
to see what some of those guys and girls could
do and create these banners and bring these banners to
life was amazing.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Nowadays, you have.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
The curtains, you have the blow up run through tunnels,
you have the blow up with the big mascot on it.
You know, you got the big blow up helmets. I
mean even some of the youth programs have that. You
know a few years ago, they had that show Friday
Night Tikes. You had a couple of different teams that
(08:52):
had those types of breakthrough banners or run through banners
that they showcased us stuff. So I mean, that's that's
what it is nowadays. I'll tell you. I'll tell you
what even even after I left high school, when my
older children were in school, and I want to say
it was when Belinda was in eighth grade. Uh, I
(09:15):
had gotten together with some of the parents before the
season was over, and we started doing tailgate parties and
you know, feeding the kids.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And all kinds of stuff, and it was it was
a blast.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Shout out to Rachel Gus Molly, all the wonderful moms
and and and the handful of dads that were out there,
you know, doing that together, Jesse. Uh, you know, providing
this stuff for those kids. And and every time you
have a chance to do something good, especially for the
younger kids that are around you, uh, your kids friends,
(09:47):
that's always a good thing. But I I just remember
those boys. They they had done pretty well for that season. Uh,
they were really excited about their last game playing against
their rival Nixon. Smiley is Stockdale's rival, and you know
they are the Mustangs. But what Nixon is famous for
(10:12):
in a lot of ways is they have homes Foods there, and.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Home's Foods produces.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Frozen chicken, so they've been nicknamed for years the chicken Pluckers.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
That's been their nickname for a long time.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I thought it would be cool to get with some
of the kids, get with some of the parents, and
create a breakthrough banner.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
For that team's last game.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
And to tell you that they were excited and that
the parents were excited would be an understatement. And we
roll out this massive banner that had no business being
that big, but we rolled out this massive banner with
(11:04):
a Brahma bull because that's their mascot painted on the side,
and it says beat the Pluckers, and it's got this
Brahma bull holding the neck of a chicken and the
feathers flying off of it.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
And I wish I had a picture.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
I wish someone in Stockdale had a picture that they
would share with me, because that was the absolute best
banner that I had seen done. By this point, Stockdale
had already got the curtain breakthrough banner with, you know,
with the little velcro in the middle and the boys
run through and everything and everybody's excited.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Well, we left that one in the back.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
We bust out this big paper banner, and the crowd
for Nixon wasn't very thrilled with what we had written
with the crowd in Stockdough was. But you know, that's
one tradition I wish that we would have kept going.
I wish we wouldn't have commercialized that type of thing,
because I think that's part of the experience of growing up,
(12:12):
especially especially in the smaller community, when you can really
bring people together and do something fun and cool like that.
I think it's I think it's one of those things
that in the early two thousands, maybe the mid two thousands,
when they started to kind of go away from that,
I really think that that was one of the things
that I wish that they would not have changed or
(12:34):
commercialized and.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
They would have just left it alone.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Another one spirit ribbons, you know, especially again at Tech,
and I can't say for.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Other schools because I don't know how other schools did it.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Maybe the art program, Commercial Art did silk screening.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
So we had a room.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
These guys would would create these screens and they would
have these ribbons that we would make and they would
you know, put the paint on them, and this thing
would cut them and we'd sell these ribbons for like
a dollar or whatever, and you know, you'd have pretty
much the same sayings that were on the breakthrough banners
were being put on these these little ribbons and stuff.
And these ribbons were maybe maybe you know, six inches
(13:17):
wide and about you know, six inches long, seven inches
long or whatever. But they were so much fun, so
much fun putting those ribbons together, you know. For Tech,
obviously we had a bunch of red and white ribbons.
One one was red with white letters, the other one
was read with red letters with white ribbons and stuff.
(13:38):
And the thing was that you would get those, you'd
get more as the season went on. Obviously, again the
bigger the game, the more the exposure, the bigger the stuff.
You know, you'd have these chili bowl ribbons that were
really cool and you know, and it was stuff that
I can remember getting ribbons when I was young, when
I wasn't even in high school, because my siblings went
(13:59):
to Tech and they were my daughter, my daughters, My
sisters were in the PEP squad, so they were selling
those ribbons. We would get those ribbons as a family.
We'd go out of all the games and stuff, and
it was really cool. It was a kind of a
fundraiser for the school, for the department. So there was
a lot of community togetherness when it would come to
(14:21):
stuff like that because that was the one thing that
everybody could participate in the crowd.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
You would see people wearing the different ribbons and then
it became a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
You know, you see these Fiesta sashes nowadays, Well, we
had ribbons that looked like some of those sashes back
in the day. And you know, shout out again to
one of the people that was active with my sisters,
because her daughters were in the pep squad with them
back in the day, and she stayed active into the
nineties at Tech, and that was Msgadena And I can
(14:52):
I can hear Francis yelling there during lunchtime before school,
after school when she was promoting something to help fundraise.
She was selling ribbons, she was selling t shirts, she
was selling spirit flags, towels, I mean, you name it.
This lady was out there trying to push it, trying
(15:12):
to sell it, trying to make some money for the school.
And she did a fantastic job of promotion. So you know,
it's but it's those types of things and those types
of people that you build these memories off of, and
I think sometimes we miss that, especially with these young people.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
You know, we see a lot of the kids nowadays.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
And I'm not about to go off on a tangent
about the young people don't do it.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
What I'm saying is you see some of these young
people and they're more separated in a lot of ways
because you don't have these types of things to draw
them together.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You'd have the.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Outliers hanging out with a cheerleader. You'd have the geeky
band guys hanging out with some of the athletes. You'd
have the other people that were kind of in the
different clubs that your school might have, and they all
came together and they did these types of things. They
sold the ribbons, they made the ribbons, they made, the
breakthrough banners they held they held up the breakthrough banter. Again,
(16:16):
these breakthrough banners polls that were probably about eight to
ten feet tall.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
You'd have these big banners.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
You'd have to have three or four people on each
side just to pick it up. And then god forbid
if there was a win, because if there was a win,
and especially if the win was behind you, that banner.
Depending on how well you taped it may or may
not last before the football.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Team could run through it.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So there were so many different things like this that
you don't see today a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Of times, and it's it's kind of sad to me.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
It's heartbreaking in some ways because you don't see those things.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
You don't you don't go through that stuff. One of the.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Things that I can remember when I was a young kid,
and again because my siblings were in high school when
I was younger, was the crowds and the participation that
that you would have. And you know, you still have
pockets of fans at all of these games. You know,
I went to a high school game last year with
my good friend Andrew and his beautiful wife Sam. Her
(17:20):
sister is married to one of the coaches, or was married, well,
she is still married to him, and he was a
coach at Reagan, and it was great to see the community.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Was there people in their shirts.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
You know, you had the pockets of fans that were
cheering on certain kids, certain players because they were wearing
certain shirts and certain things like that. And even though
they you know, they weren't the better team that day.
And I understand why you don't cheer when your team
is down and stuff. But there was no vibe. There
was no vibe in.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
That in that crowd, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
I mean I can because I can remember going to
games when I was younger than even when I was
in high school that you know, Tech wasn't always a
very good football pro, but there was still fun in
the crowd, Like I can remember, you know, the folks
that grew up with me over there on West Travis
Street at Amy and Cindy. Shout out to Miss t
(18:13):
You know, we'd all get together, Amy and Cindy in
the in the pep squad and cheerleaders, so they're they're.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
In that section.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
But everybody that hung out with us that wasn't in
band or wasn't in the pep squad or cheerleading, they
were at the game together. So Mark and Peanut and
Jay and Kathy Strickland and I mean just all kinds
of people, you know, Kathano and and his girl. You know,
I just saw her on Facebook and now I can't
(18:41):
even remember her name, Vicky.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Shout out to Vicky.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
But like all of these people would go to the
games together, and you know, they would just they would
keep pulling Rudy Moya. Okay, who would think that Rudy
Moya would be hanging out with these people in the
stands like that? Okay, So I mean it was It
was so many different people, but they they made the
game fun.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So that would bleed over.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
To the pep squad, that would bleed over to the cheerleaders,
that would bleed over to the band. And you know,
especially my freshman and sophomore year man, we were fools,
and I mean straight up fools in that band, you know,
I mean it was just it was so fun, so amazing.
There was dance routines, there was you know, keyboard solos,
(19:30):
there was you know, bass and and tuba solos that
obviously the drum line was lit.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
I mean it was.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
It was like that part of that part of traditions
has not been lost because I've see a lot of
good band stuff. But we made sure the crowd was
into it. We made sure that the crowd was lively.
We made sure that the crowd was going because as
much fun as we were having in the band, if
the crowd wasn't having any fun, well that game was
(19:57):
no fun whether we were winning or losing. I mean,
it didn't matter if the crowd was dead. The crowd
was dead, and nobody wanted to sit through a dead game.
And that's that's kind of something that I've noticed these
last few years when I when I was in Stockdale
and I worked there, I'd go to the games and
it was kind of the same. There was a group
of us that would keep the crowd going. And you
(20:19):
just don't see that as much nowadays. You know, one
of the things that I remember that I don't hear
very often, if at all, anymore, is.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Charge Charge. You don't hear that anymore.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
That was a thing back in the day, right, I mean,
whether you were starting the game with that, or you
were coming out of halftime with that or something, something
was done. You know, this cheer was done at that time,
and you don't you don't have that type of you know,
get everybody going and everybody goes when you hear that.
(21:03):
When the older groups used to hear that, they would
get excited and yell charge, you know, and you know
it was it was a battle cry, right the way
we do some of the pepper ollargies and they do
battle cry V.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I C t Ory. That is my battle cry.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
That's boring. That's boring to me because it wasn't like
that growing up. It was different. You know, you represented
your class, you represented who you were. You didn't need
to say V, I, C T or Y right, You
didn't need to say that. You just needed to let
them know who you were.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
And that was your battle cry.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
And if you were good enough, if you were bad enough,
if you were strong enough, and you had everybody with
you like you wanted, well, you were gonna win that
you were gonna get that victory. You didn't have to
hope for the victory by saying victory. And you know,
that's that's why I say, it's like, it's just so different.
It's so different nowadays, and I wish there was just
more more of what we were doing back in the
(21:58):
day so the young people could see it. And I
know a lot of what they'll see is it's corny
and it's it's goofy and stuff like that. They'll think
it's lame, you know, and don't even get me started,
because I don't know, I don't know any.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Of the lingo nowadays.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
But you know, it's one of those things that I
think if they saw some of those traditions I think
if they saw some of that stuff, they would be
they would be pretty cool with it, and they would
be excited about it, and they would try some of it.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
They wouldn't do all of it. They wouldn't take all
of it.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
And that's fine, because I'm sure they were things that
the older generations that are above me were doing that
we may have still done when I was in high school.
And then some of them that they were doing that
we didn't do. So I get it. You know, you're
not gonna copy everything exactly the same, but it would
be interesting to see some of that stuff. The last
thing I'm gonna say, man, is the one thing that
I noticed that I know is not out there that
(22:49):
I know. I don't see that, and I for sure
don't hear. Is we got spirit? Yes we do? We
got spirit? How about you? You don't have that anymore?
The band used to do that, The cheerleaders used to
do that. The crowd used to do that, and it
was a constant yell back and forth, and it would,
you know, you yell it, they'd yell it, You yell it,
(23:09):
they'd yell it. You get to that third one. And
when you got to that third one, that's when the
band really got into it. The drum line started banging,
the symbol players started slamming, and you know, even maybe
the tuba players got in with a few beats and
it became a we got more, we got more, and
(23:31):
then it was just it was utter and wild pandemonium
at that point.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
But those are the things that you did because you
had community pride. Right Like if you wore your colors,
you wore them proudly. And believe me when I tell
you it was you had to be careful about what
colors you wore where because you could get hurt, you
could get jumped, you could get shot at back in
the day, and I'm sure some of that still holds
(23:58):
true nowadays. But at the game, at the game or
on the way to the game, you didn't worry about
those things. You just wanted to show off that this
is who you were. And and that was one of
the things that I miss about, you know, the traditions,
(24:19):
because you don't have that in a lot of ways anymore.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Where.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
It's just about community pride, community pride. I'm not saying
that it's wrong for you not to be proud of
your child or your family, member. I'm just saying, as
a group, as a community, we were all proud.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Of one another.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
And I don't know that we have that very much
anymore in our schools. I know I said that was
the last thing, but it's not. There is one tradition
that has lingered on for a long time, and it's
a Texas thing. It's not across the nation thing. It
may happen in other states and in other communities, but
for the most part, this is a Texas tradition. And
(24:58):
that's the tradition of mums and moms and garters are
a thing, and they've been a thing a long time.
I can remember having a garter a couple of times
in high school, probably all four years, but I know
for sure my senior year I had one. And I
remember getting girls moms and you know whatever, probably got
(25:21):
multiple mums from multiple girls without them annoying whatever.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
That's another episode for another time.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
But the thing was that, you know, it was it
was something that you'd wear on your the girls would
wear on their blouses or their jackets, the guys would
wear on their arms, and that was it. And that
that mom, that mom was like, you know, the size
of a regular moum flower and you know, pretty sided
(25:47):
about a hand handful size, you know what I mean.
So it was it was fine to wear it, and
you know, of course, the thing was it had those
little annoying bells and trinkets at the bottom and you'd
hear somebody walk and you laugh at that and stuff.
But now they've become this extravaganza. And I know people
will say, well, you know, the bigger the tradition, the
(26:09):
bigger the item and whatever. And we've turned mums into
practically entire suits, right like you you have these young
girls walking around with these mums where they were having
to wear them around their neck and you can't even
see what they're wearing underneath because the mum is as
(26:30):
wide as their bodies and as long as their legs are,
and so all you see is head and shoes and
you don't see very much of anything else. Now I'm
not saying that any of these girls are doing or
wearing anything or not wearing anything. I'm not saying that
they are. You just can't see what they're wearing because
they're so big. What made it cool or made it
(26:51):
fun back in the day was that's when you wore
your best shirt. Right homecoming is the moment where that's
that's the school or that's the moment that you want
to be seen. You want everybody to know that you're there.
These moms have gotten so out of hand that you
(27:12):
can't see that stuff. You look like everybody else because
all you see is head and sneakers. You know. I'm
not saying get rid of the mum tradition. I think
the mum tradition is great. I think that's wonderful that
moms can pass that on to their daughters, daughters pass
it on to their daughters, and it's a it's a
family thing, and I think that's wonderful, and I think
(27:34):
it should it should be a tradition that is continued
for generations upon generations. All I'm saying is make them
Mum's regular size, make them reasonable size where you're not
hiding that poor child.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
It just makes absolutely no sense to me that you
would have something that big to show your school. And
this coming from a guy who brazen lee would wear
stuff to make sure that you knew he had school spirit.
I mean, there is a photo of me somewhere floating
around Facebook where I am wearing a red and white
(28:16):
striped turtleneck.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I look like freaking wears Waldo. Okay.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
And if you don't think for one second that I
wouldn't wear that thing if I had it today.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
You're mistaken.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I wouldn't wear it today because it's ninety eight degrees
and it's hot outside. But when it cools down and
I had that, I'd wear it in a heartbeat, no
doubt about it. I would wear right. But that was
part of the fun of growing up with traditions, growing
(28:47):
up with community pride, growing up with school spirit. And
I think sometimes we lose that in our everyday life.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Now, you know.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
I know my wife thinks it's crazy. I know she
thinks I'm wild for this.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Again.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Fox Tech Right proud alumni nine Class of nineteen the
mighty Class of nineteen ninety. Lanier will always be the rival, okay.
And I know things have changed to Tech. We don't
have all the sports. We definitely don't have football anymore.
And Lanier is doing well. They continue to grow. The
West Side pride shout out to them. Give them all
(29:29):
the props for being able to sustain that school in
that area for as long as they have. But they'll
always be my rival, even though them in tech will
very rarely, if any time, compete in anything sports wise,
They'll always be the rival. There will never be a
time that they won't be the rival. Right, So, Royal
(29:54):
blue and white is.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Not a combination of clothing that I wear ever. Okay.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
My wife worked for Lavernia School District Royal Blue and
White LV. Okay, so just a little annoyed, just a
little irritated when.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
My wife worked there.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
And then it was worse because my daughter graduated from there.
She was the mascot one year, she was in the
color guard one year.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
And they do this, they do this little cheer, you know,
and they do the little hand thing with this lv LV.
It drove me. N I never did it. I would
never do it, but it drove me nuts. It drove
me nuts.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Right, And my wife thinks I'm crazy, cause she's like, dude,
you've been out of high school for thirty five years.
Let it go, already, let it freaking go. I will
never let it go. Okay, I will never.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Let it go.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I will always root against the Vokes. I have a
very good friend at work, and it's it's ironic. Actually,
I have two It's ironic that a kid from the
west Side meets two guys and works with two guys
from the west Side and we work together here in Stockdale.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
He went to Lanear, the other guy went to Lanear,
and I went to Tech. And I believe, actually I
believe there's two other people I know for sure that
also went to Lanear and.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
They all work with me. Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
So I will never let it go. There will never
be a time in my life that I will ever
let that go. I will hold on to that forever, Okay, forever.
And part of that is because of the traditions and
the things that I participated in.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
When I was in high school.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
And I hope that the young people today are taking
in every possible moment that's happening in their high school lives.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
I know some of it's not good. I know some
of it can be tough. I know some of it
can be brutal.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
But I hope in four years, no matter whether you
are on that spectrum of freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, I
hope somewhere in those four years, you have moments that
you treasure and you cherish with your friends or with
your family.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Because I know I do. I know I do, and
if I could, if I could, I.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Would go back just so I could see my young
self and just to laugh at my young self because
of how foolish I used to be.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
And there's still some truth to that foolishes now.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
But I just think that a lot of who I
am today was molded in those young years walking those
halls at Lewis W.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Fox Technical High School.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
And without the breakthrough banners and without the Spirit Women's
and without the Charge Cheer and the We Got Spirit
and all of those things, and the moms that I
bought for people and the garters that I wore. Without
those things, man, I don't know. I don't know that
I would have the memories or the good times that
(33:20):
I did. So you know, hopefully some of you will
hear this and hopefully it'll jar some memories for you,
you know.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
I mean, I can, I can.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
There's countless things that I can remember of friends and
things that we did back in the day that were
related to school. There's countless memories I can think of
away from school that we did that I'm not talking about.
But but there's a lot of fun stuff that I
got to experience with my friends and friends that I
still have today, and I'm so thankful that I have
(33:54):
them in my life and that I have the memories
that I have, and we can talk about some of
this stuff and laugh at it and whatever.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Now.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
But yeah, man, you know, give me a breakthrough, a
paper painted breakthrough banner. I will buy one of each
of your spirit ribbons, okay. And I will cheer and
even dance if I need to with your band and
Pep Squad as they do their thing in the stands
(34:22):
to keep the crowd hype.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
All right, I'll do all of that. I'll do it all.
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
And there's a part of me that cannot wait until
my grandchildren are in high school and participating in stuff
because they have no idea, they have no idea in
their young lives. What is waiting for them when their
papa gets out there to do something.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Because it's gonna be great. It's gonna be great, and
I hope.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
People are recording when it happens because it's gonna be wild. Anyways,
hopefully you're listening to this that brings back memories for
you and you can think of some fun stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
That you used to do.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Maybe you can reach out to your friends and bring
up some some fond memories and y'all can go down
memory lane.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
And hey, man, if.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
You're going through homecoming right now, because I know some
of you are having homecoming festivity festivities already. If you're
doing that, participate, enjoy it, take the picture, soak in
the moment, live in the moment, enjoy it, enjoy it,
enjoy it, enjoy it. Fan Poll Sports a true tech
(35:27):
sports podcast for a true tech sports fan.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Once again, this has been Ronnie.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
And anytime I can talk high school sports or anything
that comes with it, I'm all about it and I'm
out peace. Yes you
Fight Fight Ran and White Fight and we're back Fan
Poll Sports, a true Tex sports podcast for the true
(00:34):
tex sports fan.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Once again.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I'm your host, Ronnie Langford, back at it this time
all alone with my thoughts and with the craziness that's.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Running around in my brain. Back at it here on
Fan Poles Sports.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
You know, the football season has begun. School has been
back for a few weeks now. You know, everybody's setting
settling in from the teachers and staff, obviously, the kids
are finally back into school mode and everything. And I
see all my friends posting pictures of the kids that
they have in high school, the grandkids that they have
(01:10):
in school, nephews and nieces. So, you know, as I
was looking at Facebook and stuff the last few days, Instagram,
stuff like that, I started to realize, like, man, a
lot of things have changed when it comes to high
school sports and some of the pageantry that comes with that.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
There's a lot of great traditions still out there.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Believe me when I tell you, there's still a lot
of fun stuff that people do with their schools and
their groups and their teams, and and you know, it's
it's again. It's great to see. It's wonderful to see.
But I was thinking about, Man, there's a few things
that have changed. There's a few things that are no
longer there, and some of them are kind of sad
that we are not showing or having given the op
(02:00):
opportunity to have these things out there for the younger generation,
for the kids that are experiencing high school life.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
One of those things was the preparation going into the
football season, and then of course the week of the games,
and the preparation of not only the cheerleaders and pep squads,
but some of the student councils and some of the
bands and some of the stuff like that that would
get together and put together quite possibly some of the
(02:33):
greatest things in the history of high school sports. And
I'm talking about breakthrough banners. Okay, if you never spent
the time sitting there with butcher paper rolls of butcher
paper and wheeling a.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Cart down a hall or you know.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Just walking across you know, mall area or the cafeteria
or a hallway, the gym, whatever wherever it was, if
you didn't spend time in your high school life doing
one of those banners, and especially nowadays because they don't,
(03:18):
then you're missing out because there was nothing more fun
then figuring out just how big you were gonna make
that banner and who was gonna be out there helping
you hold that banner up. Now, believe me when.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I tell you, Okay, believe me when I tell.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
You, the bigger the opponent, the bigger the game, the
bigger the banner.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And so just think about those of you that are
in the age racket that I am. In the youthfulness
of our fifties. Okay, we saw a lot of big
stuff back in the day, right, big hair, big bands,
big everything. Okay, I mean everything was bigger and better
(04:08):
in the eighties and early nineties.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
And that was breakthrough banners.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Those things were massive and part of everything that went on,
part of the high school experience, whether you were on
a football team or not, that was the connection that
every kid that helped to create those banners. That was
your connection to that team. Those guys on that team
(04:40):
were your teammates, they were your neighbors, they were your
family members, they were your best friends. Right, everybody had
some sort of connection to that team because you knew
somebody on the team.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
But the only time.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
That you could say that you were a part of
that is when you were part of the other stuff
that came with it.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And one of the other things that came with it was.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Participating in making breakthrough banners and.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Being in the band for four years was I mean,
it was fun.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I had a great time from the moment that I
was a freshman to the Chili Bowl that ended my
marching career, I had a blast. Okay, the games didn't
always turn out the way I had hoped. My freshman
and sophomore year we had a great football program. My
junior year we were okay, but we didn't do anything special.
(05:35):
My senior year, we weren't very good. Shout out to
Rylo and Roland and toy Lboard, Miguel Derek Hill. I mean,
there's countless guys that were in my senior class that
were that were on there on that team, and I
apologize for not remembering everybody that was on the team
(05:56):
back in the day. But you know, one of the
things that I got to participate in from time to
time was making these banners. And you know, it was
always hard to to do some of this stuff because
I was in the band because right around the time
that people were getting together to put stuff like this together.
I was out on a parking lot, asphalt, scorching hot sun,
(06:20):
and you know, perfecting the halftime show or doing whatever
we needed to to get ready for Friday. It was
a little more difficult for me to participate in some
of it. But there were a few banners. There were
a few moments that I got to share.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
One that comes to mind, shout out to my boy Mark.
I should have had him on here for this one
because he probably would remember this. I believe he was
part of the group that painted pretty much a cemetery
on a banner, greystones, headstones, whatever you want to call
(06:57):
him across it big buffalo up there.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
It said no remorse, no surrender.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I'll never forget that breakthrough banner Class of eighty eight
undefeated team they there was. It was a cool banner.
It it was everything. I don't I want to say
that it was for the Sam Houston game, which was huge,
huge game that year, but it may not have been that.
It may have been a Chili Bowl game, I'm not sure,
(07:26):
but it was. It was a memorable banner because of
the graphic that they put together up there, you know,
and you you had, you know, the typical banners, you know, smashed,
the bulldogs, smear laner, you know, rope, the rope, the mustangs,
stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
That was fun. It was cool. And the guys that.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Were in commercial art, which by the way, I was
in commercial art for one year. I cannot draw, Okay.
I was awful at drawing. I was terrible at drawing.
I had no business in that class. Do I have
some creative ideas, sure, and I'll be glad to pass
those along to somebody and somebody can make that idea
(08:08):
come to life.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I couldn't, okay, but you know whatever.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
To see some of the talent that was out there
at Fox Tech during those years that I was there,
to see what some of those guys and girls could
do and create these banners and bring these banners to
life was amazing.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Nowadays, you have.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
The curtains, you have the blow up run through tunnels,
you have the blow up with the big mascot on it.
You know, you got the big blow up helmets. I
mean even some of the youth programs have that. You
know a few years ago, they had that show Friday
Night Tikes. You had a couple of different teams that
(08:52):
had those types of breakthrough banners or run through banners
that they showcased us stuff. So I mean, that's that's
what it is nowadays. I'll tell you. I'll tell you
what even even after I left high school, when my
older children were in school, and I want to say
it was when Belinda was in eighth grade. Uh, I
(09:15):
had gotten together with some of the parents before the
season was over, and we started doing tailgate parties and
you know, feeding the kids.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And all kinds of stuff, and it was it was
a blast.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Shout out to Rachel Gus Molly, all the wonderful moms
and and and the handful of dads that were out there,
you know, doing that together, Jesse. Uh, you know, providing
this stuff for those kids. And and every time you
have a chance to do something good, especially for the
younger kids that are around you, uh, your kids friends,
(09:47):
that's always a good thing. But I I just remember
those boys. They they had done pretty well for that season. Uh,
they were really excited about their last game playing against
their rival Nixon. Smiley is Stockdale's rival, and you know
they are the Mustangs. But what Nixon is famous for
(10:12):
in a lot of ways is they have homes Foods there, and.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Home's Foods produces.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Frozen chicken, so they've been nicknamed for years the chicken Pluckers.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
That's been their nickname for a long time.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I thought it would be cool to get with some
of the kids, get with some of the parents, and
create a breakthrough banner.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
For that team's last game.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
And to tell you that they were excited and that
the parents were excited would be an understatement. And we
roll out this massive banner that had no business being
that big, but we rolled out this massive banner with
(11:04):
a Brahma bull because that's their mascot painted on the side,
and it says beat the Pluckers, and it's got this
Brahma bull holding the neck of a chicken and the
feathers flying off of it.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
And I wish I had a picture.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
I wish someone in Stockdale had a picture that they
would share with me, because that was the absolute best
banner that I had seen done. By this point, Stockdale
had already got the curtain breakthrough banner with, you know,
with the little velcro in the middle and the boys
run through and everything and everybody's excited.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Well, we left that one in the back.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
We bust out this big paper banner, and the crowd
for Nixon wasn't very thrilled with what we had written
with the crowd in Stockdough was. But you know, that's
one tradition I wish that we would have kept going.
I wish we wouldn't have commercialized that type of thing,
because I think that's part of the experience of growing up,
(12:12):
especially especially in the smaller community, when you can really
bring people together and do something fun and cool like that.
I think it's I think it's one of those things
that in the early two thousands, maybe the mid two thousands,
when they started to kind of go away from that,
I really think that that was one of the things
that I wish that they would not have changed or
(12:34):
commercialized and.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
They would have just left it alone.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Another one spirit ribbons, you know, especially again at Tech,
and I can't say for.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Other schools because I don't know how other schools did it.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Maybe the art program, Commercial Art did silk screening.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
So we had a room.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
These guys would would create these screens and they would
have these ribbons that we would make and they would
you know, put the paint on them, and this thing
would cut them and we'd sell these ribbons for like
a dollar or whatever, and you know, you'd have pretty
much the same sayings that were on the breakthrough banners
were being put on these these little ribbons and stuff.
And these ribbons were maybe maybe you know, six inches
(13:17):
wide and about you know, six inches long, seven inches
long or whatever. But they were so much fun, so
much fun putting those ribbons together, you know. For Tech,
obviously we had a bunch of red and white ribbons.
One one was red with white letters, the other one
was read with red letters with white ribbons and stuff.
(13:38):
And the thing was that you would get those, you'd
get more as the season went on. Obviously, again the
bigger the game, the more the exposure, the bigger the stuff.
You know, you'd have these chili bowl ribbons that were
really cool and you know, and it was stuff that
I can remember getting ribbons when I was young, when
I wasn't even in high school, because my siblings went
(13:59):
to Tech and they were my daughter, my daughters, My
sisters were in the PEP squad, so they were selling
those ribbons. We would get those ribbons as a family.
We'd go out of all the games and stuff, and
it was really cool. It was a kind of a
fundraiser for the school, for the department. So there was
a lot of community togetherness when it would come to
(14:21):
stuff like that because that was the one thing that
everybody could participate in the crowd.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
You would see people wearing the different ribbons and then
it became a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
You know, you see these Fiesta sashes nowadays, Well, we
had ribbons that looked like some of those sashes back
in the day. And you know, shout out again to
one of the people that was active with my sisters,
because her daughters were in the pep squad with them
back in the day, and she stayed active into the
nineties at Tech, and that was Msgadena And I can
(14:52):
I can hear Francis yelling there during lunchtime before school,
after school when she was promoting something to help fundraise.
She was selling ribbons, she was selling t shirts, she
was selling spirit flags, towels, I mean, you name it.
This lady was out there trying to push it, trying
(15:12):
to sell it, trying to make some money for the school.
And she did a fantastic job of promotion. So you know,
it's but it's those types of things and those types
of people that you build these memories off of, and
I think sometimes we miss that, especially with these young people.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
You know, we see a lot of the kids nowadays.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
And I'm not about to go off on a tangent
about the young people don't do it.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
What I'm saying is you see some of these young
people and they're more separated in a lot of ways
because you don't have these types of things to draw
them together.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You'd have the.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Outliers hanging out with a cheerleader. You'd have the geeky
band guys hanging out with some of the athletes. You'd
have the other people that were kind of in the
different clubs that your school might have, and they all
came together and they did these types of things. They
sold the ribbons, they made the ribbons, they made, the
breakthrough banners they held they held up the breakthrough banter. Again,
(16:16):
these breakthrough banners polls that were probably about eight to
ten feet tall.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
You'd have these big banners.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
You'd have to have three or four people on each
side just to pick it up. And then god forbid
if there was a win, because if there was a win,
and especially if the win was behind you, that banner.
Depending on how well you taped it may or may
not last before the football.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Team could run through it.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So there were so many different things like this that
you don't see today a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Of times, and it's it's kind of sad to me.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
It's heartbreaking in some ways because you don't see those things.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
You don't you don't go through that stuff. One of the.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Things that I can remember when I was a young kid,
and again because my siblings were in high school when
I was younger, was the crowds and the participation that
that you would have. And you know, you still have
pockets of fans at all of these games. You know,
I went to a high school game last year with
my good friend Andrew and his beautiful wife Sam. Her
(17:20):
sister is married to one of the coaches, or was married, well,
she is still married to him, and he was a
coach at Reagan, and it was great to see the community.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Was there people in their shirts.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
You know, you had the pockets of fans that were
cheering on certain kids, certain players because they were wearing
certain shirts and certain things like that. And even though
they you know, they weren't the better team that day.
And I understand why you don't cheer when your team
is down and stuff. But there was no vibe. There
was no vibe in.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
That in that crowd, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
I mean I can because I can remember going to
games when I was younger than even when I was
in high school that you know, Tech wasn't always a
very good football pro, but there was still fun in
the crowd, Like I can remember, you know, the folks
that grew up with me over there on West Travis
Street at Amy and Cindy. Shout out to Miss t
(18:13):
You know, we'd all get together, Amy and Cindy in
the in the pep squad and cheerleaders, so they're they're.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
In that section.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
But everybody that hung out with us that wasn't in
band or wasn't in the pep squad or cheerleading, they
were at the game together. So Mark and Peanut and
Jay and Kathy Strickland and I mean just all kinds
of people, you know, Kathano and and his girl. You know,
I just saw her on Facebook and now I can't
(18:41):
even remember her name, Vicky.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Shout out to Vicky.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
But like all of these people would go to the
games together, and you know, they would just they would
keep pulling Rudy Moya. Okay, who would think that Rudy
Moya would be hanging out with these people in the
stands like that? Okay, So I mean it was It
was so many different people, but they they made the
game fun.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So that would bleed over.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
To the pep squad, that would bleed over to the cheerleaders,
that would bleed over to the band. And you know,
especially my freshman and sophomore year man, we were fools,
and I mean straight up fools in that band, you know,
I mean it was just it was so fun, so amazing.
There was dance routines, there was you know, keyboard solos,
(19:30):
there was you know, bass and and tuba solos that
obviously the drum line was lit.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
I mean it was.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
It was like that part of that part of traditions
has not been lost because I've see a lot of
good band stuff. But we made sure the crowd was
into it. We made sure that the crowd was lively.
We made sure that the crowd was going because as
much fun as we were having in the band, if
the crowd wasn't having any fun, well that game was
(19:57):
no fun whether we were winning or losing. I mean,
it didn't matter if the crowd was dead. The crowd
was dead, and nobody wanted to sit through a dead game.
And that's that's kind of something that I've noticed these
last few years when I when I was in Stockdale
and I worked there, I'd go to the games and
it was kind of the same. There was a group
of us that would keep the crowd going. And you
(20:19):
just don't see that as much nowadays. You know, one
of the things that I remember that I don't hear
very often, if at all, anymore, is.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Charge Charge. You don't hear that anymore.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
That was a thing back in the day, right, I mean,
whether you were starting the game with that, or you
were coming out of halftime with that or something, something
was done. You know, this cheer was done at that time,
and you don't you don't have that type of you know,
get everybody going and everybody goes when you hear that.
(21:03):
When the older groups used to hear that, they would
get excited and yell charge, you know, and you know
it was it was a battle cry, right the way
we do some of the pepper ollargies and they do
battle cry V.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I C t Ory. That is my battle cry.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
That's boring. That's boring to me because it wasn't like
that growing up. It was different. You know, you represented
your class, you represented who you were. You didn't need
to say V, I, C T or Y right, You
didn't need to say that. You just needed to let
them know who you were.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
And that was your battle cry.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
And if you were good enough, if you were bad enough,
if you were strong enough, and you had everybody with
you like you wanted, well, you were gonna win that
you were gonna get that victory. You didn't have to
hope for the victory by saying victory. And you know,
that's that's why I say, it's like, it's just so different.
It's so different nowadays, and I wish there was just
more more of what we were doing back in the
(21:58):
day so the young people could see it. And I
know a lot of what they'll see is it's corny
and it's it's goofy and stuff like that. They'll think
it's lame, you know, and don't even get me started,
because I don't know, I don't know any.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Of the lingo nowadays.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
But you know, it's one of those things that I
think if they saw some of those traditions I think
if they saw some of that stuff, they would be
they would be pretty cool with it, and they would
be excited about it, and they would try some of it.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
They wouldn't do all of it. They wouldn't take all
of it.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
And that's fine, because I'm sure they were things that
the older generations that are above me were doing that
we may have still done when I was in high school.
And then some of them that they were doing that
we didn't do. So I get it. You know, you're
not gonna copy everything exactly the same, but it would
be interesting to see some of that stuff. The last
thing I'm gonna say, man, is the one thing that
I noticed that I know is not out there that
(22:49):
I know. I don't see that, and I for sure
don't hear. Is we got spirit? Yes we do? We
got spirit? How about you? You don't have that anymore?
The band used to do that, The cheerleaders used to
do that. The crowd used to do that, and it
was a constant yell back and forth, and it would,
you know, you yell it, they'd yell it, You yell it,
(23:09):
they'd yell it. You get to that third one. And
when you got to that third one, that's when the
band really got into it. The drum line started banging,
the symbol players started slamming, and you know, even maybe
the tuba players got in with a few beats and
it became a we got more, we got more, and
(23:31):
then it was just it was utter and wild pandemonium
at that point.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
But those are the things that you did because you
had community pride. Right Like if you wore your colors,
you wore them proudly. And believe me when I tell
you it was you had to be careful about what
colors you wore where because you could get hurt, you
could get jumped, you could get shot at back in
the day, and I'm sure some of that still holds
(23:58):
true nowadays. But at the game, at the game or
on the way to the game, you didn't worry about
those things. You just wanted to show off that this
is who you were. And and that was one of
the things that I miss about, you know, the traditions,
(24:19):
because you don't have that in a lot of ways anymore.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Where.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
It's just about community pride, community pride. I'm not saying
that it's wrong for you not to be proud of
your child or your family, member. I'm just saying, as
a group, as a community, we were all proud.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Of one another.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
And I don't know that we have that very much
anymore in our schools. I know I said that was
the last thing, but it's not. There is one tradition
that has lingered on for a long time, and it's
a Texas thing. It's not across the nation thing. It
may happen in other states and in other communities, but
for the most part, this is a Texas tradition. And
(24:58):
that's the tradition of mums and moms and garters are
a thing, and they've been a thing a long time.
I can remember having a garter a couple of times
in high school, probably all four years, but I know
for sure my senior year I had one. And I
remember getting girls moms and you know whatever, probably got
(25:21):
multiple mums from multiple girls without them annoying whatever.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
That's another episode for another time.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
But the thing was that, you know, it was it
was something that you'd wear on your the girls would
wear on their blouses or their jackets, the guys would
wear on their arms, and that was it. And that
that mom, that mom was like, you know, the size
of a regular moum flower and you know, pretty sided
(25:47):
about a hand handful size, you know what I mean.
So it was it was fine to wear it, and
you know, of course, the thing was it had those
little annoying bells and trinkets at the bottom and you'd
hear somebody walk and you laugh at that and stuff.
But now they've become this extravaganza. And I know people
will say, well, you know, the bigger the tradition, the
(26:09):
bigger the item and whatever. And we've turned mums into
practically entire suits, right like you you have these young
girls walking around with these mums where they were having
to wear them around their neck and you can't even
see what they're wearing underneath because the mum is as
(26:30):
wide as their bodies and as long as their legs are,
and so all you see is head and shoes and
you don't see very much of anything else. Now I'm
not saying that any of these girls are doing or
wearing anything or not wearing anything. I'm not saying that
they are. You just can't see what they're wearing because
they're so big. What made it cool or made it
(26:51):
fun back in the day was that's when you wore
your best shirt. Right homecoming is the moment where that's
that's the school or that's the moment that you want
to be seen. You want everybody to know that you're there.
These moms have gotten so out of hand that you
(27:12):
can't see that stuff. You look like everybody else because
all you see is head and sneakers. You know. I'm
not saying get rid of the mum tradition. I think
the mum tradition is great. I think that's wonderful that
moms can pass that on to their daughters, daughters pass
it on to their daughters, and it's a it's a
family thing, and I think that's wonderful, and I think
(27:34):
it should it should be a tradition that is continued
for generations upon generations. All I'm saying is make them
Mum's regular size, make them reasonable size where you're not
hiding that poor child.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
It just makes absolutely no sense to me that you
would have something that big to show your school. And
this coming from a guy who brazen lee would wear
stuff to make sure that you knew he had school spirit.
I mean, there is a photo of me somewhere floating
around Facebook where I am wearing a red and white
(28:16):
striped turtleneck.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I look like freaking wears Waldo. Okay.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
And if you don't think for one second that I
wouldn't wear that thing if I had it today.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
You're mistaken.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I wouldn't wear it today because it's ninety eight degrees
and it's hot outside. But when it cools down and
I had that, I'd wear it in a heartbeat, no
doubt about it. I would wear right. But that was
part of the fun of growing up with traditions, growing
(28:47):
up with community pride, growing up with school spirit. And
I think sometimes we lose that in our everyday life.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Now, you know.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
I know my wife thinks it's crazy. I know she
thinks I'm wild for this.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Again.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Fox Tech Right proud alumni nine Class of nineteen the
mighty Class of nineteen ninety. Lanier will always be the rival, okay.
And I know things have changed to Tech. We don't
have all the sports. We definitely don't have football anymore.
And Lanier is doing well. They continue to grow. The
West Side pride shout out to them. Give them all
(29:29):
the props for being able to sustain that school in
that area for as long as they have. But they'll
always be my rival, even though them in tech will
very rarely, if any time, compete in anything sports wise,
They'll always be the rival. There will never be a
time that they won't be the rival. Right, So, Royal
(29:54):
blue and white is.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Not a combination of clothing that I wear ever. Okay.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
My wife worked for Lavernia School District Royal Blue and
White LV. Okay, so just a little annoyed, just a
little irritated when.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
My wife worked there.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
And then it was worse because my daughter graduated from there.
She was the mascot one year, she was in the
color guard one year.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
And they do this, they do this little cheer, you know,
and they do the little hand thing with this lv LV.
It drove me. N I never did it. I would
never do it, but it drove me nuts. It drove
me nuts.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Right, And my wife thinks I'm crazy, cause she's like, dude,
you've been out of high school for thirty five years.
Let it go, already, let it freaking go. I will
never let it go. Okay, I will never.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Let it go.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I will always root against the Vokes. I have a
very good friend at work, and it's it's ironic. Actually,
I have two It's ironic that a kid from the
west Side meets two guys and works with two guys
from the west Side and we work together here in Stockdale.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
He went to Lanear, the other guy went to Lanear,
and I went to Tech. And I believe, actually I
believe there's two other people I know for sure that
also went to Lanear and.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
They all work with me. Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
So I will never let it go. There will never
be a time in my life that I will ever
let that go. I will hold on to that forever, Okay, forever.
And part of that is because of the traditions and
the things that I participated in.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
When I was in high school.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
And I hope that the young people today are taking
in every possible moment that's happening in their high school lives.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
I know some of it's not good. I know some
of it can be tough. I know some of it
can be brutal.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
But I hope in four years, no matter whether you
are on that spectrum of freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, I
hope somewhere in those four years, you have moments that
you treasure and you cherish with your friends or with
your family.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Because I know I do. I know I do, and
if I could, if I could, I.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Would go back just so I could see my young
self and just to laugh at my young self because
of how foolish I used to be.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
And there's still some truth to that foolishes now.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
But I just think that a lot of who I
am today was molded in those young years walking those
halls at Lewis W.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Fox Technical High School.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
And without the breakthrough banners and without the Spirit Women's
and without the Charge Cheer and the We Got Spirit
and all of those things, and the moms that I
bought for people and the garters that I wore. Without
those things, man, I don't know. I don't know that
I would have the memories or the good times that
(33:20):
I did. So you know, hopefully some of you will
hear this and hopefully it'll jar some memories for you,
you know.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
I mean, I can, I can.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
There's countless things that I can remember of friends and
things that we did back in the day that were
related to school. There's countless memories I can think of
away from school that we did that I'm not talking about.
But but there's a lot of fun stuff that I
got to experience with my friends and friends that I
still have today, and I'm so thankful that I have
(33:54):
them in my life and that I have the memories
that I have, and we can talk about some of
this stuff and laugh at it and whatever.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Now.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
But yeah, man, you know, give me a breakthrough, a
paper painted breakthrough banner. I will buy one of each
of your spirit ribbons, okay. And I will cheer and
even dance if I need to with your band and
Pep Squad as they do their thing in the stands
(34:22):
to keep the crowd hype.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
All right, I'll do all of that. I'll do it all.
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
And there's a part of me that cannot wait until
my grandchildren are in high school and participating in stuff
because they have no idea, they have no idea in
their young lives. What is waiting for them when their
papa gets out there to do something.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Because it's gonna be great. It's gonna be great, and
I hope.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
People are recording when it happens because it's gonna be wild. Anyways,
hopefully you're listening to this that brings back memories for
you and you can think of some fun stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
That you used to do.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Maybe you can reach out to your friends and bring
up some some fond memories and y'all can go down
memory lane.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
And hey, man, if.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
You're going through homecoming right now, because I know some
of you are having homecoming festivity festivities already. If you're
doing that, participate, enjoy it, take the picture, soak in
the moment, live in the moment, enjoy it, enjoy it,
enjoy it, enjoy it. Fan Poll Sports a true tech
(35:27):
sports podcast for a true tech sports fan.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Once again, this has been Ronnie.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
And anytime I can talk high school sports or anything
that comes with it, I'm all about it and I'm
out peace. Yes you
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