After three quarters of a century, the Texas Wesleyan Rams are almost ready to play another football game.
The program, disbanded in 1941, has returned, with the season kicking off Sept. 2 at McPherson College in Kansas. The first home game in 75 years will be played the following Saturday, Sept. 9 at 2 p.m., at Farrington Field, as will all subsequent home games.
Wednesday, Aug. 16, the team held a press conference at Rodeo Goat restaurant. The media and fans got the meet coaches and some players, along with getting a glimpse at the season ahead.
“I can’t wait until we get to that first game across the street from here,” Texas Wesleyan Board of Directors Chairman Tim Carter said.
Texas Wesleyan President Frederick Slabach noted that the last time the Rams played a football game at Farrington it was homecoming on Nov. 15, 1941. They defeated Trinity 39-0.
Then, Slabach said of the team’s head coach, “I think this job was tailor-made for Joe Prud’homme.”
Associate Athletic Director Ricky Dodson said, “It’s a real exciting time to be a Texas Wesleyan Ram. We want it (football) to be as big-time as we can make it.”
Dodson announced that each home game will feature a pre-game tailgate starting at noon in the east parking lot of Farrington Field, complete with music and games for kids. There will also be an after-game party at the Reservoir Bar.
Then, Prud’homme took the microphone. He spoke of the program and himself preparing for this moment since he was hired in late February of 2016.
“There was not even a football on campus,” he joked. “My office the first three or four weeks was a bar table and a laptop.”
Prud’homme was already well known around Fort Worth and the state. In 24 seasons as the head coach at Nolan Catholic High School he built a perennial powerhouse that won seven state championships at the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools Class 5A level between 2004 and 2013. He was also named “Dave Campbell’s Texas Football” magazine’s Private School Coach of the Year in 2008.
“I really want to make this something special for everybody,” he said.
When asked about his team’s style of play, Prud’homme replied, “We’ll be similar to the Atlanta Falcons – but take away the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl.”