Funny Story

bandkid

Moderator
Staff member
I want to share a funny story with y'all.

This past week, I was in Washington, DC, on business. While there, I got to attend the Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park, where the Washington Nationals play.

While I was waiting to leave for the game in the lobby of my hotel, I started talking with an older gentleman wearing a shirt indicating he had been on the coaching staff at Groesbeck at some point before he retired. He asked me what part of Texas I'm from and when I told him I grew up in Port Neches, I found I was no longer talking to an old Groesbeck coach.

Suddenly, I was talking to a former assistant coach at A&M Consolidated recounting how dumbfounded he was when he and his team came out of the locker room for the pre-game warm-up to see approximately 32,000 purple-clad Indian fans streaming into the stands on the other side of the field an hour before kickoff at the Astrodome in November of 1989.

Apparently, the PN-GISD superintendent at that time had told the A&M Consolidated head coach before the game that PN-G needed a playoff venue with at least 15,000 seats on our side of the field. And apparently, the A&M coach didn't believe our superintendent was actually serious at least in part because, per the guy I was talking to, A&M Consolidated didn't expect to bring even 1,500 fans of their own.

But after that game? A&M never questioned our fan following again.

There was a little extra pep in my step the whole way to the ballpark after that.
 
Awesome story. It never fails that the opposition is in awe. Most schools and towns are so used to small crowds that they can’t even comprehend the possibility. Stephenville’s Art Briles made similar comments in 1999. And every person I ever brought to a playoff game was amazed and cheering as loud as anyone. Big crowds don’t win games, but PN-G fans are truly the epitome of the ‘12th Man’ in high school football.

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1999 Astrodome - 39,000 in attendance
 
My sister-in-law was working at A&M Consolidated that year. When the boys were leaving and the whole school went to wave them off she told the superintendent she couldn't go out there and wish them good luck. He asked why and she told him he just doesn't understand. After the game was over the following Monday the superintendent walked straight into her office and said, "that is awesome, I want that here, how do I get that here.",,,,,,,Just like she told him previously, he doesn't understand. You don't just say hey fans this is what we need to do..... PNG has a special spirit that just can't be copied. It's something you just have when you are born an Indian fan and nobody can explain it and nobody can replicate it.
 

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I could not be more proud of our team and our community. The spirit here is unmatched! I am so lucky to be a part of it and to wear the purple and white! The journey of this football season, with these coaches and our players, will stay with me forever.  -- PN-G Head Coach Jeff Joseph

Huge shout out to the entire Port Neches-Groves community for the support last night! You all created an amazing atmosphere for a high school football game and brought so much energy to our team! Our Band, G Crew, Indianettes, Frontline, and Cheerleaders were awesome!  -- PN-G Head Coach Jeff Joseph

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