Signed Forever Purple

Here's a response we got from a reader from Chicago:

My mother was a UNT grad. My sister was a UNT grad. It was simply assumed I would follow in their footsteps. My dad had a junior high education. All he wanted was for me to do better than he had done.

In 1970, I became a TCU freshman. My mother and sister felt certain I had been brainwashed. My dad rolled his eyes a lot. There was no brainwashing involved. I simply wanted to be a TCU Horned Frog.

For four years I participated in every activity TCU had to offer. I made good grades. I was president of my sorority. I was Miss TCU. And all of that was great, but what I really wanted was to have a football team I could be proud of and brag about to my friends.

For 4 years, I never experienced a winning football season. Sure, we’d occasionally beat Baylor or Rice or maybe SMU. Arkansas “woo pig soooee’ed us” year after year. Texas stampeded us like Bevo on steroids. And those Aggies, well we got “gigged” on a regular basis.

I graduated. I got married. I moved to seven states. I got divorced. I moved three more times. I knew Bekins, United Van Lines and Atlas Movers like I should have known my neighbors. But through it all, one thing stayed constant: I remained a proud TCU Horned Frog.

Over the years, I explained (and tried to describe) a Horned Frog from Boston to Princeton (yes, THAT Princeton). From Sacramento to Chicago (twice) and then on to Nashville. Some got it and some didn’t. It is a toad? A lizard? A frog? Do you get warts when you touch it?

Through it all, I wished for a TCU football team that would make me proud. And I waited. And I waited. And I waited. For years, I waited.

Then Gary Patterson entered the scene as Head Coach. Gary who? Never head of him. Where’s the flash? Where’s the splash? Still waiting. And I’m not getting any younger.

Fast forward to January 1, 2011. 2011 is the year I’ll turn 60! And finally, I have the answers I’ve been seeking. Splash and flash? Don’t need it. Is it a frog or a lizard? If you have to ask, you’ll never understand it any way.

What we have is a coach who knows how to take good players and teach/allow them to be great. What we have is a coach who understands the concept of “team,” and players who respond to that way of thinking.

What we have is a coach who really doesn’t even look like a coach. He hikes up his pants and re-ties his shoes so often I get whiplash watching the contortions.

What we have is a lack of drama, trauma and whining and lots of positive results.

Thank you Coach Patterson and the TCU Horned Frog Football Team for finally giving me what I’ve wanted for so many years. Cheers to you, 2011 Rose Bowl Champions! And cheers to the fact that I’ll never have to “explain” a Horned Frog again.

Forever Purple,
Judy Romer Nutter ‘74

Check out more TCU stories at The TCU Magazine.