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Since the late 1980s, TCU football has been the link that has held John Runyon and eight of his fraternity brothers together. The last eight years, however, they have been linked for another reason: the knowledge of having achieved one of the greatest mysteries of college football in recent years.
Saturday night in Arlington, Texas, the nine players from across the country will meet at the AT & T stadium, where their horned frogs will face the Ohio State. They will look from a box that might as well call "The Little Sisters of the Poor Sequel".
Because, after all, they were behind 20 billboards that popped up around Columbus, Ohio, eight years ago.
"It's my main team, and win or lose, TCU football is what keeps us together," Runyon said. "And that passion we have is what fueled the billboard thing."
This billboard only added to the rise of TCU with Ohio State.
Of course, both teams are ranked at the national level. And yes, ESPN's College GameDay will be in Fort Worth to preview the game.
The Horned Frogs also did not forget to be excluded from the first college football playoffs in 2014, when the selection committee placed the Buckeyes, eventual national champion, over the Horned Frogs, who went from 3 to 6 during the last weekend. despite pounding the Iowa State by 52 points.
Still, the tension between TCU and Ohio State goes back to the 2010 season, when Horned Frogs, undefeated by Gary Patterson, was trying to become the first team of a mid-major conference to play for a national BCS championship.
Ohio President Gordon Gee challenged TCU's bid, suggesting that horned frogs were unconquered only because they played "the little sisters of the poor".
"I made that remark, unfortunately, but of course, I'm well known for throwing away woes," joked Gee, now president of West Virginia, in an interview with ESPN.com. "I always thought that they had a good football program, I thought it was just a fun statement."
In the end, Runyon and his friends had the last word.
TCU remained undefeated. And although the Horned Frogs failed to play for a national championship, they were invited to play in the Rose Bowl against Big Ten champion Wisconsin, who also gave the Buckeyes their only loss of the season.
Runyon and his eight friends met in California and went to play together, watching the TCU knock down the 21-19 Badgers.
"It was the best sport day of my life," said Runyon. "I have chills even thinking about it." My dad and I seldom miss a home game while growing up, watching TCU lose since I was in diapers.
"Unfortunately, my father died in 2005. I had tears of sadness, but tears of joy because I was with all my friends and we had to celebrate the victory."
Runyon and his crew were not, however, completely satisfied.
Together, they suffered through all the defeats of the Southwest Conference. They had gone through the humiliation of being excluded from the 12th Conference.
And just two months ago, they had endured the indignity of their team compared to the Little Sisters of the Poor.
They wanted the Ohio State to feel that pain a little bit.
And that inspired a chain of email, with Runyon suggesting two days later that they "share the costs of a billboard near the Ohio State campus."
Wes Hoaglund took Runyon's e-mail request seriously and immediately phoned his colleague Dave Yacullo, who worked for an advertising agency that participated in national open-air campaigns.
Yacullo was inside.
"We were very lucky because Columbus is the first market where they tested digital outdoor advertising as a network," said Yacullo. "So, there had been places where digital had already been done before, but they had not really built a complete network covering the entire market knowing that we could get up right away, it was an incredible opportunity. " , we will not just put one, we will create a wallpaper for the Columbus market. "
That day, more than 20 digital billboards circulated around Columbus, with the same message:
CONGRATULATION TO
TCU
For their BCS Rose Bowl Victory
-Small Sisters of the Poor
Immediately, the trickery made headlines across the country. Except that nobody knew who was behind.
"There were all those urban myths out there … people thought it was a T. Boone Pickens oil guy," Yacullo said, referring to the state's mega booster. ;Oklahoma.
Because Clear Channel was still experimenting with the concept of digital outdoor advertising at the city level, the total bill was only $ 5,000. Hoaglund covered this through its advertising company, while the rest of the group raised an additional $ 5,000 to donate to the Order of the Little Sisters of Oregon, Ohio, whose mission is to serve the elderly poor.
"When you're in my business, you have to have a good sense of humor, and I thought that they also had a good sense of humor," said Gee about the anonymous contingent TCU display panels. "And of course, which is really funny, I did not know that there was a Catholic order called the Little Sisters of the Poor, I always have the blues on my knees to ask for forgiveness."
Gee, who also sent a personal check to the Little Sisters of the Poor, was forgiven by the sisters for turning them into a punch during her visit the following autumn.
Runyon, Hoaglund, Yacullo and the others, for their part, chose to remain anonymous to strengthen their friendship. Even TCU sports director Jeremiah Donati did not know who was behind the billboards.
"There were people who took responsibility and I knew they were not involved," Donati said.
A few days ago, Runyon turned the beans upside down at Donati at a donor event for the Ohio State Game.
Their secret billboard could finally be out.
But as they gather again from all over the country for one of the biggest TCU games since this Rose Bowl, their friendship has never been stronger.
"This could be another fantastic time for TCU football, and winning would be better than losing," Runyon said.
"But for us, that's what matters."
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