For Falcons, Texas-sized Support
The hottest-selling T-shirt at a recent clinic run by the Texas High School Football Coaches Association features a map of the United States. The state of Texas is emblazoned with one word: Football. The rest of the country? “No football.”
That kind of Lone Star swagger rode into Bentley this fall, thanks to Paul LeBon and his tailgate-on-six-wheels, “Falcon One.”
Parental Pride
LeBon’s son, Jared, is a sophomore tailback on the Bentley football team and a product of Edward S. Marcus High School, one of the top 5A programs in Texas.
Though born and raised in Texas, Jared has New England ties. Paul is a native of Woonsocket, R.I., and the family spent many summer vacations in the Ocean State. Even so, Jared’s path to Bentley was not exactly direct; in fact, he arrived via U-turn.
It was 2008. Jared was an academic all-state selection in Texas and soon to graduate 11th in a class of 732. His accomplishments caught the eye of Brown and Harvard and, in April, he and his father came to take a look at the two schools.
“We had just left Harvard, and were heading down to Providence to visit Brown when I got a call from Jared’s high school coach,” Paul remembers. “He says, ‘Hey, my neighbor, Greg [Novarro, Class of 1993], is a hall-of-fame running back from Bentley. He has seen Jared play, and told the Bentley coaches about him. They would love to meet him.’ So we turned around, and the rest is history.”
No. 1 Fans
Waltham is a long way from Dallas, so the LeBons went out of their way to ensure their son a good transition. They flew out for seven Falcons games in 2009, bringing along people close to Jared — friends, a high school coach, even his first-grade teacher — to cheer him on.
“We realized he probably wasn’t going to get playing time,” says Paul. “But we also knew he would be away from home and lonely.”
Still, the travel began to wear. “We’d fly in, get off the plane, pick up our rental car, buy a Styrofoam cooler and food for the tailgate – then start all over again the next time,” explains Paul. “I thought, ‘Next year, there has to be a better way.’”
As is often true in Texas, better meant bigger. Paul purchased a 28-foot Itasca motor home, covered it with team photos and other images, and drove it from Dallas to Waltham. Moored on campus all season, Falcon One is Paul’s home base when visiting Jared, and a rolling promotion of university pride at football games.
“It’s unique,” Paul says. “I’ve talked with friends at the University of Texas and at Oklahoma, and even they’ve never seen anything like it.”
The LeBons are already a fixture at Bentley tailgates — just follow the smell of Texas barbecue — and Paul has been impressed by the dedicated and welcoming nature of Falcons fans and family.
“We’re overwhelmed by the camaraderie that is the Bentley parents group,” says Paul. “We’ve been accepted with open arms, and made some tremendous friendships. If it weren’t for that enthusiasm, this probably wouldn’t have worked out.”