Rice Athletics isn’t waiting for a new stadium to introduce new sports traditions. A real-life train horn is the latest addition to the Owls’ game day experience.
Scott Abell has always been the kind of guy who strives to get others involved. He’s a program builder, utilizing what he calls his WE values (Win Everything, Win Everywhere, With Everyone) to generate buy-in with his players and staff. But he hasn’t stopped there. Abell has also worked to add touchpoints with the fanbase everywhere he’s gone. From attending pep rallies to driving around campus in a golf cart, he wants to be present.
In an effort to strength that bond with the fans and generate that engagement, Abell introduced a train horn sound effect while he was at Washington and Lee. The program would play the sound through the stadium loudspeakers on scoring plays, rallying up the crowd with its deafening blast.
Once it started, it stuck. It followed him to Davidson, and from there, Abell had hopes of bringing that tradition to South Main.
“Some people get into a turnover chain, whatever. This is kind of my thing,” Abell said. “Some people have the cannons they shoot off when they score. I was looking for something that we could have that when people came to our place, they’d be like, “God, I hate that horn. We’ve now found that.”
Abell’s initial request was met with some trepidation. Rice Stadium is on the older side as far as facilities go and the sound system wasn’t as robust as some within the Rice Athletic Department might have hoped. Playing the noise over the loudspeakers just wouldn’t have the same effect, they posited.
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Rather than settle for good-enough. Rice began exploring. Assistant Athletic Director of Broadcast Services Wayne Gibson, who oversees the tech behind Rice gameday experiences began to ask around. He was met with one rather curious idea. What about getting an actual train horn?
With that, Gibson was off. He reached out to some contacts and before long has acquired a five-bell model salvage from a real-life locomotive. That horn, which is a fully functional device that was formerly mounted to the train engine, was put onto a cart for portability. A new compressor and trigger system was configured, enabling the horn to blow on demand. All that was left was to test it out.
Rice debuted the horn for the first time against Houston. It didn’t take long for the limitations to touchdown toots to expand to big offensive plays, turnovers, and even to more rote third down plays, geared toward firing up the crowd. Just a few weeks in, the horn has embedded itself within the gameday experience.
The horn’s impact on campus won’t stop with football. The cart has already been rolled over to soccer games, blaring it’s thunderous note when the Owls score goals. Plans are also underway to utilize the new toy at baseball games and position it in the outfield, although how frequently it gets used remains under discussion.
