Tribe Pride reaches city streets
Tribe Pride Mary Beth Murphy and Jim Geiger of Murphy Striping put down a Tribe stencil on Richmond Road. Photo by Erin Zagursky
Tribe Pride Murphy paints a Tribe symbol on Richmond Road near the Alumni House on Sept. 10, 2010. Photo by Erin Zagursky
Tribe Pride Murphy paints a Tribe logo on Richmond Road near the Alumni House. Photo by Erin Zagursky
Tribe Pride Murphy and Geiger lift the stencil to reveal the newly painted logo. Photo by Erin Zagursky
Tribe Pride Murphy and Geiger touch up the painting. Photo by Erin Zagursky
Tribe Pride Eight of the Tribe logos were placed on Richmond and Jamestown Roads on Friday. Photo by Erin Zagursky
William & Mary’s territory has been officially marked.
One day before the football team opened its home season against Virginia Military Institute, eight “Tribe” logos were painted on the streets surrounding the campus on Friday, Sept. 10, in an effort to inspire Tribe Pride on campus and in the community. Four logos were painted on Jamestown Road and four were painted on Richmond Road.
"We are excited to be able to share Tribe Pride with the City of Williamsburg," said Director of Athletics Terry Driscoll. "We are very appreciative of the city's willingness to work with us to make this happen and it demonstrates a great working relationship. The logos look great and timing couldn't be better."
The College received special permission from the City of Williamsburg to place the logos on the streets. Alumni Mary Beth Murphy and Jim Geiger ’75 MBA of Murphy Striping did the painting using a large stencil and paint the same color as yellow street lines.
As Murphy and Geiger --– wearing green and gold shirts respectively – painted one logo on Richmond Road near the Alumni House on Friday morning, several passing motorists honked and waved and one even yelled, “Go, Tribe” as the logo became visible against the black asphalt.
Barbara Walker, a sophomore transfer student who just began her first semester at William & Mary, stopped to check out the logo as she walked down Richmond Road.
“It’s pretty cool,” she said. “That’ll show VMI.”
Show them the Tribe did, 45-0, Saturday night. In beating the Keydets for the 24th consecutive time, W&M outgained the visitor, 391-239, and limited the Keydets to 1-of-19 on third-down conversion attempts.
Senior quarterback Mike Callahan completed 12-of-17 passes for 234 yards and a touchdown before coach Jimmye Laycock let the reserves play midway through the third quarter. Junior running back Jonathan Grimes rushed for 71 yards and three touchdowns.
Defensively, the Tribe intercepted five passes, two by sophomore safety Brian Thompson. Cornerback B.W. Webb returned a punt 64 yards in the first quarter to open the rout.
On Saturday, W&M (1-1) travels to Norfolk to face second-year program Old Dominion. The Monarchs are 1-1 after a loss to Jacksonville and a victory over Campbell. The Tribe will be the first Colonial Athletic Association member ODU has played since resurrecting its football program; the Monarchs join the CAA as a fulltime member next season.
Kickoff is 7 p.m., and the game at S.B. Ballard Stadium's Foreman Field is sold out. The contest will be televised live by Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, and on tape delay (10:30 p.m.) by Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.
As always, the game can be heard on the Tribe Radio Network (92.3 FM and 107.9 FM) starting 30 minutes before kickoff. Jay Colley and Bob Sheeran handle the action from the booth; newcomer Matt Ridjaneck adds commentary from the sidelines.
