TCU Mem'ries Sweet: Tony and Rema F.O.R.ever (Part One)

I am an F.O.R. What's that, you may ask. It literally translates as "Friend of Rema's," and let me say, whoever in Frogdom desires to die peacefully at a hale and hearty age of 80+ had better ensure they are F.O.Rs, lest they take a trip or two to the E.R.

Prior to my scheduling this interview, I knew Rema Rhone and her husband, Tony Beblowski, were legends among Frog fandom, despite neither of them having studied at TCU. Little did I know upon what basis they could make the claim. Though I have limited experience with sports and sports fanatics, my acquaintance with musical aficionados runs wide and deep, and let me say, though I've known my fair share of obsessives, none approach the intensity of Rema's passion for all things Horned Frogs. By comparison, the Deadheads are positively milquetoast.

I scheduled a two hour meeting, expecting the discussion to last half that time. 2.5 hours and 3 cups of coffee later, fingers sore, I emerged jittery with six pages, single-spaced, of stories, opinions, predictions, promises, and remembrances, only a fraction of which will be (or could be) recounted here.

The one challenge a colleague had warned me of when I expressed interest in writing this profile was that getting Tony to start talking might prove as difficult as getting Rema to stop. I was, therefore, only too happy when Tony opened the conversation. My question was simple enough, as was his answer.

"Since you never attended TCU, what got you interested in the Horned Frogs in general?"

Thus the three of us, Tony, Rema and I, are off to the races. "For me," Tony says, "it was loving the sport of football, and TCU was a local team. I took my son to TCU football games, not many, I didn't know anyone at TCU at the time. But it was love of football, and they were a local team."

"I'm from Colorado," Rema says. "I used to work at CU in the athletic department. I'm not super athletic but I'm very competitive." Tony nods, quietly. "We weren't married yet, but Tony wanted to know if I would go to a football game. Of course, at first, I liked TCU because their colors are purple and white, and those were my high school colors. But it was so different from CU because CU was so wild and crazy. But Tony loves football and I love football so we decided to get season tickets. We've had season tickets since 2000. Then we started tailgating and it was a blast. Started traveling, with Brian (Hemann) and Steven (Leal), and inviting people into our circle. Because of KillerFrogs Hour, we got to know the coaches. Jill Kramer (the volleyball coach) loved Tony. And Coach Pebley (women's basketball) played at CU while I worked there, and I never knew it. So I got to know her."

It's now Tony's turn. "What I tell people is we have introduced TCU to a lot of folks because we love the school and the sports program and what it stood for. I introduced Rema and she took it to the next level. I didn't think that when we first bought our season tickets we would be buying season tickets for volleyball, men's and women's basketball, football and baseball."

"Is that all?" I ask.

"That's everything," he says.

"That's everything--sports wise," Rema says, emphasizing the qualifier. "I have tickets to TCU theater. The program's called First Nighters. You buy tickets, you get dinner, the producers and the actors and costume designers come and talk to you, and then you go to the theater. My favorite production was Sweeney Todd, that cast and crew knocked it out of the park. That was four years ago maybe."

Here Rema pauses.

"Do you think I’m over the top sometimes?"

Tony nods.

"Yes, you think I'm over the top sometimes. I love those theater kids."

"But again I think it’s what I was alluding to," says Tony. "We bought these other season tickets beside football because Rema liked the other sports. We talked about it and said okay let’s do it. If you look at all the sports she’ll go to more games than I go to. Her schedule is a little more flexible than mine and she works in Fort Worth. But she has a desire to go more often than I do. This is a funny tidbit. I never liked baseball. I first became interested in TCU baseball when I noticed the trend that if baseball was doing well football did well the next year. So that’s when I got interested in going to the baseball games, to see how they were doing. Her interest is now overtaking my interest to an extent. And she’ll go to more games overall."

"People think I’m a TCU alum and they think I work there," Rema says. "I hate going to some place and not knowing how the operation works. When people on Facebook or TCU Horned Frog Nation come in, I usually have the answers. We’ve been to so many games I can be a helper."

And now I'm already nearing my word limit, and despite substantial cuts (apologies to Rema), I haven't covered a third of the interview. So I will conclude this initial piece with a question clarifying the introductory one "what got you interested in the Horned Frogs?":

"What does TCU stand for to you?"

Tony takes it up. "Part of it is what you read and hear. You hear that academically it’s a good school. I think that’s a part of it. I know most of the history about the athletics where the team got into some trouble and lost scholarships and was on probation. Then when Gary Patterson started he made it larger than life. Watching it go from good to bad to good there’s no doubt that if you read or hear the truth, TCU has a very rich tradition. I think what grabs a lot of people is it’s a small school. And I think that’s an attraction when trying to understand it. It’s small and more intimate."

Rema: "I’d take a little different direction. We’re such a good team why can’t we do more things? I’ve always thought the TCU fans and the football team are not as fun as other schools. They’re kind of like the golf country club fans. But I was impressed by the numbers they were giving us for academics in all the sports. The baseball kids are the smartest. Their scores are super high. So, you have really good athletics and really good academics. But the enthusiasm isn't always there. That's where I come in."

Indeed, Rema. Indeed.

Next profile: we will be discussing Rema and Tony's opinions on Sonny Dykes, Gary Patterson, women's basketball, and their sense of community and family.

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