Keeping the chains moving

Fourteen years working side-by-side, dodging high school football players and angry visiting football team members, running the chains at Texan has been a learning experience.

That is exactly what Dave Oswalt, Carlos Martinez, and Jesse Brown do on Friday night home games during the regular football non-playoff games. They all love their job, even standing on a hot field in late August early September 100-degree field.

In the ’01-’02 season Jesse joined up, he ran chains with his parents. He’s the youngest of the group, and a Wimberley born and bred.

“I met Carlos, our kids had the same class and then Dave came with Carlos.”

“Kim Martinez, my wife, said to go down on the field and just see them,” Carlos said. He wanted to be down on the field in the trenches. Carlos and Dave have been friends for decades years going back to their years coaching little league baseball together. After Brown was added to the team, the Chain Gang was complete.

And it’s a real job.

“People ask how do I get down there…they don’t realize how much running up and down (a hundred yard field) there is. But then again you have the best seats in the house,” Carlos said

“But not for your team,” Jesse said.

They are always on the visitor’s side.

“You don’t realize how fast it is until you’re down there,” Carlos said.

Which leads to the question, ‘do you get hit a lot?”

“Only if they hit you from the back. Most of the times you can drop the chains and run,” Dave said. “We’re pretty mobile,” Jesse said.

One advantage the trio hold is that they keep their heads in the game and are ready to move with a referee’s hand jesters, and not before.

They work with both San Antonio and Austin area UIL referees. If the Gang had previously worked with the referees, they are trusted and the refs can do their jobs without worrying about the chains. If there is a new referee crew, after the first quarter or so they have no more worrying and are free to do their own jobs.

Jesse is the default head of the group, working the down marker. Carlos and Dave have the chain. By the way, UIL officials measure the chains carefully before each game, just in case anyone gets any ideas.

There is a certain camaraderie with the officials, especially when they previously worked here.

“Texan Stadium is a nice stadium in a beautiful place,” one official said.

Being on the visitor’s sidelines, the Chain Gang is often accused of stealing signals from both players and coaches. That is where humor and a thick skin come in handy.

“We try to be as neutral as we can. When kickoff comes, we are part of the officiating crew,” Jesse said. Sometimes that can be hard as Carlos’ son Gavin played, as did Dave’s son Derek. “Those were the best two years,” Dave said.

“We get to watch the excitement on Friday nights. There are people who change their lives just to watch. It’s electric. Twenty-five years later, I look back, it’s pretty cool to know that I was the last class to graduate from Danforth and to see how we evolved,” Jesse said.

“Think about how many athletes graduated from this small community,” Carlos said.

All three plan on being on the sidelines as a Chain Gang for a long time. “At least 14 more years,” Dave said

For their services, there’s a lot of respect from the coaches who go out of their way to thank each of them. They are also fed every game and given Wimberley Texan sport shirts in red, white and blue.

“And the fun we have as the three of us,” Jesse said. That can’t be measured.