25 Years Tailgating at Texas — How to Build a Game Day Community That Lasts | Ryan Lepper

It started in 1998 with Ricky Williams's Heisman run, a guy selling bootleg t-shirts in a parking lot, and two college kids who thought: we should make a tailgate to sell our own shirts. Twenty-five years later, Hornball Tailgaters is one of the most established tailgating institutions at the University of Texas — and Ryan Lepper has the stories to prove it.

Ryan joins Luke to walk through the full 25-year evolution of Hornball, how the tailgate survived and grew through COVID, what it looks like to host hundreds of guests through Tailgate Connect, and why Austin's tailgate scene is more than just the Longhorns — it's a culture.

What we cover: 25 years of Hornball — the full origin story · How it started: bootleg t-shirts, Ricky Williams, and a parking lot epiphany · Growing through COVID and coming out stronger · Hosting guests from Fresno State, USC, and across the country · What makes Austin and UT's tailgate scene unique in the Big 12 · Dream tailgate guest: Alex Smith (and his wife's famous photo) · Post Malone officially invited to Hornball Tailgaters

Transcript

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Intro

Luke 0:00

Welcome back to the Tailgate Connect podcast. I'm your host, Luke Lorick with Tailgating Challenge. I love tailgating probably as much as our next host, Ryan with Hornball Tailgators, has been tailgating for over 25 years in the great city of Austin, Texas. He has some amazing stories about how he grew his business for over 25 years, even through COVID. Stick around to find out more.

Music 0:45

Let's have a ball across the states from college to NFL. Tailgate Connect's got a story to tell.

Meet Ryan — Hornball Tailgaters at UT Austin

Luke 0:56

All right, welcome back to the Tailgate Connect podcast, where we talk about all things tailgating related. So if you love tailgating, you're in the right place. Tonight we have our friend of the show, Mr. Ryan Leper of Hornball Tailgating down there at the University of Texas. Ryan, how you doing, sir?

Ryan 1:18

I'm doing great, man. How are you doing today?

Is Hornball the best tailgate at UT? Bold but spot on

Luke 1:20

I am doing excellent. Anytime I can talk about tailgating, like I'm excited about that in general, getting into the season, getting into some tailgating. And I know I've been to one of your tailgates before. And now my hope is, hey, I can learn more about it and share with our followers more what they could expect if they want to check out it. Am I bold to say the best tailgate at the University of Texas? Is that bold?

Ryan 1:43

I think that's it's it's bold, but I think it's pretty spot on if I if I do say so myself.

When did Hornball officially start? Season 2001 — 25th anniversary

Luke 1:54

No doubt. No doubt. Well, so so first off, I like what I want to know is when did Hornball tailgating start?

Ryan 2:03

Well, let's see. The official start was the season uh 2001. So that was our technical first season. So 25 years ago. Uh but this will we're going into our 25th season. So, but in all honesty, actually, hornball was actually around a lot longer than that. It was actually probably around 98, maybe the end of 90, maybe the end of 97. Uh, but it wasn't really technically formed and technically named and all that stuff. But tailgating long before hornball was technically established. Um, so yeah, it's been it's been 25, 26, 27-ish years, if I may date myself.

Is this the 25th anniversary season? Yes, officially

Luke 2:37

Hey, I mean, that's impressive, right? I know a lot of us like grew up tailgating that are in this space with it, but to have like, because it sounds like this is the 25th year anniversary, right, of an official like hornball like tailgating event. Is that

25 years is nothing to sneeze at

Luke 2:51

is that correct?

Ryan 2:51

That's 100% correct. The actual name, the the the tailgate, everything. Yep, this is the it's the official 25th anniversary.

Luke 2:58

Well, it made it first off, congratulations. 25 years is nothing to sneeze at. So again, you're gonna make me come down to Texas again to celebrate 25 years with your first tailgate this season. So, I mean, again, 25 years, so A, that's awesome like as a business, as a brand, as a tailgate. It's not like you were doing this before. So, like, talk to me like, where did the love and passion for tailgating come

Where did the love come from? Growing up loving football

Luke 3:22

from?

Ryan 3:22

Man, I mean, uh, you know, obviously it starts with football, right? So you growing up loving the game of football. And so, you know, whether it's local, I played when I was a kid, kind of pee-wee level football. Um, you know, you go through, you watch your high schools, you know, play and then come to Texas down here, obviously it's huge at every single level. So, I mean, it all starts with just the love of the game, right? So, um, and then, you know, as you get into college and you start doing those things, then all of a sudden, you know, you start loving the

Ricky Williams Heisman year — the origin story begins

Ryan 3:51

game a little bit more. Uh, you start actually having a rooting interest if you haven't already had one, say, in the NFL or if your family wasn't already involved with, you know, another, another uh school or something. But yeah, so you get into college, at least my journey was I got into college, I went to Texas, loved football, started working for the recreational sports program on campus, made a bunch of friends. Uh, we, you know, they already had kind of an established kind of group that went to the games. And so I started going with them, and it was just an awesome, amazing time. Um, we started kind of just thinking about it was, I think it was, yeah, it was like '98. So that was what Ricky Williams's run, like when he got the Heisman that season. And we were sitting there. We used to go to this little place off of the off of East Campus called the Posse. And we'd go there every day, every before every game, and we tail quote unquote tailgates. Really just a restaurant. And there we'd have our beers, and then we'd try to, you know, run over to the game and have fun and do all those crazy things. And one time during that season, because Ricky was doing the record thing, there was a guy who was like, and I'm kind of getting off topic a little bit with the whole thing, but I'm kind of giving you the evolution of kind of how we started with the actual tailgate. So um, there was a guy and he was selling t-shirts with kind of Ricky Williams' kind of Heisman pose, kind of a uh like a silhouette, if you will. And we were like, man, what is that guy doing? That's that you can't be selling that. That's not right. And then we thought about it, we're like, actually, that's pretty smart. Like that guy's probably making some money. So we thought, you know, maybe we should make some t-shirts. And I know this is we're trust me when I tell you, well, we'll finally get around to the tailgating bit. I guarantee you, we're gonna get there, I promise. Um, so we ended up actually creating a company, and we used my my best friend and I when we were in college. We made a little company that we were like designing t-shirts because back in those days, like there wasn't anything that was kind of raw and edgy in the t-shirt world. Everything was just very status quo. You know, there wasn't anything that's kind of kind of, you know, I don't know. You see a lot of things these days that you're like, oh man, I would have never gotten away with that 30 years ago or 25 years ago. And so, but we kind of wanted to be edgy with it. And so we started making up kind of concepts, edgy design concepts on different sayings and different things. And so we were like, you know what, let's do this. We created a bunch of designs, we made a bunch of t-shirts, we wanted to sell the t-shirts. We thought, what better way to sell t-shirts than walk around campus, walk around the school, start hand, you know, letting people see it, doing all that stuff. And then we ended up venturing away from the east side of the campus where we started with the where we were always hanging out with the posse, and we started going kind of the west side where there were actual tailgates. And so we were walking around looking at the scene, being like, man, this is really cool. Like we didn't really even know it existed over there on that side of campus. And I mean, it wasn't a huge thing, nothing like there is today, obviously. But I mean, it was, you know, probably a hundred different groups in a parking lot doing their thing out of the back of their trucks, you know, beer cooler, all that stuff. Uh, there was one group, it was like the army that were doing like a recruiting thing, and they had this big old like rock wall looking thing that people could like climb and they were recruiting. So we were just walking around, like handing out, or not handing out, but like showing people our designs and just trying to make some money. And then all the dawned on us were like, man, we should make a tailgate. We should do a tailgate to sell our t-shirts. That is literally how it actually began.

T-shirt company led to discovering the west side tailgate scene

Luke 7:02

The t-shirt game started the tailgating

Created a tailgate to sell t-shirts — that's literally how it started

Luke 7:05

game.

Ryan 7:05

Yes, okay. It was a t-shirt, so we we started doing that, and so we we created a tailgate, branded it, did all that stuff, and with the the entire intent was to sell t-shirts to make some money. And then so we had you know, two people, a cooler, and a whole bunch of t-shirts. Well, then, you know, a couple of our friends were like, Hey, we want to join you. We're like, Well, we're selling, they're like, Well, we'll just want to hang out. Like, oh, that's cool. So they kind of well, then four more friends, and then five more friends, and then after about a year, probably by the end of that season, we kind of realized we had so much fun just tailgating, being around with our friends. We didn't sell jack, you know, we didn't make any money off that stuff. And it was just like, you know what? Forget about the t-shirts. Let's let's do this. This is awesome, this is amazing. We love it. So we met all the people that were around us at the time, you know, forged friendships, forged alliances, forged all these different relationships with just the tailgators around us. And uh, so yeah, so that really is kind of the genesis of how we became a tailgate, and then just the love of football, and then the love of friendship, the love of camaraderie, um, and finding all of those things, even though it was all, you know, capitalism and marketing to begin with, and trying to make a make a buck, um, it certainly did end up just becoming about uh all the things that make tailgating great, which is friends, people that you love, camaraderie, supporting your team, you know, coming together and all of those things. So that is how it started. And uh, yeah, here we are 25 years later from the official start.

About the people, friends, relationships, games

Luke 8:33

No, no doubt. I agree with all of that. Like, again, it's about the people, it's the friends, the relationships, the game. Like, all of that is why we love tailgating. And I feel like as I'm listening to you, I'm like, I don't think we we name our episode yet, but I'm like, from t-shirts to tailgating empires like what the name is.

Ryan 8:52

There you go. I like it about it.

Luke 8:54

Perfect.

Ryan 8:55

Awesome.

What can guests expect at Hornball?

Luke 8:56

All right, so so 25 years in the game. So hornballs. So tell people like if they come on Tailgate Connect, they get a ticket to your event. Again, it's easy button tailgating, right? Because it's all inclusive. Like, tell people what can they expect if they come to your tailgate.

All-inclusive — food, drinks, games, music, everything

Ryan 9:11

Yeah, I mean, it it really is. It's an all-inclusive event. I mean, you get your ticket, you come in through the door, and you have everything there is basically just for you. So, I mean, it's we have six open bars, we've got an entire kitchen food section. You walk in, we have a selfie station, we've got, I mean, we've got a tons of stuff in there. And then you literally just walk in, join the 500 plus other people that are there, and just make yourself at home. And that's kind of what we want. We want everybody to just pick feel at home, man. Grab a chair. If you can grab a chair, grab a chair. If not, find a spot under the canopies, find a spot next to a fan, grab a drink, and just let the fun times go. Really, that's how it is.

500-750 people average at a home game

Luke 9:47

So did I did I hear correctly? Is 500 people like an average baseline of who shows up on a home game?

Ryan 9:54

Yeah, I mean, it's probably more like 750. But yeah, I mean 500 to 750. It's probably like that. You know, I mean, give or take. But yeah, for the most part, yeah, it's it's it's pretty high up there. From from two people to to six, 700 people, it's pretty it's a pretty dramatic change.

Is that the biggest at UT? Yes — nowhere else can host that many

Luke 10:08

Pretty pretty amazing. And again, I don't know all of Texas tailgates, but I would think that's gotta be one of the biggest tailgates like on game day. Is that I I know you're shameless with everything, but is that is that fair?

Licensed for it and have the space

Ryan 10:20

No, it's absolutely 100% fair. And in fact, uh the reality is there's nowhere else that can actually host that many. So I that's the reason why I know. Because I know because there's there are Texas is such a different place. It's downtown, it's a downtown setting. They don't really allow big tailgates on campus, and so you have to do it off campus. Um, and so we're you know, in surrounded by city, and there just aren't that many places that you can actually host that many people. Um, it's just not logistically not able to happen. So I'm fortunate enough to have the relationships to be able to find those places and I know where those places are and how to kind of set those things up. So um yeah, so yeah, yeah, we're we're definitely uh we're definitely the biggest.

The Austin brand matters

Luke 10:59

Definitely. And again, that means something in Texas, right? That means something.

Ryan 11:03

Absolutely. Absolutely. We are the biggest, that's for sure.

Absolutely the biggest

Luke 11:07

All right, so with that, like all home games, is it fair to say that all home games, you're you're out there, you're setting it up, you're getting it, getting it going for the fans?

Including COVID season — drive-through tailgate

Ryan 11:15

Absolutely, 100%. We have not missed a single home game in 25 years. And is it I was gonna say that includes the COVID season, and we could talk about that. Wow, okay.

Luke is the face behind the tailgate — does he have help?

Luke 11:27

That is impressive too. And and so I like it because like you are the kind of the face behind the tailgate. You're the man that's making everything happen. So will people see you if they come to one of your tailgates?

He runs around sweating — barely surviving but loves it

Ryan 11:40

Well, they will absolutely see me. I'm a guy in the corner trying to survive, running around, sweat pouring off my face, trying to, you know, make sure everything's taken care of, that there's not, you know, too much trash or there's not too much this or that. Yeah, no, I'm definitely hands-on. I'm definitely in it all the time. Uh, I do try to take time to, you know, I have a lot of friends. We have a lot of friends that are out there, people have been with what been with us for decades. So I do, you know, and a lot of times people come out that I haven't seen in a while, right? So, you know, I do take the chance to go out there and talk to people. And um, yeah, you'll you'll definitely see me out there uh working and and and having fun and

Balance is everything

Ryan 12:13

having fun.

Luke 12:13

That's what is it? It's it's the balance, right? All things in life are about balance with that too.

Bucket list for visiting fans — why Austin?

Ryan 12:18

100%.

Luke 12:18

So obviously you're you're a big Texas guy, and that there's people that travel to different games or have like bucket lists. Like I haven't been, they might not be a Texas fan, but they want to come for a game. So outside of just, you know, your tailgate, what makes just the Texas football and the Texas tailgating scene and coming to Austin something people need to put on their bucket list?

University is downtown — Austin has its own unique vibe

Ryan 12:41

Well, like I said before, Austin is different. You know, the university is downtown. Austin has its definitely has its weirdness. Um, but it's such a unique city and it's a unique environment for the university because I mean, and other universities are in the in a downtown setting, but not really like this. I mean, they take up the entire north side of the city. And so the university is right there in the middle of all the action. Austin is, I mean, I can't even say it's an up-and-coming city anymore. Everybody knows Austin these days, right? So it's a place that people want to come to, the music scene, the food scene now. I mean, it's just, it's one of these places that people are just drawn to. And so we get a ton of people coming in from out of town. And also, obviously, the program, right? Because the program, the Texas football program, is the only professional, really professional team in Austin. I mean, we have a minor league-ish, if you will, soccer team, but uh, but yeah, there's there are there are no other major league teams in Austin. So, I mean, the University of Texas and the Longhorns, they are the pro team. So, I mean, people want to come down, they want to be a part of it. They know the atmosphere is awesome, they know that you know they're gonna have a great time. Uh, we get, yeah, I mean, I meet people every single home game that are from out of town that are not Texas fans. I get I I can't tell you how many times people have asked me, hey, where do I get a burn orange shirt from? You know, so it's like, oh, well, we carry some if you want one. But uh, but yeah, I mean, everybody who everybody wants to come to Austin at least once. And I get a ton of people who do it during football, especially bachelors.

Southern hospitality — opposing fans are welcome

Luke 14:06

No doubt. No doubt. So you got you alluded to my next question here, too, because like some people might be like, you know, I really like Ryan sounds awesome, hornball sounds like a great place to go, but like maybe they are an opposing fan. Maybe they're a rival fan. Are they gonna be welcome? Are they gonna feel uh is it gonna be gonna get a hard ribbing? Are they gonna be put in a corner over there with no drinks for them? What does that look like for the opposing fans?

Most staff are from all over — it's inclusive

Ryan 14:31

We are in the South. We have Southern hospitality and everyone is welcome. To be honest with you, the uh most of my staff, not most of my staff, but a large percentage of my staff are actually Aggies. We have some Sooner fans. Um, and if you can't if we can handle those two, we can handle anybody. So, no, it is a 100% welcoming, welcoming spot for everybody. In fact, we we actually put up uh banners, often sometimes banners, and a lot of times the actual flag of the team that we're playing. So it actually is a welcoming, a welcoming place for everybody. Um, I think last year it was Georgia came to town, and I think we probably had 300, 400 Georgia fans at our tailgate. So I mean it was a it was a big contingency of Georgia fans that came out. And uh yeah, it was great. I mean, it was you know good, wholesome trash talking, good, wholesome kind of you know environment. Uh, we have not had issues over the years with anything like that, anything that's you know turned bad or ugly. So yeah, I we're 100% welcoming to everyone. Everybody will have a great time. Um, and actually we we make sure of that. We make sure that it's a good time for all fans.

Early season heat — those first few games

Luke 15:32

Excellent. Well, speaking of good times, I I know some people like say it's the it's the first couple of games of the season, and they're like, oh my gosh, I'm looking at that Texas weather. Maybe they're coming from up north, they're like, it's looking real hot. What do you what do you like? How do you comfort them to be like, you know, we have something to try to help, knowing that Mother Nature can still be brutal in the South, but like, what do you do when like shade fails? Like, what do you got to get those people to get off the couch and still come and not just be burnt to a crisp?

It's hot in the shade at Texas in September

Ryan 15:59

Sure. No, it's a great question because yeah, I mean, it it is Texas, it's hot. It's hot in the shade, even. And those early September games, especially, you know, you're topping 105, 106, if not more. Um, so what we do is we do have, we we do our best to make it as comfortable as possible, right? So, I mean, we have, I think, something like what, three or four thousand square feet of shade, like covered tent area. So I mean, we hold hundreds and hundreds of people under shade. But beyond that, we do have fans. We have put fans all over the place. I think we have like 25 plus different kinds of industrial sized, like industrial like fans that are going all the time. Um, we also have a misting system. We've had a misting system at our tailgate probably for like maybe 15 years. I actually kind of made one a long time ago and it worked really well. And it was like, man, I've never seen any other tailgate at the time. Now you can find them kind of cheap on Amazon and whatnot, but back then you couldn't. So we do, we I have, I think it's like a 200-foot-long misting system that we have throughout the entire canopy set sections to keep it nice and cool. Um, and then we also have those industrial fans that we do actually put on Mr. Lines direct on there so the nozzles are on there, so they get a nice kind of a cool zone effect like you get when you go to an amusement park or something like that. And so, in you know, we we try to do, we try to do as much as we can to keep it comfortable for everybody. Um, and of course, obviously the uh drinks are nice and cold and they're flowing. So keep moving, get it, get it, get over there, find a nice spot, get a fan next to you, grab a share, grab a nice cold drink, and uh you'll be fine. I'll be honest with you, we it's hot and we do that we do what we can. I don't think I've ever had a single person, at least that I know of, who's left and been like, I just can't handle this eat. We gotta leave. I've never no one's ever said that to me. And I and I'm usually up at the front, usually talking to people. Yeah, um, we do we do what we can. I mean, it

What's unique at Hornball? Ice luge, shot luge, 300-pound block

Ryan 17:46

is what it is.

Luke 17:46

Those October games and November games are great, though. No doubt, no doubt. So I also remember when I came from one, there was uh an ice luge. Like, is that something that every home game that people can maybe have some fun with with drinking or maybe cool down beside that big block of ice?

300-pound ice block, two-track shot luge

Ryan 18:03

Absolutely, we do. We have a 300-pound block, uh, an ice luge, a shot luge, if you will, uh, with two tracks for for people to go up there and take shots from. It's nice and cold, hang out by it. It it drops the temperature around that area, probably 10 degrees. Um, it's because it's a big, big thing of block, big thing of ice, right? Yeah, so I mean, it's it's a great, it's a great thing that we have that we've kind of created, or that we didn't create, but we kind of uh have used it as kind of our signature now, if you will. Like we always will have the ice luge. It's kind of a signature thing. We have it up front so everybody can see it. And so it's uh it's one of those things that people that we definitely are known for for the people around here, anyways. And so people look forward to it when they come out. Um, I was just thinking about one other thing too, that um for the 25th anniversary, one of the things we're gonna do to kind of help people with with um the the with the with the weather as well is that we're gonna offer or start offering some of those like those uh battery-powered misting fans that you can like on your person hold and squirt. Uh and then also some of these, like there's I there's like um you clip them on your belt and they like blow up your shirt. It's like a rechargeable, like personal fan. And I think we're gonna put together a system where we actually can rent those out to people so that they can rent them when they get to the tailgate, put them on, be use that for extra comfort throughout it, return it before they leave, uh, you know, get a deposit back or however. We're still working on the logistics, but at least something that a little extra opportunity for them uh to have kind of more of a personal cooling device, if you will. But we're always looking, like I said, we're always looking for ways of making it more comfortable for people.

Kids at the tailgate — family-friendly with caveats

Luke 19:30

All right. So we've talked about staying cool. We've talked about opposing fans, being welcomed. The last one with the inclusivity, family friendly. Like kids, like, are they gonna, is it a good area for them to come in? Would you not recommend kids? What would you tell us if we have kids that are coming to the tailgate

Family-friendly but adults do adult things

Luke 19:48

with us?

Ryan 19:48

We do we do have kids. I mean, we it's we consider it a family-friendly environment. However, we do caveat that to make sure that everybody do does understand that we are a football university, you know, we're a university tailgate with open bar. Um, you're going to have, you know, a lot of alcohol flowing. You're going to have a lot of, you know, this, that there'll be a lot of, you know, cuss words flying, I'm sure, from here and there, but uh our DJ definitely keeps the the music clean. Um we do allow kids to come in. Um we have not ever had anybody complain that there was something that was too, you know, raunchy or too bad or too too um inappropriate or anything like that. But we put it, we leave it up to the parents, but we just let them know they are welcome in. However, this is a tailgate, an open bar tailgate in a university setting. So it's your responsibility to make sure it's an appropriate situation. But again, we've never really had any issues. And and honestly, we're our footprint's so large that if there was something that was inappropriate or something that they were uncomfortable with, there's plenty of place to go to move, to go somewhere else.

How did COVID impact Hornball?

Luke 20:51

Excellent. Excellent. Well, you alluded to this a moment ago, so I want to come back to it. So you said you operated through COVID. And I feel I feel like a lot of you know, probably tailgates and things along that line with the that type of industry like shut down, didn't want to mess with it. So I feel like tell us about it. Like how did that how did that go? Obviously, you kept you're still here, you're still rocking it. Right. But how did how did COVID and some of that impact your business with tailgating?

Major impact — state regulations, no fans allowed

Ryan 21:20

Well, I mean, it obviously it had a major impact, right? Um the the first thing was obvious it was, you know, the state shut down all tailgating across across all the the entire state. So, you know, the the the schools that had football games, those football games were, you know, the half the attendance kind of thing. And I mean, there was obviously a huge impact. Everybody understands, and everybody knows that. Uh for us, I I just could not imagine having football and not being out there doing a pregame. I just couldn't imagine it. We have done it for so many years. It was like, I can't, I can't fathom there being a football game downtown and me not being there doing a pregame. So luckily over the years, I've been able to establish. Really great relationships with people at the at that work at the state of Texas. And so I actually put together a proposal using the Department of Health and Services guidelines for like restaurants. And I put it together a tailgating proposal and said, hey, this is what I want to do. This is how we'll do it. And this is the mitigation steps that we'll take. Can we continue to do this and provide an opportunity for the public to still come out and have some sense of normalcy, but do it in a way that's safe, that everybody else is doing it in the restaurant environment. And uh we proposed it, we presented it, and they approved it. So we were the only group in the entire state of Texas that was allowed to actually do a pregame, an official true pregame tailgate, if you will. They didn't want us to call it a tailgate. It's a it's a pregame special event. Um, but it was, I mean, we were able to then do a tailgate, a special event for uh every single home game that season.

Normal game day 500 vs 25 that year

Luke 22:56

So you you alluded to just to give some perspective to those listening right now. So on a normal non-COVID game day, 500 to 750 people, what did that look like when it shifted to the pregame event party or whatever we were calling that? How many people were showing up for that then?

Drive-through tailgate during COVID

Ryan 23:15

Uh it it was a completely different, completely different. So I mean what we did, and just and it'll help kind of get to the to your answer here for the numbers, is that we ended up setting up individual tents, so individual 10 by 10 pop-ups. And so each individual 10 by 10 pop-up, we looked at it from the standpoint of a restaurant and we said, this is like having a booth at a restaurant. So we will rent out each individual canopy that's you know 10 plus feet away from every other canopy, and only and allow only groups that come together to occupy that specific area. And then we would put a kind of a weight, a kind of a signal system together. So if that group wanted a drink, they put a little signal up, and then we would come from away, and our staff would come and deliver a drink or deliver food to them. They would have a menu basically an order off of it. So it's very much like a restaurant. And so we had, I think we started with I think 10 canopies. And that first uh the first game, I think we had maybe 10 people in one, and like that was it. But by the but by I think the third game or the fourth game, I'm not sure. It was one of those, you know, I think maybe the third, every canopy was was full. So we maxed out. So it was 10, so you know, 100, 150 people total uh for the entire for the entire uh tailgate, but we had

Will never miss a game again

Ryan 24:32

one.

Luke 24:32

We didn't miss it. That's where I was going with it. It's like not only you've been doing this for 25 plus years now, but it's like no matter what, a tailgate is going to happen, is what I take away from this conversation right now, too. It will happen at Horeball Tailgating, thanks to Mr. Brian Leppard, right?

People still ask — "are you coming back?"

Ryan 24:50

We were not we will not miss a game. And and it's funny because I still get people who ask me that. You know, they're like, hey, are you well it's raining this weekend? Are y'all gonna set up? And I'm like, come on, man, go to the website, take it out. Let me breathe it. I can't tell you how many people came up to me when I had my uh when my wife got pregnant with our first child, and it was like, oh, I guess that's the end of tailgating for you. And I'm looking at them like, what are you talking about, man? It's just it comes down to a matter of will. I mean, yeah, it could be if I didn't want to do it anymore, you know, if my priority has changed, but I can still be a dad and you know, and do this. And so, yeah, that didn't stop me. I mean, if my child being born isn't gonna stop me and COVID's not gonna stop me, then nothing can stop you.

Adapted and never stopped

Luke 25:32

I I love, love, love that. Um, a lot of people can say the easy way I've been up, COVID, and I'm just gonna just wade. Child again, and and no offense to any parents out there that have taken time. That is not what we're saying at all with it. But I love the enthusiasm.

Personal choice — some operators quit, Ryan didn't

Ryan 25:46

Yeah, it's personal decision, right? It's it's it's someone's personal decision. That's if they don't want to do it anymore, that's up to them. I'm not gonna judge them on that. I don't care. But for me, like it's uh that was there's no decision. If I'm alive, it's happening. And maybe when I'm not alive, it'll still be happening. So that's kind of the goal. No doubt.

Before kids — traveled more, went to bowl games

Luke 26:05

No doubt. So obviously we know like you were there, rain, shine, covid, kids, every home game. Do you ever could do you ever go like on off games when the team is traveling? Do you go to other tailgates? Have you been? Have you explored that, or are you just like, I gotta rest at the house for a little bit with everything?

Wife makes it possible — huge props

Ryan 26:24

It's you know, before I had children, it was more of yes, let's go see what we can do. And so we have done tailgates in other places closer, you know, around the area. Um, we tailgated for the Texas OU up in Dallas a few times. We realized that it was, you know, the production that we put on is huge. I mean, it takes us a long time to get set up, a long time to break down, a long time. The logistics are a nightmare, the process is a nightmare, the, you know, it just takes a long time. It got to a point where it just wasn't feasible to travel and do it. It didn't make any, it didn't make financial sense, and it certainly doesn't didn't make you know sense when it comes to like just sweat equity. Um, even if we were to kind of maybe make it smaller, you know, what kind of impact would we have? I it eh, it was one of those things where after a while we just kind of decided, I kind of decided, yeah, I think I'm gonna just gonna take those times off. And then once I had children, it became even more important. So I kind of, you know, my wife is a saint. She's an absolute saint. She she has, you know, supported this from the from the day one. And um, she she knows that how much of a commitment I have to make to it during the off during the during the season, and a lot of times during the offseason. And she and she doesn't give me a hard time about it. And uh she's an absolute saint. So I feel somewhat of a responsibility to her and my family to, you know, spend those that quality time when I'm not having to do a tailgate to spend that time with them. And so it's a good box.

Is she in the background? No, picking up daughter from dance

Luke 27:52

Now, is she is she in the background right now? It's like you better give me a shout-out on the show right now, or you're in trouble.

Ryan 27:57

I know, right? No, she is not actually, she's off uh picking up my daughter from dance camp. So no. No, she's uh she's she's awesome, she's amazing. And you'll find her out there. If you come down, you'll see her because I have her working. So she'll be behind the bar. Family business. Family business. And the kids will be joining us too as soon as they're able to.

Bucket list personal tailgate — Denver Broncos

Luke 28:18

All right. So removing the business aspect of it, uh has there been either a tailgate you've been to, non-business related, that you love the culture, the venue, et cetera, or a place that you're like, you know, I really want to get out to this school to check out their tailgate and event just personally.

Fandom runs in the family

Ryan 28:37

Yeah, personally, absolutely. Man, I want to go to, and this is not college, um, but I I I'm a huge Denver Broncos fan. I I was born in Denver and I'm from the right outside of Denver. And so, and I've never been, I've never been to a game ever in my entire life uh up in Denver. So I've always wanted to go up there and check out the scene and check out the tailgating, and I've heard there's a great tailgate spot up there. So uh that's kind of on a personal level. Um, but also on a profession level, I want to I want to go and do the college scene. I mean, I want to go to you know, Death Valley and I want to go to the swamp and I want to see all those places and experience the the tailgating, experience the the the atmosphere at those venues. And um again, children, family, uh, you know, it's one of those things where that's kind of just put on hold at the moment. Uh once the kids are old enough to uh kind of, you know, they're not talking to dad anymore, wanting to spend time with him. Uh maybe I'll take more time to go kind of kind of go do those things. But uh yeah, so kind of right now I'm kind of in a holding pattern for those things. But I mean, I do, I will say this. Um, I've probably gone to the cotton bowl more than any other venue outside of Texas. Uh just for Texas OU weekend, and it's amazing. And my wife and I'll go up there and we'll go to the state fair. And a couple of years we we took the kids up there. Did didn't go to the game, but went to the fair and saw the saw the environment and whatnot. So, but yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm definitely gonna, as I, you know, I'm not getting any younger, that's for sure. But as the kids get up, I'll I'll start making those my my personal pilgrimages to all those places across the country.

Death Valley — which one? LSU

Luke 30:06

So you mentioned Death Valley. What school? Because there's multiple Death Valleys, which is the one. That's true.

Would go to all of them

Ryan 30:12

I was thinking, I was thinking like LSU. But I mean, I would go to all of them. Honestly, man, I want to see them all. I want to see them all. Because football has been such a huge part of my life, especially college football, that I want to experience. I mean, I see every I see all the stadiums on TV. I see all the, you know, especially nowadays when they have all the you know the LED lights and the fireworks, and then they've really started putting on you know really good shows, drone shows and everything, you know, and they've done a great job at Texas. I'd love to see what they do with other schools. And you know, you see highlights on YouTube and you know, all those things. But yeah, I mean to to to to see that in person, you know, all the college traditions, I mean, again, that that's where the love started, right? The love started with football. 100% love started with with those types of things. So uh being able to go see all of those things at every Death Valley and every place, every valley there is, even the happy one. Um, yeah, that that's definitely uh definitely a dream, and it will come true. It's just a matter of

Personal tailgate preferences

Ryan 31:05

time.

Luke 31:05

No doubt. All right, let's get into the get to know you a little bit better personally with your tailgating stuff. What's your favorite tailgating game? What what does Mr. Ryan play in? Is his favorite tailgating

Favorite games — washers and ladder ball

Luke 31:16

game?

Ryan 31:16

You know, that's a great question because there are so many. And you know, over the there are, and there are over the years, I've had so many different groups coming in to our tailgate that have taught me other games, whether it be a tailgating game or a drinking game or something like there's so many different things. Um, man, I mean, you know, there's always the go-to for cornhole and uh, you know, beer pong, that's always

Slam ball — pour stuff in a cup and everyone drinks

Ryan 31:38

good.

Luke 31:38

But there's those are the two most iconic, right?

Ryan 31:41

They're definitely the most iconic. And then you know, you have the there's ladder ball and there's the what slam ball, and I mean there's a million of them, right? I think the my my most favorite one that I've played, which is really basically just a drinking game, but it's there, is a game called Finger Cup. And I'm not sure.

Luke 31:57

I don't know if I'm familiar with that one.

Ryan 31:59

It's it's an interesting, interesting game. And you basically you just pour a bunch of shit in a cup, sorry, and you everybody puts their finger on the cup, and then uh it's really kind of difficult to explain, but you have to lift your finger and you get knocked out, and if your last one on, then you have to drink the cup, and it's yeah, it's it's fun as hell. It's fun as hell. But uh it's more of a drinking game than a silly a tailgating game, but you know, that's okay.

What's in the cup for tailgating — vodka

Luke 32:21

Hey, drinking games can definitely be tailgating games. I think we can all agree on that. So if right along those lines, then if you're a regular cup is in your hand at a tailgate, what's your favorite beverage to sip on during a tailgate?

Personal mixer — peach mango body armor + vodka

Ryan 32:35

For tailgating, I go to vodka. It's clean. I usually drink, I actually my wife brings my own, like my own mixer. So I have my own mixers that are usually somewhat based in uh uh refreshing, electrolytes, kind of stuff like that to try to keep me from getting

Essentially Gatorade vodka

Ryan 32:53

too like.

Luke 32:53

We're talking like Gatorated vodka. Like what are we talking about?

Ryan 32:57

Pretty much, basically. My my personal favorite to go, you know, is body armor, the peach body armor, peach mango body armor. I mix that with vodka. It's very refreshing. Um, it it helps keep me from you know getting too dehydrated. Um, but also uh you know, I mean, what at Texas we're in the sun, man. So it's like I don't the for me, the beer sits too heavy in the sun, uh, the whiskey sits too heavy in the sun. I prefer just a nice refreshing, you know, vodka drink.

Favorite tailgate food — ribeye personally

Luke 33:25

Fair enough. Fair enough. All right, if we go to the food game, what is gonna be on your plate? What's your favorite tailgating snack, main course, whatever the case may be? What do you want to eat?

What you want vs what you serve — two different things

Ryan 33:36

Man, what would I want to eat? Or what do we offer? Because that's two different things. What you want to eat personally? Man, that's a great barbecue, man. Really good, good barbecue. I mean, that's like it's Texas, right? It's Texas. If I can get a good barbecue at a tailgate, that's what I'm gonna go for. Or maybe something like a like a jalapeno popper or something like that. Some bacon rat jalapeno popper. That sounds pretty good too. But I mean, I'll take a steak. If if someone wants to make me a steak, I'll take a steak. That's cool.

Best tip: don't tailgate for the first time — go experience others first

Luke 34:03

That's fair.

Ryan 34:04

Don't find that very often, though, right? But uh barbecue.

Luke 34:07

I've been to some tailgates that have had some steaks on it, so it's not unheard of, but it is more rare for sure. Yeah. All right. Uh if if somebody's listening right now and they're just like, you know, like I think I might want to start. I have a passion for tailgating. I want to start my own like tailgating company, brand, whatever the case may be. What would be like one tip or like lesson you learned over your 25 years of doing this if you chair with them?

Go to somebody else's tailgate first — learn what you like

Ryan 34:34

Don't do it. Go to somebody else's tailgate. Have fun. Enjoy your time. Go have a great time with your friends and enjoy it, you know, and tour the country and visit all these tailgates and have an awesome time doing it, man. Because I will tell you, the one downside of being in tailgate for so long and then having it be a business is that you know you lose kind of some of that that passion, a little bit of passion for it. I mean, there's always passion, right? But you know, sometimes you lose a little of the of the joy because you're so busy doing the work. And uh, and even sometimes that happens even when following your team, right? So um sometimes I lose the joy of even watching a football game because I can't because I'm too busy working. And so it's kind of like, oh, it's a it's a sacrifice. And I think that's one thing that people probably don't understand as much uh when they go to these events is that the people that are working them, especially if it's a I mean, even a even a small one can be a nightmare logistically if you don't have other people helping you. But I mean, the bigger they are, man, the the more difficult they can be. And you know, it's yeah, that that would be my advice. But I mean, if on a true level, if somebody was, if I was going to give them an actual business advice, right, I would probably say um, don't stop the hustle. Don't stop hustling.

Stay after it — it can be as big as you want

Music 35:43

It's it can stay

Give it time and effort

Music 35:44

after it.

Ryan 35:44

Stay after it. It could be as big as you want it to be. It just takes time and effort. Man, if it it, you know, you're gonna hear no a million times with whatever you need to do or whatever you want. You know, if you're trying to get sponsors, if you're trying to build a brand, if you're trying to do all these things, it just takes time and definitely save some money. You're gonna need to spend some money. But yeah, I mean, just just keep hustling, man. Just keep working at it because uh it'll get to wherever you decide it it needs to go. It just comes down to how much you're willing to work for it.

Can resonate with that approach

Luke 36:12

No, I can I can definitely resonate and appreciate that that statement there, and I will definitely concur with that with anything, tailgating or anything business or any dreams you had, you have to keep going. You will run into doors, challenges, obstacles. And it's like some people stay down when they hear no, other people say they just haven't said yes

One more tip — get the permit

Luke 36:29

yet.

Ryan 36:29

Yeah. And you know, one other thing too, and then maybe this is just because we do a bigger kind of hospitality thing, that is like, you know, you can't please everybody all the time. So impossible. It's impossible. You can't please everybody all the time. So I mean, you you know, not everybody's gonna be 100% happy the whole time, and you can't make everybody happy. So, you know, what you gotta do is just do your best. Uh, make it make it make it what a reflection of what you want it to be, what you would enjoy, and then let those who who enjoy that be a part of it and don't worry about the ones that don't.

Favorite Texas player of all time

Luke 36:57

Good stuff, good stuff. All right, uh last question before we uh start to wrap this thing up. Who's your favorite Texas player of all time?

So many — too many different reasons

Ryan 37:09

Oh man, that's crazy.

Luke 37:12

Hardest question of the day is Haz, right?

Hardest question all day

Ryan 37:15

I mean, there's so many different players for so many different reasons, honestly. I mean, you know, as a student there, I was I was a student when Ricky Williams was doing his thing and the Heisman. Um, I mean, I would consider him my favorite player. I I'm kind of one of those I don't know, just I guess my background or whatever. I I don't really idolize

Alex Smith — great player, great person

Ryan 37:31

athletes or superstars or actors or anything like that. I don't really do that, but you know, from a stack and still have my favorites, right? So, like, I mean, Ricky obviously was a favorite. And there's so many, there's so many. Um, Sergio Kendall on the defense. Guy was a beast. Uh he's actually a friend of the tailgate, he's been out a few times. Um Johnny Rogers, old time Johnny Rogers from way back in the day. He comes out of the tailgate. Uh, he's always looking to you know talk to people. Um gosh, there's so many good players and so many, so many amazing moments, right? I mean, you know, everybody says Vince because he brought the championship.

Bobby Layne — the old days

Music 38:10

Oh, yeah.

Ryan 38:10

You go back to the old days, though. You have Bobby Lane. I mean, he was a stud, and you know, the only tech the only quarterback to ever beat Oklahoma all uh four times was Garder, Peter Gardair. So I mean you gotta look at him and be like, yeah, that's cool, man. Um but yeah, it's it's such a hard question because I I look at things, it's like asking someone what your favorite food is or what your favorite, like, what's your favorite movie?

Luke 38:30

There's

Ricky Williams for the business origin story

Luke 38:31

a lot of things.

Ryan 38:31

Oh, drama, comedy, you know, yeah. So there's a ton of them. Well, I guess, you know, ultimately from the business side, I would say that my favorite player is the one who's gonna come out and hang out with us at the tailgate next.

Shoutout to Chris — the player who connected on Instagram

Luke 38:42

Well, and I mean that's where I was going with the question. I was like, if it was gonna be your shout out at that person who'd never been there, it's like tell them right now to come to your tailgate type. But it sounds like these players are already coming to your tailgate, which is pretty

Do players visit? Yes — fortunate to have made connections

Luke 38:54

awesome.

Ryan 38:54

Yeah, we do we do get quite a few players. Um we're fortunate enough to have been around a while that we've made, like I said, we've made relationships with people and a lot of the players will come in. A lot of parents, actually, parents for players will come to the tailgate. Uh, even younger players who aren't even playing, the parents will come and they'll hang out with us. Um, and then you get to know them. And so then ultimately when they become starters, you know that they come out to us, and then when they graduate, they come out. And so it's a nice cycle of uh relationship building uh within the community there at Texas. Um, but yeah, I mean, we get players all the time. If there was one that I'd want, uh you know, I'd probably say um I mean Vince. He'd be a marquee, somebody to have. We've had him almost a few times. Um it's just working out details. You know, there's there's always behind the scenes things about what a player wants or needs or this, that, the other thing. So I mean, it's kind of one of those I don't I'm not gonna pay for someone to come out and hang out with us. They can come out and hang out with us and enjoy the time. But um, you know, Vince would be great. Vince would be great. Um, you know, it's actually really funny because I'm I've been in talks with uh uh Dicker the kicker. Yeah, he's uh his his agent and I. Like we we talk quite a bit. So he's uh possibly gonna come out this season uh during a November game. We're just kind of working on what that could look like, but during his bye week uh in the NFL. But yeah, I mean, um Yeah, I don't know, we'll see. I think Johnny, Johnny Rogers, he might be doing a podcast for Martel Gate a couple times this year. Um Sergio's could come out whenever, you know, whenever there's a good game, he'll come out and hang Ahmad Brooks. So just yeah, but you guys, but it's cool. I will say I and I I'm just gonna segue into one thing though, and I have to say because I think it's really cool um and and very unique, at least I think it's unique because it's only happened once in 25 years. Um last season we were actually able, um, we had a surprise visitor at the tailgate on game day, which of course is where tailgate occurs, but uh the um athletic director for UT, Chris Delcante, came out to our tailgate and hung out just for a little while. Wanted to check the scene and uh there was a group, there was a family there uh that um we did a charity thing for for the Susan G. Coman Breast Cancer Society and auctioned off a tailgate setup and they were able to come out and apparently there were some big there were some big wigs and stuff, and so Chris came out and saw them, and we were able to kind of talk to him, give them a tour, and all that stuff. So it was it was really cool though. It was cool have a little photo op with the AD, which you don't get, especially not on game day, right? So that was that was cool.

Box seats afterwards — needs to reach out to Chris

Luke 41:18

And then you got invited to box press seats over there in the stadium and everything afterwards, right?

Ryan 41:22

That sure would be nice. I I need to reach out to Chris, my new buddy, right? I need to be like, hey everybody got something to do. Let's let's talk. So I think there's definitely uh definitely a conversation on that going in the future.

Texas had an amazing season — relatively favorable schedule ahead

Luke 41:33

Excellent. All right, so Texas had an amazing season last year. A little bit short, but still like most teams would kill to have that season. So go ahead now. We haven't started the season yet. Go ahead and call the record. What's Texas gonna do this year? Put it on the record

You just don't know in college football

Luke 41:48

right now.

Ryan 41:48

Man, I hate doing this, man. I know. I love the push you do it. You know, I I mean, Texas has a relative, relatively favorable schedule. I mean, obviously that home game in at Georgia and Athens is gonna be a beast. Um, but we don't know what Georgia is right now. So, I mean, depending upon what Arch does and you know, kind of how they how they roll with stuff. I mean, they are breaking in four new offensive linemen in Texas. So you know, you know, in a first-time quarterback, he's only played two real college games. So it's like, I just don't know, man. I don't know. So maybe the Athens, maybe that would be a loss. I mean, honestly, other than that, I feel pretty confident since you know AM's here in Austin this year. And uh yeah, I feel pretty confident. So maybe what? I don't know, what is it, 12 and 1, 11 and 1, whatever the total numbers are, and then making them to the playoffs. So I mean, I think they're they're set up pretty well this year. I I'm cautiously optimistic, but again, being around for so long and seeing all these teams and the really good teams and not not sealing the deal, um, you know, it makes you kind of kind of uh realistic. So I look at those things and I say, oh, maybe. So I will throw in one loss on the season, and I think that's uh that's pretty damn optimistic on my side. So, but uh that's what I'll go with that.

Luke 42:58

Yeah, no, I think that I think that's fair coming off of that. We're uh all the teams right now, you don't know exactly how the new players and all the NIL transferring. How's everybody gonna gel and mesh and come together as a collective team? Injuries, there's so much we don't know yet, but that's also why it makes it fun.

It's the up and down of every Saturday

Ryan 43:14

That's exactly right. You just don't know, right? That's that's the up and down of every Saturday. It's the up and down of fall camp. Who's getting hurt, who's not getting hurt, you know, what's happening, what are the what do people look like? What are the reports? And then, of course, you know, those first few games and seeing how people look and you know what's going on with that. You know, how's this guy looking? Oh, this guy's back from injury. Let's see how he's faring. Um, you know, obviously uh the big national news is Arch Manning, right? So how is he gonna handle being in the spotlight? Of course, that first that first game right there, the big, the big uh it's not the big house, what is it? The big shoe or whatever they call that crap up there.

Ohio State = Horseshoe, not Big House

Luke 43:44

Horseshoe.

Ryan 43:45

That's what it's called. See, I don't like Ohio State. So uh whatever that's they said you better not call that the big house. I knew I know better than that. I know better than that. It is a big house, but it's not the big house. But uh, we'll see how he does up there. In that in that environment against that team. And uh that'll that'll probably set Texas up to see kind of the what the expectations are for the season.

Opposing fans welcome at Hornball

Luke 44:07

No doubt. No doubt. All right. So if somebody uh has listened to this, they're like, man, I'm going to the tailgate. They go to tailgateconnect.com. They're getting tickets. Tell them why they need to pull the trigger, why they need to bring their friends and family to your tailgate one more time to seal the deal and get them out

Crazy environment, unique energy, Austin is special

Luke 44:24

there.

Ryan 44:24

You're not going to experience anything like this anywhere else. You're really not. It's just a crazy environment. You're going to come in, you're going to have a great environment to be around. I mean, we get people all the time. They're just, they're just like, this is unbelievable. I can't believe you do this. This is amazing. You know, the food is good. The drinks are flowing. We don't run out of stuff. You know, the atmosphere is amazing. Our DJ is phenomenal. We have the ice luge. We have other games. We have the, you know, we we use the Misters and all those things to make it a comfortable environment. I mean, I really think that, you know, everybody should come down and experience it. This type of a tailgate, you know, it's fan-owned, it's fan operated. You know, we're not some big corporation or big corporate thing doing a big thing down here like that. It's really the love of the fans putting this together. So we really do push it towards that and say, what can we do to make the experience better for everybody? One of the things that we do, which I don't think anywhere anywhere else does, is we actually have a caricature artist. So he go out, he walks around and you get a free caricature. Like when you go to an amusement park and you sit down and get a caricature, this dude throws like he knocks it out in like 30 seconds, you and your and your your wife or your girlfriend or whatnot, and it's free. It's complete, it's completely covered by the tailgate. So you come in and you get all that. It's just yeah, it's just an experience that you're not going to find anywhere else. So if you like football and you like tailgating and you like those types of environments, come on down and see us.

Ryan's socials — X, Facebook, Instagram

Luke 45:40

Excellent. From t-shirts to tailgating empire to not letting anything stop him from setting up a tailgate. Ryan Leper, appreciate you being on the show this evening, sir. Tell the people again, you got some social media stuff for Hornball, right? Shout out what what platforms are you on so people can go follow you and check out

Follow @HornballTailgaters

Luke 45:58

what you're doing.

Ryan 45:58

Yeah, absolutely. We're on uh we're on X, Twitter, X, whatever you want to call it. We're on Facebook, uh, we've got with Instagram. We're not yet on Snapchat or YouTube, but we'll probably end up getting up there. It's just, you know, I gotta find myself a good social media person that'll do all that stuff for me because I'm gonna do all of that new stuff, right? But uh Twitch and all that stuff, whatever. But no, the the main ones. I mean the Instagrams, the Facebook, the Twitter, just search Hornball Tailgators and you'll find

Outro

Ryan 46:24

us.

Luke 46:24

Good stuff. All right. Well, with that, everybody else, thank you for tuning in till the end of the show this evening. Thanks, Ryan, for being here. Check out tailgateconnect.com for all of your tailgate, easy button, tailgatey needs, whether you're traveling to college, NFL, we got you covered. As always, we hope to see you at a tailgate soon and connect you with the perfect host, just like Mr. Ryan Lepper right here. Thank you all for tuning in tonight.

Music 46:50

Tailgate Connect, it's all here for you. Food drinking friends under sky so blue.