The Abilene Ruff Riders held a contest to rebrand their organization over the summer. Now known as the Abilene Bombers, the organization hopes to get the Abilene community more involved with the team.
The Abilene Ruff Rider homepage released a statement from spokesman Scott Anderson that entailed why the switch was being made.
The statement said, “The history of the Ruff Riders actually began in Katy, Texas in 2007 and later moved to Abilene in 2009. The team has continued to use the same name carried over from Katy for 4 years now, which was a name it came to town with, not a name Abilene and the community created. Our plan is for Abilene, our fans and the community to have the opportunity to be involved in the name and look of the Franchise. Simply put, we want to give Abilene the opportunity to make this team its own.”
The contest involved creating new ideas for team names, colors and mascots. The winner, Buddy Miller received four VIP season tickets, t-shirts and other accessories. The Bombers colors are now “shock wave green”, navy and white and the helmet has a logo of a plane lifting off a runway in the shape of an A for Abilene.
Carl Kieke, a reporter for the Abilene Reporter-News, wrote that head coach Joe Brannen said, “We want something Abilene can call their own, with the Dyess Air Force Base connection, we figured this would be a great name to relate this to the community.”
Abilene community members seem to be taking the change well. David Pillen, recent ACU graduate from Sugar Land, is in favor of rebranding the team.
“The new brand can help them become more open to family and community members,” Pillen said. “Reaching out to the air force is a great way to get the community to their events.”
Pillen had some ideas of his own to get the community even more involved.
“I’ve only been to one game this past summer and it was a pretty cool experience,” Pillen said. “But I think if they were to renovate the Expo Center at all or even build a new arena they’d be more likely to get involvement from Abilene and be able to put on a better show.”
More information about the Abilene Bombers can be found at their homepage: www.bombers.biz.
