RIP Ron Wesson

[Harry]

Ron was a long time poster here on GoMeanGreen dating back to 1998.

He was a great alumnus and fan.  His claim to fame was he helped us land Booger Kennedy out of high school.  He will be missed.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/ronnie-wesson-obituary?id=53350434

https://www.maxslaytonfunerals.com/obituaries/Ronnie-Wesson/#!/TributeWall

[Marty]

RIP Ron. I met him at the spring game a few years ago, he was a really nice man. 

[Zeleny' Orel]

Ron and his running buddy in the old days, Paul Polk, were super UNT fans and I enjoyed sharing games, trips, and stories with them over many, many years.  Ron was a class act and a fine gentleman!  He will definitely be missed.  RIP, Ron.

[UNTLifer]

@Harry How did he help land Kennedy?  I didn't know him, but prayers with his family.  Always hate losing one of our alums.

[greenminer]

10 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

@Harry How did he help land Kennedy?  I didn't know him, but prayers with his family.  Always hate losing one of our alums.

Booger and Wesson are both Terrell HS alumni.  I, too, would like to hear the story of landing Booger.

[Harry]

Ron was from Terrell and very involved in the community there.  He was a big UNT supporter and was always promoting us at the high school.  I think he was friends with the Kennedy family and knew Brandon's brother Kenoy who played in the NFL.

As the story goes, SMU wanted Kennedy, but at that time the death penalty was still fresh and I believe they were still under the guidance of academic rules set forth by Kenneth Pye  that set an extremely high bar for student athletes.  So they would not accept Booger without him doing some type of written statement or term paper begging to be admitted.  He passed and the rest is history.  I think Ron's promotion of UNT in the community helped make UNT a viable choice for their family once the SMU ship had sailed. 

On a final note, even after Booger had committed to UNT we had to stave off a late push from Tulsa who basically was camped out outside the Kennedy's house in the days just prior to signing day.  I believe their head coach Ken Burns(?) was there in person trying to get him to flip right up until the end.  On signing day, we had too sweat it out, as BK was the very last player to send in his fax...

Ron and I shared many great conversations during that time.  He was convinced that we had a future star in Booger and he was absolutely spot on.   And it didn't take long.  The coaches and the players knew in the very first week of Fall camp that he was unlike any player we had ever seen.  People say it was his tree trunk legs and leverage and that was certainly part of it.  But as Ron pointed out, his main asset was his incredibly strong hands.  He could move people around with those hands like a rag doll and use his speed to get to the ball carrier.

Good memories for sure.  RIP Ron.

[UNTLifer]

Thank you.

[Zeleny' Orel]

10 hours ago, Harry said:

Ron was from Terrell and very involved in the community there.  He was a big UNT supporter and was always promoting us at the high school.  I think he was friends with the Kennedy family and knew Brandon's brother Kenoy who played in the NFL.

As the story goes, SMU wanted Kennedy, but at that time the death penalty was still fresh and I believe they were still under the guidance of academic rules set forth by Kenneth Pye  that set an extremely high bar for student athletes.  So they would not accept Booger without him doing some type of written statement or term paper begging to be admitted.  He passed and the rest is history.  I think Ron's promotion of UNT in the community helped make UNT a viable choice for their family once the SMU ship had sailed. 

On a final note, even after Booger had committed to UNT we had to stave off a late push from Tulsa who basically was camped out outside the Kennedy's house in the days just prior to signing day.  I believe their head coach Ken Burns(?) was there in person trying to get him to flip right up until the end.  On signing day, we had too sweat it out, as BK was the very last player to send in his fax...

Ron and I shared many great conversations during that time.  He was convinced that we had a future star in Booger and he was absolutely spot on.   And it didn't take long.  The coaches and the players knew in the very first week of Fall camp that he was unlike any player we had ever seen.  People say it was his tree trunk legs and leverage and that was certainly part of it.  But as Ron pointed out, his main asset was his incredibly strong hands.  He could move people around with those hands like a rag doll and use his speed to get to the ball carrier.

Good memories for sure.  RIP Ron.

Ron always told me he stressed to Booger he could be just another player on a big-time team or a star at North Texas and Booger chose North Texas and became a star as Ron predicted.