Athens, circa 776 BC
In the early morning mist, chariot jockey Rangerious Maximus stroked the smooth, sturdy wooden axels of the mighty cart he would drive later that day. His vehicle’s sponsor, Spiro’s Gyros, expected nothing but a victory from him in exchange for the countless drachmas invested in his training. Reflecting on the years of physical training, he rubbed olive oil over his naked body and prepared to wear the olive branch awarded to the victor.
Dallas, Texas 2012
The Jesuit Ranger Day chariot races began more than 50 years ago as a fall activity, strengthening the bonds between Jesuit students of the newly formed freshman class. Each freshman homeroom, with the assistance of senior Big Brothers, prepares a chariot to compete against other homerooms on Ranger Day.
A Big Brother is transported from across the finish line by any number of freshmen pushing or pulling the chariot.
Preparing for the annual Jesuit chariot races can be just another mundane school activity to some. But to others, like freshman Nicholas Regan ’16 of Ms. Tonya Fisher’s homeroom, it could be compared to preparing for the Olympic Games of early Greece. “Well, I can’t wait for the races. Looking at all the chariots really excites me, and I just know ours is the winner,” Nick says, “I worked hard on it, so it has to win.”
Some other students, however, seem a little less enthused. Michael Bowen ‘16, of Father Leo Leise’s homeroom, bearing Madagascar’s flag, hesitates before saying, “Uh, I don’t know a whole lot about it, but we had the idea of using bikes.”
While Jesuit chariot teams do not actually participate in their birthday suits, some teams plan on coming close. “I’m going to be wearing short-shorts bearing the flag of our country, and getting pulled by four of our fastest freshman,” says Dan Keenan ’13, a Big Brother riding for Germany.
Senior counselor Mr. Chris Blackwell expects a day of “awesomely epic chariot races,” after inspecting the majority of the chariots last week to make sure they qualify and abide by the chariot-racing rulebook.
