The 2006 season had not been kind to the Fords. Coming into the annual Thanksgiving day game against the Royals of Upper Darby, the Fords had only managed to collect three victories. Upper Darby had a great run in their Central League campaign, and had been to the playoffs. Everything seemed to point to a loss in the Ford's final game of the season. Even the weather seemed to be conspiring against them, as a cold rain fell as game time approached. Little did they know at the time, that head coach Joe Gallagher had a pre-game speech for the ages, that would inspire the Fords for that game, and eventually lead to a significant t-shirt order!
As the Haverford team gathered in the visitor's locker room at Upper Darby, all the players seemed to be looking to their leader for inspiration and a reason to be optimistic. It was here that the legend was born. Gallagher started by telling his squad, that the way to handle a bully, was to ,"face them head on", and "punch them in the mouth." At this point, one must understand that "punching them in the mouth" is a euphamism! However, Gallagher was not done. He continued to tell the team about the show he had watched on the Discovery channel. He had seen a program on red driver ants. Coach Gal went on to explain how it didn't matter what they came up against, because they all "swarmed together" as a team to defeat any obstacle, no matter it's size. Every ant was expected to sacrifice it's own needs for the good of the whole. In that manner, they overcame animals thousands of times their size, like,,,, rabbits! That is how the Fords were expected to play. No one players needs were to eclipse that of the team, and no matter what happens, they should all swarm to the ball. At the time, some found this amusing. But because Gallagher delivered the speech with such raw emotion and conviction, it seemed to carry the Fords, as they went on to a stunning and thorough 20-8 upset victory.
That was the beginning of the "Red Ant" theme which has stayed strong and continued to motivate the team to this day.