When I joined Don Dowell's old "Online With the Horned Frogs" board in 1996, I adopted the handle Phrynosoma cornutum, the taxonomical classification for "horned lizard" -- though, following standard taxonomical usage, I usually shortened it to just P cornutum. As a fairly new TCU employee (1994), I felt I had to protect my "secret identity" because I regularly shared inside information, but nothing genuinely confidential. This was during the period when Wes Phelan's handle was "Tired of Frank" and the mysterious author(s) of "The Border Collie" circulated biting critiques of TCU's management of its athletics program.
Within 6 months, two things became obvious: 1) I was deluded about a "secret identity"; everybody already knew who"Bruce Wayne" was; 2) My TCU bosses, from the Chancellor to the Provost to the AD to my divisional VC -- and a few Trustees -- also knew but didn't really care, since I wasn't leaking confidential stuff. One or two even thought P cornutum was a good unofficial outlet for sharing selected (but not confidential) inside information with fans. Certain Trustees began sending me stuff that I could easily verify from within before posting it on the board.
At the Nov 8, 1997 Rice game at Rice Stadium in Houston (we lost 38-19), Wes organized about 7 or 8 of us into an investment group to take over Don's "Online with the Horned Frogs" board. Don didn't sell it to us, he just gave it away. The money we put up was working capital to introduce a new look, format, and software script.
I changed my handle and avatar to Deep Purple in 1997 to go with the new KillerFrogs.com site. Most of you know the subsequent history, as the board has since passed through several TCU-affiliated owners.
Don Dowell
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KillerFrogs Investment Group (led by Wes Phelan)
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Scott Nix
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Scott Nix & Wes Phelan
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Wes Phelan
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Ryann Zeller (our current Fearless Leader)