Bubble Gum and Omaha: Sweet Traditions
By Jessica Stark
“Hey, Bubble Gum Lady, remember me?” a 6-year-old boy in a Rice T-shirt asks as he races toward a woman wearing Owl earrings and a Rice baseball jersey.
“Of course I remember you,” Joyce Pounds Hardy ’45 responds. “We saw that five-hour track meet together. The one after the five-hour baseball game and five-hour commencement.”
He gives her a hug, and she hands him two pieces of bubble gum, reminding him that he can rub them for good luck during the baseball game. Like the boy, most of the Rice baseball fans who flooded to Omaha, Neb., for the Owls’ sixth College World Series knew about the bubble gum.
Call it a legend, a ritual or a superstition, the bubble gum tradition dates back to a 1975 baseball game when Hardy brought gum for her son Larry Hardy ’77 and his Rice Owls teammates because she and her husband didn’t want them chewing tobacco. Even after Larry graduated, Hardy continued to go to the baseball games, cheering for the Owls, giving them something to chew on and becoming the Bubble Gum Lady in the process.
“My husband said that I could have endowed a scholarship for what I’ve spent on bubble gum over the years,” Hardy says. “But that wouldn’t have been as fun, and I wouldn’t have gotten as many hugs.”
Before the baseball game begins, Hardy makes her way down to the dugout to give the players their bubble gum. One of the players runs up and greets her. In exchange for a hug, she hands him the gum to be distributed among his teammates.
“When she gives out that gum, good things start to happen for that player,” says Thad Ware ’85. “That player will always have a good game.”
Ware and his wife, Wendi ’91, sit in Hardy’s section at Reckling Park along with Ann Bixby ’93 and her family. “It’s wonderful to go to the games and see Joyce,” Bixby says. “She’s always happy to see everyone. Her warmth and friendliness draw people in.”
Thanks to Hardy, their section gets a considerable amount of traffic before the game. “Everyone wants to find Joyce and give her a hug,” Wendi Ware affirms. “She’s been like a parent or grandparent to so many people.”
With Hardy as the matriarch of the cheering section, it has become an extended family for the Wares. There was no hesitation when they invited Hardy to travel with them for the long drive to Omaha. Also joining the trip was Jessica Cannon ’06, who is pursuing her doctorate at Rice.
“Joyce brings cohesion to the baseball team and all the fans,” Cannon says. “She’s an inspiration because, despite all of her health challenges, she makes it to every game possible. She makes a commitment to who is important to her, and she honors that commitment.”
Earlier this year, Hardy was told by her doctor to cancel all her spring and summer travel plans. She firmly said that if the Owls were in Omaha, she would be there. When the doctor tried to talk her out of it, her son intervened and told him to give up on that; his mother wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“Omaha wouldn’t be right without the Bubble Gum Lady,” says Owls catcher Travis Reagan. “Joyce means so much to the team. We are honored that she calls us her boys. She has invested so much time and energy into making every game special that we want to play well for her.”
Reagan says players often compete for the privilege of giving Hardy the hug that gets the gum. Center fielder Tyler Henley has been one such player.
“It really means a lot to have someone there that makes such sacrifices for the team,” Henley says. “She’s always there and always inspires us to do our best.”
That type of inspiration led the Owls to win the 2007 Conference USA and NCAA Super Regional, becoming the highest seeded team in the College World Series. The Owls finished out their sixth series run 2–2, ending their 2007 season 56–14 and ranked third for the second consecutive year.
