THE BUCCANEER | 60TH ANNIVERSARY
‘WELCOME TO
THE JUNGLE’: AN ORIGIN STORY Congressman Tom Rooney ’89 recently helped The Buccaneer establish the origin story of the football team’s use of the song, “Welcome To The Jungle,” when players take to the gridiron. “It’s funny, when we moved back to Florida and my son Tommy started playing for the Bucs and they came out to that song, I laughed that we were still playing it,” said Rooney, who served as a U.S. Representative from Florida from 2009-2019, representing the 16th congressional district from 2009-2013 and Florida’s 17th congressional district from 2013-2019. Rooney remembers the Guns N’ Roses song playing under the lights his senior year at Benjamin. He couldn’t initially remember how the ’80s riff became the official entrance song for the team, but after some further investigation among old high school friends, he discovered the true origins of the song’s use. Classmate and teammate Paul Dean ’89 thought the song, which was a “big hit” in the weight room with Rooney, Dean, Howard Ernst ’89, and Ritchie Sudder ’89, would be a good song to take the field to.
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“Evidently he was correct,” said Rooney. When asked if I could share this story in the magazine, Rooney said, “absolutely.” “Those guys don’t mind either. Paul would love the credit.”
ROONEY REMEMBERS THE GUNS N’ ROSES SONG PLAYING UNDER THE LIGHTS HIS SENIOR YEAR AT BENJAMIN. Pictured on the right: Richie Sudder #32, Paul Dean #75, Howard Ernst #67, Tom Rooney #86, and Chip Poncy #83.
