By Mark Pszonak
There is never a shortage of interesting names in college football. With Pig Cage, General Booty, Decoldest Crawford and Phat Watts on the field, it is difficult to have a name that will draw attention. But that has suddenly become the situation with Bowling Green linebacker Gideon Lampron, whose middle name reveal on the school’s website has quickly raised eyebrows.
According to the Dayton Daily News, Gideon’s father, Marty Lampron, named his child after the sports television channel. So, this is not a nickname, but a part of his legal name. He also had an idea to name his oldest son.”
“He has a brother who’s 10 years older named Gabriel,” said Mr. Lampron. “I grew up in Boston. I went for months trying to talk my wife into letting me name him Larry Bird. It didn’t go well.”
When Mary was born, Mr. Lampron took a more aggressive approach.
“Then she delivers Gideon and she’s out of it,” said Mr. Lampron. “The nurse comes in for me to sign the birth certificate. When I signed it, I literally printed ESPN in capital letters. She was out cold when I did it. When she woke up, I told her I did it, and she said, “No, you didn’t.” She didn’t realize I did it. She wasn’t happy with me.”
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For Gideon, ESPN is pronounced ES-PEN, which makes it a bit more reasonable, but overall, it is a definite conversation starter. He will be playing his first season at Bowling Green after transferring in from FCS Dayton. During the 2024 season with the Flyers, he totaled 99 tackles, 23.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and two forced fumbles.
