Written by Hayley Kate Webb
Several members of the Harding University football team recently invested in an alternative form of transportation: travel via moped.
At the beginning of the fall semester, football players sophomore Jimmy Citty, junior Cooper Carrol, senior James Townsdin and senior Jake Madding visited the local Sunrise Honda Motorsports dealership to purchase mopeds The moped movement was inspired by football graduate assistant coach Andrew Brady. Brady has owned and operated a moped since college. Brady said mopeds bring a simplicity and convenience to on-campus transportation that cannot be achieved via car. Brady said the benefits of using a moped as a primary method of transportation are limitless.
“It may sound corny, but it’s a great way to start and end your day,” Brady said. “You can’t be in a bad mood after riding it. It also keeps you humble because you can’t take yourself too seriously if you ride a moped to work every day. Also, the money you save on gas is a huge bonus.”
At first, the guys on the football team made fun of their coach for driving a moped to and from practice every day. However, when the players learned that Brady only paid $4 to fill the moped tank every couple of weeks, their perspectives quickly changed.
“The motivation was 100% the gas money,” Citty said. “We get a little over 100 miles per gallon, and you can also get away with parking them almost anywhere on campus.”
Brady said he never anticipated for the moped movement to become a growing trend on the football team. However, the mopeds have become a new phenomenon with the players. If you cruise by the football facilities during practice times, you will see a long line of Honda mopeds parked together.
“Since guys started buying them, I’ve joked that the Honda dealership needs to start paying me commission,” Brady said.
Citty said the “Bison moped gang” is just getting started. The players that currently drive mopeds hope to see more teammates joining them on mopeds of their own soon. Townsdin said he has big plans for the group.
“If we get a few more people, we can probably get some leather jackets and put patches on like a biker gang,” Townsdin said. “We will just have to wait and see who is cool enough to join the movement.”
