New retailer lays out the welcome mat for Seguin

(Seguin) — With his fishing shirt, football, and determined look, Tailback Tex is more than a squirrel — he’s a symbol of community pride. The city’s newest hand-painted squirrel now stands proudly outside the new Academy Sports + Outdoors store, welcoming shoppers to not only a new store but a new chapter in the city’s retail growth with the construction of Seguin Crossing.

Artist Sara Rosales, known for painting the squirrel located at the Road Ranger, says creating Tailback Tex was both a creative challenge and a personal joy.

“Academy had a design already flushed out. I just kind of wanted him to be cute. We have about – I did a count — 11 or 12 brown squirrels and so I wanted him to stand out. I wanted him to look cute. So, I just kind of focused on making him look as fluffy as I could. The shirt was fun to do because my dad is a big fan of that brand,” laughs Rosales. “He lives in Florida, but I literally asked him, daddy, can you put on a shirt and do me a favor?’ Yes, because I was trying to figure out how I was going to put a shirt on a squirrel. Everybody else has done really cool like textures and blending with the brown squirrels but I didn’t see anybody that had done like fur.”

Among those overseeing the project for Academy was Adrian Gonzalez, a sales manager at the store. Gonzalez says they wanted to join in on what makes Seguin special.

“To my knowledge, this is going to be the second (animal art project for an Academy). Where we kind of got the idea – of course, when we walked throughout the city but also Hutto. They have the Hutto Hippos. They have a hippo in front of their Academy and so, we figured if they can do it over there, why can’t we beat them at that end?” said Gonzalez.

Gonzalez says he’s proud of the thought that went into the squirrel’s creative design, noting that every detail carries meaning.

“Tailback Tex – he’s going to represent one, Academy Sports + Outdoors but two, Seguin. He is wearing a white Magellan Texas T-shirt — a Laguna Madre edition which is for fishing. He is holding a white football with an Academy logo – again representing the sports side of things but most importantly as I mentioned, getting that squirrel on here is the most important thing. I did say earlier that squirrels – they have to work hard for what they get and so that represents the community very very well. I think that as we noticed, the people we’ve hired, the people that we’ve come across even as guests, they come into our building, we know they work hard. We know that they earn what they get,” said Gonzalez.

Gonzalez says welcoming a squirrel to Academy’s front steps is again just another gesture of wanting to be a part of the community.

“Our biggest thing or at least what we try to come across as is we want to make sure any way you can get involved with community, you reach out to us and so if there are any ideas you have, any different events — we want to try to get involved and so reach out to us. Our biggest thing is while we are here, we want to be impactful and so our biggest impact we can do is give back to y’all,” said Gonzalez.

Store Manager Johnnathan Candellario says that sense of belonging was immediate the moment the team saw how many squirrels were stationed around Seguin.

“When we saw the squirrel in multiple places in driving around meeting everyone, we wanted to join and ‘Get Real’ with you guys. I know we are up to almost 30 in the area and I heard something about 40 (squirrels) happening by the end of the year so we are just very excited to be a part of the community,” said Candellario.

The excitement for the new Academy began on Sunday as shoppers got their first peek inside the store located at 1316 Interstate 10. The store officially opened its doors at 3 p.m., where eager customers had already lined up outside.

Locals who attended the soft opening praised the size, organization, and customer service inside the retail giant.

Cynthia Morales shared she was impressed “with the size of the store,” while Nette Torres said “checkout was a breeze” despite the large crowds. Others, like Amy Riojas, said they were equally pleased with the store’s layout and deals, calling the experience “worth the wait.”

The Seguin Crossing project — a $25 million development announced last year — now features Academy and Hobby Lobby and will soon add Five Below, James Avery, and other national retailers.

With Tailback Tex now standing proudly at the entrance, Candellario says the store is eager to reinvite the community back out again this weekend.

“I will just tell everybody who was part of (Sunday,) come back this weekend because with grand opening, we are going to have a lot of fun, a lot of great deals. Come visit us. We are going to hopefully have a band out here to get some excitement rolling out here,” said Candellario.

Tailback Tex marks the 28th squirrel to be unveiled as part of the city’s Squirrel Trail Program.