It’s that time of the season when football players go blond. Since the team became district champions, they dyed their hair in a long standing tradition that began in 1999.

“It’s been a tradition since we won our first District championship,” varsity football running back coach Victor Lara said. “That’s when coach Contreras and I were here as players.”

The team goes blond about a week after becoming district champs.

“The team dyes their hair because tradition never dies and it’s also a tribute to everyone that has come through Del Valle and all the hard work they put in to make this program successful,” varsity football offense coach Erik Ramirez said.

The players do not dye their hair themselves, and not all players dye their hair.

“My mom dyes my hair for me and I’m okay with going blond, I wouldn’t want to dye my hair another color because it would probably look weird,” center Johnathan Torres said.

This tradition is not mandatory but everyone buys in. The coaches do not dye their hair.

“I don’t go blond because I have really good hair right now and I don’t want to damage it; and I did it for three years when I came here,” varsity football offense coach Erik Ramirez said.

The team went blond when they became District champions after beating Hanks High School 39-17, Nov. 3.

“I just leave the blond in until a week after we lose,” center Johnathan Torres said.

This tradition is solely for District champions. The team is not only District, but Bi-district champions after beating Chapin High School 49-28, Nov. 17. Some players dyed their hair. If they had continued past Area they would have gone to State and kept the blond until the official last game.

The season has come to an end and the team will soon go back to the original hair color or wait until it grows out to cut it off.

“I’m going to dye my hair back and cut it so I can let it grow back because it’s super dead now,” center Johnathan Torres said.