web_site_story

How did this all begin? Great question!

In the 2001 football season, Pat McCord stood on the sidelines at Pflugerville High School football games. He was there during
the second quarter, getting ready to take pictures of the Pfightin' Panther Band. While he waited, he would snap a few pictures
of the players and the plays on the field. The next week, Pat would sort the pictures by the player's jersey number and give the
pictures to the parents. The pictures were free and the cost was paid by Pat as a minor out-of-pocket expense. It was only about
30 to 40 photos a week, however as the word got out about the pictures. Quickly several parents began submitting requests for
photos of specific players.

At the same time, Rob Tiemann, a local businessman and football booster parent who had two sons on the team, expressed
interest in gathering photos of the team for the booster parents. Rob was not a photographer, but wanted to participate in the
picture process. Soon Rob had purchased a camera and joined Pat on the sidelines. After a year of shooting with film and
mounting photo processing costs, Rob suggested that the photos go digital and a WEB site be made to allow the pictures to be
shared with everyone. Rob funded the photographic format transition and the development of the web site.

The web site was an instant hit and began recording more than 5000 page views a day within the first month. As the word
spread, the opponent teams, grandparents, and extended family discovered the site. Hits were coming in from Europe, Asia and
elsewhere in the world. The webmaster, Austin WebCo, soon had to acquire a new server to support the traffic and the data
required to serve over 5000 high resolution digital images and the 30 gigabytes of data that was transferred during the season.

Each season, the web site grows and becomes more refined. The original site was dedicated to football, but in 2004 more
sporting activities were added to the coverage. The web site was consolidated into a new site named
www.pflugervillesports.com. The new site provides some photo coverage in other PHS sports and links to other photo sites,
including photos from Hendrickson and Connally High Schools.
Keep your eye on this WEB site, in the future; it could be one of the biggest sports information source for all Pflugerville athletics.

From the small beginnings, now www.pflugervilesports.com has over 100,000 pictures on the web and will receive over a half a
million image views a month, the Pflugerville Panther Football web site is sets the standard in internet presence for high school
football. As a totally free site, parents and players enjoy the access. The site has won the "Webby" WEB award for content and
function.

In 2007 the Pflugerville Sports photo site recorded 2,400,000 (yes, MILLIONS) image views during the regular football season and
playoffs.

As a totally FREE site high school sports action photos, cheerleading, band, dance and fan photos are available on-line at
www.pflugervillesports.com.