T E X A R K A N A M A G A Z I N E
(ABOVE) Chris Chamblee and Congressman Fallon touring Red River Army Depot on June 3, 2021. (TOP LEFT) Joe Johnson, James Bass, Michael Lockard, RRAD Deputy Commander Patton Tidwell, Congressman Pat Fallon
I was a second lieutenant in the Air Force and making $18,500 base pay.” Growing up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Fallon learned the value of a dollar and of hard work. “But after I graduated college and was in the military, I was tired of being poor,” Fallon said. “So here I was with four twenty dollar bills to my name, and I decided I needed to try something entrepreneurial on the side. I started a little T-shirt business, and the first two times I tried, it failed. But the third time, it took off. After two years, I started making more money on the outside (of the military) than I did on the inside, so I finished my four-year military commitment and got out. In 1993, a fellow by the name of Daniel ‘Rudy’ Ruettiger called me out of the blue. They had just filmed the movie Rudy about him on the Notre Dame campus in South Bend, and he was going around the country making speeches. He called me and asked if I could make T- shirts for him. I became his business manager and saw almost every major city in the United States and Canada in those two years. I did pretty well financially for a 25-year-old kid who started with $80.” Fallon’s grassroots side business was only the beginning of his decades-long entrepreneurial career. “In 2009, I noticed young kids were wearing shirts that had really negative messaging. So, we started making really hip, edgy-looking shirts with a positive and patriotic message. We named our company VIRTUS because it meant ‘courage’ in Latin. We sold 6,000 garments in the first weekend. It exploded. The company went from ten employees to 100, and the rest is history. Hard work and perseverance paid off.”
Fallon was elected in November 2020 as the Congressman for Texas’ Fourth Congressional District. He represents 18 counties in Northeast Texas and its 700,000 residents, which includes Bowie County. “It has been an honor so far, and there is a learning curve. I’m a professional freshman because I’ve done this four times now in 11 years, learning something new.” Fallon has moved quickly up the chain in his political career over the last decade. From City Council in Frisco, Texas, to the Texas Senate and House, this entrepreneur- turned politician is a fierce competitor who is not afraid to fail and will put in the effort to achieve his goals. His tenacious spirit was ignited during his college football career at the University of Notre Dame under the legendary Coach Lou Holtz. “He’d say that you’re going to have imperfections. You have to take joy in life and seize it. Every day is an opportunity. Sometimes you win your days and sometimes you lose your days, just like in games. You have to be willing to put in the work. I really took that to heart and after football was over, I knew I could apply that to my life,” said Fallon. The Cold War ended while Fallon was in college, and after graduation, he joined the Air Force. “I wanted to go into the military because I felt you should pay the debt that you owe to this country. My father was in the military, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps.
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