As part of Notre Dame’s 1988 national championship team, Rep. Pat Fallon, now a freshman congressman from Texas, remembered how one of his teammates would fire up the squad before a big home game.

“This IS OUR House” remains a common locker room motivator for any college team defending its home turf.

Just two days after being sworn into the 117th congress, Fallon and three other Lone State congressmen - Reps. Tony Gonzalez, Ronny Jackson and Troy Nehls - were inside the U.S. Capitol listening to debate on the electoral challenge when a mob breached Capitol security. As the threat quickly escalated, four Texans rose to the challenge.

Realizing that the Capitol Police were short-handed, Fallon and his three colleagues decided to remain and stood shoulder to shoulder in guarding the door to the House chamber. With the mob closing in, they broke off furniture to make clubs to defend themselves and Fallon broke off the stand from a hand sanitizer station to use as a pole weapon or pike.

But once rioters breached the door, everyone in the chambers had to be evacuated to a safe space.

The chaotic scene became more ominous and desperate when someone shouted: “Shots fired, shots fired! Rounds being fired!” That was the moment that Ashli Babbitt, a female Trump supporter and Air Force veteran, was shot and killed by a Capitol police officer.

After the mob was stopped and order was restored, Congress returned to the chambers later in the day to finish the electoral vote count.

Even as the crisis was unfolding, major media outlets, without identifying who the extremists were or who instigated the insurgence, were placing full blame on the president and his supporters.

Regarding his action, Fallon said that as American citizens, we can’t be intimated by any mob, regardless of their motivations. The congressman was quick to thank the Capitol Police for their bravery, stating that violence and destruction have no place in the nation’s electoral process and that the actions of a select few do not reflect the spirit of our great nation.

A political conservative with strong moral values, Fallon has never been one to back down from a physical challenge. He proved that three decades ago while a football player at Notre Dame and then again last Wednesday in defending the House chamber.

Before coming to Washington, Fallon compiled high marks in Texas as a conservative legislator. He’s a firm believer in limited government, repealing and replacing Obamacare, securing the border, fighting illegal immigration, low taxes, personal responsibility and promoting American exceptionalism.

He co-sponsored legislation that said public schools can’t censor the use of “Merry Christmas” or stop children from celebrating the holiday; and to allow college and university officials to carry concealed weapons on campus and in vehicles in the name of security.

In 2017, Fallon blasted “cancel culture cowards” and Texas Democrats by opposing a decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Dallas. He then introduced legislation in the state Senate to protect “our history” and preserve certain monuments and memorials.

To protect election integrity, Fallon supported legislation to forbid an individual from turning in multiple ballots.

Last year he was critical of the Black Lives Matter movement and of the left for exploiting the politicizing the death of George Floyd, who died while in the custody of Minneapolis police. Fallon rejects the notion that the nature of his skin color eliminates him from having a conversation about racial injustice.

In one of his first votes as a U.S. congressman last week, Fallon joined other Republicans in voting against new Democratic rules that strip all gender references in an effort to be more inclusive to people who don’t identify as either male or female.

Fallon believes his constituents sent him to Washington to fight for the values that made America the greatest country in history. He also believes the nation desperately needs bold and proven conservatives to fight the liberal elites and stop a socialist agenda.

Unfortunately, during the last four years liberals have shown that they hate the president more than they love our country and that, Fallon says, is not only sad but very dangerous for a representative democracy.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com