40th Anniversary of THE Moonwalk

1969 was an interesting year for GT. Integration was sweeping across the Deep South and particularly the public school systems. Tech's President Edwin Harrison retired. Fulmer Hall opened as the first women's dormitory on campus. 1969 was also the first year women could enroll in all classes at Tech. Previously, they could only enroll in courses not offered anywhere else in the state of GA. GT Sports featured some prominent storylines as well during the year of the Apollo 11 moonwalk:

Football: Bud Carson was the coach. The team struggled to a 4-6 record but closed the season with a 6-0 win over Georgie. Carson recruited the first African-American scholarship athlete in Tech history - Eddie McAshan. Also of note, the now world famous GT was designed by a football player on Carson's squad and added to the helmet:

Basketball: John Hyder coached the cagers during the '68-'70 seasons. In games played in 1969, Tech was 16-11. The teams featured Tech's alltime leading scorer, Rich Yunkus.

Baseball: Baseball was coached by Jim Luck. The team started the season with a 14-5 record but finisheed 16-12. Tech goes 2-1 against Georgie on the season including a series finale win at Luther Williams Field.

And in case you were wondering, here's a list of GT alums that claim "astronaut" status.

T-Book Tutorings: Shirttail Parades

For today's T-Book Tutorings, we talk about "Shirttail Parades":

One of the many traditions that freshmen were required to participate in, shirt tail parades were always quite the spectacle for onlookers to witness. Freshmen would form a tunnel after every game for the team to run through while departing the field. Then, if the team was victorious, the freshmen would parade around the streets of Atlanta, many times ending up downtown at Five Points for a pep rally. These parades were sponsored by Ramblin’ Reck Club and Georgia Tech cheerleaders. Participation in the shirt tail parades was taken very seriously, and if freshmen were caught skipping, they would be taken to RAT Court and put on probation. One of the most notable shirt tail parades occurred in 1956 before the game itself was ever played. Governor Marvin Griffin sought to disallow the Tech football team from competing in the Sugar Bowl as the opposing team fielded a black player. When students discovered the governor’s stance, they decided to take action. The shirt tail parade set off towards the Capitol, located just a short distance from campus, only to discover that the governor was at his residence, several miles away. Undeterred, they continued their march to the Governor’s Mansion, where they burned and hung him in effigy. The governor finally conceded to the students’ demands and allowed the football team to make the trip to the Sugar Bowl.

The organization of the parades is pretty crazy to think about. As we all know, we won that Sugar Bowl and you can view the trophy in person at the Edge Center.


"T-Book Tutorings" is brought to you in anticipation of the 2009-2010 T-Book, the ultimate guide to the history and traditions of Georgia Tech. The book is published by the Ramblin' Reck Club.

Any good shirttail parades or any good parade stories out there?

T-Book Tutorings: Rat Caps and Drownproofings

This week's T-Book Tutorials involve some student participation. I give you RAT Caps and Drownproofing.


DROWNPROOFING
Often referred to as Drowning 101 by Tech students, Drownproofing was the infamous class taught by swimming coach Fred “Crankshaft” Lanoue starting in 1940. The water survival techniques taught by Lanoue allowed potential drowning victims to float and bob naturally in water for hours, even when injured. Students were required to float and swim with wrists and ankles bound, bob fully clothed for one hour, and use only their teeth to retrieve rings from the bottom of the pool. The class became a graduation requirement for all male students and remained so until 1988,when it was removed from the curriculum due to restructuring of the physical education department. The class reached national prominence in the late 1950’s when it was included in the U.S. Navy’s survival training and featured in the June 1960 Reader’s Digest article titled “Nobody Needs to Drown.”

Drownproofing completed. Photo courtesey of drownproofing.com

RAT CAPS

RAT caps first appeared at Georgia Tech in 1915. Freshmen were required to wear the caps everyday until the semester ended or Tech beat UGA in the Thanksgiving weekend football game. RAT originally stood for “Recruit at Tech” during the time when the military had a large presence on Tech’s campus; however, now many people describe freshmen as RATS or “Recently Acquired Tech Students.” In the past, freshmen caught outside without a RAT cap were subjected to various forms of punishment including the “T-cut,” where the student’s hair was shaved into the shape of a “T.” Enforced by the Ramblin’ Reck Club and other upperclassmen, all RAT’s were once subject to the RAT rules listed below:

RAT CAP DESIGN
RAT caps must be decorated in the following manner: In the center of the upturned brim, the acronym, “RAT,” should be written in large, bold letters. Directly above this should be the student’s first and last name, while their hometown and state should be written below the three letters. To the left should be the student’s major, and to the right, their expected year of graduation. On the back panel of the cap, the words, “To HELL with georgia,” should be proudly displayed. The phrase should be displayed with one word on each line. The words “To” and “with” should be written the smallest, and “HELL” should be larger than “georgia.” The word “georgia” should be in all lowercase letters because we choose not to recognize U(sic)GA as an institution of higher education. A circle around the top button of the cap denotes the student is in the Co-op program. Throughout the season, football scores should be added to the cap with all wins displayed right side up and any losses written upside down. Our team should be represented by the word, “TECH,” and should always be written above the opponent as read. The front panel of the cap should be saved for the score of the “georgia” game. All markings on the cap should be done with a black permanent marker.

Anti-hazing policies led to the end of any RAT rules, but freshman still receive a RAT cap at convocation out of respect for tradition. Donning the RAT cap is now completely voluntary, but freshmen are encouraged to show their Tech spirit by sporting their caps at home football games. The marching band is at the forefront of maintaining this tradition. No matter how often one decides to wear their RAT cap, a properly decorated cap serves as an excellent souvenir and reminder of freshman year.

"T-Book Tutorings" is brought to you in anticipation of the 2009-2010 T-Book, the ultimate guide to the history and traditions of Georgia Tech. The book is published by the Ramblin' Reck Club.

Anybody still have their Rat Cap? I still have mine. Crazy stories about Drownproofing are more than welcome.

Ramblin' Wreck Featured on Wikipedia

The Ramblin' Wreck is the featured article on wikipedia's front page today. Pretty cool stuff.

Also, thoughts go out from the Tech Family for this BC kid fighting cancer. That is just a sad story and Eagle in ATL has a really good read that puts the situation into perspective for all sports fans. Good luck to Mr. Herzlich. GT fans all hope he comes back to haunt ACC offenses soon.

Any thoughts out there are welcome

10 Reasons the Institute hates the University [sic]

These are ten chronological reasons why the Institute and the University [sic] do not like eachother and they are pretty legitimate reasons for Tech fans to generally distrust, dislike, or plain out hate ugag:

10. The founding of Tech in the 1880's was originally planned as the mechanical engineering school of uga. Uga politicians/faculty wanted the School of Technology in Athens but luckily the governor's office wanted an independent non-agricultural school that would not be influenced by the aggies. Big time contreversy led to Tech's opening being postponed. Thank God the first Tech Men won the debate.

9. November 4, 1893. We are invited to play ugag in football. Our first ever victory in football. Our first ever dealings with ugag's athletic department and we are pelted by ugag fans with rocks and garbage. Then, chased by a mob back to our awaiting train. Our star player Leonard Wood finished the game with several stitches above his eye that were the result of hurled debris.

8. 1908. Ugag alumni incite Southern Conference investigation into recruiting practices of John Heisman. Heisman was the definition of moral character and gave all of his records, books, and such to the investigators who found no fault in his program.

7. 1919. The boys come home from World War I. Tech acted as a military officer training facility and had a full compliment of men on campus during the war. Ugag's student body was a mass of grunts that quit school and joined up. So in celebration of ugag's students return, they threw a big parade. In the parade, ugag displayed a donkey painted yellow that said "Tech in Atlanta" and a tank that had "UGA in Argonne" painted on the side. I'm sorry ugag fans but that's pretty f-ing low. Tech men were leading your hillbilly asses into battle and this is the thanks they get.

6. 1943 and 1944. Tech destroys ugag in football both years. Ugag does not recognize the games to this day. Sore losers. Once again, we were a military school at the time. The players that played in those games were legitimately enrolled at Tech. They were transfers from schools all over the country but our best players were still Tech Men (e.g. John Steber, Phil Tinsley, and Eddie Prokop).

5. 1978. Tech attempts re-entry into the SEC after scholarship limits are imposed and a true recruiting ethics doctrine is implemented. At one point, SEC teams would over-recruit their rosters and dump kids in the middle of the Summer if they didn't make the team, leaving them without scholarships. This is one of the main reasons Dodd left the SEC in 1964. In the 1978 vote, the biggest opponent of Tech was...ugag. They rallied their fellow redneck schools and shot down Tech's attempt.

4. December 2, 1978. Dooley orders the hit on Eddie Lee Ivery that knocks Ivery out of the ugag game and out of the Heisman race. Bullshit move by a bullshit coach.

3. 1994. Ugag athletic department cites the Omni's proximity to Tech's campus as the reason ugag can't beat Tech in basketball. They didn't take into account the fact that ugag fans don't give two shits about basketball and weren't coming to the games or that their teams/coaches sucked.

2. November 25, 1994. The most recent of Tech-ugag bench clearing brawls 'cause Ray Goof thought it was cool to leave the starters in with the game in hand. Congrats Ray, your team beat a 1 win Tech team. I wish Ryan Stewart had punched him in the face during the fight.

1. 2000. The ugag band stabs our giant inflatable buzz... That's pretty low. Good thing we made the band pay for it.

Sorry Joe, I forgot to mention I wasn't born for almost all of this list but it still doesn't mean we should forget past transgressions. College athletics is about pageantry, history, and tradition not just what happened this season.

A History Lesson in Tradition: The T-Book

In an effort to inform, educate and teach as many people as possible, The Legacy crew brings back some of their more popular posts from the "old days". Today, the history of the T-book. The resource for Georgia Tech history and traditions.

As Dane let all of you know last night, the T-book is back on campus at Georgia Tech. Many of you might not actually know what the T-book is or what it was. Here's the information and the history on the book and what it means to the Institute.

The Early Printings

The first T-book was published in 1906 by the YMCA. The purpose of the book was to serve mainly as a student handbook and a guide to the school for all the incoming freshman. The organization continued to publish the T-book until the 1968-1969 school year. The hard, physical edition of the T-book was finished for 40 years. However, a legacy was left by the T-book pioneers as the University of Florida developed their own version of the T-book (called the F-book). The F-book is more of what the T-book was originally, a student handbook that discusses all organizations, clubs, athletics and traditions.

Online Edition

In the early 2000's, the T-book morphed into an online "Rat's Guide to Tech" and more of a living document that editors could constantly update. Access was available to all through the internet but unfortunately updates and advertising were hard to come by and the site was not updated as much as some had hoped. Knowledge and information about Georgia Tech traditions and history began to fall by the wayside.

Now

After researching the history and the legacy that the T-book created and left behind the Ramblin' Reck Club
has brought the T-book back. Georgia Tech has been without the T-book for nearly 40 years and it is time to end the drought. Today, the T-book talks about the history of Georgia Tech and the traditions that make the Institute so unique. Personal letters to the owners are written by Football Coach Paul Johnson, Men's Basketball Coach Paul Hewitt, Athletic Director Dan Radakovich, Interim p\President Gary Schuster, and SGA President Nick Wellkamp.

The T-book is comprised of two parts. The first part is history. Timelines and letters, famous athletes and coaches of old can all be found in the front half. The second part is for the student. It is time for the owner of the T-book to "Complete the Tradition". To complete the tradition, the student must take a picture of themselves doing the tradition and then paste their own personal picture into their book in the space allotted. This allows everyone to not only learn about the traditions that make Georgia Tech so unique but they also get to partake in them.

So for the 2008-2009 a tradition hasn't been started, rather it has been picked up and continued.

Editor's Note: The 2008-2009 T-Book is now online. Click below!

Click Here to see the 2008-2009 T-Book!

Other History Lessons in Tradition: Buzz and the Yellow Jackets and the Ramblin' Wreck

A History Lesson in Tradition: Buzz and the Yellowjackets

Today, we bring back one of our more popular posts in the history of Buzz and the Yellowjackets.

Today at Georgia Tech when a person hears the term "Yellowjackets" they are more than likely to immediately think of the mascot Buzz. But if you go far back enough you will see that the "Yellowjackets" nickname was created many years before our lovable bee jumped into the scene.

Yellowjackets

The facts are a little hazy regarding the where the exact term "Yellowjackets" came to be in reference to our beloved Institute. In 1905, the Atlanta Constitution first referred to the nickname "Yellowjackets" (all one word) after legendary John Heisman officially declared that "Yellowjackets" was to be the only reference to Georgia Tech that he wanted to see. His reasoning probably came from watching Georgia Tech fans and faculty dress up in yellow coats and jackets in support of their team whoever was playing the University [sic] of Georgia.

In 1906, the first illustrated image of the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets was printed in the Atlanta Journal. The cartoon referenced an upcoming Georgia loss to Georgia Tech:

The First Buzz

There have been two creations of the real life mascot as we know him today.

The first creation was in 1972 by a woman named Judi McNair who made the first costume by hand and performed at home football games. She made her grand entrance into the stadium on top of the Ramblin' Wreck as she was given permission by Tech officials to perform. As far as I could find Ms. McNair was the YellowJacket mascot for only that 1 football season of 1972.

Modern Day Buzz

Seven years later, the more modern day Buzz came to be. In 1979, a student by the name of Richie Bland spent $1,400 on a costume that looked like a Yellow jacket. After the costume was made, Bland decided that he would use it at a football game. The specific game at which this new Buzz was unveiled could not be found, but Bland did not get permission from Tech officials to perform at the game. Rather, he decided to run across the field at a random time. The fans, having no idea that these antics were not an official Tech action, roared in applause and cheers. In 1980, the costumed YellowJacket had been given the name "Buzz Bee" and was given title as an "official mascot of Georgia Tech". Buzz had been born.

Early Buzz.
Courtesy of Georgia Tech Alumni Association

Buzz Today

Today, Buzz is a mischievous character who always seems like he has pure sugar for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and is an official member of the Georgia Tech cheerleading squad. Because of the demand of time and energy put in to being Buzz, there is more than one student who dons the costume, though there is never two Buzz's at a time. The students who are Buzz keep their identities secret until graduation.

Buzz performs at football and basketball games and makes appearances to various other events as well. He also has the ability to show up to private parties!

BMFY!