Do you remember when you became a Tech fan?

GT_05

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I became a GT fan on September 12, 1987. I was kinda a fan in 1985, but not quite.

(BTW, enrolled from CT in June 1987)

Now, I don't remember that game, or any game through the 1993 season, although I went to every home game and many away games. But that's a story for another night.

GT spanked the Citadel, 51-12 on September 12, 1987. [emoji106]


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MikeJackets1967

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I've been a fan my whole life. Dad went to Tech. I've got baby pictures where I have GT stuff on. I didn't go to Tech because I grew up in FL and got to go to college there for free...I got into Tech but it's hard to argue with free. Still, that's one of the hardest decisions I've ever made. I've gone to at least one game each year I've been alive (41). Had season tix in Tallahassee when I lived there and drove up for all of them...now live in ATL and I'm there for every home game and the occasional road game (11 years total with season tix). I even converted the wife, who was a Miami fan.

I've been there for the good and bad...some of which come to mind are Furman '83, Maryland '89 (the Neil ODonnell game), NC St '90, Nebraska 1/1/91, Navy '96 (where I first learned who PJ was), UVA '98, UGA '99, Clemson '01 (Woody Dantzler just ran past me in my living room), FSU '08/'15, VT '09, and many more I'm not recalling right now. Oh, and I'll be there Saturday.

THWG.
The most disappointing GT game i went to was the 1986 17-17 season opening tie with Furman:banghead::vomit:I was really charged up going into the 1986 season and that put a damper on it:rolleyes:
 
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I grew up a mutt fan. Why? Because my entire family is made up of mutts. Nearly twenty years ago, on October 17, 1998, I became a Tech fan and I never looked back. I watched GT come back from 21 down to beat #7 UVA at a very rowdy BDS. I became a fan that day because they never gave up in that game and that’s what I’ve loved about Tech teams over the years...we leave it all on the field. The last 20 years have brought the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Even though we are down now, we will be back. Believe it. Go Jackets!




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Glad you started this Thread. Actually brings tears to my eyes. We need this to remind us why we are Tech fans and what we have seen and gone through. Some may want, change and I understand. I don't and there are those that are with me. But in the end to be a Tech fan is something special. We understand the great years are not always there. But we step onto the field and sing the best fight song in college football.......Go Jackets
 

MikeJackets1967

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Glad you started this Thread. Actually brings tears to my eyes. We need this to remind us why we are Tech fans and what we have seen and gone through. Some may want, change and I understand. I don't and there are those that are with me. But in the end to be a Tech fan is something special. We understand the great years are not always there. But we step onto the field and sing the best fight song in college football.......Go Jackets
Yeah i love the Jackets no matter how the season goes and will be rooting for them every week(y);):cool:
 

jwsavhGT

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1978. My Mother (@SavhGTMom) had been a fan since she and my Daddy went to the GT/ND game in 1967(?). I had applied to Georgia Southern, Ga, & Georgia Tech and was accepted by all 3. I had planned on going to UGag but my Mother informed me that she was not paying for me to go to school and party so I would either go to Georgia Tech or live at home and go to Georgia Southern. I decided that Statesboro was too close to family so I opted for Georgia Tech. I've been a Yellow Jacket since then. Moral of this story is that Mother's Do Know Best!
 

Dottie1145

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My Dad and I went to a ton of Georgia Southern games while CPJ and Adrian Peterson were wrecking the SoCon. Never really had a vested interest in a big college team until CPJ was hired at Tech. I followed his career at Navy with Benedictine Alum Lamar Owens, so when he came back to GA I just went all in. First game was FSU 2008, and I’ve never looked back. Glad to be a fan of such a great group of guys year in and year out. Thanks to CPJ, the institute gained a fan for life. THWG.
 

Ash

Ramblin' Wreck
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766
It was 1st or 2nd grade. I walked into my classroom one day. It was decorated for "Spirit Week" with red and black bulldogs on one side and yellow and white yellow jackets on the other. I had no idea what was going on. I was told to choose a side that matched the team I was a fan of and to sit for the day. Most of the kids were sitting on the red side of the room. Most of the annoying kids anyway. So I sat on the Yellow Jacket side of the room. Things kind of snowballed form there, it turns out that was a metaphor for the years to come.

I was a sophomore in HS when the Jackets kicked a field goal to beat Virginia. That was the game that cemented my fanaticism.
 

AlabamaBuzz

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Also, grew up a UGAG fan.

Began attending GT in the Fall of 1982 - saw the DWAG fans for what they really are for the first time - I could never, ever be a mutt fan again. I rooted for GT football from that time forward, but honestly did not get super excited about GT football until our 1990 season. I truly appreciate, although it gets very frustrating, the fact that a world class STEM school attempts to compete in big boy football. After the late 60's/early 70's, it would have been easy to fold up and either drop down to a lower division or give it up all together.

I am concerned about the future of our program - I believe our fan base in shrinking slowly and slowly, especially the ones that love it enough to pour in lots of donor cash. I hope it is just the negative nellie in me with this belief.
 

5277hike

Jolly Good Fellow
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207
I grew up a mutt fan. Why? Because my entire family is made up of mutts. Nearly twenty years ago, on October 17, 1998, I became a Tech fan and I never looked back. I watched GT come back from 21 down to beat #7 UVA at a very rowdy BDS. I became a fan that day because they never gave up in that game and that’s what I’ve loved about Tech teams over the years...we leave it all on the field. The last 20 years have brought the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Even though we are down now, we will be back. Believe it. Go Jackets!




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June 14, 1954, the day I was born.
If you will permit me a rambling reply. My dad's mom died when he was 11. His dad was an alcoholic and could not raise he and my uncle, so they lived with grandparents. My dad was good at football, and came back to Cordele High School for his optional 12th grade year since it was a new addition at that time. He earned a scholarship offer from Tech, Alabama, and ugag, and decided on Tech. He hitch-hiked to Atlanta to start school in fall 1949 as a 17 year old, 6 foot 145 pound running back. He played a year before realizing he was too small for major college football and ran track for a couple of years. He joined NROTC, graduated Tech, and became a navy pilot. When it was time for me to pick a school, Tech was the only place I applied. I got a CE co-op degree in 1977.

My dad passed away in January, so I appreciate you bearing with this story as I remember him.
 

GT_05

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June 14, 1954, the day I was born.
If you will permit me a rambling reply. My dad's mom died when he was 11. His dad was an alcoholic and could not raise he and my uncle, so they lived with grandparents. My dad was good at football, and came back to Cordele High School for his optional 12th grade year since it was a new addition at that time. He earned a scholarship offer from Tech, Alabama, and ugag, and decided on Tech. He hitch-hiked to Atlanta to start school in fall 1949 as a 17 year old, 6 foot 145 pound running back. He played a year before realizing he was too small for major college football and ran track for a couple of years. He joined NROTC, graduated Tech, and became a navy pilot. When it was time for me to pick a school, Tech was the only place I applied. I got a CE co-op degree in 1977.

My dad passed away in January, so I appreciate you bearing with this story as I remember him.

That was a great story and I appreciate you sharing it. I’m sorry about your loss.


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gtie73

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My father was a GT street fan. Very smart but post serving in Europe WWII had trouble sitting in a classroom. First game I remember attending was a GT/FSU game that was held sometime in the 50's. GT won. My grandmother/great grandmothers home was on State Street which is now part of the GT campus. Was accepted at Auburn and Clemson (other family and friend connections) but my father changed those choices. Die hard GT fan which at times is painful but also enjoyable. Also not into using the internet to vent (must be an old guy now).
 

katlong

Jolly Good Fellow
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Kennesaw, GA
I was born a Jacket. My dad is an IE, and I remember him teaching me the PG version of the fight song when I was 3 years old. We had many mutt fans in our family, but I was a daddy's girl - and I liked being different. I can relate to @Ash . I knew I was destined to go to GT from an early age because of my dad, and I made it my life's goal to graduate from GT. My dad actually didn't want me to attend Tech because when he attended in the 60s, it was hard for women - and honestly, I don't think he enjoyed it much. I fought him tooth and nail and finally wound up at Tech. I was there during the 1990 season as my first season at Tech! What a fun time. It was hard, but everything about going to school at Tech was all I ever dreamed it to be. Graduated at the top of my class (don't get too excited, I was a red-headed step child as a mgt major) I've been to 2 other colleges and taught at a 3rd, and NOTHING compares to Tech. It's special. And that is what I remember every game day, win or lose...

I tried to memorialize some of my love of Tech in a romantic mystery book I published this year (Red Dawg) that is dedicated to my dad: . Not to plug my own stuff - every dime of proceeds go to my church's charity to help soldiers - I just thought it might be appropriate in this thread to share since it is part of how much I love Tech.
 

grandpa jacket

Ramblin' Wreck
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609
I grew up a mutt fan. Why? Because my entire family is made up of mutts. Nearly twenty years ago, on October 17, 1998, I became a Tech fan and I never looked back. I watched GT come back from 21 down to beat #7 UVA at a very rowdy BDS. I became a fan that day because they never gave up in that game and that’s what I’ve loved about Tech teams over the years...we leave it all on the field. The last 20 years have brought the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Even though we are down now, we will be back. Believe it. Go Jackets!




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Before 90 percent of you were born
 

USCJacket15

Georgia Tech Fan
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15
I was born a GT fan because of my dad who played football at Tech from 1980-1983. Went to my first game at Bobby Dodd when I was 4 years old in 1996, and I still have the program from that game. A year or two later I remember being upset after a loss one time and telling my dad that I was going to be a Florida State fan because they didn't lose so much. His reply, "Go ahead, I won't stop you. It's not easy being a Tech fan."

Fast forward to the 1998 UVA game. Tech was down big in the 3rd quarter and I was ready to leave the game early with a lot of the other fans, but my dad refused. He kept repeating that we were going to stay until the end of the game no matter what and that it wasn't over until it was over. When Dez White scored that late 4th quarter touchdown I still vividly remember my dad picking me up and shouting excitedly "That's why you never, ever give up!" Not only was that a great lesson for a 6 year old to learn, it was also the moment that cemented me being a GT fan forever.

When it came time for me to choose a college I applied to GT and was accepted, but with no scholarship money I was looking at $100k or more in student loan debt. Instead I decided to stay in state and attend the University of South Carolina (the only other school with UGA and Clemson as its biggest rivals), where I graduated debt-free. I'm still a huge Tech fan and always will be, whether we're winning ACC Championships and Orange Bowls or finishing the season 5-6 or 3-9.
 

GT_05

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2,370
I was born a GT fan because of my dad who played football at Tech from 1980-1983. Went to my first game at Bobby Dodd when I was 4 years old in 1996, and I still have the program from that game. A year or two later I remember being upset after a loss one time and telling my dad that I was going to be a Florida State fan because they didn't lose so much. His reply, "Go ahead, I won't stop you. It's not easy being a Tech fan."

Fast forward to the 1998 UVA game. Tech was down big in the 3rd quarter and I was ready to leave the game early with a lot of the other fans, but my dad refused. He kept repeating that we were going to stay until the end of the game no matter what and that it wasn't over until it was over. When Dez White scored that late 4th quarter touchdown I still vividly remember my dad picking me up and shouting excitedly "That's why you never, ever give up!" Not only was that a great lesson for a 6 year old to learn, it was also the moment that cemented me being a GT fan forever.

When it came time for me to choose a college I applied to GT and was accepted, but with no scholarship money I was looking at $100k or more in student loan debt. Instead I decided to stay in state and attend the University of South Carolina (the only other school with UGA and Clemson as its biggest rivals), where I graduated debt-free. I'm still a huge Tech fan and always will be, whether we're winning ACC Championships and Orange Bowls or finishing the season 5-6 or 3-9.

+1000. [emoji106]


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