How I became a GT basketball fan

[jbix80]

My older brother was a Duke fan growing up. One night he was watching their game when I walked in the room and the first thing I saw on the screen was Cremins. I was instantly mesmerized by that hair. Then Travis Best had the ball. Then he passed to James Forrest. This team had the coolest looking coach and players with the neatest names. That was important to 7/8 year old me. I decided right then and there that this way my team now. So that's how I became a GT basketball fan 25 years ago. Not too many others up here in southeastern Pennsylvania.

I'm still here in Lancaster County cheering for the Jackets, Keystone. I mentioned on the other page that I became a Tech fan when I was 5 years old by watching Mark Price. My parents tell me I was obsessed with him. I've followed Tech basketball ever since.

 

[Chattjacket]

It sounds like my GT fandom story overlaps with several here. Big college bball fan growing up that basically bounced to whatever team was good (Kentucky & Duke... yeah, I know ) being my favorite. Decided in '01 to attend GT, so they immediately became my team. First year on campus was the Bosh season. Joined the Swarm. Didn't miss a game played in Atlanta in my five years on campus. Still regret not going to San Antonio for the Final Four.

On a side note, I've seen a couple of posts about people looking for tickets this season. I'd recommend the Stinger Mobile Pass next year for anyone that goes to more than a couple games per season. I live in Chattanooga now and have only been able to get to ATL for one game so far this year, but our seats were in the Callaway Club for Rio Grande Valley. It's a great value!

 

[bke1984]

I was born a Georgia Tech fan. Fourth generation Yellow Jacket (MS Statistics 2007, BS IE 2006) dating back to around 1900. My great grandfather played baseball for Tech around the turn of the century...we think for Heisman, but my dad doesn't have any of the details on this. My grandfather was the freshmen squad QB for the 1928 Golden Tornado, and my dad and I just drink a lot of beer and watch...

I've never known anything else...

GO JACKETS AND THWG!!!

 

[gtpi]

i grew up in ohio and was an ohio state fan while watching jerry lucas... john havlacek etc. not sure exactly what year it was but i can remember listening to the bucks on the radio playing some team i never heard of named the yellow jackets. i think kaiser was on that team.

yes he was and the year was 1960. osu creamed us by almost 20 points.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1960-03-12-georgia-tech.html

i went to tosu as a freshman and met jimmie cleamons (former coach of the celtics) and used to play pick ball with him and a teammate of coack k's from army named pete. jimmie prob still remembers the tiny kid he called 'scraggs' heh. i was something else. tried out for the osu team with fred taylor as coach. made the first cut and ended up zigging when i should have zagged and ended up with 14 stitches above my eyebrow. an that was all she wrote for me.

when i moved to atlanta i realized i was smarter than the clemson civil engineers i worked with. decided to go to back to school and was down to auburn...clemson and ga tech. i chose tech and it wasnt even close. i graduated in 1982 where i met bobby cremins while he was walking in front of the library. we talked for a good 20 minutes and i told him how much i enjoyed his building of the jackets.

by that time i was hooked and hooked big time.

moved to jacksonville where i served on the gator bowl committee as a volunteer. met bobby 2 more times. once while on the bench during a tourney game with jacksonville. was in the locker room at half time. even mark price was not off limits to bobby's more than salty half time talk. heh

i met john salley mark price and the rest of the team. anthony sherrod was on that team. still have a picture of me mark and bobby after the game. also had the pleasure of meeting the late great al ciraldo. john salley was an ahole even back then which should be of no surprise. mark doesnt look stout enough to ever have played in the nba let alone be an all star.

been a fan since the late 70's and still a fan today.

i also met bill curry but thats another story all by itself.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Speaking of Duke, does anyone remember the deafening Huuuuurley! Huuuuuurley! Huuuuurley! chants? Fun times.

I remember the Ferry chants when I was a freshman (Dennis Scott and I came in same year).

 

[Tech93]

My family moved from NJ to south GA when I was 5. I excelled in athletics in a big football town that had a lot of guys go to UGA to play. My next door neighbor was one of them who all of you would know. He helped lead the team to the Natl championship when I was 9. To say the least, I was a bulldog fan as a kid. As I got into my teen years, I started becoming more interested in Tech athletics and then one of my friends signed to play QB at Tech...he was 5 years older than me but we had won the punt, pass, and kick competition together for our respective age groups. Unfortunately, he got in a bad accident the summer before his freshman year and never played football again. My Dad had worked in corporate his whole life and played college football at Villanova. He started drilling in my head in my teenage years that Tech was a great school known worldwide. He drove me to Tech as a high school junior to meet with Sen. Fowler's committe for an academy nomination. We walked the campus and he insisted I send a college app to Tech. He has passed now but he was a great mentor and I thank him for pushing me to go to Tech. My freshman year I lived in Techwood and one of the walk ons became a good friend and he would let me in the locker room before the game and that's when I met Bobby Cremins and was sold on Tech basketball. Josh Pastner reminds me of Cremins.

 

[AE 87]

I grew up in Florida, and when I became interested in Tech, I could follow the football a bit. I didn't really get into Tech basketball till I got on campus.

I entered Tech the same year as Price and Salley.

I also remember a much harsher student section than what we hear on TV today. The BS (spelled out) and "Damn Poor Refs" chants were common. I'd also love for us to hear the crowd pick on a deserving player again. We get Duke in the house this year, so I'd love a full game of a "psy-cho" or "nut-job" chant every time Grayson Allen gets the ball.

 

[up state jacket]

12 years old I went to Bobby Cremins's first basketball camp. Haven't looked back once. I met John Salley, The Hatian Sensation, Bruce. We got to watch team unofficial practice at the Thriller. It had that ugly yellow.

 

[Rocket City Jacket]

I grew up on North Carolina and was a NC State fan and generally a fan of college basketball. I came to Tech in 83, just in time for Mark Price and company. I was hooked and went to every home game I could. Some of my fondest memories were sitting with Yvonne Joseph in my mechanical engineering classes. He would sit behind me in the chairs with the small attached desk in front and his knees would be beside my chair. He was a big man. When I went to grad school, Yvonne was in one of my class that it ran a study hall for and he and I talked quite a bit. I also have fond memories of playing basketball at the SAC on Saturday mornings and occasionaly during the off season, Mark Price and Duane Ferrell would show up and play. I got in a pickup game and had to guard Mark once. It wasn't pretty!

 

[gtpi]

lotsa converts from the bc mark price days. that truly WAS a golden era of basketball for us.

I GET THE SAME KINDA FEELING from cjp. maybe even a little better. while cbc was a GREAT recruiter cjp is a pretty good bench coach from what i see so far.

go jackets

 

[GT_EE78]

was born a Georgia Tech fan. My dad went to southernTech and took me to a few games at BDS .A cousin that my dad grew up with was team mvp in 1941. http://laurenscountysportshistory.blogspot.com/2009/05/fiddling-fullback-story-of-wex-jordan.html

 

[McCamish Maniacs]

My Freshman year was the 04-05 season, the year after the Championship run. The game that got me hooked was a home game hosting #5 Wake Forest. Jarrett Jack vs Chris Paul. Jack hit 2 free throws in OT to seal the win 102-101, we rushed the court, and a decade of sucking at basketball would ensue.

My freshman year was the 12-13 season, the opening of McCamish Pavilion, the freshman season of future stars Robert Carter, Marcus Georges-Hunt, and Chris Bolden. Georgia Tech basketball was on the come up, positioned to be one of the top teams in the ACC. Some bad luck and a number of close losses resulted in a 16-15 season, but things were poised to turn around the following season, right? Wrong. Robert Carter was lost for the season to injury and Georgia Tech finished the season just under .500. Things had to turn around the following season though, right? Wrong. Robert Carter transferred, Solomon Poole was kicked off the team, and half the team graduated resulting in a 12-19 season. Okay, my senior year wasn't THAT bad. The Jackets went 21-15 and made it to the NIT quarterfinals. A small consolation for the previous three seasons.

So yea.....the better question would be why am I still a GT basketball fan .

Jokes aside, I love this school. I love this team.

 

[Home Park Jacket]

I remember the Ferry chants when I was a freshman (Dennis Scott and I came in same year).

Those were the best. I grew up an Indiana fan as I was born there and moved to Macon when I was 7. Cremins brought his '85 or '86 to my high school in Macon for an intersquad scrimmage. That's when I started to become a fan. Enrolled in fall 1988.

Best memories:

• Was in Knoxville and New Orleans for ETSU, LSU, Mich St, and Minn for the 1990 run. Didn't do well on my finals that quarter.
• Was in Milwaukee for N Iowa and BC for the 2004 run
• Storming the court after Scott beat UNC

 

[augustabuzz]

I grew up in Atlanta and was always a Tech fan. Really started following hoops closely in 1962, listened to the games on WGST. Started Tech in 64 and been a rabid fan since. Yunkus is my all time favorite, but think anyone who wore the white and gold is great.
Bob

I became a Tech. basketball fan with "Big Jim Caldwell". Coach Hyder had been my Dad's baseball coach at Tech. in the late 40s, so he was the first coach we were introduced to, even before coach Dodd. I've followed Tech. sports since then.