Report: Pepper Rodgers has passed

GTRambler

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7979 said:
Sarge was certainly still the equipment manager when Pepper was the Tech coach but I'm dating this pic 1960-ish.....maybe late 50's....Sarge looked about the same by 74-76 but the helmets with single bar face masks date the photo way, way earlier
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Yes, I do believe you are right . Thank you for correcting me. I loved ‘Ol Sarge, and got carried away a bit.

Absolutely great memories! Thank you again.
 

Jazzchaz

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GT_EE78 said:
AJC
In his three seasons on the varsity (1951-53), Tech ran up a record of 32-2-3, winning two SEC championships, two Orange Bowls and one Sugar Bowl. Playing quarterback and kicking, Rodgers led the Jackets to a 12-0 record and a share of the national championship in 1952.
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'SHARE of the national championship'? pfffft The AP has always hated Tech. They had pre-selected Michigan State #1 at the beginning of the year, who was an independent that would be joining the Big Ten the following year They only finished 9-0 with a cupcake schedule and only played three decent teams.... and only one of the top three in the Big Ten......and one of those nine wines was over Marquette.
Ask anybody still here on that 1952 team about 'sharing' a title and watch them laugh.
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takethepoints

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YellowJacketFan2018 said:
UCLA ran the wishbone;)

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Yes, and who was their QB, I hear you ask?

Why, that would be … MARK HARMON. Yes, that Mark Harmon. He was right good at it too.

I'm very sorry to hear about Pepper's death. He was one of my favorite GT coaches and did wonders for our recruitment of African-Americans. Besides, I really liked watching the wishbone. (What? More then the spread option!?! Yes.)
 
DeepSnap

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7979 said:
Sarge was certainly still the equipment manager when Pepper was the Tech coach but I'm dating this pic 1960-ish.....maybe late 50's....Sarge looked about the same by 74-76 but the helmets with single bar face masks date the photo way, way earlier
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That absolutely has to be the only photo ever taken of Sarge smiling.

If you Google "cantankerous SOB" that photo will appear.

His disdain for incoming freshmen was frightening as hell when you were one, then funny as hell to watch after that when the ensuing classes rolled in for their physicals, locker assignments, & equipment issue. He was just using his Army boot camp DI skills.
 

augustabuzz

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FredJacket said:
Can somebody help a "young buck" like me (52 years old)? What's the year & any back story(?)... did Pepper START a game v UGA with 2 consecutive successful onside kicks?
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GT18yj taught Don how and where to hit the ball where it would go out spinning like a top and when touched would run back to the kicking team. In 1978 in Athens, we scored 1st and after some lobbying, Pepper gave the okay. We converted and scored the ensuing possession and Pepper gave the okay again, but it flew over the line and out of bounds. After the 1st one, the sec official on our sideline said, "He really missed that one.":cool:
 
YellowJacketFan2018

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7979 said:
Many of you know this story but here it is again...at least my version of it....
It is 1976....we'd beaten Auburn in Auburn the week before and would beat ND the following week, but today we're in Durham getting pounded 31-7 by maybe the sorriest Duke team of the 70s.... (Seems like we set Tech record that day for turn-overs, 5 fumbles and 5 INTs maybe?...)
Anyway it's 3rd Qtr, we got the ball near midfield....waiting on the play from sideline and guys in our huddle are screaming at each other...Sims is yelling at Lanier "Pitch the damn ball." Leo is barking at Roy Simmons about a holding call or something.....chaos....I'm looking over at Coach Curry who has the head set on getting the play from press box, arm around Herb's shoulders...Pepper, who never wore the head set, was leaning in listening....Herb gets the play, starts his sprint to the huddle, gets his feet tangled in head set wires, head set yanked off Curry, hitting Pepper across the bridge of the nose, Pepper staggers and goes down.....Pepper quickly struggles to his feet, blood streaming down his face, looks at the scoreboard, then collapses back down on the ground, spread eagle....
I remember thinking, "This is like a Three Stooges episode."
I believe Pepper enjoyed re-telling this story.....
RIP, Coach
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Strangely enough Mike McGee's Blue Devils beat Tennessee in Knoxville also(Tennessee missed 3 extra points) in a 5-5-1 season. He eventually became Duke Athletic Director.
 
Jerry the Jacket

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You can watch a replay of the 1952 season on you tube. (just searcj GT 1952 football season). For the most part Bill Brigham or Brigman was the quarterback. Pepper played some and played a lot in the Bowl game against Ole Miss. There are some great still photos on that clip of the Duke game that year. Apparently a game both teams were out for blood in. In fact there are a couple of photos of 2 tech players, one being Larry Morris, who were bleeding profusely. If you watch the tackling you will notice a lot of what would be classified as late hits that are routine and unflagged. It was a lot rougher game back then.

Go Jackets!
 

Skeptic

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TheSilasSonRising said:
I was just yesterday reading an article about who many considered the greatest QB in GT history - Darrel Crawford. QB for national championship in 52. His accomplishments were incredible.

But the article ended noting that Pepper kicked the winning FG in the Orange Bowl to secure the victory.

Pepper was a much, much better coach than many gave him credit for.

Also I can not forget the video of him visiting children at the Scottish Rite hospital before the old frosh Turkey day game.

He came up to a little boy infirmed at the hospital and the lil guy told Pepper he was a uga fan.

Pepper just said
"that's ok - as long as you are for someone and not against someone".

I always wondered what might have been if we had hired Pepper as HC earlier in his career?

A lot of promises were made to Pepper that GT did not follow through on.

R.I.P. coach - and thank you for being a "Tech Man" .
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Never met him but a close friend played poker with him weekly in Washington when he was an official with the Redskins and living in the same condominium complex. Yes, he could be an arrogant jerk, particularly on a losing night. I have no idea whether he was the best-ever Tech QB, but an unbeaten season, a national championship, two Sugar Bowl titles in addition to a historic Orange Bowl kick, four bowl wins in all, and for a long time the Sugar Bowl passing record holder. In 1954 he was 18-26 for 195 yards and three TDs. All this from a guy whose arm strength, by reputation, was suspect. But like Billy Lothridge, who would follow him in the '60s, he was a flat out winner on the field. That is an intangible coaches talk about but have no idea what it is. It just is.
 

TheSilasSonRising

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bob4gt said:
Pepper was also a movie "star" - he was in one movie and I think had a few cameos on tv shows while at UCLA. But I remember him because he was the only survivor in a boat explosion when he and several other U Fla assistant coaches went deep sea fishing. That was when he burned his face. Maybe we should bring back drownproofing.

Bob
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I did not know that about the boat accident - horrible.

I think, also, it should not be forgotten he was a Vet who qualified to fly fighter jets.

I think Pepper had a short appearance in one of the "Billy Jack" movies.

I remember reading that the night before ugag was playing someone they showed this movie after a team meal. When Pepper appeared - the players booed.

That same night, GT was somewhere going through the same routine. When Pepper appeared on screen - you guessed it - the GT players booed :)
 
MonroeJacket

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Right around the time I graduated, I was returning/reselling books at Engineer’s. While I was there, they were putting out some new old stock items they found hidden in the basement. One was this scarf from the late 70s. It says “Pepper Power” on one side of it. Other items included packs of party napkins that had the old “T” logo with the old yellow jacket, and patches that had the same logo. They were selling all of these things for literal pennies. I bought everything they had.
 

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TheSilasSonRising

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GTRambler said:
View attachment 8323

Pepper’s Georgia Tech wishbone team in 1975, in true Georgia Tech White and Old Gold. Now these are what we should stay with! Made at that time by the then-Russell Southern Company, BTW.
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Man I remember Pepper's last year in 1979.

Perhaps it was a harbinger of things to come or what poor management was running the GTAA, but someone screwed up the uniform pants order.

A lot of the players had pants with stripes as seen in the above photo and a lot of players had pants with an extra wide white stripe.

As previously said, despite his shortcomings, Pepper had to put up with a lot of undeserved crap.
 
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