The day GT sports changed

[Essobee]

ND has the built in "catholic appeal" every catholic school alumni that never goes to college ends up a ND fan........a national level of "every Georgia H.S. grad that doesn't go to college ends up a UGa fan"

That's ND playing to their strength and UGA playing to their strength. We need to play to ours. There are a ton of athletic kids who want more from life than playing a single sport for a dozen or less years, and parents everywhere who want their kids to succeed all the way through life. Like the nerd said, "At Georgia Tech, you can do that."

 

[Essobee]

Just to be argumenive from 51 to 56 we were better than Ole Miss but agree that probably from 57-60 Ole Miss was pretty good

OM was very good. Wasn't it 1957 when Billy Cannon went head-to-head against OM for the national championship? I may have the year wrong, but LSU won the regular season game on a tremendous punt return by Cannon and lost the bowl game by something like 21 points IIRC.

 

[collegeballfan]

Fascinating discussion guys.

Go back to Volker's remarks at 12:20 pm. IMO he basically has it nailed. Prior to 1970 GT won about 60% of its games over the preceding half century. Since 1970 53%. And that 53% includes O'Leary, Gailey and Johnson (combined 19 years) winning at a combined 60%.

What changed about 1970 was high school players figured out that college football was nothing but a minor league for the NFL. Why go to GT, bust your butt over books just for a C so you could play next season? There were easier routes to the NFL than GT academics. What we now call the factory school route.

GT is sitting there with 34 undergraduate majors (most of which are STEM majors) recruiting against schools with 200 to 250 majors. Which is the easier route to the NFL? Look at the list of majors at any factory school and then look at the list of majors at GT. If the NFL created a minor league like baseball has, GT would be a top 10 football school!

The mistake GT made, as far as football goes, was not becoming a factory school. It's never to late, but I am not sure you GT grads want to go there just for a couple more football wins a season.

Like it or not, it is remarkable that GT has won as often as it has. Playing in 17 straight bowls is a really remarkable achievement. GT is tied with UGA and ahead of LSU at 14 and Alabama at 10. Go figure.

 

[Mack]

OM was very good. Wasn't it 1957 when Billy Cannon went head-to-head against OM for the national championship? I may have the year wrong, but LSU won the regular season game on a tremendous punt return by Cannon and lost the bowl game by something like 21 points IIRC.

1959 Billy the Animal Cannon breaks 100 tackles on a punt return and then get this.........made a big tackle on the goal line to preserve the victory.Sugar Bowl the rebs kicked butt 21-0 I think.Cannon was a animal........ran the 100 in 9.5,weighted 220 lbs.........threw the shot over 50 feet and great track star.Went to jail for counterfeiting but rallied and now is clean and director of medicine at .........Angola............

 

[Mack]

Maybe we would have mirrored Mississippi who, btw, had more wins than GT in our hay day, the 50's.

Yep two platoon football changed Tech and other schools during late fifties.Dodd said he didnt have talent to play both sides of the ball.Ole Miss like other schools in SEC had plenty of tricks up their sleeves and they did well from 57=60 which up the win loss vs tech.

 

[Essobee]

1959 Billy the Animal Cannon breaks 100 tackles on a punt return and then get this.........made a big tackle on the goal line to preserve the victory.Sugar Bowl the rebs kicked butt 21-0 I think.Cannon was a animal........ran the 100 in 9.5,weighted 220 lbs.........threw the shot over 50 feet and great track star.Went to jail for counterfeiting but rallied and now is clean and director of medicine at .........Angola............

Right. In 1958, LSU had won the national championship under the coaching of Paul Dietzel.

Now there was a colorful and innovative coach. Remember the Chinese Bandits? Probably the most famous second/third team in history. Dietzel had defeated the limited substitution limitation by having a complete second team offense and a second team defense (the Chinese Bandits), both of which played considerably...thereby letting the first team (which played both ways) rest. The Bandits took great pride in their fierce success against scoring, and that inspired play accounted for even further success.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I recall when Bobby talked about that. What is even more amazing is that I, among many others, believed it would happen. We were in booming Atlanta, after all, and nationally famous for football. Either the "Notre Dame of the South" goal was a pipe dream or we fumbled the ball. As Hillary might say, "What difference does it make at this point in time?" (Imagine flailing hands and a sour expression)

What is done is done. No need to rehash the past because we sure ain't gonna change it. Instead, let's spend our energy on dealing with reality as it exists here and now. We have our strengths...let's play to them and quit dwelling on our weaknesses.

Well said Esso. Btw, does anybody besides Essobee know what Esso originated from then later became?

 

[Mack]

Right. In 1958, LSU had won the national championship under the coaching of Paul Dietzel.

Now there was a colorful and innovative coach. Remember the Chinese Bandits? Probably the most famous second/third team in history. Dietzel had defeated the limited substitution limitation by having a complete second team offense and a second team defense (the Chinese Bandits), both of which played considerably...thereby letting the first team (which played both ways) rest. The Bandits took great pride in their fierce success against scoring, and that inspired play accounted for even further success.

The Go team,the White Team and the Chinese Bandits .The Bandits killed time so the first teamsers could rest but man were they popular in tiger stadium and many wore chinese hats and were so vocal when they checked in.Not all that talented some said but on a Saturday night in Baton Rouge .......they were top of the mark.

 

[Mack]

OM was very good. Wasn't it 1957 when Billy Cannon went head-to-head against OM for the national championship? I may have the year wrong, but LSU won the regular season game on a tremendous punt return by Cannon and lost the bowl game by something like 21 points IIRC.[/quote
They still play the replay on radio and tv every year prior to the Ole Miss game.If you look closely Jake Gibbs a all American qb missed him too I think.what a run....now let me see....Jake might have been on sidelines for this event..sorry mind wonders!

 

[dressedcheeseside]

That's ND playing to their strength and UGA playing to their strength. We need to play to ours. There are a ton of athletic kids who want more from life than playing a single sport for a dozen or less years, and parents everywhere who want their kids to succeed all the way through life. Like the nerd said, "At Georgia Tech, you can do that."

I agree, but there's a major problem in getting them to GT: they're not local, for the most part, they're spread out over a vast geographic area. GT has a limited budget and airfare is outrageously expensive. On top of that, there's a built in limit for contact hours and coaches only have so much time and energy to devote to recruiting. Furthermore, recruiting is based on relationships. You have to have recruiters who know and have contacts built and nurtured over time in a particular area to have success in that area.

In addition, there's other schools selling that same 'dream' to this target audience, many of which have better academics and/or football than we do. We appeal to a small niche, a subset of a subset: the nerd blue chip athlete interested in STEM.

I actually think this is the way to go, but it's going to take a major financial investment and I don't see that happening.

 

[Essobee]

I agree, but there's a major problem in getting them to GT: they're not local, for the most part, they're spread out over a vast geographic area. GT has a limited budget and airfare is outrageously expensive. On top of that, there's a built in limit for contact hours and coaches only have so much time and energy to devote to recruiting. Furthermore, recruiting is based on relationships. You have to have recruiters who know and have contacts built and nurtured over time in a particular area to have success in that area.

In addition, there's other schools selling that same 'dream' to this target audience, many of which have better academics and/or football than we do. We appeal to a small niche, a subset of a subset: the nerd blue chip athlete interested in STEM.

I actually think this is the way to go, but it's going to take a major financial investment and I don't see that happening.

Very good point. I've often felt that GA Tech was geographically misplaced since the southeast high school scholastics left a great deal to be desired. However, I have been encouraged to find that Atlanta area scholastics have been moving on up, especially the northeast burbs. Lots of those guys can not only score on the field, they can score in the classroom. With CTR on board, we ought to be making more inroads into Gwinnett County, for example.

 

[awbuzz]

Well said Esso. Btw, does anybody besides Essobee know what Esso originated from then later became?

Always assumed Esso Gas (later Exxon) and not a polite way to calll himself a Son of a B.....

 

[RamblinCharger]

I'm not sure why we left. The SEC hasn't been dominant until the last 10 years or so. I think if we stayed we would probably be more in line with Florida as far as academics go and in between Missouri and UGA when it comes to athletics. I know I've read that Dodd didn't like what was happening ethically, but I think if we stayed eventually it would have been fixed with regulations and we'd be better off right now when it comes to sports, but probably not as prestigious academically

 

[Essobee]

Always assumed Esso Gas (later Exxon) and not a polite way to calll himself a Son of a B.....

Holy Cow. I never realized..... SWMBO has been calling me that for a half-century, so I just took it as my nickname.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Holy Cow. I never realized..... SWMBO has been calling me that for a half-century, so I just took it as my nickname.

Esso came from SO which are the initials of Standard Oil. Later Esso became Exxon which later became Exxon/Mobile. In some countries you can still find the old Esso logo on the signage.

 

[Mack]

Esso came from SO which are the initials of Standard Oil. Later Esso became Exxon which later became Exxon/Mobile. In some countries you can still find the old Esso logo on the signage.

Showing my age but yeah......remember the sign and the stations that carried the gas.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Showing my age but yeah......remember the sign and the stations that carried the gas.

Yeah mack, image of a bygone era. Kinda like all the nostalgia surrounding old Route 66. The signs today are huge on the collectable market.

 

[Essobee]

Esso came from SO which are the initials of Standard Oil. Later Esso became Exxon which later became Exxon/Mobile. In some countries you can still find the old Esso logo on the signage.

Correct. You get a 100 and a gold star for neatness, cheese. I used to gas up at an Esso station; also used to gas up at a Standard Oil station. And there were Sinclair, Gulf, Amoco, Pure (my car loved that Pure Firebird gas), Union76... Ah, the good old days. Loved the gas wars back then...once got gas for 19 cents a gallon; it was usually 27 cents a gallon.

Note the name on the station in my avatar. The pumps are the old hand pumps and, of course, that is Bobby leaning on the 'Reck.

 

[awbuzz]

Don't forget that part of that break up of Standard Oil also created Standard Gas that later became Chevron... a GT sponsor (Moe Muscle, Maddy Mudster and Fuller Fire Truck are ready to race!)

 

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

Esso came from SO which are the initials of Standard Oil. Later Esso became Exxon which later became Exxon/Mobile. In some countries you can still find the old Esso logo on the signage.

Well, what do ya know. Cliff Claven is alive and well on GTSwarm.