Noah.Dreams
08-29-2005, 04:23 PM
11. THE RAMBLIN' WRECK
Break out the birthday candles and crack open an extra quart of Quaker State. Georgia Tech's legendary Ramblin' Wreck turns 75 years old this fall.
The 1930 gold and white Ford Cabriolet Sport Coupe has been leading Yellow Jackets football teams onto the field at Bobby Dodd Stadium since Sept. 30, 1961. And trust us, driving the Wreck is a really big deal.
Just ask Dustin Bergman. The senior from Marietta was the official driver of the Wreck for all six of Tech's home games in 2004. Bergman, a mechanical engineering major, was chosen as the driver from the exclusive Reck Club, which is limited to 50 members.
"You never forget the first time you have to drive the Wreck onto the field," Bergman said. "You're sitting in the car in the tunnel and your hands start to sweat. Then the cheerleaders jump on the car [two on each running board and three in the rumble seat]. Then you can see the players lining up behind you and you can hear them going crazy because they are ready to play. By now, my blood is really pumping."
Once the driver gets the signal to go, there's a lot to remember.
"First of all, you don't want to stall the car," Bergman said. "Then you have to drive through that big banner, and mentally it's like driving through a wall. You have to go fast enough to stay ahead of the football players but you can't go too fast or you'll probably run over some photographers. And you have to be careful not to take a corner too sharply because you'll leave a groove on the field or you might throw a cheerleader. You don't want to do that."
Each designated driver has an apprentice who rides along and learns about the car. In most cases, the apprentice becomes the driver the following season. This fall's driver for home games will be Ryan McFerrin, a senior from Woodstock.
There are even offseason official drivers because the Wreck is always in demand to appear at weddings and other social functions.
John Dean of Biloxi, Miss., is driving the Wreck this year. He's McFerrin's roommate.
"The coolest thing in the world is to take a tour around campus in the Wreck," Dean said. "People honk their horns and start pulling out cameras. It is really a lot of fun."
There was one moment last season, Bergman said, when it was difficult to be the Wreck's official driver.
On Oct. 2, Tech honored former quarterback Kim King during pregame ceremonies. King was suffering from cancer, and those close to him knew he didn't have much time left. He was brought to the stadium and helped into the rumble seat of the Rambling Wreck. Bergman drove King and his wife, Gail, onto the field for the ceremonies.
"I could tell that riding in the Wreck really meant a lot to him. He was just smiling and happy," Bergman said. "I really didn't know how sick he was."
Ten days later, King passed away at the age of 60.
--- Tony Barnhart
12. NIGHT FOOTBALL AT KENTUCKY
It was, ahem, a dark and stormy night, and Georgia was beating Kentucky in Commonwealth Stadium. The old man standing on the Georgia sideline turned to the Kentucky student section and signaled his team's domination by taking off one soggy shoe and one sodden sock and holding them up and winking. The year was 1976, and to this day Vince Dooley has no idea who the old man was or how he got a sideline pass. "He just started following us around that year," Dooley says, and whoever he was, he had his moment on a Saturday night in Lexington.
The Kentucky football team usually isn't much --- the 1976 edition was, by conspicuous contrast, quite good --- but there's still a charm to a night game in the Commonwealth. The school tries to play its October home dates at night, so as not to conflict with the afternoon racing at Keeneland. Sometimes TV throws money at UK and officials feel compelled to move kickoff time to the afternoon, and that disappoints both the home folks and assembled visitors alike.
Kentucky in October is a lot of Georgia fans' favorite road trip. There is, as you know, no thoroughbred racing in this state, and if you're going to visit one track every other year, idyllic Keeneland is about the best. And the football game isn't always a dud, either. It was on a Saturday night in Lexington --- the year was 1978 --- that Rex Robinson kicked his famous field goal at the gun to send Larry Munson into rapture. It was on a Saturday night in Lexington --- the year was 1982 --- that Herschel Walker scored his one and only collegiate touchdown on a pass reception. (Unaccountably, Georgia had fallen behind the Wildcats at the time.)
And then there was the all-time most memorable Saturday night in Lexington, this one involving not Georgia but Auburn. The Wildcats led 9-0 inside the final 10 minutes. Legend holds that a writer for the Lexington Herald boarded the press box elevator at that precise moment. When he reached the field, Auburn led 15-9, Kentucky having yielded a 70-yard touchdown pass and then fumbled away two subsequent kickoffs. Nobody on the Auburn sideline brandished a wet sock in triumph, but somebody should have.
--- Mark Bradley
13. "BUDDY" REYNOLDS
Tom Nugent met few situations in his life for which he had no answer. He was head coach at Florida State from 1954-58, between employment at Virginia Military Institute and Maryland. It was at Florida State that he had a tongue-tying experience.
The doorbell rang at his home in Tallahassee one morning during the football season. When he opened the door, he was faced by one of his players, a back named Buddy Reynolds. Reynolds had been a running back and a defensive back, but lettered only one year, 1954.
"Buddy, what are you doing here?" Nugent asked. "What can I do for you?"
"Coach, I just want to know why I'm not playing more," Reynolds said.
When Nugent told the story later, he said, "For the life of me, I can't remember what I told him. I do know that in all my coaching days, that was the only time a player knocked on my door and wanted to know why he wasn't playing more."
The visit never increased Reynolds' playing time, for he moved on without acquiring another letter. He did, however, find fame in another channel. He changed his name from Buddy to Burt, became a movie star, and his allegiance to Florida State increased with the passing years.
--- Furman Bisher
14. THE MILITARY CLASSIC
Before Bobby Ross became Army's coach, he'd already planted his feet on both sides of a classic military rivalry. Ross played football at Virginia Military Institute and spent five years coaching The Citadel.
"It was always a game you looked to and pointed to," said Ross, Georgia Tech's former coach. "You throw in the Silver Shako as added incentive, and it makes it that much bigger."
The Silver Shako stands out as one of the oddest trophies in the country. The military top hat, dipped in silver, features the emblems of both institutions and is kept in the possession of the game's winner each year.
The original cost of the trophy: $532.72.
The Military Classic of the South, led 31-30-2 by The Citadel, added the Shako as the prize in 1976. That year, Ross' Citadel team lost 30-14 to VMI. Later, Ross' team reclaimed the Shako with much fanfare.
"That rivalry should be built on, not lessened," Ross said.
Losing the Shako is as memorable as winning it.
"One year we were 5-3-1 going into VMI," former Citadel quarterback Jack Douglas said. "They were 1-9. They pounded us like we didn't belong there, and we had to give the Shako up. When you play college football, every game is a big deal, especially when you're evenly matched."
That loss in 1989 was difficult. But it was the wins that followed in the next three years that meant the most to Douglas.
"Everybody stops and looks at it," Douglas said. "It certainly draws attention, and the cadets like to look at it."
--- Rana L. Cash
15: THE MANNINGS
When has one gene pool done so much for a region's reputation?
Father Archie Manning is already in the College Football Hall of Fame. Son Peyton Manning had a street named after him in Knoxville after a record-breaking career at the University of Tennessee and is assembling Hall of Fame numbers with the Indianapolis Colts. And youngest son Eli Manning, merely an Academic-All American at Ole Miss, where he set 45 offensive records, managed to be the first player drafted in 2004 and might well end up the toast of New York, if the Giants can finish installing a team around him.
Those schoolboy pick-up games over at the Manning house in New Orleans had to smart.
--- Thomas Stinson
16. THE ESSO CLUB
They don't pump gas there anymore, but the first Esso Service Station (established 1933) is still the place to be for Clemson fans.
Now a quaint sports bar, the Esso Club began serving beer after prohibition ended. Fans can sit on old bleachers from Death Valley, listen to live music, chow down on wings (or "wangs," as they're called on the menu) and enjoy a cold one after a Tigers game.
"If they had a national championship for college sports bars," ESPN The Magazine declared, "The Esso Club would be our pick to win it."
--- D. Orlando Ledbetter
Break out the birthday candles and crack open an extra quart of Quaker State. Georgia Tech's legendary Ramblin' Wreck turns 75 years old this fall.
The 1930 gold and white Ford Cabriolet Sport Coupe has been leading Yellow Jackets football teams onto the field at Bobby Dodd Stadium since Sept. 30, 1961. And trust us, driving the Wreck is a really big deal.
Just ask Dustin Bergman. The senior from Marietta was the official driver of the Wreck for all six of Tech's home games in 2004. Bergman, a mechanical engineering major, was chosen as the driver from the exclusive Reck Club, which is limited to 50 members.
"You never forget the first time you have to drive the Wreck onto the field," Bergman said. "You're sitting in the car in the tunnel and your hands start to sweat. Then the cheerleaders jump on the car [two on each running board and three in the rumble seat]. Then you can see the players lining up behind you and you can hear them going crazy because they are ready to play. By now, my blood is really pumping."
Once the driver gets the signal to go, there's a lot to remember.
"First of all, you don't want to stall the car," Bergman said. "Then you have to drive through that big banner, and mentally it's like driving through a wall. You have to go fast enough to stay ahead of the football players but you can't go too fast or you'll probably run over some photographers. And you have to be careful not to take a corner too sharply because you'll leave a groove on the field or you might throw a cheerleader. You don't want to do that."
Each designated driver has an apprentice who rides along and learns about the car. In most cases, the apprentice becomes the driver the following season. This fall's driver for home games will be Ryan McFerrin, a senior from Woodstock.
There are even offseason official drivers because the Wreck is always in demand to appear at weddings and other social functions.
John Dean of Biloxi, Miss., is driving the Wreck this year. He's McFerrin's roommate.
"The coolest thing in the world is to take a tour around campus in the Wreck," Dean said. "People honk their horns and start pulling out cameras. It is really a lot of fun."
There was one moment last season, Bergman said, when it was difficult to be the Wreck's official driver.
On Oct. 2, Tech honored former quarterback Kim King during pregame ceremonies. King was suffering from cancer, and those close to him knew he didn't have much time left. He was brought to the stadium and helped into the rumble seat of the Rambling Wreck. Bergman drove King and his wife, Gail, onto the field for the ceremonies.
"I could tell that riding in the Wreck really meant a lot to him. He was just smiling and happy," Bergman said. "I really didn't know how sick he was."
Ten days later, King passed away at the age of 60.
--- Tony Barnhart
12. NIGHT FOOTBALL AT KENTUCKY
It was, ahem, a dark and stormy night, and Georgia was beating Kentucky in Commonwealth Stadium. The old man standing on the Georgia sideline turned to the Kentucky student section and signaled his team's domination by taking off one soggy shoe and one sodden sock and holding them up and winking. The year was 1976, and to this day Vince Dooley has no idea who the old man was or how he got a sideline pass. "He just started following us around that year," Dooley says, and whoever he was, he had his moment on a Saturday night in Lexington.
The Kentucky football team usually isn't much --- the 1976 edition was, by conspicuous contrast, quite good --- but there's still a charm to a night game in the Commonwealth. The school tries to play its October home dates at night, so as not to conflict with the afternoon racing at Keeneland. Sometimes TV throws money at UK and officials feel compelled to move kickoff time to the afternoon, and that disappoints both the home folks and assembled visitors alike.
Kentucky in October is a lot of Georgia fans' favorite road trip. There is, as you know, no thoroughbred racing in this state, and if you're going to visit one track every other year, idyllic Keeneland is about the best. And the football game isn't always a dud, either. It was on a Saturday night in Lexington --- the year was 1978 --- that Rex Robinson kicked his famous field goal at the gun to send Larry Munson into rapture. It was on a Saturday night in Lexington --- the year was 1982 --- that Herschel Walker scored his one and only collegiate touchdown on a pass reception. (Unaccountably, Georgia had fallen behind the Wildcats at the time.)
And then there was the all-time most memorable Saturday night in Lexington, this one involving not Georgia but Auburn. The Wildcats led 9-0 inside the final 10 minutes. Legend holds that a writer for the Lexington Herald boarded the press box elevator at that precise moment. When he reached the field, Auburn led 15-9, Kentucky having yielded a 70-yard touchdown pass and then fumbled away two subsequent kickoffs. Nobody on the Auburn sideline brandished a wet sock in triumph, but somebody should have.
--- Mark Bradley
13. "BUDDY" REYNOLDS
Tom Nugent met few situations in his life for which he had no answer. He was head coach at Florida State from 1954-58, between employment at Virginia Military Institute and Maryland. It was at Florida State that he had a tongue-tying experience.
The doorbell rang at his home in Tallahassee one morning during the football season. When he opened the door, he was faced by one of his players, a back named Buddy Reynolds. Reynolds had been a running back and a defensive back, but lettered only one year, 1954.
"Buddy, what are you doing here?" Nugent asked. "What can I do for you?"
"Coach, I just want to know why I'm not playing more," Reynolds said.
When Nugent told the story later, he said, "For the life of me, I can't remember what I told him. I do know that in all my coaching days, that was the only time a player knocked on my door and wanted to know why he wasn't playing more."
The visit never increased Reynolds' playing time, for he moved on without acquiring another letter. He did, however, find fame in another channel. He changed his name from Buddy to Burt, became a movie star, and his allegiance to Florida State increased with the passing years.
--- Furman Bisher
14. THE MILITARY CLASSIC
Before Bobby Ross became Army's coach, he'd already planted his feet on both sides of a classic military rivalry. Ross played football at Virginia Military Institute and spent five years coaching The Citadel.
"It was always a game you looked to and pointed to," said Ross, Georgia Tech's former coach. "You throw in the Silver Shako as added incentive, and it makes it that much bigger."
The Silver Shako stands out as one of the oddest trophies in the country. The military top hat, dipped in silver, features the emblems of both institutions and is kept in the possession of the game's winner each year.
The original cost of the trophy: $532.72.
The Military Classic of the South, led 31-30-2 by The Citadel, added the Shako as the prize in 1976. That year, Ross' Citadel team lost 30-14 to VMI. Later, Ross' team reclaimed the Shako with much fanfare.
"That rivalry should be built on, not lessened," Ross said.
Losing the Shako is as memorable as winning it.
"One year we were 5-3-1 going into VMI," former Citadel quarterback Jack Douglas said. "They were 1-9. They pounded us like we didn't belong there, and we had to give the Shako up. When you play college football, every game is a big deal, especially when you're evenly matched."
That loss in 1989 was difficult. But it was the wins that followed in the next three years that meant the most to Douglas.
"Everybody stops and looks at it," Douglas said. "It certainly draws attention, and the cadets like to look at it."
--- Rana L. Cash
15: THE MANNINGS
When has one gene pool done so much for a region's reputation?
Father Archie Manning is already in the College Football Hall of Fame. Son Peyton Manning had a street named after him in Knoxville after a record-breaking career at the University of Tennessee and is assembling Hall of Fame numbers with the Indianapolis Colts. And youngest son Eli Manning, merely an Academic-All American at Ole Miss, where he set 45 offensive records, managed to be the first player drafted in 2004 and might well end up the toast of New York, if the Giants can finish installing a team around him.
Those schoolboy pick-up games over at the Manning house in New Orleans had to smart.
--- Thomas Stinson
16. THE ESSO CLUB
They don't pump gas there anymore, but the first Esso Service Station (established 1933) is still the place to be for Clemson fans.
Now a quaint sports bar, the Esso Club began serving beer after prohibition ended. Fans can sit on old bleachers from Death Valley, listen to live music, chow down on wings (or "wangs," as they're called on the menu) and enjoy a cold one after a Tigers game.
"If they had a national championship for college sports bars," ESPN The Magazine declared, "The Esso Club would be our pick to win it."
--- D. Orlando Ledbetter