Old GT stuff question

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spellingbee

Flats Noob
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Seeing the recent picture of the Tech Motel reminded me of this matchbook and wrapped soap acquired at an estate sale I ran for the family of a GT grad.
20231204_155017.jpg


These "The Georgia Tech Legend Lives" bumper stickers were in a box I have with vintage GT stuff. Does anyone remember with what they were associated? Was is a recognition? A campaign? I have a vague memory of getting the stickers, which would put them somewhere in the early 70s to early 80s. Did it have anything to do with AL Ciraldo? That memory may be concocted and the stickers before my time.

Anyone recognize/remember them?
20231204_155100.jpg
 
spellingbee said:
These "The Georgia Tech Legend Lives" bumper stickers were in a box I have with vintage GT stuff. Does anyone remember with what they were associated? Was is a recognition? A campaign? I have a vague memory of getting the stickers, which would put them somewhere in the early 70s to early 80s. Did it have anything to do with AL Ciraldo? That memory may be concocted and the stickers before my time.
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I still have a few of those bumper stickers. Here's the background...
www.upi.com

Southern Sidelines - UPI Archives

This was to be the year Georgia Tech football was going on the comeback trail....
www.upi.com www.upi.com
 
spellingbee said:
Seeing the recent picture of the Tech Motel reminded me of this matchbook and wrapped soap acquired at an estate sale I ran for the family of a GT grad.
20231204_155017.jpg


These "The Georgia Tech Legend Lives" bumper stickers were in a box I have with vintage GT stuff. Does anyone remember with what they were associated? Was is a recognition? A campaign? I have a vague memory of getting the stickers, which would put them somewhere in the early 70s to early 80s. Did it have anything to do with AL Ciraldo? That memory may be concocted and the stickers before my time.

Anyone recognize/remember them?
20231204_155100.jpg
Click to expand...
I believe this was when Curry was coaching, per my Dad who graduated in 75. He used to work at the old GM plant downtown and would see the billboards that had this slogan.
 
thegtstunner08 said:
I believe this was when Curry was coaching, per my Dad who graduated in 75. He used to work at the old GM plant downtown and would see the billboards that had this slogan.
Click to expand...
The "LEGEND LIVES" was born when Curry (in the opening game of the 1981 season) took Tech into Tuscaloosa and beat #1 Alabama on their own field. We had a really good freshman running back - Robert Lavette who, as far as I know, still owns a Joe Hamilton share of Tech's rushing records. Dodd was Bear Bryant's nemesis. And Dodd's prodigy, 14 years after Dodd retires, Rolls into Alabama and literally crushed Alabama's dream of a National Championship 3 hours into the season. I wonder what Bryant was thinking at the end of that game.

To celebrate the win, Tech bought billboards all over ATL that looked exactly like that bumper sticker: THE GEORGIA TECH LEGEND LIVES

Unfortunately, to the absolute horror of everyone associated with GT, we did not win another game that season.

But the excitement of beating Alabama was taken as a sign that we had arrived. To understand why, rewind one year to the 1980 season. #1 Notre Dame comes to town and for the first time, the last time and the only time in history, every dwag fan became a Tech fan that day. Unfortunately for Tech, our all-everything QB Mike Kelly was injured and could not play. We were 1-7 heading into the game and oops, we didn't have a backup QB. So we grabbed a TE and gave him a week to learn the playbook. I think he played QB in third grade so he wasn't totally un-ready (eye-roll, omg we are going to get killed).

Then... the unthinkable happened. Curry coached us to a 3-3 tie against #1 Notre Dame. Because our QB was really a TE, we did not throw a single pass the entire game. You likely wouldn't know the Tight End's name for that flawless effort but you might know his name from being a head coach in the NFL: Ken Whisenhunt.

So after two seasons, Curry's resume looked like this: Coached GT in 22 football games. Beat a #1 team on the road, tied a #1 team at home, beat a cupcake, and lost the other 18.

The LEGEND LIVES became a bit of a cruel joke.
 
According to Gary Lanier's bio on ramblinwreck.com, he QB'd the Jackets to victory over ND in 1976 without attempting a pass. The 1977 Blueprint tells the same story. Whisenhunt did it again in 1980? I was at both games but don't remember clearly. Did we really do that twice, is there confusion over "not attempting a pass" and "not completing a pass", or are people getting the two games confused?
 
ETBee said:
According to Gary Lanier's bio on ramblinwreck.com, he QB'd the Jackets to victory over ND in 1976 without attempting a pass. The 1977 Blueprint tells the same story. Whisenhunt did it again in 1980? I was at both games but don't remember clearly. Did we really do that twice, is there confusion over "not attempting a pass" and "not completing a pass", or are people getting the two games confused?
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No, Whisenhunt completed passes in 1980. You aren't misremembering.
 
ETBee said:
According to Gary Lanier's bio on ramblinwreck.com, he QB'd the Jackets to victory over ND in 1976 without attempting a pass. The 1977 Blueprint tells the same story. Whisenhunt did it again in 1980? I was at both games but don't remember clearly. Did we really do that twice, is there confusion over "not attempting a pass" and "not completing a pass", or are people getting the two games confused?
Click to expand...
I was at the 76 game also. There were a couple of plays that looked like called pass plays to me but Lanier never got the passes off. So officially there were no attempted passes.
 
ETBee said:
According to Gary Lanier's bio on ramblinwreck.com, he QB'd the Jackets to victory over ND in 1976 without attempting a pass. The 1977 Blueprint tells the same story. Whisenhunt did it again in 1980? I was at both games but don't remember clearly. Did we really do that twice, is there confusion over "not attempting a pass" and "not completing a pass", or are people getting the two games confused?
Click to expand...
I stand corrected. Appreciate the clarification.
 
vapspwi said:
I presume Lakewood if it was “downtown.” My dad worked there. Doraville, where my mom worked, was in the ‘burbs back then.

JRjr
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I did a bunch of work at both those plants, as well as the Ford plant by the airport.

CSB.
 
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