The First Buzz

[ACCelerator]

Yesterday before the Virginia game Dr. Richie Bland, the original Buzz, was interviewed by TBS for a contest to pick the best school mascot in the state of Georgia for next fall. In the interview Dr. Bland tells the story of how he came up with the idea for Buzz and hired a professional costume designer working for Six Flags to make his Buzz outfit. As the story goes, Dr. Bland started this as a college prank. Buzz made his debut at halftime of the Tennessee game in 1979. Security gaurds tried to stop Richie from entering onto the field but Buzz hopped a fence and the rest is history. A story in the Friday, October 10 1980 issue of The Technique gives a brief history. A follow up story in the Fall 1990 issue of Tech Topics gives a more detialed history of the Buzz debut with a picture of Dr. Bland holding the shoes he wore that day and of Buzz interacting with some fans.

 

[76jacket]

At least we contributed someone(Buzz) from down here more famous than most football players!