Your Favorite "First Game" Played by GT

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I don't know about my FIRST GT game but one of my favorites was in the Los Angeles Memorial Coloseum in 1969. GT had been beaten by Notre Dame I think the prior week and was now in So Cal, a huge underdog to the eventual National Champions.

The game was very close and GT was behind 21-18, driving late in the fourth quarter when Troy I think took over on a fumble. USC was OJ left and right in those days, but their quarterback (sorry, no research here, just very dim memory but pretty sure) Mike Holmgren found the SC flanker about 50 yards downfield wide open (blown safety coverage as he was keying on OJ left and right).

It was a brillient call by John MacKay because the conventional wisdom was the Trojans were just going to run out the clock. SC won 29-18 I think and TECH lost but had taken the eventual Rose Bowl and #1 team to the mat for about 58 minutes before falling.

Of interest, Holmgren went on to coach three years for LaVell Edwards (BYU) including Steve Young and Robbie Bosco, BYU's current QB coach and winner of BYU's 1984 Title game versus Michigan.... That game I covered from the press box at the Murph!
 
SFW, let me say that you are really a breath of fresh air in here, and I am truly enjoying your posts. Thanks for coming and please come back often.

BTW, I was spotting balls at the '72? game against USC in Atlanta and got to chit chat with a lot of the USC players (I was on their side of the field). That team included Lynn Swann who returned a punt for a TD and QB Pat Haden and the tailback (geez whats his name) and those 2 were tiny. Really surprised me. They were rated #1 at the time I believe.
 
1st game-Navy '65. Bill Eastman and Sammy Burke returned back to back punts for TD's. THWG
 
Miami 1955? National TV (Black and White) and as I recall, George Volkert ran a punt back and had one other TD run during the game. I'm going totally from memory but as I recall Tech won 14 - 7. This may have been one of the first times that Tech played a regular season game on National TV.
 
Michigan State vs Tech at East Lansing. 1st play of the game Eddie McShan(sp) #1 threw a pass approximately 76 yds for a TD and Tech took the win.
 
I wasn't as dramatic but one of the most important first games was against nc state in '90. We fumbled our first couple of possesions (Stephan Scotton if I remember correctly). We eventually wore them down for a close, hard fought win. Despite the turnovers, our D didn't give up a touchdown. It was also the first game of my freshman year.
 
Ramblinwise, I believe the TB was Anthony Davis in that game. Or was it Mike Garrett? Oh well, I thought I had it there for a minute.
 
To Ramblinwise1

Thanks for the comments. I remember that game also. The USC tailback was Charles White. He went to San Fernando HS in the SF Valley (northern part of the City of Las Angeles). I had gone to a West Valley school (El Camino Real), and they defeated us, but we held him to less than 6 TD's that night (LOL). Yes those SC teams were student body left and right in those days. Norm Chow (of BYU fame) has them throwing the ball and now that they are in the current century, SC has become a power again. I still think they lose at Auburn, but they are going to be a very fine team this year. I always like the GT Notre Dame games. I have never been able to figure out why TECH doesn't have beeter success against the IRISH. Maybe it was Rudy... who lives in Las Vegas and is a pretty neat guy by the way.
 
I don't know the best opening game in GT history, but I would say in recent years, it was 2000 Central Florida. We had a big letdown the week before getting cancelled in Blacksburg, and we were not ready to play. We trailed 17-7 with 4:30 to go and we won 21-17. Great display of character and team chemistry there. Let's home we can repeat the 2000 season and overachieve.
 
Although I had been to others prior to this, the first game I remember was the '76 (pretty sure of the year) Notre Dame game in Grant Field. We upset the Irish and were not too kind to them in the paper even though their coach (Era Parsigien sp?) came into the tech locker and congratulated us. I remember sitting (standing) with my dad on the last row of the upper west. My dad smiled for a month. The next year in South Bend they ran it up on us 69-14 (again, memory only)
 
Originally posted by gtfan1147:
I don't know the best opening game in GT history, but I would say in recent years, it was 2000 Central Florida. We had a big letdown the week before getting cancelled in Blacksburg, and we were not ready to play. We trailed 17-7 with 4:30 to go and we won 21-17. Great display of character and team chemistry there. Let's home we can repeat the 2000 season and overachieve.
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<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">Agreed. The Goose's first big comeback victory.
 
Originally posted by C Bee Lang:
Miami 1955? National TV (Black and White) and as I recall, George Volkert ran a punt back and had one other TD run during the game. I'm going totally from memory but as I recall Tech won 14 - 7. This may have been one of the first times that Tech played a regular season game on National TV.
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<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">Actually, the score was 14-6 and it was Paul Rotenberry who picked up a bounding ball on a supposed fair catch play and sprinted 60 yards for the TD. Later, Captain Larry Morris (defensive star of game) intercepted a pass and raced 25 yards for the TD. I saw the game on TV with Lindsey Nelson doing the PBP.
 
Our first game for 2003 is Thursday. I was trying to think back (29 years, ouch!) on the best first game in a season I went to and why.

I know that my memory has its good days and bad but the one that keeps popping up for me is 1981(?)Robert Lavette's first game at GT. GT/Alabama in Birmingham. Alabama ranked #1 and Robert runs roughshod and we upset the Tide! I will not discuss the rest of that season (LET'S DISCUSS FIRST GAMES ONLY)!

That game was also one of the hottest I had ever attended until recently. We were about 50 rows up in Legion Field and it was close to 100 degrees - we were also in the SUN! The GT win made it all worthwhile!

I remember Bama fans in A DAZE, "what happened?"
 
I must agree with Ms. Tech. The Alabama game in B'ham was unbelievable.

The kickoff was at 4pm. Just before ko, the pa came on and announced that then #1 Michigan had just been upset by Wisconsin (i think). Alabama had gone into the season ranked #2. The place went nuts.

without a doubt, Legion Field was the loudest place I had ever been. Went to Knoxville the next year, and changed my opinion.

Late in the third quarter, with Tech in control Alabama made a big play, turnover I think. I will never forget the roar, and the groaning of all those steel girders. I thought the place was coming down.

Personal note: My girlfriend at the time (I was a junior at Tech) was a native of Bham. She was Not a Tide fan, but she suggested meeting at a Holiday Inn prior to the game in order to take the bus to the stadium. I was dressed in obnoxious clothes, even for the early '80s. Bright yellow pants, etc.

Before the game, I was the young cute boy that loved his horrible team. I was the favorite of all the old drunk Bama women.

Long story shorter: I was still raising hell as I got on the bus after the game. Due to my good upbringing and a survival instinct, I quickly found a seat and enjoyed the ride back to the hotel in blissful silence.

Boy, am I ready!! Leave today at 3pm.
Go Jackets!
drinking.gif
 
LLCool: I had forgotten about that ANNOUNCEMENT! You're right - all the Bama fans around us exploded with joy. We were surrounded by Bama fans the whole game. I must admit, they were very nice to us. I THINK THEY WERE IN SHOCK!
 
C Bee Lang, you surely did pick a great game to remember. Tech won by the score of 14-6 and as you said Volkert ran back a punt for about 55 yards for a TD. What was strange about the punt return was that Volkert called for a fair catch and then was hit by a Miami player when the flag was thrown everyone on the field thought the play was over except Volkert and a couple of his teammates and he alertly ran the ball in for the TD. Another thing that was historical about the game was that UGA played OLE MISS at Grant Field that night because attendance was so bad in Athens that they were hoping that some of the Tech fans would stay over and watch their game, which many of them did. Another thing that made the Tech-Miami game so big was that they were both rated in the top five nationally when the game was played.
 
I tried to go back to the first game, but it is rather difficult to remember that far back.

I looked over the records around the time I started following Tech football. I do remember I was hooked on Tech football from the beginning because they were big winners. I hate losing, so it was their winning ways that hooked me.

After reviewing the seasons in the mid-forties, I believe I must have started listening in earnest to the Tech games in the 1947 season. Although, I don't remember anything about the games, the season seems pretty familiar.

Tech started the season with a 27-0 win over a 5-5 Tennessee team. They also beat a 7-4-1 UGA team 7-0. Tech beat an 8-1-2 Kansas 20-14 in the Orange Bowl and Tech finished with a 10-1 season.

The only loss for the season was 7-14 to an Alabama team with a record of 8-3.

Tech scored 240 points and allowed only 49 points for the season. Since 28 of those points were scored against Tech by Alabama and Kansas, only 21 more points were scored against Tech by all of the remaining teams.

Tech averaged 22 ppg on offense and allowed 4.5 ppg on defense.

The following three seasons (48-50) were 7-3, 7-3, and 5-6. This was not great, but fairly consistent. By then I was already a solid fan.

The next six years produced records of 11-0-1, 12-0, 9-2-1, 8-3, 9-1-1, and 10-1. That was a record of 59-7-3 in six years.

It is no wonder, I am unhappy when Tech loses. I am ready for another big run at Tech. During those times, Tech won something like six bowl games in a row, and beat UGA eight times in a row.

While my old mind cannot remember any details of the first game, it sure does cherish those years.

Father Time
 
Originally posted by ramblinwise1:
SFW, let me say that you are really a breath of fresh air in here, and I am truly enjoying your posts. Thanks for coming and please come back often.

BTW, I was spotting balls at the '72? game against USC in Atlanta and got to chit chat with a lot of the USC players (I was on their side of the field). That team included Lynn Swann who returned a punt for a TD and QB Pat Haden and the tailback (geez whats his name) and those 2 were tiny. Really surprised me. They were rated #1 at the time I believe.
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<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">Why did this series stop? I would love to have University of Southern Cal on our schedule now! Great football history, band, mascot - you name it. I started following GT in '74 and USC was not on the schedule then.

Love to see them back!
 
Originally posted by captainG:
Although I had been to others prior to this, the first game I remember was the '76 (pretty sure of the year) Notre Dame game in Grant Field. We upset the Irish and were not too kind to them in the paper even though their coach (Era Parsigien sp?) came into the tech locker and congratulated us. I remember sitting (standing) with my dad on the last row of the upper west. My dad smiled for a month. The next year in South Bend they ran it up on us 69-14 (again, memory only)
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<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">I was at that game - North Stands! Although it was not the first game of the season, it WAS SPECIAL. GT was 30 pt. underdogs and did not throw a pass all day. We were surrounded by priests and nuns and THEY WERE NOT HAPPY!

I remember David Sims and Drew Hill having great games.
 
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