17 October 1914: Georgia Tech Band Plays for Georgia Game

On this day in 1914, Georgia Tech provided both a marching band and the location of Grant Field for Georgia football game with North Carolina in Atlanta. The Yellow Jackets, as they were already known, were playing Alabama in Birmingham, and did not need the field.

Kickoff was at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and admission cost $1. At the time, Grant Field seated approximately 800 people with no seats in the endzones. Both teams had won the previous week, and in their meeting in 1913, Georgia had won, 19-6.

However, it was not to be Georgia's day, losing 41-6 to the Tar Heels; Georgia even lost the coin toss. The Atlanta Constitution noted that North Carolina "have a 'real' football team. There is no getting away from that fact. They have a machine that looks far superior to any football team that has performed in Atlanta in the past six or seven years." 

In the Athens newspaper, it was noted that while Georgia fans appreciated the efforts of the Georgia Tech band, and therefore sympathized with them for their 13-0 loss to Alabama, their rendition of "Glory" wasn't so much a fight song as "a dirge." And that from now on, maybe going without a band at all is a better option than using Georgia Tech's.

Georgia would not win another game that year, losing their next four games (including to Tech) before tying Auburn 0-0 in the season closer, to end 3-5-1. Tech ended the season 6-2. North Carolina went 10-1, losing to Virginia by 17 points in their last game.


Learn More:

• Athens Daily Herald, Jun. 1914 - Nov. 1914 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Atlanta Constitution, 1868 - 1923 in the Fold3 History and Genealogy Archives via GALILEO.
• The Ghosts of Herty Field: Early Days on a Southern Gridiron by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage collection.
• Georgia vs. Georgia Tech: A Gridiron Grudge Since 1893 by John Chandler Griffin via PINES.
• Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate by Bill Cromartie via PINES.
• Schedules Archive on the Georgia Tech Official Athletic Department website.
• Georgia Football History page on the University of Georgia Athletic Association website.