25 October 1892: "There has always been too little interest in Athletics among Southern colleges..."

On this day in 1892, the Banner newspapers advocated for the students who were "very desirous of entering into collegiate games of football."

 

Football was a relatively new sport, and was seen as a way to ensure young men did not become soft while gaining their education. Physical strength was seen as the basis for mental and moral strength as well. 

Adapted from rugby, football was primarily a running game (the forward pass was not implemented until 1906, as a safety concession), and players wore little padding or other protection during the course of the game.

At the time, Georgia had club and fraternity teams that participated in a variety of sports, including a campus Field Day with races, but also such events as "greased pig chases." Sports had faculty advisors, similar to the way high school sports often operate today. There was a football team that had played two games in the winter of 1892, beating Mercer College 50-0 at what is now Herty Field on North Campus, and losing to Auburn 0-10 at Piedmont Park in Atlanta. 

In 1893, the school had its first real football season with a five-game schedule that ran from November 4th to December 9th. Georgia went 2-2-1.


Learn More:

• Weekly Banner, Jul. 1892 - Dec. 1893 on Microfilm in the Heritage Collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• The Ghosts of Herty Field: Early Days on a Southern Gridiron by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage collection.
• The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football by John J. Miller via PINES.
• Between the Hedges: 100 Years of Georgia Football by Loran Smith in the general collection.
• What It Means to Be a Bulldog by Tony Barnhart  in the general collection.
• A Whole New Ball Game:  An Interpretation of American Sports by Allan Guttmann in the general collection.
• A Very Different Age: Americans of the Progressive Era by Steven J. Diner in the general collection.
• Walter Camp biography on the Walter Camp Football Foundation website.
• History of Athletics at the University of Georgia page on the Georgia Athletic Association website. 

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.

4 May 1921: YMCA Summer Ball Teams Announced

On this day in 1921, the Athens Banner published the members and schedules for the early summer Y.M.C.A. baseball teams:

Y.M.C.A. Ball Clubs Now Organized

 The following is a roster of the teams and the schedule for the season:

      N. G. Slaughter (captain), R. McWhorter, W. F. Pittard, Fred Dean, George Thornton, George Williams, France Price, Tony Costa, Harry Dews, B. Joel, Tom Stokes.

      W. R. Bedgood (captain), Julian Erwin, Henry M. Bacon, Hope Smith, W. H. Owen, Bradberry, Hugh Hodgson, C. D. McDorman, Joel A. Wier, W. A. Clark, Abit Nix, W. T. Dean.

      W. E. Hopkins (captain), J. C. Hutchins, Tom McNiebling, S. R. Cook, Harry Cason, John W. Nicholson, E. F. Porter, R. L. Moss III, O. M. Roberts, Fred Davis, Jr., Hubert Rylee.

      W. K. Meadow (captain), Howard McWhorter, D. D. Quillian, Fred McEntire, Clyde Anderson, Morton Hodgson, Edward Hightower, G. A. Booth, Garland Hulme, P. E. Holliday, T. Marvin Cox.

      "Whitie" Davis (captain), Abe Link, Marion Conolly, E. H. Dorsey, Jr., W. B. Thornton, Ernest Hollingsworth, Paul Conolly, Joe Costa, L. A. Scarborough, J. E. Patman, Jack Wilkins.

      "Starr" Smith (captain), W. T. Forbes, Sr., Abe Goodman, Fleetwood Lanier, Rucker Ginn, M. B. Wingfield, Paul Weatherly, Guy Hancock, Harry Burton, L. A. Booth, I. Myerson.

 -- Athens Banner, 4 May 1921, page 3, columns 2-4.

The early season lasted through the first week of June, when the championship game was played between Captain Slaughter and Captain Davis. According to the Banner, "Slaughter was slaughtered and the crown rests serenely on the heads of Whitey's team-mates." 


A second season began July with new teams comprised of essentially the same group of young men in different groups. For the July season, the teams were given names and new captains, with the Tigers, Bear Cats, Wild Cats, Bull Dogs, Eagles, and Buffaloes sparring against one for approximately one more month. 


The men on the team were all between the ages of 18 and 40, many of them from prominent local families, such as the McWhorters, Costas, and Hodgsons, while others were businessmen of note in their own right, such as Abit Nix, Joel Wier, and W. K. Meadow. 

Most of the young men on the team were familiar names on the Banner society pages, and because most were business and family men, teams sometimes had to play without a full roster to cover all the positions. 


The "Field League" grew in popularity over the summer of 1921, with over 100 men divided into eight teams for the August season. As the Banner noted, "the second larger league is expected to cause some big excitements in local amateur sports circles."




Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Oct. 1920 - May 1921 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• History of the Y timeline on the YMCA website.
• History of Athens and Clarke County by H. J. Rowe in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Baseball Scrapbook by Peter C. Bjarkman in the general collection.
• Classic Ballparks by James Buckley in the general collection.
• Total Baseball, edited by John Thorn and Pete Palmer in the Reference collection.
• The Code: Baseball's Unwritten Rules by Ross Bernstein in the general collection
• The Way Baseball Works by Dan Gutman in the general collection.
• The Baseball Anthology: 125 Years of Stories, Poems, Articles, Photographs, Drawings, Interviews, Cartoons, and Other Memorabilia, edited by Joseph Wallace in the general collection.
• Casey at the Bat by Dan Gutman in the children's collection.
• Baseball: A Celebration! by James Buckley in the general collection.

21 October 1903: 44 Bushels of Apples to Clemson

On this day, news of a promise to the Clemson College football team by the University of Georgia football team was published in the Athens Banner:

Georgia had opened the 1903 season with a 29-0 loss to Clemson, then lead by legendary college football coach John Heisman. The following year, Heisman would leave Clemson to begin a 15-year tenure as the coach of Georgia Tech. 

This 73-0 victory remains Clemson's biggest win over Georgia Tech in the history of the two teams' meetings. Unfortunately, the surviving newspapers do not tell how long it took the Georgia team to make good on their promise.

In 1903, six points was the most that could be scored on a single possession: touchdowns were worth only five points, with the modern one-point kick to add to the score.  Field goals, however, were also worth five points. They would not be lowered to the modern three-point score until 1909, and the goal posts would not be moved to the back of the end zone until 1927.

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Banner, May 1902 - Oct. 1903 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• The Ghosts of Herty Field: Early Days on a Southern Gridiron by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage collection.
• Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate by Bill Cromartie via PINES.
• Georgia vs. Georgia Tech: Gridiron Grudge Since 1893 by John Chandler Griffin via PINES.
• The Heisman: A Symbol of Excellence by John T. Brady via PINES.
• The Rites of Autumn: The Story of College Football by Richard Wittingham in the general collection.
• Southern Fried Football: The History, Passion, and Glory of the Great Southern Game by Tony Barnhart in the general collection.
• The Apple Cookbook: More Than 60 Easy, Imaginative Recipes by Nicloa Hill in the general collection.
• In Praise of Apples: A Harvest of History, Horticulture, and Recipes by Mark Rosenstein in the general collection.
• If You Like My Apples: A Simple Guide to Biodynamic Gardening by Clue Tyler Dennis in the general collection.
• Apples for the 21st Century by Warren Manhart in the general collection.
• A Place Called Sweet Apple by Celestine Sibley in the Heritage collection.
• Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures from the Table by Ruth Reichl in the general collection.

17 June 1906: Trustees Vote to Abolish Football at UGA

On this day in 1906, the following alarming headline and story ran on page 1 of the Sunday Athens Banner:

TO ABOLISH FOOTBALL AT THE UNIVERSITY

Trustees Pass Resolution Declaring That After This Year Football Must Cease at That Institution. 

This Action of the Board Will No Doubt Cause Considerable Discussion.

The wearers of the long hair and kickers of the pigskin will soon have to give up the fight in the University of Georgia. 

After this year there will be no more football played by the University students, unless the rules of the game are decidedly modified. 

That is the decision of the Board of Trustees and what they have to say on the subject is final.

The matter was brought up in the meeting of the board yesterday by Judge George F. Gober, and the resolution introduced by him was passed after very little debate.

The trustees will not interfere with the game this year, as the team has already contracts covering a number of games, but after this year all these games will cease. 

This action of the board is sure to cause discussion among those who favor the game but the sentiment of the board on the subject is quite pronounced.

News of such a decision would not have been a surprise in 1906. Earlier that year, trustees at Harvard and the University of South Carolina had made similar votes, banning the sport because of its "brutality" and tendency to be a distraction from intellectual endeavors. Though injuries and player deaths were the primary focus of criticism, the loudest voice against the new sport of football was more concerned by the moral hazards posed by the game.


Leading the charge against football was Harvard president Charles Eliot, who felt the game taught students to be dishonorable, such as when a running back exploited the weakest point on the opposing team's line in order to advance the ball. He felt the passion around the game by spectators in the stands was divisive, as people tended to cheer for only their own team.  It should be noted that President Eliot also considered baseball "a game of trickery," citing the deception of the curve ball, and believed true sportsmen did not require umpires or referees for their activities.

Among the more ardent defenders of football on the national level was President Theodore Roosevelt, who believed that the "rough play and occasional injuries" built moral character in America's young men. Princeton professor Woodrow Wilson also defended the game, believing it "encouraged valuable qualities such as precision, decision, presence of mind and endurance." In a debate with a Cornell professor on the subject, Wilson said, "I believe it develops more moral qualities than any other game of athletics." 


On a more local level, newly elected University of Georgia chancellor David C. Barrow was a supporter of the game of football. Several weeks after his appointment by the same trustees who had originally voted to abolish the game if changes were not made to the rules, he told the Athens Banner that football was "a rough game" but that "more men are saved by the training than injured by the game," that there was far less fighting amongst the student population since football had been introduced in 1894, that it was "the best training in self control I know of, certainly for a young man," and that even those who don't play on the field "get behind the team" and learn lessons in loyalty that would be equally applicable to community, state, and country in their adult lives. 


Within a week after the initial vote, the trustees decided to leave any decisions in the hands of the faculty, provided certain changes were made to the rules of the game. Since these rules were already being adopted by the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, of which the University of Georgia and most schools they regularly played were members, the threat of losing football at UGA was never seen as inexorable. 


On a national level, more than a dozen new rules were enacted, including shortening the game to two 30-minute halves, defining "tripping" and "hurdling" and making both actions illegal, and introducing the forward pass as an acceptable form of ball advancement. However, for some, football reform was irrelevant. Football critic and University of California president Benjamin Wheeler told the New York Times in September, 1906, that game of football would soon die out, and be rightly replaced by the more established and honorable game of rugby. 




Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Mar. 1906 - Dec. 1907 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Red and Black Newspaper Archive collection on the University of Georgia Libraries website.
• Ghosts of Herty Field: Early Days on a Southern Gridiron by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage and general collections.
• The University of Georgia: A Bicentennial History, 1785-1985 by Thomas G. Dyer in the Heritage and general collections.
• Rites of Autumn: The Story of College Football by Richard Whittingham in the general collection.
• Oh, How They Played the Game: The Early Days of Football and the Heroes Who Made It Great by Allison Danzig in the general collection.
• Only a Game interview with author John J. Miller, 21 May 2011.
• The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football by John J. Miller via PINES.
• "Political Football: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and the Gridiron Reform Movement" by John S. Watterson in Presidential Studies Quarterly (Summer 1995) from ProQuest Research Library via GALILEO.
• New York Times 1851-1980 online archives.
• Georgia Football 1900s History web page on the University of Georgia Athletic Association website.
• Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris in the Biography collection.
• Woodrow Wilson by H. W. Brands in the Biography collection.
• David Crenshaw Barrow by Thomas Walter Reed in the Heritage and Biography collections.

17 April 1900: Unknowable End to Ragtimes v. Neversweats

On this day in 1900, on the Athens Daily Banner's The Personal and The Social section, the following story ran near the bottom of the page:

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Banner, Feb. 1900 - Dec. 1900, Supplementary on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• The Big Book of Baseball Blunders: A Complete Guide to the Worst Decisions and Stupidest Moments in Baseball History by Rob Neyer in the general collection.
• Umpires: Classic Baseball Stories from the Men Who Made the Calls by John C. Skipper in the general collection.
• The Umpire's Handbook by Joe Brinkman in the general collection.
• But Didn't We Have Fun? An Informal History of Baseball's Pioneer Era, 1843-1870 by Peter Morris in the general collection.
• Baseball and the American Dream by Joseph Durso in the general collection.
• Baseball: An Illustrated History by Geoffrey C. Ward in the general collection.
• Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball by Lawrence D. Hogan in the general collection.
• Ring Around the Bases: The Complete Baseball Stories of Ring Lardner by Ring Lardner in the fiction collection.
• Books by W. P. Kinsella in the fiction collection.
• Baseball's Best Short Stories, edited by Paul D. Staudohar in the Short Stories collection.
• Complete Conditioning for Baseball by Pat Murphy in the general collection.
• The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Beer: The Definitive Guide to the World's Great Brews by Roger Protz in the general collection.
• Homebrewing Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Make Great-Tasting Beer by David G. Miller in the general collection.
• An Analysis of Brewing Techniques by George J. Fix in the general collection.
• B Is for Beer by Tom Robbins in the New Books collection.

11 March 1913: "Movie" of UGA Pushball Game Seen Around the World

On this day in 1913, the Athens Banner reported that a film of the second annual Freshman-Sophomore Pushball game would be included in Universal's Animated Weekly newsreel features:

The Lyric was a nickelodeon in the store front now occupied by Walker's Coffee and Pub. They showed short silent filmstrips all day, and featured occasional live evening entertainment, at a cost of five or ten cents per show. Among the more popular films at nickelodeons were filmed athletic events, especially boxing matches. 

According to reports in the Red and Black, the manager for the Lyric theatre had taken several films of various athletic events on campus that year, and that "the University students appreciate Mr. Posey's interest in taking these films and are showing their appreciation by a constant attendance at his interesting productions." 

The Banner's original announcement of the film's inclusion in the Animated Weekly stated, "A bit of advertising that Athens and the University of Georgia will get next month will be by way of the 'movies.'"  The clip film featuring the Georgia game was distributed internationally to over 100 theatres.

The pushball game was a contest between the freshman and sophomore classes to determine which class would get to have a spring banquet. In the past, both classes would schedule a banquet, but it became a contest to see which class had their banquet most disrupted by the other. After the hijinks of spring 1911, where class members were kidnapped from trains en route to secret banquet locations, local citizens insisted on obnoxious behavior on the part of the students. A pushball contest was offered to the classes by Dr. S. V. Sanford, "to confine their activites within reasonable limits." 

Pushball was becoming a nation-wide popular college activity in the early part of the twentieth century. The game was played on a football field, with teams of 11 players per side. To score, a team must "shove the ball under and between the cross bars [sic] of the goal post [sic]" to earn five points, and over the crossbar to earn eight points. If the ball only made it half-way over the goal, the team still earned two points. 

Dr. Sanford requested that the game be divided into four quarters, rather than two halves, so new teams were fielded for each quarter. Total enrollment at the university in 1913 was just 682, so this division meant most of each class would get a chance to prove themselves on the field.

The 1913 game went to the Sophomore class, and those who had participated in the contest paid only 30 cents toward their March banquet; those who skipped the game were charged a dollar fee. Later in the month, they were able to go to the Lyric to watch their victory on Universal's Animated Weekly newsreel #52, that also featured the inaugural parade for Woodrow Wilson and scenes from the Mexican civil war.

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Feb. 1913 - Jun. 1913 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• The Red and Black Archive collection of the Digital Library of Georgia.
• The Athens Historic Newspapers Archive collection of the Digital Library of Georgia.
• 1913 Athens Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from the Digital Library of Georgia.
• 1912-1913 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• The University of Georgia Under Sixteen Administrations, 1785-1955 by Robert Preston Brooks in the Heritage collection.
• The Personal Equation: A Biography of Steadman Vincent Sanford by Stephen Charles Gurr in the Heritage and biography collections.
• A Carnival of Sports, Spectacles, Stunts, Crazes, and Unusual Sports Events by Bill Severn in the general collection.
• How to Survive Your Freshman Year by Mark W. Bernstein in the general collection.

4 December 1867: Charles Holmes Herty Is Born

On this day in 1867 in Milledgeville, Georgia, Charles Holmes Herty was born to Bernard and Louise Herty. He was raised in Athens by an aunt. As a chemist, he would revolutionize the turpentine and paper industry in Georgia, and in Athens, he would establish college football at the University of Georgia.

Dr. Herty graduated with a philosophy degree from UGA in 1886, then earned a doctorate in Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1890. In 1891, he took a faculty position teaching chemistry with UGA, but also focused on the role of athletics at the college level. He was the University's first Faculty Director of Athletics, and started the first football squad in 1892. He coached the team that year, then went on to help create the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1894, a forerunner to the modern Southeastern Conference.

In 1902, Dr. Herty left UGA after a dispute with department head, Dr. H. C. White, and took a position with the Bureau of Forestry at the United States Department of Agriculture.While there, he created and patented the "cut and gutter system" for collecting turpentine. His system revolutionized the industry by extending the life of the tapped trees, collecting more and higher quality gum for turpentine creation, and preserving the tree so it could be used for lumber once it was tapped out.

In 1916, Dr. Herty took another research and teaching position at the University of North Carolina, and later became an industrial consultant in the late 1920s. In 1932, he established a pulp and paper laboratory in Savannah, where he proved that pine was a viable source for pulp that could be made into newsprint. Using pine for paper helped revitalize the Southern agriculture industry, still suffering from the devestating effects of the boll weevil and the Great Depression.

Dr. Herty received many honorary degrees over the course of his career, served as president of multiple scientific associations, and directed research divisions of the Georgia Department of Forestry. In 1933, the Georgia section of the American Chemical Society created the Charles H. Herty Medal, awarded to a researcher in the Southeast "to give public recognition to the work and service of outstanding chemists." In 2000, Dr. Herty was inducted into the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame, and in 2001, the American Chemistry Society designated his Savannah laboratory a National Historic Chemical Landmark. He even has a Facebook fan page in Chinese.

Charles Herty died in Savannah in 1938, at the age of 70. He is buried in Memory Hill Cemetery in Milledgeville.


Learn More: 

• The University of Georgia under Sixteen Administrations, 1785-1955 by Robert Preston Brooks in the Heritage collection.
• Chemistry at the University of Georgia by W. H. Waggoner in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Ghosts of Herty Field: Early Days on a Southern Gridiron by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Turpentine Industry in the United States by Charles H. Herty in Volume 181 of the Journal of the Franklin Institute, via GoogleBooks.
• A Chemist's Discovery Breathes New Life into the Old South on the ACS website.
• Paper from Pine. Chemistry: A New Chapter in Papermaking on the ACS website.
• History of Baldwin County, Georgia by Anna Maria Green Cook in the Heritage collection.
• The Charles H. Herty collection at the Georgia Historical Society.
• The Centennial History of Forestry in Georgia: A Pictorial History by Robert Lee Izlar in the Heritage and general collections.
•  From Seed to Pine Tree: Following a Life Cycle by Suzanne Slade in the children's collection.
• Looking for Longleaf: The Rise and Fall of an American Forest by Lawrence S. Earley in the general collection.
• Herty Foundation Advanced Materials Development Center website.

23 October 1897: Georgia Celebrates First of 60 Victories Over Georgia Tech Football Team with Shutout

On this day in 1897, Georgia Tech brought their football team to the Athens campus and lost to the University of Georgia team by a decisive score of 28-0. Three different players scored touchdowns in front of 600 fans gathered at Herty Field on North Campus. Kickoff was at 4pm, and admission to the game was 50 cents for adults, 25 cents for children.

The Athens Daily Banner proclaimed the game to be "a battle royal," noting the Tech players were "heavy and skilled" and Georgia's team "is in good shape for the fray." Georgia was coming off an undefeated (4-0) 1896 season, and had opened the schedule beating Clemson 24-0 the week before Tech came to town. It seemed a promising start to the first season for Coach Charles McCarthy, who had taken the reins from legendary coach Glenn "Pop" Warner that fall.

Though the 1897 game started slowly, luck went Georgia's way on some early plays, and they went into halftime with a 10-0 lead. The second half, however, was a rout, with Georgia steadily running through the Tech line to score 18 points. At the time, a touchdown was worth only four points, and point-after kicks were worth two.

It was the second meeting between the two teams, the first coming in 1893 when a brawl amongst the fans spilled into a fight on the field, causing the Tech players to eventually flee to their specially chartered railcars and locking the doors behind them. In the weeks following, allegations of cheating and other misbehavior filled the Athens and Atlanta newspapers, and it was thought best that the teams refrain from contests until tempers had cooled. By 1897, faculty and administration at the schools thought it would be safe for the teams to meet again.

The overall record for the game is in Georgia's favor, 60-37-5, with their biggest win so far a 51-7 victory in Sanford Stadium in 2002.


Learn More:

• Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate by Bill Cromartie in the Heritage and general collections.
• Georgia vs. Georgia Tech: Gridiron Grudge Since 1893 by John Chandler Griffin in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Ghosts of Herty Field: Early Days on a Southern Gridiron by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage and general collections.
• Between the Hedges: 100 Years of Georgia Football by Loran Smith in the general collection.
• Game Day: Georgia Football: The Greatest Games, Players, Coaches, and Teams in the Glorious Tradition of Bulldog Football (with introduction by Larry Munson) in the general collection.
• Echoes of Georgia Football: The Greatest Stories Ever Told by Ken Samelson in the general collection.
• Athens Daily Banner, Nov. 1894 - Nov. 3, 1898 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Weekly Banner, Feb. 1897 - Jul. 1898 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• 2010 Georgia Bulldogs Football Media Guide on the Georgia Athletic Association website.

18 September 1901: Coach Harry Mehre Is Born

On this day in 1901, Harry Mehre was born in Huntington, Indiana. He would attend the University of Notre Dame from 1918-1922, playing lineman for legendary coach Knute Rockne, including undfeated seasons in 1919 and 1920. After a year of coaching and playing for the independent professional team, the Minneapolis Marines, Mehre was hired as an assistant coach at the University of Georgia by Bulldogs' head coach George "Kid" Woodruff. He started work in Athens on April 1st, 1924.

Former Notre Dame players for Rockne were in high demand in college football at the time, with many schools hoping to replicate the Irish's success using the Notre Dame Box, a variation of former Georgia Coach Pop Warner's single-wing formation that opened the game up for passing. It was, however, the Irish's defeat of Georgia Tech, 35-7, in 1923 that convinced Coach Woodruff to hire Notre Dame assistants, starting with Mehre in 1924, and followed in 1927 by Jim Crowley, one of the famous Four Horsemen.

After the 1927 season, Coach Woodruff left football to return to the business world and recommended Coach Mehre for the head coach position. Coach Mehre would lead the team for a decade, including the inaugural game at Sanford Stadium on October 29th, 1929 versus the Yale Bulldogs, a game called "one of the greatest football spectacles ever in the South." Southern governors traveled to Georgia for the event, and Athens was a city of celebration in the week leading up to the game. When the Yale team arrived, most of the city and student body was there to welcome them to town, and the Yale band marched up College Avenue, playing "Dixie" when they reached the review stand set up at City Hall. Georgia won the game 15-0.

During his tenure at UGA, the Bulldogs became a nationally known and ranked football team. They beat Yale five times in a row, and upset Fordham in 1936 when they were the favorites to play in the the Rose Bowl. A man of many talents, Coach Mehre filled in for Georgia's basketball coach, Herman Stegeman, in 1931, and handed revered University of Kentucky Coach Adolph Rupp his first loss as a Wildcat, with a 25-16 victory for the Bulldogs.

Coach Mehre's record at UGA was 59-34-6 when, in 1938, he took the head coach position at the University of Mississippi. In his first game as Coach, his Rebels beat the LSU Tigers 20-7 in Baton Rouge. During his eight years at Oxford, he won four games in a row over the LSU, a first for a Mississippi football team. In 1946, Coach Mehre retired from coaching and went into business. He later became a football analyst and sports columnist for the Atlanta Journal, and was a popular speaker at Touchdown Clubs around the south. He was known for his self-depreciating wit and ability to tell an hilarious story.

Coach Mehre wrote for the newspapers for 22 years, before going into retirement in the 1970s. He died on September 27, 1978 in Atlanta. On April 25, 1987, Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall opened on the University of Georgia campus, housing athletic offices, facilities, and a Bulldog sports museum that is open to the public.

Much thanks to Loran Smith at the Georgia Athletic Association for his assistance to the author in writing this article.

Learn More:

• Between the Hedges: 100 Years of Georgia Football by Loran Smith in the general collection.
• Dan Magill's Bull-Doggerel: Fifty Years of Anecdotes from the Greatest Bulldog Ever in the general collection.
• Leading a Bulldog's Life by Jack Troy in the Heritage collection.
• Echoes of Georgia Football: The Greatest Stories Ever Told by Ken Samelson in the general collection.
• I've Seen 'Em All: A Half Century of Georgia Football by Charles E. Martin in the Heritage collection.
• History of the University of Georgia by Thomas Walter Reed on the Digital Library of Georgia website.
• A Walking Tour of the University of Georgia by F. N. Boney in the Heritage and general collections.
  
• Rockne: The Coach, The Man, The Legend by Jerry Brondfield in the biography collection.
• Rites of Autumn: The Story of College Football by Richard Whittingham in the general collection.
• Oh, How They Played the Game: The Early Days of Football and the Heroes Who Made It Great by Allison Danzig in the general collection.
  
• Football for Young Players and Parents by Joe Willie Namath in the general collection.
• Football: Rules of the Game by Bryant Lloyd in the children's collection.
• Football Rules Illustrated by George Sullivan in the general collection.
• Athens Banner-Herald, September 21 - October 31, 1978 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
  

7 August 1900: "Large Crowds Leave Athens."

Two Big Excursions Were Run From This Place Yesterday.

Notwithstanding the fact that dozens of Athenians are already out of the city sojourning at various summer resorts about the country, two large excursions were run yesterday, leaving a big hole in the city's population.

Large crowds went over to Tallulah Falls for the day. A low rate had been put on by the Southern and many citizens took advantage of the opportunity for a sight of the beauties of the Falls. This excursion was composed almost entirely of whites, dozens of ladies and prominent people going. All enjoyed the trip very much.

The other excursion was made over the Georgia to Atlanta. It was made up principally of negroes, the star attraction being a ball game between the Athens "Reds" and the Atlanta "Deppens." A large crowd went over.

Athens Banner, 7 August 1900, p. 6, col 4.

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Banner, Jul. 1900 - Dec. 1900 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Memories of a Mountain Shortline: The Story of the Tallulah Falls Railroad by Kaye Carver in the Heritage collection.
• Georgia Waters: Tallulah Falls, Madison Springs, Scull Shoals and the Okefenokee Swamp by E. Merton Coulter in the Heritage and general collections.
• Railways at the Turn of the Century, 1895-1905 by O. S. Nock in the Heritage collection.
  
• Playing America's Game: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Michael L. Cooper in the children's collection.
  
• Only the Ball Was White by Robert Peterson in the general collection.
• Complete History of the Negro Leagues, 1884-1955 by Mark Ribowski in the general collection.
• The Crackers: Early Days Atlanta Baseball by Tim Darnell in the Heritage and general collections.
• Tallulah Gorge State Park website.
• Negro Leagues Baseball Museum website.