ACCESSING FAMOUS TECH TRIVIA
by Atlanta's original team on Feb 1, 2010 9:36 AM EST
29 comments
If you wanted to find out why Marilyn Monroe was on the Tech campus and how she got talked into putting on that tight sweater with the "T" on front for the cover of the football program where would you go?
If you wanted a listing of unusual Tech connections that included people like the famous dance instructor Arthur Murray where would you go?
Searching the web for movies with Tech connections usually only brings up John Wayne and a few recent connections. But how would I find out about Clark Cable singing "Ramblin' Wreck" or where would I go to find out the Jimmy Stewart connection or the Cary Grant or even if there is an Oliver Hardy connection? There are many obscure film and media tie-ins which don't sound like much but which serve to remind us that the rest of the country once considered Tech the premiere football power in the South.
Last but not least why is it that no matter how one searches the web one cannot find classic Tech wins from the past but one can easily find old footage of other teams beating Tech. It clearly is important to Alabama, Notre Dame, Auburn and a host of other schools to show historic wins over Tech on You-Tube that date back to the 1950's or 1960's. I would love to see at least one film clip of Tech's national championship team of the 1950's or even Tech's epic last minute loss against a power house Southern Cal team in 1969. I can see film of Penn State beating Tech in the 1961 Gator Bowl but I cannot see film of Tech beating Texas Tech in the 1965 Gator Bowl. It would be neat to see footage of Tech's 1962 win over Joe Namath and Alabama and I would love to see Lenny Snow run again.
Anyway, this is not meant as a rant; it is just an observation that Tech has a much richer tradtion than most other college football programs yet most of the folk lore has to be carried and passed down word of mouth. Other schools seem to be able to get more comprehensive lists of information in one or more easily accessible locations.
I would love to hear what other Tech fans have to say about this.
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First place I would look
would be the Archives/ Living History departments. Living History (Alumni Association basement if you are near campus) will probably have footage. Archives will have documents. If you get in touch with Marilyn Somers, she can point you in the right direction.
The college football season is so fragile. It's like a glass ball being pushed around from stadium to stadium by a rhinoceros.
by Winfield Featherston on Feb 1, 2010 10:37 AM EST reply actions
SEC META files
Mike Slive got ESPN to put in the Technology to search all Footage from the conference. “Show me all Herschel Walker runs in 1982 over 35 yards”with the SEC Network deal.
Could there be 1952 Natl Champ records??
by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Feb 1, 2010 10:59 AM EST via mobile reply actions
My point
is that since I now live over a thousand miles away from the Tech campus I would like an easy to go to web site that anyone could access that would have this kind of information. Wikipedia is a start but it is woefully incomplete on a lot of interesting Tech trivia. Likewise I can search the web for any number of running backs from other teams and usually find a bio, pictures and often even a video high light. Not so easy if I am looking for Lenny Snow or video of Eddie Lee Ivory setting an NCAA single game rushing record against Air Force.
by Atlanta's original team on Feb 1, 2010 1:12 PM EST reply actions
yeah...
You’re also talking about a team that was relatively dormant on the National stage post Dodd to pre-Ross. And then post-Ross to Joe Hamilton. So A LOT OF years that no one cared. Less people caring means less people recording for the future. That’s the tough part.
The AJC stacks used to be good but they’re hard to access and too expensive.
I guess the atmosphere that I've tried to create here is that I'm a friend first and a boss second, and probably an entertainer third.
Which is why
I would love for more people to know whether or not Clark Gable ever sang “Ramlin’ Wreck” in a movie. Some people think Tech has always been mediocre, not realizing that at different times in history they have been the team that people talked about on a national level.
by Atlanta's original team on Feb 1, 2010 5:38 PM EST up reply actions
The Georgia State University archives may also have some key information you could look for. I found an action photo of Clint Castleberry from there.
The college football season is so fragile. It's like a glass ball being pushed around from stadium to stadium by a rhinoceros.
by Winfield Featherston on Feb 1, 2010 3:29 PM EST up reply actions
RECK'd
I’d love to see this, but I have nothing to contribute in any way. At this point, at least.
Longest Atlanta Falcons winning-seasons streak: 2008 - current
Connections
I don’t recall a Clark Gable connection, but I did post John Wayne whistling “Ramblin’ Wreck” in “The High and the Mighty”.
Also, Randolph Scott was a KA at Tech before moving to Hollywood. I don’t know if he ever received a degree, but they said the Agnes Scott ladies used to borrow cars to go out looking for him in between classes. No pictures on that one.
Southern Fried Football by Mr. College Football has some great old pics, as does Bill Cromartie’s book “Clean Old Fashioned Hate”.
by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Feb 1, 2010 8:44 PM EST reply actions
You'd do it for...
I guess the atmosphere that I've tried to create here is that I'm a friend first and a boss second, and probably an entertainer third.
THAT'S
what is bugging me. I did not know about the Randolph Scott connection, someone else did not know about Arthur Murray, someone else did not know about Clark Gable, the list goes on and on. Wouldn’t it be great to see all of these connections on one website. It could be as big as the, uh, you know, six or seven degrees of separation with what’s his name. Was that Kevin Bacon?
by Atlanta's original team on Feb 2, 2010 9:12 AM EST up reply actions
Wiki
Could we create a user fed wiki that is a subset of this site? I think that with so many passionate fans we could all work together and create something great. I still live in Atlanta and know a few people at the Alumni Association and would be willing to do some legwork down at the house if needed.
by FuzzyB17 on Feb 2, 2010 9:15 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
I think that's a good idea
I know when I first started using wikipedia, a bunch of Tech students/grads/fans put together all sorts of crazy trivia but wikipedia overlords deemed it unfit for general consumption because it was “TOO TRIVIAL.” Hah, nothing about Tech is too trivial, mundane, or unfit for public consumption. I digress.
A Tech version of wiki would be pretty neato though. The problem is sustaining momentum, verifying information with credible sources, and hosting the information (all wikipedia problems). An altruistic Tech fan looking to spread his knowledge is just as common as a goofy kid looking to make up stuff who is also just as common as someone who wants to put up the thing they heard on Sunday from somebody who’s a friend of a friend. So once again, a lot of interesting issues. A good Tech encyclopedia would be nice though. Maybe with stricter editing rules than wikipedia, in my opinion.
I guess the atmosphere that I've tried to create here is that I'm a friend first and a boss second, and probably an entertainer third.
See my comment below...
If we did something like this, we could require people to login, require approval of edits made by new users, etc.
Since Wikipedia’s content is free/free, we can also legally use their GT articles as a starting point.
Yes
Excellent idea. Since I brought the subject up now let me confess I have neither the technical know how nor the connections to offer much more help. Frankly I want someone else to do the leg work. For example I would just like to be able to say, "Hey, was that Clark Gable singing the entire first stanza of Rambling Wreck with Claudette Colbert in “It Happened One Night”? and be able to go to one web site and be one click away from verifying the answer.
And I know this is mixing apples and oranges but if that same sight has video of famous games and running backs I would be in hog heaven. It would give me several more ways to avoid doing any work!
by Atlanta's original team on Feb 2, 2010 9:46 AM EST up reply actions
I own a small website design/development company in Atlanta
We could totally build a wiki for this. I’d be down to pay for hosting myself just to see if we could get it off the ground.
I’m assuming we’d want a custom gold & white design, and I wouldn’t be able to offer that part for free… anybody have any interest in starting a fund for that? We couldn’t go much lower than $1,500 for creating and coding a custom design.
However, in the meantime, I could set up a wiki and you guys can start adding to it. All we’d need is to pick a domain name.
Just throwing all this out there. Thoughts?
First thought
is that The Institute would have a vested interest in this if they were approached by the right person with the right pitch.
Incidentally, I just now tried again in vain to find the Clark Gable connection with Rambling Wreck on the web with the usual no luck. But along the way I found a feature article in a 1943 Life Magazine about three airmen lost for 10 months in the South Pacific. They stayed alive in part by serenading the local natives with Rambling Wreck. The article said the natives’ favorite part was the “helluva, helluva” chorus.
It still amazes me what a house hold word Ga Tech was in past decades.
by Atlanta's original team on Feb 2, 2010 10:26 AM EST up reply actions
If Dick Nixon could get Nikita Khrushchev to sing it....
by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Feb 2, 2010 7:02 PM EST up reply actions
I had forgotten
that about Nixon and Khrushchev. Does the “Georgia Tech Football Vault” have anything about Marilyn Monroe in it?
by Atlanta's original team on Feb 2, 2010 8:40 PM EST up reply actions
p. 66
“Movie starlet MM donned a GT sweater and graced the cover of the 1952 FB Media guide, thanks to the efforts of SID Ned West.”
Goes on to talk about the $125,000 tackle, etc. What teams in the early ’50’s.
George Morris and Hal Miller shown as Co-Captains
by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Feb 2, 2010 10:38 PM EST up reply actions
O.K., then
if it has Clark Gable singing Rambling Wreck I’m in!
by Atlanta's original team on Feb 3, 2010 8:00 AM EST up reply actions
Domain Name Suggestions
Techopedia
GTDB – Internet Georgia Tech Database (four letter urls are mostly taken though)
Georgia Tech Historical Archive
North Avenue Trade Site
And of course:
www.ClarkGableSingsTheRamblingWreck.com
Already in the works
Something like this has been in development for a while now by the Ramblin’ Reck Club at Tech. Pretty much everything on Wikipedia has been pulled in and is being combined with stuff from the T-Book, and the only things left to do are decide upon and register a domain name and work out the final details with GT licensing, both of which we’re working on now. We were hoping for this to be a surprise but you guys just had to go and ruin it ;)
In the meantime
We can start trying to figure out how to connect that site to FTRS. Then we can have everyone contributing and building it.
The college football season is so fragile. It's like a glass ball being pushed around from stadium to stadium by a rhinoceros.
by Winfield Featherston on Feb 6, 2010 12:44 PM EST up reply actions
"Georgia Tech Football Vault"
Worth the money. Great old pictures and well written. Should be on everyone’s bookshelf.
by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Feb 2, 2010 6:57 PM EST reply actions
I got this as a graduation gift
And it’s the best gift I’ve ever received. Even better it was from my then-girlfriend’s parents, whose son went to UGA, so they were all bulldog fans and so were their cousins. Due to my charm and familiarity with Tech lore, they fell in love with me. I memorized all of our football stats from wikipedia, and lambasted a friend of theirs in a debate over which football program was better.
In a related note, while we wait for footage of classic games to appear on a Tech database, there’s always the very fine videos produced by the fine folks at Play At Tech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SsaZpNlFo4
Techpedia
I know of a person who is currently building a specific Georgia Tech wikipedia site called Techpedia. He is my roommate actually. I’ll check into it asap.
The college football season is so fragile. It's like a glass ball being pushed around from stadium to stadium by a rhinoceros.
by Winfield Featherston on Feb 3, 2010 3:18 PM EST reply actions
2. from a reader
Here is some more info:
Although I’m not registered on your blog, I do follow it and I am a big film buff, so I thought I’d mention a couple of other Tech references in the movies. In The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), Gregory Peck romances Jennifer Jones by playing the ukulele and singing the first stanza of Rambling Wreck. In one of my favorite film noirs, His Kind of Woman (1951), a seemingly drunk Tim Holt is singing Rambling Wreck in a bar when he meets Robert Mitchum. Later, Holt tells Mitchum he was the “greatest scatback who ever lost to Notre Dame.” I don’t know if either of those scenes are posted anywhere, but both movies are available on DVD and show up occasionally on AMC or TCM.
Feel free to share this with anyone,
The college football season is so fragile. It's like a glass ball being pushed around from stadium to stadium by a rhinoceros.
by Winfield Featherston on Feb 3, 2010 3:18 PM EST reply actions
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