Where I Come From: How I Became A Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Fan

I was never a team sports guy growing up. I was an athlete, but it was stuff like running and martial arts. I rarely watched football unless it was the super bowl or a random Houston Oilers (moment of silence please) game on TV when I was little.

Tech’s academic reputation preceded it, and when I moved to Atlanta from Texas I planned on going there when the time came. By the time highschool was over and I found myself on my first campus visit I already knew two things. 1) I hated anyone wearing red and a ‘G’ and 2) Tech had the big college atmosphere in a big city and was definitely going to change my suburb-clingin’ life.

I told myself I would join a fraternity and go to every home football game. It was 2005. Though I knew little about Tech or football I learned the songs, learned not to wear Navy, watched the Wreck in complete wonderment, and celebrated that season as we trashed both Auburn and Miami. I was hooked on college football in general and Georgia Tech in particular. I have been to every home game for the last 5 years and still dress up and scream my head off. I consider it my duty to a team forever on the rise. Many fans will say their school is this or that, but I brush it all off. No one has our rich history and tradition coupled with academic reputation and unique personality. I’m a Yellow Jacket for life, and I’ll never be sorry for that.

Growing up in Orlando, until 7th grade. It was then I met one of my best friends dad’s and my life changed forever. The second Mr. Stratton (CE 81) sang me the ramblin wreck, I knew I wanted to go to Tech.

I absolutely love that offense and the way Tech runs it.

simply put!

…. my mom jokes about me and my brothers all going to Tech and ppl asking her if we really had a choice in that decision…. well she puts it perfectly when she says " Oh, yes they did have choice. It was either go to Tech or go to Tech." she would also say how we didnt really want a choice of not going to Tech..

My parents had a uga tire cover on the spare of the huge Econoline van we had. I remember looking at that bulldog every day and hating it because it was so ugly. Playing baseball during those years I became friends with a kid who always wore GT gear to practice. I asked him about the yellow jacket on his gear and he told me about GT and how “we” hate the bulldogs like the one on my parents van. I just happened to have an affinity for messing with yellow jackets nests in my neighborhood and I thought it all fit. I started asking my friends about watching games and was lucky enough to have discovered my fandom before the 1990 season. I haven’t looked back since.

Graduating high school I had a choice of either attending Tech or joining the military like every other male in my family had before me, so I went Marine Corps. It hasn’t stopped me from being a fan and while my wife pretends to be a uga fan, she knows more about Tech than she does Georgia, so I think I’ve got her converted. I’ve got three boys who all wear GT gear and hopefully I’ll have a girl to wear the White and Gold.

It was October 6, 2005. I joined Swarm on a whim that year as a freshman and soon found myself arriving 30 minutes, then an hour, then 2 hours early for each home game, just to soak in the stadium atmosphere. For my birthday that year, all I wanted was to enjoy a day of football. So my family and friends made the drive down from Cherokee county, we tailgated all afternoon, and then we made our way into the stadium for the NC State game. Mhmm, that was my 18th birthday. I was in the front row of Swarm with 2 of my friends who would later come to Tech (I like to think I convinced them of Tech’s superiority) when that interception was thrown with 26 seconds left. I still remember the way the ball sounded when it landed in the NC State player’s hands. When the game ended, I said goodbye to my parents and friends and started walking home. Alone. In the rain. I was looking pretty miserable. Some guys offered me a beer, to which I replied “I’m only 18.” Turning down that beer was the final straw, and the tears started rolling. I went back to my apartment (8th Street West…as long of a walk home as possible), curled up on my bed, and cried. The next morning, I woke up determined to fully appreciate every win thereafter. It’s been 5 years, and I would relive every drip of blood, sweat, and tears I’ve given to this football team.