M a r k S c h l a b a c h

Y E S T E R D A Y & T O D A Y

GEORGIA FOOTBALL

The Birth of UGA FootballT he official birth of Georgia football came on Janu-

ary 30, 1892, when the Red and Black met Mercer

University on a playing field behind New College on

the Athens campus. It was the first football

game ever played on the hard, red clay of

the Deep South.

Georgia fans were numerous from the

start. About 1,500 gathered to watch that

first game, chanting, “Rah, rah, rah, ta, Geor-

gia!” just before the 3 p.M. kickoff. Georgia’s

first game was a rout—the score was 50 – 0,

with touchdowns counting only four points

apiece. Spectators threw their hats into the

air in celebration and hoisted many of the

players onto their shoulders.

“The black and crimson of the Univer-

sity of Georgia waves triumphantly, and a

score of 50 to nothing shows the University

boys know how to play football,” declared a

reporter from The Atlanta Constitution.

While 50 – 0 is the score on the books, Georgia actually

scored ten more points than were recorded. The game’s offi-

cial scorer missed two touchdowns and a successful point-

after kick during trips to a nearby Broad Street dispensary for

“refreshments.”

Georgia suffered its first defeat less than a month later, los-

ing to Auburn 10 – 0 in a game played at Atlanta’s piedmont

park. This game sparked what is known as “The Deep South’s

Oldest Rivalry.”

Even in the sport’s infancy, Georgia’s fans and students

showed their school spirit and passion for football. Hundreds

boarded rail cars to Atlanta to watch Georgia play Auburn

for the first time, with the engineer blowing the train’s horn

throughout the city. Georgia fans were encouraged to wear

school colors: old gold, red, and black.

Georgia’s first football team was organized by Dr. Charles

Holmes Herty, an 1886 UGA graduate and an assistant in the

school’s chemistry department. Herty eventually became an

internationally renowned chemist, and he is credited with

great advances in the forestry and naval industries, including

inventing the process by which paper is manufactured from

wood pulp. The Herty Award, a gold medal inscribed with

the phrase “For science and country,” is given each year to an

outstanding chemist from the Southeast.

GEORGIA FOOTBAll YESTERDAY & TODAY

3

Dr. Charles Herty, the father of Georgia football, brought intercol-legiate athletics to the University of Georgia. Under his direction, the rocky field behind New College was cleared and leveled to prepare it for the first football game. The gridiron was later dubbed “Herty Field” in his honor.

Herty was a cham-pion of football and was instrumental in improving athletic facilities on campus.This page from the 1895 Pandora yearbook lists Herty as a member of the University’s Athletic Council.

Cameos of the 1910 Georgia team include legendary players Kid Woodruff and Bob McWhorter, shown next to each other at the center top of the football.

Georgia shut out Auburn 6–0 in the 1924 game

against its oldest rival. This program features a photo

of Dr. Charles Herty, the father of Georgia football.

This pin commemorated reunions for Georgia’s football teams from its 18th–28th seasons. These years encompass the first and last of coach W. A. Cunningham’s coaching career at Georgia. In its fifth bout with Ivy League powerhouse

Yale, Georgia was finally victorious.

�

G E O R G I A N O S T A L G I A

ISBN-13: 978-141279828-0ISBN-10: 141279828-0

Manufactured in China.

$24.95 Sports & recreation/Football

GLORy, GLORy TO OLd GEORGIA!

a solo trumpet plays the opening strains of the bulldogs’ fight song, and the redcoats marching band leads Georgia’s football team through the Dawg Walk and onto the field at Sanford Sta-dium. The bulldog Nation erupts. University of Georgia Football: Yesterday & Today.™ takes you between the hedges, from the first time the red and black ran onto the gridiron in 1892. Geor-gia’s glorious history and traditions are vividly captured in rare photographs and memorabilia and in fascinating stories. You’ll feel the passion and hear the chapel bell ringing as the crowd roars, “how ‘bout Them Dawgs!”

ISBN-13: 978-1-4124-9828-9ISBN-10: 1-4127-9828-9