Saturdays in the Fall

It’s that time of year when the leaves turn from green to orange to red and the chill of the air is a refreshing haven from the hot summer days in the south. The newness of the season is fresh in everyone’s minds as all teams believe they have a shot of the Southeastern Conference championship in Atlanta on the first Saturday of December. I am talking about college football in the Southeastern Conference. I am currently watching the ESPN seven part series Saturdays in the South that depicts the origins of this conference football play. It is amazing to me the history of this game and how much in love people are with this game here in the south. I live in Atlanta and every Saturday I’m watching my Georgia Bulldogs with my family on the tube. I so much want to bring my three daughters up right loving this game. The game that brings families together and divides families for one Saturday all for a football game. One grandfather was for Alabama, my other grandfather is for Georgia, my father is for Georgia and my in-laws are for Georgia. I am for Georgia but my wife is for Tennessee. I have other family members spread out that are for Ole Miss and Auburn.

When I first began watching Saturdays in the South I was in awe of the history. The teams that I have grown to hate, made me fall in love with the history. The Heisman Trophy was named after long time head coach of Georgia Tech John Heisman who coached Georgia Tech from 1904 - 1919. Though Georgia Tech is in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and not in the SEC, it is in the South. He began his coaching career at Clemson (ACC) and spent 1902 - 1903 at Clemson. One interesting story about Heisman was he and his wife divorced in 1920 and his then ex wife made him leave Atlanta as to not ruin her social status in Atlanta. The 1920 season Heisman went north and coached Penn.

While I was watching footage of games played in the early 1900’s, it occurred to me that the players that I was watching might have actually fought in the Civil War...Wow!!!

I will close with another good story. Paul Bryant who was born and grew up in the poor side of Arkansas received his nickname Bear Bryant by actually fighting a bear. He grew up poor and was made fun of a lot during his childhood. Word was he would receive $1 if he would fight a bear. He said it was really to win over a girl. As the fight went on the muzzle was removed from the bear and the bear almost ripped Bryant’s ear off. Bryant was never messed with again and he didn’t receive the $1 or get the girl.

History runs deep in the south as church is church and football is a religion. The SEC was founded in 1933 and the original schools were LSU, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi (Ole Miss), and Mississippi State. In 1991 Arkansas and South Carolina were added to the conference as were Missouri and Texas A&M in 2012. As I continue watching more episodes I will write articles about what I have learned about Saturdays in the South.

Courtesy of clemsontigers.com: John Heisman

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