by Sam Hatcher
Cumberland Memorial Hall
He forced himself to turn away and went over his notes one final time.
Despite graduating next to last in a class of 178 law students, George was quick witted and had a special gift for gab when it came to holding the attention of an audience of 200 or for that matter a frat house gathering of a couple of dozen.
But this time the occasion was different. It wasn’t a joke he was to tell or some amusing anecdote.
This time he would be espousing a message about the prospects and the process to ensure Cumberland’s survival.
Plan of action
Precisely at three, George nervously stepped outside and took his stance on the front steps. He leaned forward as he began his oration, his voice cracking as he confessed that a few months back he had made a grave error, a mistake that may have placed “this great University” in a state of financial jeopardy.
Continuing to take the blame, he explained that it had been his responsibility as team manager to notify the schools on Cumberland’s football schedule that the University had decided to disband its football program and would not be fielding a team in the fall of 1916. He spoke plainly and honestly as he told the listeners that he had accidentally failed to provide this notice to Georgia Tech.
His demeanor became graver as he told the crowd about the harsh financial consequences due to his blunder and the insistence on the part of Tech that the football game be played or else.
Finally, he reminded the now silent and stunned gathering that the baseball game played last spring against Tech had whipped up a tempest as the Bulldogs had drubbed Coach Heisman’s Tech team so soundly.
“Coach Heisman has nurtured one of the toughest football teams in the nation,” said George. “He plans to settle for nothing less than the national championship, and it messes up his schedule and likely weakens his opportunity should we forfeit our game. He has demanded that Cumberland play Tech on Grant Field in Atlanta in less than three weeks or he will take his pound of flesh via three thousand greenback dollars.
“If we forfeit, the odds increase that our beloved alma mater will have to shutter her doors. I cannot bear to imagine that such a blow come upon this school, an educational giant that has overcome previous hardships, including a torching that disintegrated an earlier headquarters, yet Cumberland survived to rise again from ashes. I feel quite sure that you all feel the same as I.
“Therefore, I pronounce to you today that come hail or high water, Cumberland will produce a football team and play Tech in Atlanta on October 7.”
Scrambling to get organized
Following the speech, students rushed to the front of the majestic Memorial Hall and volunteered to help in whatever way they could to assist the cause.
George’s priority was to draft sixteen to twenty athletes. He realized some of them may never have played organized football before, and there were strong possibilities that a match like this against Heisman’s stable of athletes could result in broken noses, broken arms, broke ribs and broken skulls.
Tech was a big boy team, composed of men, not fraternity boys. Poised to become national champions, they were superbly trained and conditioned.
George first cast his line for players inside his pond of fraternity brothers. He reasoned that if he could snare four or five Kappa Sigma volunteers, he could hit on the other frat houses and coerce each of them to supply a couple of workhorses.
Part of his pitch was the notion that the journey to Atlanta would prove an unforgettable adventure, a historical event. Moving in to close the sale, he leaned on their emotions. He lectured that the game to be played was not so much about whom would win or if Tech and Heisman would capture their national championship, but that it would be a signature event that would determine the salvation of Cumberland University.
“Fifty years from now, when you are old and your grandsons surround you, you can take great pride in telling them that you were one of a small band of brothers who fought a gallant and glorious battle against a giant and did so with honor. This gentlemen is the chance of a lifetime.”
Two volunteers stepped forward immediately from the Kappa Sig family. Gentry Dugat and Morris Gouger, who played high school football in their home state of Texas, were ready, willing and able.
Next Leon McDonald and George Murphy said they’d make the trip. Then Eddie Edwards and Charlie Warwick also agreed to play.
George was a bit surprised that his first try at raising a team has claimed a half dozen willing want-to-be athletes. He was almost halfway home with his roster.
Raising the money
Once George began to tabulate the expenses of getting his small army to Atlanta, he totaled the costs to be approximately five hundred dollars, not exactly chicken feed.
When Gentry asked him how he planned to get his hands on that much dough, George quipped, “I’m fixin’ to raise more money then I’ll probably ever see in my lifetime.”
He set his first bull’s-eye on the men of the Cumberland Board of Trust. Most were wealthy local businessmen and lawyers, while a few were professors. From the fifteen, he believed he could secure the first hundred.
A couple of the trustees were reputed to be loaded. A.W. Hooker operated a successful lumberyard and provided most of the building materials for residential and business construction in Lebanon. Walter J. Baird also was a prosperous businessman and property owner.
George’s fundraising scheme called for ten coeds to go door-to-door to businesses and residences across the community asking for anything from a quarter to two dollars. He figured that would bring in two hundred.
Another fifty bucks could be raised from a sorority cake and cookie sale on the Saturday the week before the game.
Finally, for those looking for a somewhat more rousing way to give, George had begged for the assistance of the owner of the Devil’s Elbow on the square for a raucous Friday night keg party, an event that would feature all the beer a man could drink, complimented by pickled eggs, for two dollars.
George estimated that a week before the game, he should have harvested more than four hundred dollars, an amount meeting the bare minimum to make the trip. With any luck at all, he would raise the entire five hundred and even have enough cash to treat the team to a steak dinner in Atlanta after the game.
Getting closer to game day
It had been ten days since George announced to the student body that the football game with Georgia Tech was going to take place.
His ragtag army of athletes had been assembled, although it could still use a few more bodies. Most of the money had been raised, uniforms had been secured, and this week George would purchase train tickets, make hotel reservations, and tidy up unfinished business so he could dedicate more time to focusing on Cumberland’s game strategy.
Technically, George did not serve as coach, as that person had to be a member of the University faculty, thus Ernest (Butch) McQueen filled those shoes on paper, while George truly took charge.
The game strategy would not be so much about scoring points or even winning, but instead the big question was how could Cumberland’s players get through four quarters of football against a Tech behemoth and walk away with heads held high and health intact?
Looking like a championship year
The outlook for Coach John Heisman in his twelfth year at Georgia Tech was splendid.
Although Tech’s 1916 season would not kick off until September 30, he was confident he had the horses to win a national championship.
In the previous season Tech had posted a record of seven victories, no losses and a scoreless tie against the University of Georgia near the end of the schedule. Until that point Tech considered itself a contender as the top team in the country despite the prejudices of the national press.
However, Cornell, coached by Albert Sharpe, with a perfect 9–0 record, shared national championship honors that year with Glen Scobey “Pop” Warner’s Pittsburgh Panthers, which produced an 8–0 season.
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Tech’s 1915 team caught glances from the national press as it defeated Mercer, Davidson, Transylvania, LSU, North Carolina, Alabama and Auburn. But sportswriters shared the opinion that the strength of collegiate football lay in the North and Northeast.
Because Heisman’s Georgia Tech team had gained a wink or so of national recognition for its campaign in 1915, the stage was set many in Atlanta believed for a national champion to be named from the South in 1916.
Coach Heisman and his budding football dynasty at Tech were beginning to make themselves known on the national stage and gaining the attention from a corps of well-respected sportswriters across America. Among those closely following Heisman was Grantland Rice, the famed sportswriter, who at this time anchored the “sporting news” section of the New York Tribune.
Fred Russell, sports editor of the Nashville Banner, and Grantland Rice share a conversation in 1951
Rice, who had written for The Atlanta Journal during Heisman’s early days at Tech, had observed the coach perform both on and off the field. Years later, the two developed a close friendship and co-authored the book, “Understand Football,” in 1932.
Southern sportswriters had been covering the gridiron exploits by Heisman for some time, so with Rice in the Big Apple the eastern side of the nation was gaining a bit of knowledge about the hard-nosed wizard in Atlanta.
HEISMAN’S BOOK
* * *
Following his tenure at Tech John Heisman wrote and published “Principles of Football,’ a best-seller among football coaches and players and still a popular read for many associated with the game.
Amazon, a vender of the book, offers “The bedrock simplicity of legendary coach John Heisman’s ‘Principles of Football’ will knock the wind out of you like a four-man tackle deep behind the line of scrimmage. Originally published in the 1920s, this classic is perfect for every young player and coach, as well as all lovers of the game. The book includes more than 40 of Heisman’s plays; insight to Heisman’s innovative, no-loss attitude; time-tested and timeless tips on merging game strategy with gentlemanly sportsmanship to teach how to master the ‘mental game;’ and. a complete listing of Heisman Trophy recipients, plus John Heisman’s 175 basic football axioms.”
Disappointed by the 1915 campaign, Heisman would not stand for anything less than stellar play this year and was determined that his squad play every game as if it were for a national title.
He admonished his players to look upon each opponent as a foe that could take them down and out of contention for the prized goal if they did not strive for perfection. He warned them against making mental mistakes, that running backs and receivers hold tightly to the ball, and that they play sound and aggressive defense.
The Cumberland game would be Tech’s second of the season, and like every game on the schedule it was a must win if they were to claim the national title.
There should be no way in kingdom come for Cumberland to threaten much less beat Tech this year. But when Coach Heisman reflected on that disappointing baseball game last spring in Lebanon, even he had to pause and wonder what if.
Confident that the baseball debacle occurred due to Cumberland using a batch of ringers, he was not about to let anything like that happen again when Tech played the Tennessee team on their home field.
Keeping his team focused, Coach Heisman conducted practice sessions and planned strategy as if Tech was about to face an equal. He would take nothing for granted when it came to the small school, which he intended to give a serious butt whipping.
Back in Lebanon
Things were falling into place for George Allen and his Bulldogs.
The team and the travel party, which would number nearly a hundred, planned to board the train early next Friday. The seven-hour rail journey to Atlanta was being touted by George as one great celebration.
THE GEORGIAN TERRACE
* * *
Much like the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, The Georgian Terrace, located at 659 Peachtree Street NE, is an architectural masterpiece and still in business.
The ten-story structure of Moorish Revival, Beaux-Arts style was designed by architect William Lee Stoddart and built for a sum of $500,000. The hotel has been featured prominently as host site for a number of historic events. Among celebrity guests have been film stars, politicians, military leaders, and authors. Those who overnighted at the hotel include Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Tallulah Bankhead, Laurence Olivier, Claudette Colbert, Olivia de Havilland, Calvin Coolidge, John J. Pershing, Walt Disney, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. It also was where, in the 1920s, a young Arthur Murray, a student at Georgia Tech, began giving dance lessons.
The Georgian Terrace was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Atlanta Georgian Terrace Hotel
But secretly he was concerned that he may have oversold the deal. Wondering to himself he asked, “Surely, these folks realize that our team doesn’t have a prayer.”
On the Cumberland campus spirits raged with a jubilant atmosphere reminiscent of years past when Cumberland was a contender as one of the top teams in the country.
Sheets painted with such messages as “Wreck Tech,” “Outsmart the Engineers,” and “Bring Down the Gavel on Georgia Tech” hung from the dormitory windows. Posters covered bulletin boards in the hallways and classrooms.
The mayor of Lebanon organized a Main Street parade in the team’s honor. Community churches joined hands with plans for a picnic lunch, a feast of barbecue, fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad, and homemade cakes and pies.
The fanfare leading up to the team’s departure was more than George could have ever dreamed.
A final accounting showed that sufficient funds had been raised to finance the trip. George had his team in place, although he could use several more healthy bodies. Tickets had been purchased for fourteen players, one water boy, George and Coach McQueen. However, there were only a dozen players on the roster, George was praying fervently that he could roust three or four real players after the train stopped for a layover in Nashville.
Among others accompanying the team would be students, a few faculty members and administrators, and some of the wealthier town citizens, all on their own dime with respect to expenses.
The agenda called for the Cumberland squad to spend two nights in Atlanta at The Georgian Terrace, a superlative hotel that opened its doors in 1911. George, a young man of good taste, believed that if these students, football players for a day, were willing to risk their limbs for their school, they should be afforded billets in one of the grandest and newest hotels in the South.
The team and its entourage would arrive in Atlanta late on Friday afternoon and be escorted to the hotel by the Georgia Tech welcoming committee.
But for now George needed to huddle with his team, go over a few basic plays and prepare them mentally for four quarters of a football game that had all the potential to be a disaster.
Team meeting
George called his team together, a band of misfits that numbered fourteen, on Monday afternoon, five days away from game day.
They were legitimate Cumberland students, most of them studying law, a few liberal arts majors and several who had not yet decided their future livelihood nor selected a major.
George acknowledged that the players were students first, fraternity brothers second, party-goers third, and last and least, football players.
First, he passed out pads, pants, jerseys, helmets and cleats. After each student athlete suited up and settled, he had them sit down and went over the weekend schedule, from Friday morning until they returned on Sunday. He certainly didn’t need any absentees.
Then he took questions from his young charges, who were not so much fearful as to what the Georgia Tech players could do to them in the trenches but were excited about their adventure to a major city in the South.
They wondered if they could bring their girlfriends, what foods they would be served, what they should wear, and how much mone
y they needed to bring.
Those questions were easy for the overseer, but the last one was a challenge.
“George, I know we’re doing something good here. I understand that and I’m glad to be a part of it,” began a fraternity brother, who had kept his helmet on his head as if a gladiator prepared for battle.
“But what happens if one of us gets seriously hurt? Will we go to the hospital in Atlanta or will you tote us back to the train and take us to a doctor in Nashville? Will Cumberland pay our medical bill?”
“Men, I understand where your sentiments lay. I appreciate what you’re doing for this school as I’m sure your fellow classmates, the professors and administration here, and the town of Lebanon do,” said George.
“I think everything will work out fine. I think we’ll go to Atlanta and play a crazy football game on Saturday. Spend the night in a magnificent hotel and come home on Sunday.
“We’re probably not going to beat Georgia Tech. And it’s my responsibility to make sure we get there and get back all in one piece. I can tell you right now, right here, that I will do my damn level best to make sure that you get the credit for your selfless commitment and that no one gets physically injured in the process.”
The fourteen nodded affirmatively and went to the Cumberland football field for their first workout as a unit.
Second team meeting
George and the team met again on Tuesday afternoon to discuss strategy. He also preached to them to not get caught up in the hype.
“Look,” he lectured, “we’re simply going to Atlanta to have some fun, but don’t do anything stupid. The only requirement before us is to show up and play a football game.