by Sam Hatcher
Preas follows up with the extra point conversion and Tech takes control quickly with a lead of 14–0.
On the ensuing kickoff Preas kicks the ball to Gouger, who makes one of the biggest gains for the Tennessee school, returning the ball 20 yards to the 30-yard line.
On the first play from scrimmage on this possession Cumberland quarterback Leon McDonald fumbles, and George “Hip” West recovers for Tech.
GEORGE “HIP” WEST graduated from Georgia Tech, played right guard for Coach Heisman’s Golden Tornadoes from 1915–1917 and received a degree in medicine from Emory University School of Medicine. He returned home to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and became a prominent surgeon.
Georgia Tech’s offense returns to the field. Strup Strupper takes the hand-off from quarterback Froggie Morrison and dashes 15 yards around right end, making it second down on the Cumberland 5-yard line. Preas continues the offensive attack, running the ball into the end zone and scoring the Engineers’ third touchdown. Preas converts the extra point kick and now the score is 21–0.
A bit more than only five minutes into the game, and Tech has secured a commanding lead. The home fans are jubilant, and Heisman’s warning to his players seems to have been unfounded.
Kicking off for a fourth time, Preas sends it to the 10-yard line, and McDonald advances the ball for the Bulldogs to the Cumberland 20.
Gouger runs on first down and loses five yards.
The Bulldogs then option to go with two pass plays. Quarterback McDonald fails to connect with his receivers, and he punts on fourth down. His kick travels only 20 yards, bounces a couple of times and lands out-of-bounds. Georgia Tech takes over on the Cumberland 35.
Tech players tackle Cumberland running back
A Tech substitute, Theodore “Buzz” Shaver, playing fullback, strikes around left end for 25 yards. On the following next play Strupper hits the same hole and scores from 10 yards out. Preas kicks the extra point. Tech has a 28–0 advantage.
On Cumberland’s sideline George Allen begins to panic. He’s concerned not so much about the score as he is about the health of his team. He fears a serious injury could be inflicted on any of his men on any given play whether Cumberland is on defense or offense.
He summons his team to the sideline for a brief pow wow as Tech gathers for a fifth kickoff.
“This is not going well, to say the least. Let’s take it one play at a time. Keep your chins up and eyes open. We all want to get out of here in one piece.”
This time instead of receiving the kick, Allen decides to take a different route.
This era of college football allowed the team that had been scored upon the option to either receive the next kickoff or to go on defense and kick to its opponent. George chooses to kick the ball to Tech.
Heisman, somewhat surprised by the tactic, ponders to himself, “Why would Cumberland, down by four touchdowns, want to kick instead of receive?”
For the first time in the game, the great coach sends his kick return team on to the gridiron.
McDonald, Cumberland’s go-to-guy, delivers a strong kick to the Tech 20-yard line where Buzz Shaver catches the ball and flashes 70 yards to the Cumberland 10.
Cumberland’s defense, already weary, allows Strupper a 9-yard plunge. J.C. “Canty” Alexander then takes it the final yard for the TD. Preas kicks the ball between the uprights, and Heisman’s squad is in front by 35 points.
While Allen’s decision to kick off instead of receive didn’t yield any better results for his team, he sticks with the strategy, instructing McDonald to kick again.
McDonald boots it to the 35 where W.G. “Six” Carpenter cradles the ball and returns it five yards. From the 40-yard line Strupper bolts through the Cumberland defense and runs 60 yards for another score. Preas converts the extra point, and the scoreboard reads 42–0.
WALTER G. “SIX” CARPENTER, from Newnan, Georgia, was a captain on the Georgia Tech national championship team of 1917. He was voted All-America and All-Southern honors and made a member of the Georgia Tech Football Hall of Fame. Tech’s Golden Tornadoes went 9–0 in 1917 and outscored their opponents 491–17 to claim their championship.
Following orders from Allen, McDonald kicks the ball for a third time following the Tech score. This kickoff sails to Tech’s 25 where Alexander catches it on the fly and takes it to the 35-yard line. Shaver gets the first call from scrimmage and rips off 25 yards around right end. Then Ralph Puckett grinds his way up the middle for 5 yards. Fullback Tommy Spence polishes off the drive, carrying the ball into the end zone from 35 yards out. Preas kicks the extra point, and the lead rises to 49–0.
George decides it’s time to receive again. Tommy Spence kicks off, and McDonald catches the ball on the Cumberland 10, stumbles and is tackled immediately. He throws two incomplete passes and punts on third down. Strupper catches the ball and sprints 45 yards for a touchdown. After another Preas kick, Tech notches its 56th point.
Cumberland’s McDonald kicks off once again. This time it’s a dandy, his best of the day. But despite his best effort Tech’s Spence fields the ball on the 10 and races 90 yards for a touchdown. Preas sends the ball through the uprights, and seven more points are tacked on to the scoreboard.
On the final series of the first quarter Cumberland sets up shop for its offense at its own 25-yard line after Gouger returns a Tommy Spence kick 10 yards. On first down Gouger runs the ball for a five-yard loss. McDonald follows suit. Facing a third down and 20, McDonald hurls an incomplete pass. The first quarter is over, but the massacre has just begun.
Reviewing the first quarter
In the first quarter Tech scored 63 unanswered points on nine touchdown runs and six Preas extra-points. The Tornadoes gained 163 yards on runs, and 180 yards on kickoff returns.
For the day Tech averaged scoring 3.8 points per minute.
JOHN HEISMAN’S ESSENTIALS
* * *
Always
Always play with your head
Always listen for the signal
Always block your opponent at any cost
Always start as fast as you can
Always be where the ball is
Always win the game
Don’t
Don’t lose your head
Don’t fumble the ball
Don’t tackle high
Don’t stop running because you are behind
Don’t hesitate about falling on the ball
Don’t let a runner escape you after you have him
Don’t lose the game
Can’t
You can’t play football without brains
You can’t play too aggressively
You can’t afford to waste time talking
You can’t play ball with a swelled head
You can’t win without using these principles
Never
Never drop the ball
Never get excited
Never give up
Never forget that a football player may be a gentleman
No rest for the wary
Cumberland players had been scrambling for their lives for the first 15 minutes of the game. They were battered, bruised and pooped and still had three more quarters to play.
Grateful for the respite, they knelt briefly on the sideline where their leader tried to soothe them as best he could.
“Fellows, we’ve got three quarters left, just 45 minutes. You can do it. I know you can. Hang in there. Next time you come to the sidelines the game will be half over and you can rest for 20 minutes,” he said, feeling guilty.
Across the field Heisman continued to caution his team, while behind his back his players were rolling their eyes with an “I can’t believe he’s telling us this horse dump” attitude. They already knew this game was in the bag, and those poor guys from Cumberland were hapless, without a prayer in the world of mounting any form of a threatening comeback.
The Tech offensive attack resembled a giant bowling ball tumbling off of Stone Mountain. Nothin
g was going to stop them.
Heisman told his men to pass no heed to the scoreboard, to keep playing full speed ahead until they heard the whistle. And reminded them constantly of his essential guidelines of winning football.
The second quarter began with Cumberland facing a fourth down on its 5-yard line. McDonald punted the ball 50 yards to Charlie Turner, a back-up Tech running back, who ran back the kick 45 yards to the Cumberland 20. On the first play off left end Jim Senter took the ball into the end zone. Another extra point off the toes of Preas ups the score to 70–0.
Tech kicks off with the ball falling into the hands of George Murphy, who runs 15 yards to the Cumberland 35 yard line. On first and ten, Gouger gains five yards on a play off right tackle, and McDonald follows with a completed pass for four more yards. On third and one, McDonald punts but the pigskin slices off his foot and angles out of bounds 11 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
Tech’s Senter races around end for 40 yards before a Bulldog brings him down on the 15. Preas sprints the remainder of the way for the TD and caps off the drive with an extra point.
The guys posting the score with wooden numbered plaques shake their heads and position two plaques displaying the number 77 in the Georgia Tech slot.
Preas kicks off and Gouger returns the ball five yards to the 20. McDonald attempts a pass but Tech’s Marshall Guill intercepts and scores. Another extra point is added and the score mounts to 84–0.
TOMMY SPENCE was an outstanding Tech athlete. He was voted All-Southern for his skill set on the football field but also played baseball, basketball and ran track. Spence, who enlisted in the Army after his time at Georgia Tech, was killed in France in 1918 at age 22, two years after the game with Cumberland.
MARSHALL GUILL, although a kicker in the 1916 Cumberland game, became one of John Heisman’s most prominent quarterbacks three years later in 1919 for Georgia Tech’s Golden Tornado, a name given Tech teams between 1917 and 1929. Guill also played end. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering and was killed in a car accident near Guilford, Conn. At the age of 33.
BILL FINCHER besides having kicking duties was an outstanding tackle for Tech. During his college career he was voted a consensus All-America and All-Southern and later was named to the Tech All-Era Team. In 1974 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Fincher had a glass eye. It’s said that from time to time when a game got tough in the trenches he’d pull his glass piece from his eye as if an opponent had knocked it out and would then warn his foe, “So that’s how you want to play.”
Tech kicker Bill Fincher
The Cumberland athletes appear to be lost souls stumbling through a desert. Their jerseys are soaked in sweat. The water boy on the sidelines has already refilled the water bucket four times.
Meanwhile Heisman is substituting four or five players after every play. His squad stays fresh and alert. Jealously, George eyes the army across the way and then looks bleakly at his bench where three Bulldogs sit with their heads hanging down.
The next few possessions produce quick scores for Tech.
Preas continues to boom long kicks deep into Cumberland territory. Murphy snares his next missile and falls on the 10. Eddie Edwards takes the ball on first and ten and fumbles. Bob Glover recovers for Tech, and George Griffin scores for Tech from the 10. The score goes to 91–0.
On the next kickoff, Murphy runs five yards to the Cumberland 15. McDonald heaves a pass only to have it intercepted by Senter, who takes it to the three. Strupper scores on first down, and Tech has now amassed 98 points.
Preas’ next kickoff zooms out of bounds on the Cumberland 10. McDonald runs the ball up the middle for no gain. On second down and ten, he punts. The 15-yard kick is taken by Guill, and he hustles with it for 10 yards before he is tackled on the Cumberland 15. George Griffin carries the ball twice before Bob Glover hits pay dirt in the end zone. The score is 105–0.
Morris Gouger takes the Preas kickoff for Cumberland returning the ball to the 10-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Gouger fumbles. Preas, a one-man wrecking crew, recovers the ball, runs it into the end zone and kicks the extra point. Tech leads 112–0.
George Murphy receives the kickoff and takes it to the Cumberland 15. Murphy, relieving McDonald at quarterbacking, throws a pass that is intercepted by Stan Fellers. Fellers returns it 17 yards for a touchdown. After another Preas kick, Tech widens the gap to 119–0.
Again Murphy takes the kickoff and advances 10 yards to the Cumberland 25. On this sequence Murphy loses two yards and McDonald loses five yards on consecutive plays and then McDonald punts on fourth down. Fellers catches McDonald’s 20-yard punt and returns it 33 yards for the final score of the first half. Preas makes good the extra point, and Tech leads 126–0.
Murphy returns the ensuing kickoff 15 yards to the 15, and the referee’s whistle signals the end to the first half.
Halftime
The 14 bruised and battered Cumberland boys limped to their end zone and fell out on the turf. Their bodies and psyches were sapped, and worst of all the game was but half over.
Tech managed to double its margin in the second quarter, scoring nine touchdowns and nine extra points exactly as it had done in the first period.
While Heisman had substituted frequently, the scoring and key plays were carried out by a handful of trusty Tech players.
If there was any glimmer of excellence for Cumberland, it had to be McDonald, the Texas law student, who handled the kicking chores. At the beginning of the second quarter he booted his longest punt, a 50-yarder.
For Cumberland the break between halves was a godsend. Several players soaked wounds with hydro-peroxide, others sucked down water served from glass milk bottles, and some sat gazing into the sky dreaming about when this nightmare would be over.
There was no peace in the Georgia Tech end zone.
Coach Heisman had conferred with his assistants about what miscues they had observed in the first half before addressing his team.
HALFTIME
* * *
Teams during this early period of the game did not retreat to a dressing room for the respite at halftime. Instead, they gathered in their respective end zone, drank water, kneeled on one knee, and took instructions from their coach.
The athletes had learned to expect to hear the worst from their coach at the half. But the circumstances today were somewhat different.
The team had played about as perfect a game as they could. Cumberland had never crossed the 50-yard line into Tech territory. Surely, thought the squad, their coach has to be pleased.
“Gather ’round men,” said Coach Heisman. “We have a great task before us today. We are on a track to win a national title, but cannot succeed until we win this game today.
“We must continue to focus our attention on our opponent. We cannot afford to be complacent. We must be vigilant. There are still 30 minutes of play remaining in this contest, and we are not about to retreat.”
Just before his team takes the field for the second half, Heisman offer words of encouragement.
“You’re doing fine, men. But you just can’t tell what those Cumberland players have up their sleeves. They may spring a surprise. Be alert! Hit ‘em clean, but hit ‘em hard. Hard!”
One hundred yards away George Allen is coercing his players to get off the ground and be mentally prepared for one more half.
He has a secret which he is not yet ready to spill.
George leaves his team and walks briskly almost sprinting to the referees just before they are ready to signal the teams for the start of second half. In a humble and respectful tone he asks to have a word with the trio before they whistle for the kickoff.
Tech’s Joe Guyon
The three agree to listen.
George inquires in his best moot court demeanor as to whether they would consider reducing the length of the third and fourth quarters from 15 minutes to 12-and-a-half minutes.
“There is no way we can win this game
. We’re getting the bejeezus whomped out of us. Can you have a little mercy? The crowd’s gotten what they want. Coach Heisman has gotten what he wants. And we just want to get out of here in one piece and back home to Lebanon, Tennessee,” reasoned George, taking a page from his contract law textbook where it is understood that if a transaction is fair for both parties and both parties are good with their contractual obligations then it must be a good contract.
The head referee hesitated but offered hope. He told George he understood the request but allowed that Coach Heisman would have to agree before the proposition could be administered.
Heisman observed this curious conversation from across the field. Immediately, he suspected that George was plotting some sort of trickery to give Cumberland an advantage in the second half just as he had warned his players.
When the referee reached him, Heisman uttered the first words.
“You don’t know the man with whom you are dealing. He is not trustworthy and whatever he may have told you or plotted will be stained with deceit. For that I can be certain.”
The coaching legend was still fuming from the 22–0 loss to Cumberland in baseball last spring.
Heisman ranted on and referred to the fiasco on the ball diamond until the ref raised his hand as if stopping traffic on Peachtree Avenue and said “enough.”
He explained that Cumberland simply made a request to shorten the game.
“Coach Heisman, are you OK with 12-and-one-half-minute quarters for the second half?” the ref asked.
Heisman nodded affirmatively, and the deal was done.
The second half
Trailing 126–0 to begin the third quarter and with the option to kick or receive, Cumberland chooses to receive.