Spirit towels and train tracks: Lost traditions of Georgia football
Georgia football is 125 years old, so of course it’s a program rich in tradition. But some traditions don’t stick, others are just products of their eras.
Silver britches, the Battle Hymn soloist, the power-G, Uga, the hedges, ringing the chapel bell. Those are just some of the most prominent traditions of Georgia football. Some of those are recognizable across the SEC, some even across the nation.
Players and coaches come and go, leaving tradition as the only thing we can share with our Bulldog forefathers and our future Bulldog protege’s.
However, there are some traditions that no longer get passed down through generations. Either they were products of their time, things that have been forgotten, or attempts at starting new traditions that never took off.
We’re going to take a look at a couple of those traditions that for whatever reason, have faded.
Spirit Towels
I can’t speak for older generations, but in my life time, Georgia has made two attempts at starting a spirit towel tradition similar to Pittsburgh’s Terrible Towel.
The first was in 2006, right on the heels of Pittsburgh Super Bowl victory with former Bulldog Hines Ward winning MVP honors. Fans were given red towels that said “I’m Georgia”. And before each home game that year, a video played featuring former Bulldogs saying “I’m Georgia, are you?”
The towels were fun to hold up like signs, wave during kickoffs. Plus they were useful in September when temperatures are scorching.
But in 2007, I’m Georgia towels weren’t handed out, and the videos featuring the former players was no longer shown.
Then in 2008, Georgia made a second attempt at starting a spirit towel tradition. This time with black towels that read “It’s Time to Tee it up Between the Hedges.” Unlike in 2006, no video package or anything was made for the towels, but the phrase has stuck and is still yelled out before kickoff by stadium PA announcer Brooks Whitmire.
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Going to games at Sanford Stadium you can still see a fans carrying around the towels. But they haven’t stuck around like they were intended to. I still have a few of those towels. After writing this, I might bring them to the games this season.
Track people
Here’s a tradition that certainly hasn’t been forgotten and in many ways it still hasn’t gone away. There was a time when there weren’t any seats in the east end zone. But there were however a ton of fans.
Behind that part of the stadium there’s a hill, and on top of that hill are train tracks. And for decades, Georgia fans unable (or unwilling) to acquire tickets to the stadium would find a nice spot on the hill to watch Georgia football games.
This lasted until the early 1980’s, when watching superstar running back Herschel Walker was an integral experience of being a Bulldog fan. That led to the University constructing the seating behind that end zone. Since then, fans have been unable to watch games from outside the stadium.
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But that doesn’t mean that the track people are gone. On the contrary, it’s actually started somewhat of a new tradition for fans sitting on the east side of the stadium, or for those who live or tailgate around the River Mill and Baldwin Village apartments. Walking the train tracks to the stadium is a viable route and keeps at least the spirit of the track people alive.
Personally, my family and I walk the tracks. We enjoy walking the tracks so much that the area we tailgate in Jacksonville even has tracks that we can walk to the stadium from.