INSTITUTE ICONS

Spring 2017 | Text by Roger Slavens and Melissa Fralick
Images by Josh Meister and Rob Felt

Georgia Tech swarms with traditions—old and new, serious and silly—which celebrate the Institute’s storied history and represent the special character of its students and alumni.

And at the core of these traditions reside seven enduring hallmarks of the shared Tech experience. Some are mechanical (The Ramblin’ Wreck and The Whistle), symbolizing Tech’s engineering heritage. Some are clever and whimsical (George P. Burdell and RAT Caps), reflecting Yellow Jackets’ uncommon wit. Some are full of spirit (The Fight Song and Buzz), demonstrating our sense of fun and passion for competition. And one stands resolute (Tech Tower), revealing both our steadfastness and our determination to surmount life’s obstacles.

THE RAMBLIN' WRECK

This white-and-gold 1930 Model A Ford is an official mascot for Georgia Tech and has led the football team onto the field for every home game since 1961. The inspiration for the Wreck was a beat-up 1914 Model T Ford driven around campus by Dean Floyd Field in the 1920s. Students developed an affinity for the old car, which was given the moniker of the Ramblin’ Reck (without the W) by The Technique student newspaper, and it became something of a legend on campus. In 1960, Dean Jim Dull began looking for an old Ford that could serve as a symbol for the school. One day, he saw an immaculate Ford Model A coupe parked in front of Towers Dormitory. It belonged to Delta pilot Ted Johnson, who had restored the car with his son. Johnson refused to sell the Ford Model A at first, but Dull was relentless, and eventually convinced him to sell it to Georgia Tech. Johnson later returned the money he was paid, so that his beloved car would be a donation to the Institute. Today, the automobile is cared for and driven by the students in the Ramblin’ Reck Club, and continues to serve as a symbol for the spirit of Georgia Tech.

GEORGE P. BURDELL

Georgia Tech’s most famous student and successful alumnus, George P. Burdell enrolled at the Institute in 1927, thanks to William Edgar Smith who accidentally received two student enrollment forms. As a prank on his headmaster at Richmond Academy, George P. Butler—a former University of Georgia football captain—Smith wanted to enroll Butler at Tech but at the last minute changed the name to George P. Burdell. Soon after, Burdell was accepted to Tech and a legend was born. Smith and his classmates continued the prank until Burdell graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1930. Since then, the imaginary Burdell has taken on a truly extraordinary life of his own, earning multiple degrees and lettering in varsity basketball at Tech, flying a B-17 bomber in WWII, serving on the board of directors of MAD magazine and much more.

BUZZ

Most universities have just one mascot—Georgia Tech is blessed with two. The mischievous, anthropomorphic yellow jacket named Buzz may only have been around since 1981, but he’s proved to be a lively complement to his mechanical counterpart, the Ramblin’ Wreck, and represents the spirit and silliness of Tech’s student body. It’s fitting that Buzz started out as something of a prank by student Richie Bland, Phys 81, who, with some support, hired the seamstresses from nearby Six Flags Over Georgia to create a professional-looking costume in which to roam the sidelines of Tech football games. (Read more about Buzz’s history and what it takes to play him here) Today, Buzz presides as Tech’s biggest fan, pumping up the crowds at sports games and events with his irreverent antics while winning his way into the hearts of little kids, students and alumni alike.

TECH TOWER

The most recognizable landmark of the Institute, Tech Tower has soared over the center of campus—with much thanks to the hill from which it’s perched—since its completion in 1888, making it Georgia Tech’s oldest building. Originally constructed as the Administration Building, the tower itself rises three floors above the main structure, which houses four floors and a basement. It’s made of red brick, trimmed with granite, and sports a gabled, copper-shingle roof (originally terra cotta). The letters that spell out T-E-C-H on each side of the top of the tower, installed by Tech’s class of 1922, provided the edifice with its nickname. Light bulbs were added to the letters in the 1930s. Today, Tech Tower is officially known as the Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Administration Building, named after one of the Institute’s most generous benefactors. The building currently  houses the Registrar’s Office, the College of Engineering Dean’s Office and the College of Sciences Dean’s Office, among others.

THE FIGHT SONG

Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech, one of the most well-known collegiate fight songs in America, has a storied history. It’s based on a centuries-old English drinking song called Son of a Gambolier and borrows heavily from other schools’ earlier, obviously less successful adaptations. Legend has it that a Tech football player wrote the lyrics on his way to an Auburn game, but some say it goes back to Billy Walthall, one of Tech’s first graduates, who came up with some of the verses on a baseball trip against rival Georgia. A version of it was first published in The Blueprint yearbook in 1908. Regardless, bandmasters Michael Greenblatt and his successor Frank Roman perfected the merging of the lyrics and tune, and Roman copyrighted it in 1919 as Rambling Wreck. It was performed by the Georgia Tech Glee Club in 1953 on the Ed Sullivan Show, reportedly sung together in 1959 by then U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev, crooned (and strummed on a mandolin) by Gregory Peck in The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit, whistled by John Wayne in The High and Mighty, and forever haunts the dreams of University of Georgia alumni.

Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech

  I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech, and a hell of an engineer—
  A helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, hell of an engineer.
  Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear.
  I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer.

  Oh! If I had a daughter, sir, I’d dress her in White and Gold,
  And put her on the campus to cheer the brave and bold.
  But if I had a son, sir, I’ll tell you what he’d do—
  He would yell, ‘To Hell With Georgia’ like his daddy used to do.

  Oh, I wish I had a barrel of rum and sugar three thousand pounds,
  A college bell to put it in and a clapper to stir it round.
  I’d drink to all the good fellows who come from far and near.
  I’m a ramblin’, gamblin’, hell of an engineer!

RAT CAPS

The small, yellow baseball-like hats known as RAT Caps—RAT being short for Recruit at Tech as well as an indicator of low-ranking status—were first introduced in 1915. Initially, freshmen were required to wear them every day on campus until the Yellow Jackets football team beat the University of Georgia in the then traditional Thanksgiving Day rivalry game. If Tech lost the game, freshmen had to wear their RAT Caps until the end of the year. First year students caught without their RAT Caps were fair game for hazing such as the “T-cut”—a buzz cut that left hair in the shape of a capital T. Though the original “RAT Rules” died out by the early 1960s, all freshmen still receive the caps, and many alumni keep them as cherished mementos of their time at Tech.

THE WHISTLE

It’s the sound all Tech students know well: the high-pitched steam whistle that echoes throughout campus and beyond. The Whistle goes off each weekday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., announcing that it’s five minutes to the hour and the start (or end!) of class. The Whistle also sounds in celebration after touchdowns and victories at Yellow Jacket home football games. It’s believed that The Whistle arrived on campus in 1896 as part of the shop building that was constructed that year. In fact, it was originally intended to mimic the industrial factory whistles of the time, calling students to their shop classes. In 1923, The Whistle was moved right behind Tech Tower to the roof of the Holland Plant, which has been producing steam to heat and cool campus buildings since 1917. Today, the steam whistle—which has been replaced numerous times—is operated by a computerized atomic clock that keeps it running on schedule.