Bobby Dodd Stadium
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Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field is the football stadium located at the corner of North Avenue NW at Techwood Drive NW on the campus of Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. The stadium is primarily home to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team, often referred to as the "Ramblin' Wreck." The team participates in NCAA Division I-A football as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Bobby Dodd Stadium is named in honor of Robert Lee "Bobby" Dodd,[1] longtime football coach and athletic director at Georgia Tech. The field is named for Hugh Inman Grant, son of John W. Grant, a well-known Atlanta merchant and original benefactor of the stadium.
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[edit] Location
The stadium is located on the east side of the Georgia Tech campus,[2] across from freshman housing facilities and just a short walk to the campus library and fraternity/sorority row. The facility is located in midtown Atlanta, just off of Interstate 75/85 (the "Downtown Connector"), across from the famed Varsity restaurant. The stadium's atmosphere is unique in its setting, with a picturesque view of the downtown and midtown Atlanta skylines looming overhead during games.
[edit] History
It was previously known as Grant Field, and in fact the playing surface itself, as opposed to the stadium, is still styled as such. It is the oldest continuously used on-campus site for college football in the southern U.S., and oldest currently in Division I-A.[3] When originally built in 1913 it was constructed by members of the Georgia Tech student body.[4][5]
The stadium bears little, if any, resemblance to its original form, having been expanded many times. The field originally consisted of just a west grandstands for 5,600. By 1925, the west and south stands were completed, making the stadium a horseshoe-shaped one which opened north. The west stands were rebuilt and a large press box was added in 1947, bringing capacity up to 44,000. The original all-steel 4,105-seat North stands were erected in 1958, and in 1962 and 1968 the upper decks were added to the East and West sides, respectively. In 1985 the South stands were razed to make room for the William C. Wardlaw Center, a modern field house and athletic office facility to replace the facilities in the old Heisman Gym, which was located just to the north of the stadium.
The current, modern grandstands cover the old ones, which are still intact underneath them. Grant Field was occasionally used as a site for Atlanta Falcons games during the team's early years when it was sharing Fulton County Stadium with the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball and there were scheduling conflicts. The lighting was replaced in 1998.[6]
Following the 2001 season, a major expansion and renovation project was started, which was done in two phases in order to play the 2002 season in the stadium. For the 2002 season, seating was returned to the South end in front of the Wardlaw Center, and the original North stands and lower east bleachers were rebuilt and bowled in. After the 2002 season, the expansion was completed by adding a massive free standing upper deck in the north endzone. This addition of a north endzone upper deck brought Bobby-Dood Stadium to its current capacity. The new stadium was rededicated during the 2003 home season opener versus the Auburn Tigers on September 2, 2003.
[edit] Notable Games
October 7, 1916: Georgia Tech 222, Cumberland College 0
In the most lopsided game in American football history, Georgia Tech, under legendary coach John Heisman, defeated Cumberland College 222-0. It has been said that Coach Heisman was repaying the Bulldogs for a 22-0 defeat the previous year in baseball in which Cumberland had used allegedly professional players to ensure victory. In any case, the Engineers (as the Georgia Tech team was known at the time) never threw a pass and never took more than four plays to score. And score they did, and score, and score...
November 29, 1917: Georgia Tech 68, Auburn 7
This win marked the end of the first undefeated, untied National Championship season for the Yellow Jackets. In 1917, Georgia Tech would outscore opponents 491-17 in the midst of a 33 game undefeated streak spanning over 5 seasons.
December 8, 1928: Georgia Tech 20, Georgia 6
This was the culmination of Georgia Tech's second perfect season and National Championship, though the Yellow Jackets would go on to the Rose Bowl to face Cal in what would turn out to be a famous game itself. Georgia Tech played only two away games in its 9-0 regular season lineup hosting Notre Dame, Alabama, Auburn and Georgia. The main reason for this is that many of the other southern teams' stadiums were not as large or accessible as Grant Field in Midtown, Atlanta.
November 1, 1952: #4 Georgia Tech 7, #12 Alabama 3
In one of the biggest games of Georgia Tech's third National Championship season, two of the highest ranked teams to ever face off on Grant Field saw Georgia Tech defeat Alabama in a closely matched defensive battle. Tech, which had already defeated #6 Duke would go on to defeat Florida State, Georgia and #7 Mississippi (in the Sugar Bowl) in the midst of a 31 game undefeated streak.
November 17, 1962: Georgia Tech 7, #1 Alabama 6
This incredible upset victory over top-ranked Alabama ended the Crimson Tide's 26 game unbeaten streak. Bobby Dodd called it his greatest victory as Tech thwarted Alabama comeback efforts by preventing a two-point conversion attempt and intercepting a Joe Namath pass in the end zone with just 1:05 left.
October 13, 1990: #15 Georgia Tech 21, #14 Clemson 19
Only two seasons removed from a dreadful 3-8 1988 season, Coach Bobby Ross had lead his team to a 4-0 record to face the Tigers. The Yellow Jackets came out on top of this closely-matched battle and would go on to defeat #1 Virginia and #19 Nebraska in the Citrus Bowl for its fourth National Championship.
October 17, 1998: #25 Georgia Tech 41, #7 Virginia 38
In the second meeting between two highly-ranked Georgia Tech and Virginia teams (the first being in 1990), Georgia Tech again came victorious by the same score of 41-38 earning the Yellow Jackets a share of the ACC Championship.
