This was posted on reddit this morning. Pretty interesting stuff. NY Times article dated Jan. 25, 1964.
ATLANTA, Jan. 24 (UPI)—
Georgia Tech quit the Southeastern Conference today and staked its athletic future on its national reputation.
The Engineers decided to go independent as of June 30 because they could not get he 12‐member conference to change its limit of 140 football/basketball scholarships. The Tech president, Dr. Edwin D. Harrison, did not give he conference a chance to take an official stand on the grants-in‐aid scholarship dispute before announcing that the Engineers would make their way alone.
It put Georgia Tech in the same category as such national powers as Notre Dame, Pittsurgh, Penn State, Navy, Army, Miami and the Air Force.
Harrison delivered the swan song in less than two minutes before a closed‐door session of the presidents of the conference schools. He told them, in substance, that it was in the best interest of Tech to turn independent. Harrison later said that as an independent, Georgia Tech would be able to provide the sort of athletic program that he and Bobby Dodd, the athletic director and the football coach, prefer for the Engineers.
Dodd explained Georgia Tech's position in regard to the limitation of scholarships. Said he:
"Simple mathematics will show that such a figure (140) would limit the recruitment of freshmen athletes to 30 per year if none left school before they graduated.
“Of course we do lose a few each school year because of academic difficulties or for other reasons, but a careful survey of prospective student athletes and well‐planned program of tutoring for any that need it after their arrival has cut our losses to a figure much below that of most conference schools.
“This has resulted in limiting our recruiting program to the extent that we feel we cannot comply with the rule and field a respectable team. This is not fair to our school, our alumni, our players or to anyone connected with the program.”
The other Southeastern Conference schools are Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Tulane and Vanderbilt.
The S.E.C. also took these other actions:
But in a swift change of mood, brought on according to some sources by resentment against Georgia Tech's apparent concede‐or‐we‐quit ultimatum, the group's athletic directors refused to recommend the change. Dr. Frank A. Rose, the president of the University of Alabama, said the presidents, who have the only official vote in such matters, held a long meetng last night and another session early today in search of a compromise.
But their unofficial decision at the caucus, by an 11‐0 vote with Harrison abstaining, was o leave the scholarship limit at 140 and reduce the number of new football scholarships that can be given each year from 45 to 40.
There was no rush to fill the vacancy left by Georgia Tech, a charter member in the 33‐yearold conference. “We'll continue as before,” insisted Commissioner Bernie Moore. “There'll be some scheduling problems later‐but there's no need to go into these now.”
Moore, obviously upset, broke he news by reading a brief handwritten statement by the outgoing conference president, Dr. J. Wayne Reitz of the University of Florida. Tech stands to make a considerable gain financially by its withdrawal from the conference. Under SEC regulations, Georgia Tech had to share with other league members its proceeds from its numerous postseason bowl games and television appearances:
The school has participated in a dozen bowl games and made a similar number of television apoearances since the end of World War II. Robert Eskew, the athletic business manager estimated that Georgia Tech will gain about $100,000 over past revenue on all future television appearances and from $25,000 to $50,000 more on all future bowl games."
ATLANTA, Jan. 24 (UPI)—
Georgia Tech quit the Southeastern Conference today and staked its athletic future on its national reputation.
The Engineers decided to go independent as of June 30 because they could not get he 12‐member conference to change its limit of 140 football/basketball scholarships. The Tech president, Dr. Edwin D. Harrison, did not give he conference a chance to take an official stand on the grants-in‐aid scholarship dispute before announcing that the Engineers would make their way alone.
It put Georgia Tech in the same category as such national powers as Notre Dame, Pittsurgh, Penn State, Navy, Army, Miami and the Air Force.
Harrison delivered the swan song in less than two minutes before a closed‐door session of the presidents of the conference schools. He told them, in substance, that it was in the best interest of Tech to turn independent. Harrison later said that as an independent, Georgia Tech would be able to provide the sort of athletic program that he and Bobby Dodd, the athletic director and the football coach, prefer for the Engineers.
Dodd explained Georgia Tech's position in regard to the limitation of scholarships. Said he:
"Simple mathematics will show that such a figure (140) would limit the recruitment of freshmen athletes to 30 per year if none left school before they graduated.
“Of course we do lose a few each school year because of academic difficulties or for other reasons, but a careful survey of prospective student athletes and well‐planned program of tutoring for any that need it after their arrival has cut our losses to a figure much below that of most conference schools.
“This has resulted in limiting our recruiting program to the extent that we feel we cannot comply with the rule and field a respectable team. This is not fair to our school, our alumni, our players or to anyone connected with the program.”
The other Southeastern Conference schools are Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Tulane and Vanderbilt.
The S.E.C. also took these other actions:
- Agreed to allow a team participating in a bowl game to keep up to $115,000 instead of the former $100,000 limit.
- Refused to give competing S.E.C. teams a bigger share of the television receipts.
- Assigned this year's S.E.C. track meet, May 15, 16, to Lexington, Ky., and next year's to Baton Rouge, La., ending a policy of holding the meet every year in Birmingham, Ala.
- Named as hosts for other meets, Georgia, golf; Mississippi, tennis; Alabama, swimming, and Georgia Tech, for the last time, cross‐country.
But in a swift change of mood, brought on according to some sources by resentment against Georgia Tech's apparent concede‐or‐we‐quit ultimatum, the group's athletic directors refused to recommend the change. Dr. Frank A. Rose, the president of the University of Alabama, said the presidents, who have the only official vote in such matters, held a long meetng last night and another session early today in search of a compromise.
But their unofficial decision at the caucus, by an 11‐0 vote with Harrison abstaining, was o leave the scholarship limit at 140 and reduce the number of new football scholarships that can be given each year from 45 to 40.
There was no rush to fill the vacancy left by Georgia Tech, a charter member in the 33‐yearold conference. “We'll continue as before,” insisted Commissioner Bernie Moore. “There'll be some scheduling problems later‐but there's no need to go into these now.”
Moore, obviously upset, broke he news by reading a brief handwritten statement by the outgoing conference president, Dr. J. Wayne Reitz of the University of Florida. Tech stands to make a considerable gain financially by its withdrawal from the conference. Under SEC regulations, Georgia Tech had to share with other league members its proceeds from its numerous postseason bowl games and television appearances:
The school has participated in a dozen bowl games and made a similar number of television apoearances since the end of World War II. Robert Eskew, the athletic business manager estimated that Georgia Tech will gain about $100,000 over past revenue on all future television appearances and from $25,000 to $50,000 more on all future bowl games."
Last edited:
