A legendary LSU-Georgia ‘battle’
LSU coming to Athens Saturday reminds me of one of my all-time favorite Georgia football stories.
It involves the 1935 meeting between Harry Mehre’s Bulldogs and an LSU team that went on to win the SEC championship that season.
The Tigers won the game 13-0 but lost the “postgame” when their ROTC cadet corps tried to tear down Georgia’s goal posts.
The story as I heard it years ago was that the UGA student body grabbed anything they could, including boards from a nearby construction site, to defend the goal posts and prevailed in the battle. The goal posts stayed up and the Bulldogs fans wound up chasing the LSU students all the way to the train station in downtown Athens.
That “victory,” according to the legend I heard, was commemorated by the old Texaco scoreboard featuring a Bulldog brandishing a board with a nail in it that used to be at Sanford Stadium back in my childhood.
The actual story as related by UGA legend Dan Magill, who was 14 years old when he attended the 1935 game, is only slightly less colorful. As Magill tells it, LSU may have won the game on Nov. 16, 1935, but “Georgia definitely won the free-for-all fight that erupted after the game when the LSU ROTC cadet corps, which had accompanied the team to Athens, stormed the field intent upon tearing down the goal posts for souvenirs.”
Magill says the Georgia students were armed with 15-inch miniature Hanna Bat-rite baseball bats that had been handed out by the Hanna Manufacturing Co., which was based in Athens for 50 years. (When I was growing up, it seemed just about every kid in Athens had one of those miniature bats; my son found me one on eBay a few years ago.)
There were “were several good fights,” Magill says. “One of the star Georgia fighters was the Bulldogs’ conference welterweight boxing champion, Mickey Radutzky of New York, a knockout puncher. He didn’t need a bat. The Georgia boys defended their goal posts, forcing the LSU cadet corps to withdraw and retreat to the train station at the north end of College Avenue, the Georgia students chasing them all the way. I was 14 years old at the time and tagged behind the students, brandishing my bat.”
Alas, no mention of boards from a construction site, though I suppose they could have figured into the battle, too. Or maybe it was just decided later that a Bulldog waving a mini baseball bat wouldn’t look right atop the scoreboard.
Has anyone ever heard another explanation for the old board-with-a-nail logo?
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40 comments Add your comment
hamburger lips
October 1st, 2009
7:13 am
1st!
hamburger lips
October 1st, 2009
7:19 am
UGA will be dancing in the SEC loss column after LSU takes the dawgs to the woodshed! The red headed stepchild QB will run up his pick 6 stats while the running game will be just as dismal. Willies defense returns to normal allowing points galore!
Jeff Owens
October 1st, 2009
7:22 am
Why is the drive up window not open again this morning at Mickey D’s ?This is becoming a bad habit!
Damon Evian
October 1st, 2009
7:24 am
Fire Willie!
41 38 49 38 45 24 37 41 17
October 1st, 2009
7:38 am
No Bill haven’t heard of that one about the nail logo. But I did hear how UGA’s program stooped to a new low after getting a lucky gift( The fumble) from Vandy a couple of years ago. Then the dawgs proceeded to stomp Vandys midfield logo after the game!
ARdawg
October 1st, 2009
7:49 am
It seems someone has failed to unlock the janitors closet and let these tech grads get to work.
Mikey
October 1st, 2009
7:53 am
Number Man:
Brandon Coutu kicked the game winning field goal and the players came out to congratulate him and began celebrating. It just happened to be near the V logo so it appeared they were dancing ON the logo on purpose.
No one would disrespect Bobby Johnson and the Vanderbilt program like that I dont care what the circumstances were.
UGA did get as you call it a “lucky” fumble recovery. Is there any other kind?
UGA had just got throttled by Tennessee the week before so they were glad to get the W.
Sautee Dawg
October 1st, 2009
8:14 am
Bill,
I remember sitting in the stands one year around the 10 yard line against LSU. We were on about the 8 yard line and had to score a touchdown to win the game, Last play of the game James Jackson rolled out to the right and had a wide open path to a touchdown but, instead decided to throw a pass to a wide open running back. The pass went 3 yards and bounced at the 5 and the running back caught it on the 2nd or 3rd bounce I don’t remember which. Funny how a loss will stick with you.
Maybe dawgs will win this one, LSU and points? Bet it won’t be 3 at gametime. Too many people taking the points.
I'm Georgia
October 1st, 2009
8:28 am
Sautee Dawg, remember that day well. Sanford was rockin that day, though. one of the loudest days i can remember
George O'Leary
October 1st, 2009
8:29 am
I’ll drink to what ever you said!!
Exley DAWG
October 1st, 2009
8:39 am
I went to LSU back in 2002(?)when we lost 14-10. Billy Bennetts worst game ever due to 3 missed field goals. Losing the game wasn’t what i remember, it was the LSU fans. I remember reading in the paper that there were over 40 arrests before and after the game…..mostly drunks being drunks.
The best LSU fan hid in a refridgerator box until our car passed by. He jumped out, freakin us out, holding an LSU flag as he ran by our car wearing nothing but these ugly purple underwear-like shorts.
dawgs
October 1st, 2009
8:40 am
Real men use 15-inch miniature Hanna Bat-rite baseball bats to defend their home field.
ButlerDawg
October 1st, 2009
8:48 am
I believe that game was in 03′. Billy Bennett actually missed 5 field goals and we lost 17-10. It was a war!
GeorgiaMainDawg
October 1st, 2009
8:52 am
Georgia wins this game easy—LSU hasn’t looked good in any game, and should have lost to lowly Miss State! Dawgs get on a roll here baby—-Ga 34 LSU 20
Take it to the bank!
dwdawg
October 1st, 2009
8:54 am
Enter your comments here Last time I checked the old scoreboard is at the back of the Locos parking lot on Baxter above Brumby hall. Still looks cool
GetOverIt
October 1st, 2009
8:55 am
Mikey, then why was Richt so upset with them after the game?
It won't be raining Saturday...
October 1st, 2009
9:00 am
…during the game so there ain’t no way in hell that the UGA defense “holds” LSU to under 38 points – so, the question is, can UGA score more than 38 on a John Chavis defense?
L-Dawg
October 1st, 2009
9:07 am
GLORY GLORY TO OLE’ GEORGIA!!!
COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS MEANT TO CHEER FOR YOUR TEAM, NOT BOO/ENVY ANOTHER!!
GO DAWGS!!!!!
2 SHORT DAYS TIL WE GO 3-0 IN THE SEC!!!!!
Atlanta_Tiger_Fan
October 1st, 2009
9:22 am
GeorgiaMainDawg
Georgia wins this game easy—LSU hasn’t looked good in any game, and should have lost to lowly Miss State! Dawgs get on a roll here baby—-Ga 34 LSU 20
Take it to the bank!
+++++++++++++++++
Are you kidding me!! Georgia hasn’t looked much better so come down off your horse and face reality. This game should be close, but LSU will win with the much better talent we have on both sides of the ball.
timthebrave
October 1st, 2009
9:24 am
“GetOverIt ,then why was Richt so upset with them after the game?” Have you ever seen what happened. The kicker kicked a game winning fg and went backwards as he watched it go through. Players went over and were jumping up and down celebrating. They were not looking down and stomping on the logo. When Richt saw that they were jumping on the logo he moved them quickly so as not to disrespect vandy. Watch the tape idiot before posting
UgaJerseys.com
October 1st, 2009
9:25 am
Make your dawg dog the heavyweight champion of the block, get him a REPLICA Uga VII dog jersey today! Just go to http://www.UgaJersey.com to order yours. They come in all sizes, whether your dog is a flyweight or a super heavyweight, we have a size for you.
aj green is les miles baby daddy
October 1st, 2009
9:27 am
oh how quickly the haters forget:
http://blog.nola.com/lsusports/2008/12/lsu_vs_georgia_tech_live_blog.html
Pago Flyer
October 1st, 2009
9:27 am
Word on the street…..the DAWGS don’t want LA TECH….did you see how animated Coach Dooley was…and no rap crap/hip hop either!
BJohnDawg
October 1st, 2009
9:27 am
This should be interesting. If the Dawg defense shows up, and we hold down the turnovers, DAWGS win. If not, I dont care how many points we score, LSU will put one in the win column.
This Dawgs team freaks me out. Fumbles, Pick 6s, penalties, fire hydrant pass defense.. then scoring at will and stuffing the run. Who the heck will show up this week. Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?
Better have lots of cold ones on hand, send the wife to the mother-in- laws, and remove the breakables from the den. It could get ugly.
DawginLex
October 1st, 2009
9:36 am
My head says 38-35 UGA but my heart says we win big. Reality says I really don’t know anything about this schizo team other than the fact there will be a game on Saturday.
Dawg65
October 1st, 2009
9:43 am
Fire Willie AND Bobo! We need top quality coordinators not non thinkers!
ratdawg
October 1st, 2009
9:48 am
Bill, please spare us the history lesson. How old were you in 1935?
yard dog
October 1st, 2009
9:54 am
Georgia can beat LSU straight up, If they do not beat themselves and give the game away.
Dawg Fud
October 1st, 2009
10:06 am
I thought the story was pretty cool. better than reading a fire martiniez rant.
Dan Magill is legendary. I worked at Bulldog Sporting Goods in college and he used to frequent the store. I met a lot of interesting people there and he was by far one of my favorites.
superDawg
October 1st, 2009
10:18 am
Bring your sticks a hockey game might break out.
Fort Worth Dawg
October 1st, 2009
10:21 am
A classmate of mine was on the team in the mid-1980’s when UGA went to play LSU, back when they hadn’t played each other in forever. He said they were all jacked up but when they ran onto the field it squished liked stepping onto a big wet sponge and that sort of deflated them (UGA lost that game).
I remember reading the miniature baseball bat story, possibly in the Red & Black mid-1980’s, but it could have been a Dan Magill telling. As I recall the LSU cadets didn’t know there was a chain link fence in the Hedges – they stacked up against it in their rush to the field and that was when the UGA fans with bats descended on them. Also, the back-story to the game was that LSU had what they thought was a national championsip team that year and wanted to schedule top competition to boost their chances of getting voted number one. LSU tried to schedule UGA, but Butts(?) said no, that the UGA schedule was difficult enough as it was. Then Huey P. Long called Georgia’s governor and told him that he (Huey) would forget about the tax he was planning on Coca-Cola if the Georgia governor would get UGA to play LSU. Then, the game was on.
Last LSU-UGA story I recall was that Richrd Tardits would frequently curse at the opposing players in French (or maybe Basque). Since the referees couldn’t understand him he never got a personal foul. However, you guessed it, some Cajun on the LSU team started cursing back at him during the LSU-UGA game.
Saint Simons
October 1st, 2009
10:25 am
45 – 42 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahahahahahahaha
Bulldog Jim
October 1st, 2009
10:56 am
The best UGA- LSU story I have heard was that in the 1930’s Huey Long brought a train load of his chronies to the game. GA won and Long and the Cajuns tore up the hedges after the game. This made Gene Talmadge, the Ga governor, so mad that he challanged Long to a fight in Alabama. I suppose this fight never took place.
Cuz
October 1st, 2009
11:02 am
Thank goodness no team other than that LSU has tried to damage Sanford stadium. It would be the ulitmate in non-classy behavior to tear down the hometeam goalposts or rip up their hedges after a vistors win.
Cuz
October 1st, 2009
11:02 am
Thanks Tech, keep it classy.
AceDawg
October 1st, 2009
12:03 pm
Wow – you don’t make games like that anymore. For the better, yeah, but still, it sure would be great to have a story like that of our own.
Mike T.
October 1st, 2009
12:09 pm
after getting a lucky gift( The fumble) from Vandy a couple of years ago. Then the dawgs proceeded to stomp Vandys midfield logo after the game!
Yeah and the next game we beat Florida 42-30.Matter of fact we didn’t lose the rest of the year.
clinging bitterly to my guns and religion
October 1st, 2009
5:43 pm
Cuz:
Where have YOU been? The hedges have been ripped apart several times. In ‘79, when we lost (badly) to Auburn, Auburn players and fans shredded the hedges, ripping out chunks up and down the visitor’s side of the field. Several fistfights broke out as Georgia folks defended our turf.
The most disgraceful treatment of the hallowed shrubs was by our own “fans” after we beat Tennessee in Athens a few years ago. I was at Sanford for homecoming with the Redcoat Alumni Band a few weeks later, and the sight was sickening.
andre moreau
October 1st, 2009
5:50 pm
Enter your comments here
LSU has flashed brilliance only here and there, but good enough and lucky enought to be 4-0. Main stat– Tigers are not turning it over, but getting alot of takeaways and scoring quick points. Defense has stayed on field an unbelievable amount, but the GA-D might be what the doctor ordered to drive down the field. Maybe, we’ll be 5-0, but I’d be surprised if we handed it to you like last year. NO. Looks for the sea of gold shakers in the lower section. Tiger fans will be seen and heard. Hopefully, the team will make noise too. GEAUX TIGERS
Mike LeBlanc
October 1st, 2009
7:28 pm
Enter your comments here
Lsu will advance to 5-0 after this close one in Georgia!!!
GO TIGERS!!!!