TO: Fans, Friends, and Supporters of Georgia Tech Athletics
FROM: Dan Radakovich, Georgia Tech Director of Athletics
Greetings on this Thursday from South Florida. In a few hours our Yellow Jackets face the Miami Hurricanes in yet another great Thursday night ESPN matchup. It has been a rather unique 12-day period in which we will have played three games – two of those on Thursday nights — including here tonight, one-quarter of our season will already be behind us. It’s been a bit of a blur.
I want to thank all of you fans who have been so supportive of Coach Paul Johnson and this year’s Jackets. Our crowds have been wonderful – not only in number, but in the enthusiasm you all are bringing to the table. I know that our team fed off the noise and excitement you created last Thursday, which catapulted them to two fourth-quarter scoring drives that won the game for us.
Along those same lines, I must thank you all for participating in our student-driven “white out” last week. Our Georgia Tech students were really gung-ho about this event and I appreciate you all joining in the fun. I’m sure many of you have seen a replay of the game and noticed how great our crowd and Bobby Dodd Stadium looked on national television. I can honestly say, I don’t think there is a better setting for night college football anywhere in America.
Don’t forget we’ll be back at Bobby Dodd Stadium a week from Saturday for a huge matchup with the North Carolina Tar Heels. For that game we have drawn a 12 noon start as determined by the television networks, so I need to appeal to you all to reach down and pull out that early-morning enthusiasm and get out to the campus and into the stadium early enough to get behind our team. Every game is critical and your full participation is important no matter what time we end up playing.
Aside from filling up the stadium for the UNC game, one other initiative we are working hard on is to pursue group sales. For the North Carolina and Wake Forest game we are offering a group ticket rate of $25 per ticket for groups of 10 or more. This is a great way to attend a Tech game with folks from your office, church, recreation league or non-profit organization. Call our ticket office at 1-888-TECH TIX (1-888-832-4849) if you or someone you know might be interested in bringing a group to a Yellow Jacket football game.
Tonight will be our first opportunity to play the Hurricanes in Land Shark Stadium, which creates a very different set of circumstances for a trip to South Florida. First, the stadium formerly known as Dolphins Stadium, lies closer to Ft. Lauderdale than Miami. Our team charter flight yesterday landed at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport and the team hotel is in the northern part of Dade County. Certainly, the setting at the stadium is a far cry from the old Orange Bowl near downtown Miami. One rather odd circumstance the teams tonight will be dealing with is playing on top of the dirt baseball infield which encroaches onto a section of the football field. The multi-use stadium is home to the Florida Marlins as well as the Miami Dolphins – both of whom play at Land Shark next week.
Interestingly, the Land Shark name is on the facility for what amounts to less than one year. Prior to this city’s hosting of the 2010 Super Bowl in February, the name of the stadium reverts back to its previous name Dolphins Stadium. Well enough about all that… I know you’ll all be watching tonight and here’s to a great game and to bringing a victory back to the ATL in the wee hours of Friday morning.
I do have a couple of other pieces of business for this edition of the Good Word. First, be aware that men’s and women’s basketball tickets are on sale and are moving well. We have more than 1,000 season tickets available for sale in all price ranges. You can purchase tickets at www.ramblinwreck.co//tickets or by contacting the ticket office (1-888-TECH-TIX). I don’t have to tell you of the exciting prospects for the 2009-10 season for both Paul Hewitt and MaChelle Joseph’s teams. This is a great time to get in as a season-ticket holder.
I also want to remind you of some great women’s tennis action this weekend on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as Bryan Shelton’s team starts the fall portion of its schedule with a very competitive home tournament against Georgia, Miami and Princeton. The action over at the Bill Moore Tennis Complex on campus gets underway at 10:30 a.m Friday, 10 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday.
Also, in case you missed it in my last Good Word column, we do have the new edition of our Annual Report on line for review. It gives a very good recap of our previous academic year and has financial information that you might find interesting. You can access the report by clicking here.
Georgia Tech Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Dinner
Plans are being finalized for the annual Georgia Tech Hall of Fame Induction Dinner. The event will be coordinated with the Wake Forest game and will be held on Friday, November 6 at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. A social hour will begin at 6:30 p.m. with the dinner/program to follow at 7:30 p.m.
The Hall of Fame Induction Dinner is sponsored by the Georgia Tech Letterwinners Club (GTLC) in coordination with the Athletic Association and the Alexander-Tharpe Fund. Special efforts will be made to attract as many of the members of the Hall of Fame as possible who will be guests for the evening. The GTLC will also try to get as many of its members to participate and to volunteer to support the operational needs of the evening. The Induction Dinner is open to all friends of Georgia Tech and of Georgia Tech athletics.
This year’s Induction class includes football All-Americas Joe Hamilton and Craig Page, All-America and Olympic hurdler Angelo Taylor, baseball All-Americas Kris Wilson and J.J. Thomas, and student athletic trainer Clay Farr.
Tickets may be purchased at $50.00 per person through the Alexander-Tharpe Fund (150 Bobby Dodd Way, N.W., Atlanta, GA, 30332-0455 or by calling 404-894-6124). Additional information relative to the banquet may be secured by calling Lucius Sanford, Executive Director of the GTLC at 404-894-8865.
Any proceeds beyond costs of the event will go to the GTLC Endowed Scholarship through Alexander-Tharpe. Contributions may also be made directly to that fund for anyone interested in supporting the event but who will be unable to attend.
Volleyball In The Rockies
Tonya Johnson’s volleyball team heads west for its final tournament of the regular season as it will participate in the Pioneer Classic in Denver, Colo. The Yellow Jackets, who are 7-2 overall and 1-0 in ACC play, will face Denver Friday night at 9:30 p.m. ET and then No. 9 Minnesota on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. ET.
