College football group honors revered official, former Tech player who died at 101

He was also a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.

Born Oct. 18, 1923, “Gaston’s first college bowl game was the 1944 Sugar Bowl, but then he was playing, not officiating. He played wingback in College Football Hall of Fame coach W.A. Alexander’s single-wing offense. His backfield coach was another man who would end up in the Hall of Fame, Bobby Dodd,” the press release said.

A month after that bowl game, Gaston spent two years in the Navy. He returned to Tech and graduated in 1947.

“Tech is everything in our household,” he said in 2023 during his 100th birthday celebration.

For eight years Gaston ran a Texaco and Firestone dealer franchise. In 1956, he went into the insurance business, and by 1968, he was a vice president for Insurance Agents, Inc. In 1976, he opened his own company, Advanced Insurers, Inc.

Gaston officiated 19 bowl games. As SEC coordinator of football officiating, he was responsible for selecting, training, assigning and evaluating all conference officials. “All supervisors do that, but Gaston introduced some unusual wrinkles, including a conditioning program that included a stress test, a mile-and-a-half run and flexibility and agility drills,” the NFF said.

“He also produced weekly video tapes, putting together a 25-minute reel of good calls, questionable calls and ‘controversial’ calls. Gaston ended each tape with a motivational pep talk, signing off with a message: ‘Hope you’re not the star of next week’s tape.’”