Devoted Tech fans ready for another football road trip

Santa Claus will arrive in Shreveport, La., a little late for Christmas, but in plenty of time for the Independence Bowl because, well, he has priorities.

Santa, otherwise known as retired postal worker Alton McCullough, does not miss Georgia Tech football games whether at home or away, but the motor home in which he and up to nine other Yellow Jacket fans travel is no magic sleigh.

Conyers is not the North Pole. That’s where McCullough lives and where he’ll celebrate the holiday before loading his 33-foot RV with a group that jokingly refers to itself as the “Conyers Mafia.” Then, they’ll head for Louisiana, with the guys traveling to another in the more than 100 Tech road games they've attended since the early 1990s.

“We usually take eight to 10,” said the white-bearded McCullough, 70, the Mafia’s Don and elder statesman. “We have an in-motion satellite so we can watch other games, it’s got a little kitchen, a bathroom. ... I built a little trailer to take the grill, and we’ll tailgate.”

The men are not all from Conyers. Anthony Norton, Tom Jackson and McCullough live in Conyers. B. Lamar Doolittle, the youngest at 51, lives in Sandersville, Butch Norris in Atlanta, Robert Tidwell in Kennesaw, Ellery Queen in Clarkesville, and Mickey Gunter in Rome.

Some men are Tech graduates, some went there for a time and others like McCullough have “just always been a fan, since childhood.”

Tidwell, who ran track for Tech before graduating in 1965, has been to every home game since 1970. He attended his 250th consecutive home game in the just-finished regular season.

The group’s roots go back to the early ‘90s. Norton and McCullough knew each other in Conyers. “Anthony had already been going to Tech games, and he asked me if I wanted to go,” McCullough said.

“They kept seeing me before games at The Edge Center, and, next thing you know, they said, ‘Let’s go on a road trip some time,'" Doolittle said.

As the group grew, mini-vans became the preferred mode of travel.

The 1997 Carquest Bowl became a seminal event, and not because Tech beat West Virginia 35-30. ”We rented an RV and drove to Miami,” McCullough said. “We had such a good time we started looking into getting our own.”

McCullough bought a 26-foot RV, but the Mafia outgrew it. In 2004, he upgraded to a blue and white 1999 Hurricane.

“I get tickets, Lamar gets the hotel and Alton gets rental cars if we need them; Alton can do wonders with his little GPS,” Norton said. “We know what time we need to get in to beat traffic. I use to tease them when we’d leave to bring their money because we’re going to eat with a fork; there will be no McDonalds, no fast food.”

The Mafia usually arrives before the team and often stays in the same hotel -- they never sleep in the RV -- frequently greeting players and coaches when they first arrive.

They generally fly when Tech is playing more than 500 miles away. They won’t beat the Jackets to Shreveport. The team will travel to Louisiana on Dec. 23 to prepare for the game against Air Force  four days later.

McCullough’s son, Craig, does a lot of the long-distance driving, but can’t make every trip. He is one of three auxiliary Mafia members. Dwight Hodges and Wayne Bias also are part-timers.

On game day, the goal is to be on site with the RV five hours before kickoff. “We’ll watch ballgames on the satellite and tailgate all afternoon; we’re too old to get out and throw the football,” Norton said.