Ansley Rogale is a typical 10-year-old girl. Cute as a button with brown hair and a perfect splash of freckles on her nose. She likes kickball, climbing the grapefruit tree in her backyard and soccer.
Stanley Lambchop is a typical boy, though slightly smaller than most. With a shock of brown hair and freckles like Ansley's, he likes flying kites.
As odd as it may seem, they have had a hand in why Georgia Tech will play in the Orange Bowl for the first time since 1967.
From the time Ansley sent Stanley, known to kids around the world as Flat Stanley from the popular series of books, to Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson, the Yellow Jackets have won five of six games, including the ACC title. They will play Iowa in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 5 in Miami.
"I guess you could call him a good-luck charm" said A-back Anthony Allen, who like Ansley, is from Tampa.
Ansley didn't grow up a Georgia Tech fan, though her family members are fans of Johnson's because of military ties.
At the start of school, her fifth-grade teacher, MaryEllen Heuer, asked each student in her class at Hammond Elementary to start paying attention to the teams ranked in the top 25. A few weeks later, each student picked a team out of a hat.
Ansley said she had been following the standings on espn.com and knew that Tech was having a good season.
"I was very excited because I knew they were in the top 25," Ansley said.
Heuer asked each of her students to draw their own Flat Stanley and send him to their school in a package that included a journal. Ansley's Flat Stanley has grass stains on his bottom (because of football), and the package included a journal made with yellow construction paper for the front and back covers and notebook paper in the middle. Instructions in the package asked the coach to write in the journal, take photos with Flat Stanley and send it back.
The children mailed their packages the week of Oct. 19, the week of the Virginia game.
The Yellow Jackets, with Flat Stanley along for the ride, defeated the Cavaliers that week, 34-9, to snap a losing streak in Charlottesville that stretched back to 1990, well before Ansley and her classmates were born.
A few weeks later, a surprised Ansley received a package from Tech's sports information department.
"I just though they might send back Flat Stanley and something written in the journal," Ansley said. "When I got him back it was a really big surprise and I was really happy."
Flat Stanley had dictated his travels, which included helping to fly the plane and leading cheers on the sidelines, to Johnson's secretary, Teri Anton:
"I have gotten to be pretty important around the Tech football office over my time here. The players are always looking for my advice and opinions about things. We like to hang out in the lunch room and eat and eat and eat!"
Anton sent another package on Monday with the journal and items commemorating the Jackets' ACC championship. Another will be sent after the Orange Bowl.
"Even coach's wife will make sure to ask if we have Flat Stanley with us," Anton said.
"Flat Stanley" the book was published in 1964 and tells the story of a little boy, Stanley, who gets squished when a bulletin board hanging over his bed falls on him. Flat Stanley the project, which Ansley's class is one in a long line to take up, was started in 1995 by a Canadian schoolteacher who asked his students to send letters with Stanley to family members. From that idea, teachers all over the world now use Flat Stanley to introduce their students to new cultures and places.
Heuer has been using Flat Stanley off and on for the past 12 years. She said this year's project has taught the kids about stats, math, climatology, football strategy and the importance of out-of-state schools.
While some schools in the past have responded with autographed photos of the coaches, she said she's never gotten a response like Tech's. In comparison, Iowa hasn't responded to the student who picked that school out of the hat.
"By far, this year, Georgia Tech has done more for Flat Stanley that any of our other teams," said Heuer, who has been teaching for the past 35 years.
Heuer said Georgia Tech's kindness has inspired her kids. One student learned he had a family member who went to Tech. Another wants to do better at math so he can apply.
"Georgia Tech is a really nice college. I think I might want to go there when I grow up," said Alex Zarghese, who is a classmate of Ansley's.
Ansley wasn't able to go to the ACC title game two weeks ago, but she hopes to watch Tech in the Orange Bowl. Until then, she said she's going to keep studying so that she too may one day apply for admission, and she will keep waiting on the mail for the next package from her new favorite team.
"It makes me feel like I was very lucky and that I got one of the nicest teams," Ansley said. "Now I'm inspired to get good grades and go to Georgia Tech."
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