Starting December 1, 1945, he has seen Georgia Tech greats from George Morris to Billy Lothridge to Randy Rhino to Joe Hamilton to Calvin Johnson and, likewise, Georgia legends Charley Trippi, Jake Scott, Herschel Walker, Champ Bailey and David Pollack. Saturday morning, Bobby Joe Anderson will make the drive from his farm home in Statesboro to Athens with his son Stan to attend his 70th consecutive Tech-Georgia game.
“I didn’t plan it that way, actually,” said Anderson, 86, and a proud Tech grad. “It just fell in place. My love for Tech probably had something to do with it.”
Anderson, who lives in Atlanta, is a Tech man through and through. His father graduated from Tech, as did his son. Four of his grandchildren are in school there. Now the retired CEO and president of Puritan/Churchill Chemical Company, he has been a major donor and a trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation.
He hasn’t missed much over the years from the annual Tech-Georgia clashes. Among the highlights are the 34-14 rout of the Bulldogs in 1974, coach Pepper Rodgers’ first year, and the cathartic win 2008 in coach Paul Johnson’s first year. He remembers the losses, too.
“I’m a diehard, and I love ’em, win or lose,” Anderson said. “Somebody’s got to lose. When they play, that’s kind of been the way.”
His most vivid memory took place in 1942, three years before the string began, in one of the most historic Tech-Georgia games. Tech was ranked No. 2 and Georgia No. 5. Georgia boasted two of its all-time greats, Trippi and Frank Sinkwich. Tech was led by freshman Clint Castleberry, who was injured in the game, a 34-0 win. Some 72 years later, Anderson remembers running down to the Sanford Stadium hedges as a 14-year-old boy as Castleberry was carried off the filed and patting him in sympathy. The following year, Castleberry left Tech to enlist in the Army Air Corps. In 1944, his plane went missing off the African coast and was never recovered.
“There he was, my hero, being carried off the field,” Anderson said. “I’ve remembered that all my life.”
Anderson still attends Tech games at Bobby Dodd Stadium. He isn’t sure how long he’ll keep his streak going.
“Hey, 75’s right around the corner,” he said.
About the Author
