Ten years ago, Phyllis Stallings wasn’t sure she ever would be able to attend another Georgia Tech home game, let alone be a guest passenger on the Ramblin’ Wreck as it rode through Yellow Jacket Alley hours before kickoff. But on Saturday when the Jackets host Boston College, that’s exactly the opportunity Stallings will have.
On Nov. 30, 2013, Stallings and her husband, Gordon Stallings, had spent the day tailgating on a chilly, autumn day outside Bobby Dodd Stadium, then they watched their beloved Jackets lose 41-34 to rival Georgia. Tech had seen a 17-0 first-quarter lead and a 20-7 halftime lead disappear in the second half before the Bulldogs prevailed in double overtime.
“That had nothing to do with what happened afterward,” Phyllis Stallings said. “But the folks in the hospital thought it was interesting.”
On the drive home, Stallings felt pain in her shoulder, but figured it was nothing more than her bursitis flaring up. Hours later, now at home, Stallings recalls a chest pain comparable to, “an elephant sitting on my chest.”
The memories from there become fuzzy.
Stallings was taken to Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center, where it was determined she was having a heart attack. At 2 a.m. doctors cleared a total blockage in an artery and placed two stents in Stallings’ heart. She would received a third stent a few days later.
“I think about it every day,” Stallings said of those life-changing hours.
Stallings and her then-future husband met as Tech undergrads in the 1970s at the civil-engineering student study lounge. They married in 1978 and bought Tech football season tickets shortly after. Stallings guessed she and her husband have missed only three home games since (save for the attendance-restricted COVID-19 season of 2020).
Credit: Photo contributed by Phyllis Stallings
Credit: Photo contributed by Phyllis Stallings
Stallings began taking her two daughters to Bobby Dodd Stadium when they were as young as 2. Both would end up graduating from Tech as well, one with a degree in mechanical engineering and another with a degree in biology.
The latter, in her third year of medical school at the time, just happened to be back in town that fateful night in 2013 when Stallings’ chest began to ache. She urged her mother to get to the hospital, where Dr. Arthur Reitman was on call.
“I would be dead if it hadn’t been for Dr. Reitman and their (cardiac catheterization) lab that morning,” Stallings said.
Before Stallings was discharged from the hospital nearly 10 years ago, Reitman urged Stallings to change her lifestyle for the better. When Stallings returned to Reitman for a checkup six months later, she had lost 50 pounds.
Stallings has been steadfast since then in her commitment to rehabilitation and exercise. And because she has, she’ll be able to cross an item off her bucket list Saturday when she and her husband take a ride in the Ramblin’ Wreck.
The Stallings family met Tech athletic director J Batt during the Jackets’ Sept. 16 game at Ole Miss. Stallings then decided to take her shot at fulfilling a lifelong dream with an email to Batt asking to ride in the Wreck. Batt and Tech granted her request to, “commemorate her anniversary and her unwavering fandom.”
Tech (3-3, 2-1 ACC) hosts Boston College (3-3, 1-2 ACC) at noon Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The Stallings’ will be there, just like they have been for the past 280 (give or take) home games. But this one will be a bit different, and perhaps a bit more memorable than the rest.
Said Stallings, “I am very excited about it.”
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