The Lions Clubs of Georgia are wonderful organizations. Although I am not a Lion, I know much about their work. I know that they have well over 1 million members through their international affiliates, that they do much charitable work with youth and with persons who are vision impaired. I am familiar with their broom and mop sales, their Lighthouse for the Blind, and their walk for diabetes awareness. How do I know all of this? My dad is a Lion.
My father has been a lion for….well….for a looong time. I can’t tell you how many Lions brooms and mops we have had over the years. I don’t know how many chicken and barbeques that he has participated in to raise money for the Lions. Many international youth traveling with Lions International have stayed in my parents’ home over the years. I have seen first hand the good that the Lions Club does.
There is one other thing I know about the Lions Club. From 1968 until 1985, the Lions Clubs of Georgia was the sponsor of Peach Bowl.
The Peach Bowl was originally created as a fund raiser for the Lions Clubs of Georgia. Unfortunately, the games during this period had lackluster attendance and revenue, and even worse media coverage. During this era of the bowl, it was played at the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Old Man Winter never seemed to comply with the bowl, and it was always cold, wet, rainy and muddy. The Lions Clubs of Georgia struggled to cover the costs of the bowl.
In 1986, the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce took over the bowl, and with the completion of the Georgia Dome, the game was moved indoors in 1992. The attendance began to improve, and the media coverage of the game improved as well. In 1998, Chick-Fil-A joined as a sponsor of the game, and it became known as the Chick Fil A Peach Bowl.
Now, here we are in 2007. The Bowl has once again changed its name to “The Chick-Fil-A Bowl”, and the game between Auburn and Clemson was sold-out in less than 48 hours. It is the only game on television during prime-time on New Years Eve. And the payout to the two schools will be approximately $6 Million total. This is a far cry from the days of the empty, cold, wet, muddy Peach Bowl at Fulton County Stadium.
But maybe the Peach Bowl needed the rain and cold and mud in the beginning, in order to enjoy the healthy success it has today. Those of you who read your Bible will remember that Jesus took some mud and put it in the blind man’s eyes in order to restore his sight. In fact, that’s where we get the phrase “Here’s mud in your eye!” when toasting someone….It’s to their health….to their vision. The main mission of the Lions Clubs of Georgia….the original sponsor of the Peach Bowl.
War Eagle!
WJLaneSr
Monday, December 10, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Auburn and Clemson
One of my favorite Southern Humorists/Satirists was the late Lewis Grizzard. I have read all of his books, listened to most of his works that are on CD, and was a religious reader of his column when it was published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For me, he will always be regarded with the same admiration as other writers of southern literature such as William Faulkner, Sidney Lanier, Pat Conroy, Harper Lee, Mark Twain and Flannery O’Conner.
Lewis Grizzard “cut his writing teeth” as a sports columnist, and it is credited to him with the description that “Clemson is Auburn with a lake”. I am not sure how much Grizzard actually knew about the Auburn/Clemson history, but his assessment was very accurate. Both schools are southern land-grant institutions, both are called “the tigers”, and both had the legendary John Heisman as the coach. During the days of Shug Jordan and Frank Howard, games between Auburn and Clemson were common. However, in more recent history, the two schools with so much in common, may have lost touch with their similarities and, more importantly, their common history. Clemson isn’t just Auburn with a lake, for without Auburn, there would have been no Clemson football.
Walter M. Riggs graduated from Auburn with an engineering degree in 1892, and was a member of Auburn’s first football team. He loved football so much that rather than going into the field of engineering after graduation, he became a graduate assistant coach. In 1895, he was given the task of finding a head football coach for Auburn, and after an extensive search, hired John W. Heisman as the Head Coach of the Auburn Football Team. His negotiated contract (boy isn’t THAT a timely topic!!!) was $500 / year.
Riggs left Auburn in the hands of J.W. Heisman in 1896, and headed for Clemson, South Carolina to start a football program. Clemson had no uniforms, no mascot, no colors…nothing. So what did Riggs do? He brought some old Auburn practice uniforms with him (orange jerseys and navy jerseys) that, because of washboard washings, were no longer navy and orange, but looked more purple and orange. He also brought the name “tigers” with him, and named his brand new football team the Clemson Tigers. He chose orange as the dominant color, because those jerseys weren’t quite as faded as the navy ones. And from that time forward, Walter M. Riggs has been known as the “father of Clemson Football”.
But the story BEHIND the story is….without Auburn, Clemson would never have been Orange and Purple, would never have been “the Tigers”, and would never have begun a football program in 1896. Maybe Lewis Grizzard is right. Maybe Clemson is Auburn with a lake. But Clemson is even more than that. It is the beneficiary of the great, grand and storied history of the Auburn Tigers.
War Eagle! Beat Clemson!
WJLaneSr
Lewis Grizzard “cut his writing teeth” as a sports columnist, and it is credited to him with the description that “Clemson is Auburn with a lake”. I am not sure how much Grizzard actually knew about the Auburn/Clemson history, but his assessment was very accurate. Both schools are southern land-grant institutions, both are called “the tigers”, and both had the legendary John Heisman as the coach. During the days of Shug Jordan and Frank Howard, games between Auburn and Clemson were common. However, in more recent history, the two schools with so much in common, may have lost touch with their similarities and, more importantly, their common history. Clemson isn’t just Auburn with a lake, for without Auburn, there would have been no Clemson football.
Walter M. Riggs graduated from Auburn with an engineering degree in 1892, and was a member of Auburn’s first football team. He loved football so much that rather than going into the field of engineering after graduation, he became a graduate assistant coach. In 1895, he was given the task of finding a head football coach for Auburn, and after an extensive search, hired John W. Heisman as the Head Coach of the Auburn Football Team. His negotiated contract (boy isn’t THAT a timely topic!!!) was $500 / year.
Riggs left Auburn in the hands of J.W. Heisman in 1896, and headed for Clemson, South Carolina to start a football program. Clemson had no uniforms, no mascot, no colors…nothing. So what did Riggs do? He brought some old Auburn practice uniforms with him (orange jerseys and navy jerseys) that, because of washboard washings, were no longer navy and orange, but looked more purple and orange. He also brought the name “tigers” with him, and named his brand new football team the Clemson Tigers. He chose orange as the dominant color, because those jerseys weren’t quite as faded as the navy ones. And from that time forward, Walter M. Riggs has been known as the “father of Clemson Football”.
But the story BEHIND the story is….without Auburn, Clemson would never have been Orange and Purple, would never have been “the Tigers”, and would never have begun a football program in 1896. Maybe Lewis Grizzard is right. Maybe Clemson is Auburn with a lake. But Clemson is even more than that. It is the beneficiary of the great, grand and storied history of the Auburn Tigers.
War Eagle! Beat Clemson!
WJLaneSr
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