The Aggie? pic someone recently posted in another thread caught my eye and interest. I really like seeing these old 1880's - 1940's or so Football Pics. I think the Team Photo's are usually more interesting than the action photo's (unless there is blood in the action ones). So, I thought others might enjoy posting cool pics of theirs or other teams. I'll start with the 1898 Mercer Bears...
...a team that almost wasn't, until a GREAT FOOTBALL MOM, Rosalind Burns Gammon, saved the day & saved the sport of Football in the Great (Football-Crazy) State of Georgia...
"It was in the Virginia game of 1897 that tragedy struck the Georgia Bulldogs. In the second half of that game, a Georgia fullback named Richard Vonalbade ("Von") Gammon, was fatally injured in a play. In reaction to his death, the Georgia, Georgia Tech and Mercer football teams disbanded, the Atlanta Journal ran a headline proclaiming, the "Death Knell of Football" and the Georgia legislature passed a bill to outlaw football in the state of Georgia. As the bill sat on the desk of Georgia Governor William Yates Atkinson, a letter that Gammon's mother, Rosalind Burns Gammon, had written to the state legislature was revealed. In her letter, she pleaded with the legislators not to pass the bill because her son so loved football. As a result reading her letter, Governor Atkinson vetoed the bill to ban football in Georgia"
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Originally Posted by Catatonic
superman7515
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