Georgia Institute of Technology

Tech traditions

Tech has a number of legends and traditions, some of which have persisted for decades.

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• Stealing the T: Tech's historic primary administrative building, Tech Tower, has the letters TECH hanging atop it on each of its four sides. A number of times, students have orchestrated complex plans to steal the huge symbolic letter T, and on occasion have carried this act out successfully. The T was then returned at its traditional time, and the student's achievement celebrated. Stealing the T is sometimes also called climbing. Although the administration used to turn a blind eye to this practice, it is now officially discouraged, due to the risk of fatal falls and the potential for damage to the building. Security features such as pressure sensitive roof tiling and fiber optic cabling running throughout the letters have been added to the T to help prevent its theft and aid in catching the perpetrators. The last successful stealing of the "T" occurred in the spring of 2001 by two members of Beta Theta Pi named David Moeller and Jimmy Henderson. Tradition dictates that the first T to be stolen should be the one facing east, as this can most easily be seen from the Downtown Connector. {{ref|stolent}}
• The Whistle: A steam whistle that blows five minutes before the hour, every hour from 6:55am to 5:55pm. This tradition is a hold over from the trade school days, originally used to mark the end of a shift in the shops; now it is used both to mark the end of classes and as a ten minute warning to the beginning of the next classes.
• Triple Play: This is a shorthand term for executing 3 or more of the several officially discouraged traditions. They include stealing the T, swimming naked in the president's pool, climbing the coliseum, climbing the stadium lights, and jumping off the 10 meter high dive.
• To Hell With Georgia: Georgia Tech has an ongoing rivalry, mostly in sports, with another school in Georgia, the University of Georgia, often simply called Georgia for short. An annual issue of the school newspaper, The Technique, focuses on this rivalry with an issue that spoofs The Red and Black, the newspaper of the University of Georgia. "To Hell With Georgia" is also known as "The good word." If one student asks another "What's the Good Word?" the response is always "To Hell with Georgia!"
• RAT Caps: Every year new freshmen are given yellow caps and a number of freshmen wear yellow baseball caps throughout the year, most notably freshmen band members. RAT is short for 'Recruit At Tech,' although freshman are sometimes addressed as RATS, or 'Recently Acquired Tech Students' {{ref|rats}}. The RAT caps are decorated with the football team's scores, the freshman's major, expected graduation date, and "To Hell With Georgia" emblazed on the back of the cap. Freshmen caught not wearing the cap had their hair forcibly shaved into the shape of a T, however anti-hazing laws elminated this threat and (by proxy) widespread usage of the RAT caps. The tradition of RAT caps is maintained mostly by the marching band.
• George P. Burdell: The legendary imaginary student George P. Burdell is said to possess nearly every degree Georgia Tech offers, after many students took a variety of classes in his name. Since the 1960's, some students have managed to ensure that George P. Burdell is always enrolled at the university in the school's registrar's computers. The initial forged enrollment was performed in the era of computer punch cards. When Tech switched to online class registration, Burdell managed to get his name on the roll for every single course offered that term. After initially vigorously searching for the hackers, the university has since accepted the presence of George P. Burdell in every year's class. George P. Burdell is also a common tool for pranks at various school events and games. His name is paged over the stadium intercom at nearly every away sporting event.
• The Cumberland Game {{ref|cumberland}}: College football game with the largest margin of victory in history. In 1916, Georgia Tech's football team (coached by the legendary John Heisman -- for whom the trophy is named) defeated Cumberland 222-0. Cumberland's total net yardage was -28 (minus 28), and it had only one play for positive yards. Neither team got a first down (Georgia Tech scored on its first play every time it got the ball). Cumberland beat Georgia Tech's baseball team 22 to 0 the previous year.
• 41-38: Score of two momentous victories by Georgia Tech over the University of Virginia in college football, hence a Tech rallying cry whenever the two teams meet. In 1990, Virginia won its first seven games and had a #1 ranking in both polls. Undefeated but unheralded Georgia Tech came into Scott Stadium in Charlottesville and beat the Cavaliers 41-38 on a last-second field goal by Scott Sisson. In 1998, the first year since 1990 that both teams had come into this game with high hopes, #25 GT hosted undefeated #7 UVa, and again pulled off the upset. This time, the Yellow Jackets came from three touchdowns behind and survived a 54-yard FG miss by UVa kicker Todd Braverman as time ran out. Since then, any time the two teams have met with rankings and bowl positions on the line, GT fans have used "41-38" as a rallying cry.
• Sideways the Dog: Sideways was a black and white female dog, who, after having been involved in a car accident, was forced to walk sideways. She was a favorite of the students, and often slept in a different dorm room every night, being fed through the generosity of the student body and Brittain Dining Hall. She died after accidentally ingesting some rat poison in one of the dorm rooms, and was buried (sideways) on the grounds near Tech Tower. A plaque marks her resting spot and briefly tells her story.
• Drownproofing: From 1936 to 1987, Tech offered a class called Drownproofing which was required for graduation. The class, developed by Coach Fred Lanoue {{ref|coachfred}} for the Naval School which was located at GT prior to and during WWII, taught students how to float in water for extended periods of time with ankles and wrists bound, swim the length of an Olympic-sized pool and back underwater, and other water survival skills. At the time it was considered a prime example of the difficulty of Tech's curriculum.
• The Bank of America Building, the largest high-rise building in the south, and the largest building in any US state capital, has a lighted, gold-leafed crown atop the building that was designed, according to popular myth, for a Ga Tech Architecture PHD. It is said that the design was originally rejected by the advisor to the project in the school of architecture, but the designer sold the plan to Kevin Roche, the head architect on the design project for the building. Now anyone in the school of architecture, or anywhere else on the campus, cannot help but see the building towering just several blocks east of campus on North Avenue.
• Anak Society -- The only official Secret Society on campus.
• I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech, the Tech fight song.
• See the T-Book traditions {{ref|tbook}} for more traditions.