Georgia Institute of Technology - Blueprint Yearbook (Atlanta, GA)

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together one of the finest aggregations of football talent ever to step out on the gridiron and rolled to an unde- feated season, the Southern Conference championship and the National Championship after defeating the University of California in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1929. The Tech-California game will long be one of the most talked about of all time, largely due to one of the greatest boners to ever be pulled in an important game. That was the unforgettable reverse run by Cap- tain Roy Riegels of the Golden Bears. It set up the deciding safety that won the game for Tech, 8 to 7. Tech, as was said before, boasted one of the finest teams ever and with such greats as Stumpy Thomason, Peter Fund, who made Ail-American center, Warner Mizell, All-American halfback, and Frank Speer, who also gar- nered AU-American honors. Mizell, Thomason, Speer, Jones, Pund and Drennon made All-Southern in their positions and the only reason Maree, Waddey, Thrash, Westbrook, Lumpkin and Durant didn ' t make it was the fact that the critics might look too bad if everyone on the Tech team made the mythical eleven. When the team arrived in Atlanta, it received one of the most rousing welcomes in the history of the city. Proceeds from the game were used to construct Rose Bowl Field which today is used for practice for varsity sports, drill and intramural sports and stands as a living monument to the fabulous era of the ' Golden Tornado. ' Bobby Jones Without a doubt the Tech alum- nus who achieved the greatest fame in the world of sports is Robert Tyre Jones, Jr. He graduated from Tech in 1922 with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and later went to Harvard and Emory. He shall long be known as the Emperor of Golf, the title he gained in 1926, the year of his renowned ' Grand Slam. ' This in- cluded the U. S. Amateur and Open Championships and the British Amateur and Open Championships. In 1930 he retired from competitive golf and devoted his time to a successful law practice and civic affairs. Presently he is president of the Augusta National Golf Club which is noted for the Masters Golf Tournament and frequent visits by President Eisenhower. Guggenheim Atvard Tech ' s greatest honor came in 1930. It was then that I saw the donation of $300,000 by the Gug- genheim Fund for the establishment of an aeronautical school at Georgia Tech. Previously the only schools to receive Guggenheim appropriations were the Massachu- setts Institute of Technology, New York University, the University of Michigan, California Institute of Tech- nology and Leland Stanford, Jr. University. Tech ' s choice over 26 other Southern schools praaically made our scholastic prestige undisputed in this region. Of course, the contribution allowed Tech to install a first- class aeronautical school on the campus. This donation was the last before the Guggenheim Fund went out of existence but nonetheless careful scrutinization preceded the donation. Captain Emory S. Land, later Admiral Land, was sent to the rwenty-seven schools to determine the best qualified. Finally Captain Land announced that the grant had been awarded to Tech but that there was one question mark, that is Georgia ' s poor reputation for being liberal in her treatment of her colleges and the fact that the plans made possible by the grant might starve to death. A meeting of the Governor, the Mayor of Atlanta, the State Comptroller, the Chairman of the County Board and several other prominent citizens, assured Captain Land that there would be no danger of lack of support. The check for the entire amount was sent immediately. $ 1 00,000 was invested in a building, $50,000 in a wind tunnel and the other half of the grant was invested in five per cent bonds as an endow- ment to safeguard against the financial trouble that loomed ahead. Dr. Brittain is due much credit for the excellent way in which he handled Tech ' s application, especially since he was confronted with some of the most prominent men in the entire South who were also in quest of the grant for their own schools.

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electrical engineering departments. In his will he stated that, ... I believe that the Georgia SchcK)l of Tech- nology is worth more to the State of Georgia than all the rest of her colleges combined. The property con- sisted of real estate near Atlanta consisting of the old home and some lots in Fulton County. In addition it contained some 3,760 acres of land in three Texas coun- ties. Held by the school with the hope of finding oil someday, the land has been used largely for crops and has continually brought the school a profit of from two to seven thousand dollars annually. At the prices of those days the entire bequest was valued at upwards of $160,000 and the later sale of the Brown property in the Atlanta area provided the funds with which was built the Brown Dormitory. Navy R.O.T.C. In 1926, Georgia Tech was selea- ed among six colleges about the nation at which were to be formed naval units similar to Army R. O. T. C. They were to embody, as nearly as possible, the training standards of the Naval Academy at Annapolis and the colleges were carefully seleaed, among them Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, the Univer- sities of California and Washington, and of course. Tech. The decision to choose Tech, though it is not located in a maritime area, was influenced primarily by the high scholastic standards of the school. At first the Naval facilities were in Swann then they shifted to the new Aeronautical Engineering Building when it was finished in 1932. However, these quarters were still inadequate and in 1935, with financial aid from Ferd Kaufman, an alumnus, from C. W. A., from federal authorities and from the Athletic Association, the Naval Armory was built on the corner of Third Street and Techwood Drive. The cost of the building was $130,000 and it included a spacious drill hall, a full size destroyer bridge, fire control and signal apparatus, complete navigational equipment, arms and different ship models. For some time thereafter Tech boasted the finest facilities of any of the newly organized naval units. It might be noteworthy that for a number of years, members of the faculty have been invited to be guests of the Secretary of the Navy on the annual midshipmen summer training cruises. One of th e most interesting cruises ever taken by a member of our faculty was taken by President Brittain during the summer of 1937. He was aboard the battleship Colorado, then the third larg- est ship in the fleet. The cruise was to extend for three weeks while traveling from San Francisco to the Ha- waiian Islands. Upon reaching Honolulu, the ship re- ceived a radio message from President Roosevelt order- ing the ship to take part in the search for Miss Amelia Earhart, who had been reported missing in Pacific waters some 3,000 miles southward. The Colorado took part in the search and before the cruise had ended seven weeks had elapsed but nontheless the experience was regarded by President Brittain as one of his most in- teresting. The Library At this time it would be wise to make note of the library and its standing up to the time of Dr. Brittain. From the time of the construction of the Carnegie Building in 1906 to 1924, Miss Laura Hammond held the position of librarian. During her tenure the library grew from approximately 3,000 volumes to 16,000 and from vir- tually no appropriation to $4,600 annually. In 1927 Mrs. J. Henley Crosland was made librarian, a position she has held since. Under her direction the library has grown in leaps and bounds to put it mildly. Currently the number of volumes in the new library is over 180,000 while the number of periodicals is over 2,400. During her time the book and periodical appropriation has grown from $1,200 to over $44,000. In 1945 Mrs. Crosland was chosen as the Atlanta Woman of the Year in Education and through her efforts Tech today boasts of the finest technical library in the South and certainly an enviable position among collegiate libraries throughout the world. Today she still labors so that new and better things can be had for the students in this magnificent new building. 1929 Rote Botvl Among the sports thrills I have shared one that stands out vividly in my mind is the season of 1928. Coach Alex had put

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Growth Under During Dr. Brittain ' s administra- Brittain tion the campus grew immensely as new degrees, and new buildings, began to even more firmly entrench Tech as the leading technical school in the South and one of the finest in the nation. In the 22 years under Dr. Brittain the degrees of Ceramic and Aeronautical Engineering, In- dustrial Management and Public Health were estab- lished. The campus was greatly changed with the con- struction of the Physics, Ceramics, Civil Engineering, Engineering Drawing and Mechanics, and Engineering Experiment Buildings, the Chemistry Annex, Harris, Cloudman, Harrison and Howell Dormitories, the Naval Armory, the Athletic Office, Rose Bowl Field, the East Stands of Grant Field and the Auditorium- Gymnasium. Probation In 1942, however, Tech suffered its most humiliating incident. In 1 94 1 , in spite of war clouds about the world, Tech was enjoying its finer years. The enrollment was higher than ever and the registration of out-of-state students was stopped two months before the opening of the school term. In this era of apparently fine operation, President Brittain wished to resign to allow a younger man to step in and take over. However, due to the innate fear that Governor Eugene Talmadge might appoint an inadequate successor. President Brittain was persuaded to withdraw his resignation. Later, though, the power of the Talmadge Adminis- tration was felt when, after the dismissal of Dean Walter D. Cocking of the School of Education of the University of Georgia and President Marvin Pittman of the Georgia Teachers College at Statesboro after hearings and the dismissal of many other members of the staff of the University System of Georgia without hearings, an appointed committee of the Southern Asso- ciation of Colleges and Secondary Schools recommended that the schools of the University System be dropped from membership in the Association. The committee recommended further that the . . . suspension take effect September 1, 1942, and continue until removed by vote of this Association at its next or later annual meeting on recommendation of the Executive Commit- tee and of the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education. Then the long arduous campaign to oust the Tal- madge Administration began and the summer of 1942 saw the people of the state show that they wanted a new type of rule and they elected Ellis Gibbs Arnall, a young rising gentleman from Newnan. Promptly Governor Arnall sought to restore the standing of the state institutions. In December of 1942 he presented the Association with his plan for greater independence of the Board of Regents and other measures that would insure the return of proper state administration of state operated schools. The Association, after being convinced that the injustice had been repaired promptly reinstated all the members of the University System of Georgia. Exeunt In 1943, Dr. Brittain, seeing that Brittain the school was once again in safe hands tendered his resignation to the Board of Regents, effective July 1, 1944. His resig- nation came at the age of seventy-eight after many long hard years of devoted service to his school and state. In assuming his duties as President Emeritus, Dr. Brittain left an age of progress in which the campus grew from fifteen buildings to thirty-seven; in which the student enrollment increased from less than 1,700 to over 3,000. However, as in the case of all great men, he is not remembered by the buildings that sprang up around him but simply by his love — love for helping boys be- come men, love for hard work, and a love for his state and nation. This was Dr. Brittain ' s greatness. Enter Van Leer Colonel Blake Ragsdale Van Leer became Tech ' s fifth president upon the retirement of Dr. Brittain. Col. Van Leer was born in Mangum, Texas, in 1893. He received his degrees of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from Purdue