Archives / Teams

Mack Tharpe Team Library

Every Georgia Tech team has a schedule on record somewhere. Plenty have little else. This library collects full, sourced writeups of individual Tech teams: who played, what happened and what the newspapers and yearbooks said at the time.

Updated November 7, 2026 • 1 team • Public domain, free to reuse

Bronze plaque with a relief portrait of Mack Tharpe in a Navy officer's cap and uniform, inscribed: Mercer McCall Tharpe, Lieutenant Commander U.S.N.R., killed in action February 21, 1945, Class of 1926, coaching staff 1927–1942 — Mack Tharpe’s memorial plaque near Bobby Dodd Stadium. Photo: JJonahJackalope, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped and resized.

Why it’s named for Mack Tharpe

Mercer McCall “Mack” Tharpe was a Tech tackle in the class of 1926 and spent 1927 to 1942 on William Alexander’s coaching staff, later as his line coach. He is the one who talked Alexander into hiring a young Tennessee quarterback named Bobby Dodd. He left coaching for the Navy and became operations officer of the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea. He was killed in action at the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 21, 1945, as a lieutenant commander. Tech’s athletic fund, the Alexander-Tharpe Fund, carries his name. A library of Tech teams seemed like a fitting place for it too.

Not just football

The library starts with football, because that’s where the biggest gaps are. Many mid-century seasons have only a schedule table and a two-line summary online. But it’s meant for Georgia Tech teams in every sport. Basketball, baseball and the rest will get their own sections as their entries are written.

Football

1945 Football • 4–6 (2–2 SEC)

1945: Bobby Dodd’s losing debut

William Alexander retires, Dodd installs the T formation, and a thin roster of Navy trainees and young civilians loses four of its last five. Includes the Bob Blake eligibility ruling, the lineups and the conflicting attendance counts.

Head coach: Bobby Dodd (1st season)

Corrections and sources

Each entry lists its sources, including newspaper clips I haven’t read yet. If you spot an error, or you have a program, clipping or family story about one of these teams, email contact@stevenmcgrathii.com.

These writeups are public domain

Articles on Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Reportin’ are normally under copyright. The team writeups in this library are the exception. Their text is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0, so you are free to do whatever you like with them: copy them, republish them, edit them, use them in your own work or sell them, with no permission or credit needed.

That covers the writing, not every image. Photos keep their own licenses, which are noted with each one. The plaque photo above belongs to JJonahJackalope and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and my cropped version is shared under the same license. If you reuse it, credit the photographer and keep that license. The old yearbook and Commons photos in the entries are public domain, as each caption notes.

In memory

Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.

Robert Louis Stevenson, “Requiem” (1887). Its last two lines close the plaque Tharpe’s former players presented in his memory.

To honor Mack Tharpe and the others who died in service, consider a gift to TAPS, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, which supports the families of America’s fallen military with peer mentoring, grief resources and financial help.

Poppy illustration: PublicDomainPictures.net, public domain.