Eddie McAshan
Encyclopedia
Edward 'Eddie' McAshan, III was born the son of a mortician in Gainesville, Florida
. He was a successful college quarterback
for Georgia Tech and became one of the most famous athletes in college football history for being the first African American
to start at quarterback for a major
Southeastern
university
.
.
and Joe Hamilton). McAshan's first career start was on September 12, 1970 against South Carolina. His start marked the first time that an African American had ever started at quarterback for a major Southeastern
university and McAshan did not disappoint. He rallied Tech with a fourth quarter deficit, defeating the Gamecocks 23-20 with two late touchdown drives.
Over McAshan's career, he passed for 32 touchdowns. His most notable single game performance came against Rice
in 1972 when he threw 5 touchdown passes. In this game he also threw five interceptions, so the game ended in a tie. Over the years of McAshan's quarterbacking, Georgia Tech would ramble and wreck off a 22-13-1 record.
McAshan was the first scholarship African-American for Tech while the first walk-on African-American football player at Tech was defensive back
/returner Karl "PeeWee" Barnes who lettered in 1971-72. The second scholarship player was running back
Greg Horne from Atlanta and the third was linebacker Joe Harris
, an eventual NFL career player. Harris still holds the single season record for tackles in a season at 188.
McAshan was noted for feats of great athleticism and composure. In 1972, Georgia Tech played Tennessee
in Atlanta. McAshan had suffered a poor outing with 5 interceptions but one moment stood out in the game for Tech fans. Tech had finally put a drive together and made it to the UT 20 yard line. McAshan took the snap from center and dropped back to pass. As he was preparing to throw, a Tennessee defender pressed his throwing arm into his chest so McAshan switched the ball to his other hand and threw to an open tailback in the end zone. The tailback, who had given up on the play after seeing the almost sack, dropped the wide open touchdown. The game ended in a 17-6 loss for Georgia Tech.
McAshan was also notorious for throwing interceptions setting a GT record of 51 career interceptions, which was not broken until 2006 by Reggie Ball
.
In 1972, Bud Carson was fired from Georgia Tech and McAshan's relationship with new head coach Bill Fulcher
was strained. The week before the 1972 Georgia
game, McAshan asked Fulcher for four additional tickets so his family could attend the game in Athens
. Fulcher denied the request so McAshan skipped the next practice in protest. Fulcher suspended McAshan for the next two games, which were the Georgia loss and the Liberty Bowl
victory over Iowa State. During the Georgia game, McAshan sat in a white limousine
with Jesse Hill
right outside the stadium
. McAshan was eventually kicked off the team by Fulcher and declared for the National Football League
draft as a senior in 1972. Eddie McAshan finished his Georgia Tech career with 4,262 yards of offense, 35 total touchdowns, a 62.5% (20-12-1) winning percentage, two bowl game appearances, and a 1970 victory over archrival UGA. (This last statement is false. McAshan did not play in the 1970 game in Athens, won by Georgia Tech by the score of 17-7. Jack Williams started, and ended, the game for the Yellow Jackets.)
in the 17th round as the 420th pick overall in the 1973 NFL Draft
. He was eventually cut and attempted a stint with the Jacksonville Sharks
of the World Football League
and saw action in the 1974-1975 seasons until the WFL collapsed.
Eddie returned to Georgia Tech and completed his degree in industrial management
in 1979.
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
. He was a successful college quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
for Georgia Tech and became one of the most famous athletes in college football history for being the first African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
to start at quarterback for a major
BCS conference
An Automatic Qualifying conference is an athletic conference in NCAA Division I FBS whose champion receives an automatic berth in one of the five Bowl Championship Series bowl games...
Southeastern
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....
university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
.
High school
Eddie began his football career as the first African American quarterback to play for predominantly white Gainesville High School. Over the years of 1966-1968, he threw for 61 touchdowns (top 20 all-time Florida career touchdowns). His high school quarterbacking was good enough to be noticed by Georgia Tech head coach Bud CarsonBud Carson
Leon H. "Bud" Carson was an American football coach best known for his role on the Pittsburgh Steelers' championship teams of the 1970s.-Player:Carson played defensive back for North Carolina from 1949 to 1951, then entered the Marines.-Georgia Tech:...
.
College
McAshan would become the first African American football player to start for Georgia Tech. Carson started McAshan in 1970 as a sophomore and McAshan would go on to set several career records for Georgia Tech (which have since been broken by Shawn JonesShawn Jones
Shawn Jones was a National Football League player for the Minnesota Vikings. Jones was a four year starter at Quarterback for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.- High School :...
and Joe Hamilton). McAshan's first career start was on September 12, 1970 against South Carolina. His start marked the first time that an African American had ever started at quarterback for a major Southeastern
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
university and McAshan did not disappoint. He rallied Tech with a fourth quarter deficit, defeating the Gamecocks 23-20 with two late touchdown drives.
Over McAshan's career, he passed for 32 touchdowns. His most notable single game performance came against Rice
Rice Owls
The Rice University athletic teams are known as the Rice Owls. The name comes from the owls in Rice's crest.Rice participates in NCAA Division I athletics and is part of Conference USA. Rice was a member of the Southwest Conference until its breakup in 1996. Rice then joined the Western Athletic...
in 1972 when he threw 5 touchdown passes. In this game he also threw five interceptions, so the game ended in a tie. Over the years of McAshan's quarterbacking, Georgia Tech would ramble and wreck off a 22-13-1 record.
McAshan was the first scholarship African-American for Tech while the first walk-on African-American football player at Tech was defensive back
Defensive back
In American football and Canadian football, defensive backs are the players on the defensive team who take positions somewhat back from the line of scrimmage; they are distinguished from the defensive line players and linebackers, who take positions directly behind or close to the line of...
/returner Karl "PeeWee" Barnes who lettered in 1971-72. The second scholarship player was running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
Greg Horne from Atlanta and the third was linebacker Joe Harris
Joe Harris (football player)
Joseph Alexander Harris is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League for five different teams. He played college football at Georgia Tech. He was inducted into the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame in 2000.-References:...
, an eventual NFL career player. Harris still holds the single season record for tackles in a season at 188.
McAshan was noted for feats of great athleticism and composure. In 1972, Georgia Tech played Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
in Atlanta. McAshan had suffered a poor outing with 5 interceptions but one moment stood out in the game for Tech fans. Tech had finally put a drive together and made it to the UT 20 yard line. McAshan took the snap from center and dropped back to pass. As he was preparing to throw, a Tennessee defender pressed his throwing arm into his chest so McAshan switched the ball to his other hand and threw to an open tailback in the end zone. The tailback, who had given up on the play after seeing the almost sack, dropped the wide open touchdown. The game ended in a 17-6 loss for Georgia Tech.
McAshan was also notorious for throwing interceptions setting a GT record of 51 career interceptions, which was not broken until 2006 by Reggie Ball
Reggie Ball
Reginald Lewis Ball is an American football Quarterback who currently plays for the Bricktown Brawlers of the Indoor Football League He was originally signed by the Lions as an undrafted free agent in 2007...
.
In 1972, Bud Carson was fired from Georgia Tech and McAshan's relationship with new head coach Bill Fulcher
Bill Fulcher
-External links:*...
was strained. The week before the 1972 Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
game, McAshan asked Fulcher for four additional tickets so his family could attend the game in Athens
Athens, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...
. Fulcher denied the request so McAshan skipped the next practice in protest. Fulcher suspended McAshan for the next two games, which were the Georgia loss and the Liberty Bowl
Liberty Bowl
The Liberty Bowl is an annual U.S. American college football bowl game played in December of each year from 1959 to 2007 and in January in 2009 and 2010. The Liberty Bowl was sponsored by AXA Financial and was known as the AXA Liberty Bowl from 1997 to 2003...
victory over Iowa State. During the Georgia game, McAshan sat in a white limousine
Limousine
A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....
with Jesse Hill
Jesse Hill
Jesse Hill Jr. is one of Atlanta's most prominent African American civil rights leaders, and was the president and chief executive officer of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company from 1973 to 1992...
right outside the stadium
Sanford Stadium
Sanford Stadium is the on-campus playing venue for football at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States. The 92,746-seat stadium is the seventh largest stadium in the NCAA. Architecturally, the stadium is known for the fact that its numerous expansions over the years have been...
. McAshan was eventually kicked off the team by Fulcher and declared for the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
draft as a senior in 1972. Eddie McAshan finished his Georgia Tech career with 4,262 yards of offense, 35 total touchdowns, a 62.5% (20-12-1) winning percentage, two bowl game appearances, and a 1970 victory over archrival UGA. (This last statement is false. McAshan did not play in the 1970 game in Athens, won by Georgia Tech by the score of 17-7. Jack Williams started, and ended, the game for the Yellow Jackets.)
Professional
Eddie went on to be drafted by the New England PatriotsNew England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
in the 17th round as the 420th pick overall in the 1973 NFL Draft
1973 NFL Draft
The 1973 National Football League Draft was held on January 30–31, 1973.-Player selections:-Round one:-Round two:-Round three:-Round four:-Round five:-Round six:-Round seven:-Round eight:-Round nine:-Round ten:...
. He was eventually cut and attempted a stint with the Jacksonville Sharks
Jacksonville Sharks
The Jacksonville Sharks were a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They competed for part of the 1974 season in the World Football League, a failed attempt to launch a major professional football league in the United States in competition with the National Football...
of the World Football League
World Football League
The World Football League was a short-lived gridiron football league that played in 1974 and part of 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest the WFL reached was placing a team – the Hawaiians – in Honolulu, Hawaii. The...
and saw action in the 1974-1975 seasons until the WFL collapsed.
Eddie returned to Georgia Tech and completed his degree in industrial management
Industrial engineering
Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering dealing with the optimization of complex processes or systems. It is concerned with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, materials, analysis...
in 1979.