Author Description

This is the story of the characters and circumstances surrounding the wildest college football game ever played: Georgia Tech's 222-0 victory over little Cumberland University on Oct. 7, 1916, in Atlanta. Cumberland dropped football after a disastrous 1915 season in which it was outscored by an aggregate 276-0 in five games. But Cumberland beat the Georgia Tech baseball team 22-0 by illegally using a half dozen professional players. Coach John Heisman, who coached the Tech baseball and football teams, discovered that Cumberland had not formally cancelled its contract to play Tech in football in 1916. Heisman, looking for revenge, insisted the game be played or Cumberland would have to pay Tech a $3,000 forfeit fee (a huge sum at the time). Cumberland wanted to avoid the costly forfeiture fee so it told the school's young sports team's managers, George Allen, to somehow come up with a team to play Tech. Allen's adventures in putting together a bunch of misfits and finding a coach result in some hilarious moments. The game itself also included numerous humorous situations.