Monthly Archives: May 2014

Tech Campus

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1963 Season Opener

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You can count the number of home games my Dad has missed in the past 80 years on one hand. One of the best examples of his dedication to his Alma Mater happened in 1963. My sister Brenda and I were riding with mama and daddy on our way to meet Uncle Hugh in Fulton, Ms., when a car was passing another in a blind curve struck us head on doing 60 mph on Aug. 22. I remember the date because it was one day before my grandpapa’s, this was my daddy’s father, birthday. I was 5 years old and was laying in the back-back of our Ford Station Wagon asleep, and only suffered a large bump on the head. My sister Brenda was in the back seat and the metal Pepsi cooler in the back with me slid into her back and bruised her shoulder. My mother was in the front passenger seat and got broken glass from the window in her foot. But, my Dad took the full impact of the wreck and broke his right leg and right arm, several ribs, 2 fingers and 2 toes. Years later, a doctor would comment on an x-ray that was taken of his neck and said that he possibly broke his neck as well. Anyway, the couple that lived in the house where the wreck occurred let us use their phone to call Charles and Gwen to come and get us. I remember being fed watermelon and that is all I remember of this accident. I have no other mental images to draw from and I must rely on my sister, Kathey, for the details of this event, even though she was not even there. She was staying with my grandfather, Ike Hill, in Atlanta at the time. According to Kathey, Daddy did not complain about his leg but was concerned about getting my mother’s foot cared for. The next morning his right foot was black and swollen and he went to see his family doctor in Decatur. Dr. so and so immediately admitted him into Decatur General, where he stayed for a week with his leg in elevated in a sling until the lacerations had healed and the swelling had gone down enough to set his leg and put it in a cast up to his thigh. Now, he missed the opening game that season on Sept. 6th, but he exclaimed that he would go the following week. My mother drove him to her father’s house in Atlanta, and Ike helped him tape a crutch to his cast on his right leg, since he could not hold on to it with his right arm that was also broken. My poor mother had to drive him to the game, help him in and out of the car, help him up two ramps and up 23 steps to his Alumni seats, all the while praying that he would not fall and break his neck, which as I said before, was probably already fractured. I always stayed with grandpapa on game day or went to the Fox Theater, so I do not remember the game or who won or lost. But, I do remember that my Dad was not going to miss the game, not as long as he was breathing. These past few years that I have been taking my Dad to the games in a wheel chair that I have to lug in and out of the motor home, and push him up those same 2 ramps and help him up those 13 steps to his Alumni seats that he insist on sitting in, since he has been doing so for 60 years, I try to think of my mother and my step-mother who went to the games with him for 25 years, must have endured. I know that I complained a lot these past 10 years taking my Dad to the football games and loading and unloading him in and out of that motor home, and pushing him up those 2 ramps and carrying him to his seat, but I wish I was taking him this fall to the 2014 season opener. I will miss taking my Dad to see his favorite team play.

My Legacy

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My Dad was born a Georgia Tech on Feb. 21, 1928. His daddy was Prof. H.B. Duling, who taught engineering from 1917 until he retired in 1955 from Georgia Tech. My Dad was actually at the 1929 Rose Bowl in California when Tech won it’s first Bowl Game by beating California 8-7. My Dad may not have attended every game as a kid, but as a student and an Alumni, he never missed a game in 63 years. He actually attended games for 85 years. When he did not attend the opening game of the 2013 season because of his health, it was the first time in 63 years that is documented that he had missed a season opener. As a kid, he attended games with his father and sat in the faculty section and was fortunate to meet legends like Alexander and Dodd. He was present when Tech won a National Championship in 1928, 1952, and 1990. Daddy watched all 41 of the Bowl games that tech played in. He attended most of them, I have the programs, but his last 10 years, we had to watch a few on TV. He has reel to reel tapes of all the games in the 40’s and 50’s when he listened on the radio, then he has VHS taped since the 70’s of every game played on TV. His last 5 years that he attended every home game, he did so in a wheel chair, I had to help him up the 13 steps to his Alumni seats that he sat in for 63 years. He refused to sit in the handicapped section or even a club level booth, that some fans would offer from time to time. I sat on Row 14 Seat 28 Section 204 my entire life. This year I let those 3 seats go, I had a chance to buy them and keep the Lagacy going, but it is an expensive Legacy. Three season passes @ $240 each and $200 each for Alumni fees, and $600 parking. Each trip that I made with my Dad would cost about $1000 for gas and food and tickets, but he was a dedicated fan. I remember him telling me a story of a time when he was asked to work on a Saturday that Tech was playing by his boss at South Central Bell in Decatur, Al., but Daddy told him he would not be working because Tech had a home game. His boss said that everyone had to work, no exceptions. Daddy pulled out a letter that he had asked for in 1955, when he transferred to Decatur, that stated that Bob Duling would never have to work on a Saturday that Tech was playing a home game. He did not have to work, Now, who is that dedicated that they think of every possible situation that might keep them from attending a game? In 1963, we were all involved in a bad car accident late in August and Daddy had a broken leg, broken arm, 3 broken ribs, and 2 broken toes. He was in the hospital and was told he may have to miss the game Saturday, but he did go. My mother and his brother helped him tape a crutch to his leg and helped him climb those 13 steps and he sat in pain in his seat on game day. Ten years ago, after Dad had a stroke and could not even stand up, the Doctor told him he could not go the game Saturday. He thought Dad was kidding all week when he kept telling him that he was going to the game, since he was bed ridden in a rehab facility and could not even stand. But Friday, Dad had his best friend and next door neighbor, Hansel Peek, drive his Motor Home down the back alley to the hospital and Hansel put him in a wheel chair and toted Daddy on and off that Motor Home, but he went to the game. Sunday, when Hansel brought him back to rehab, the Doctor was livid and could not believe that he had left the hospital. Daddy said, “I told you I was going to the game.” So, when last year when Daddy was on his death bed at home and was screaming at me and my sister to get him up and take him to the game, he has not happy that we would not. I arranged for Tech to pay tribute to Daddy for his 85 years as a loyal Tech fan, and had every intention to take Daddy to that game to see that they honored him, but he was in very bad shape. The tumor in his brain was pushing against the cranium and making him crazy. I begged the nurses to let me take him, but they said the trip would kill him. Well, he would rather die at the game as to die in that bed. My grandson, Robert Lewis Duling, IV, went with me to sit in the President’s box with the President of Georgia Tech, Dr. G. P. “Bud” Peterson, who shook Robbie’s hand and said that he hoped he would come to Tech someday. Maybe Robbie will carry on the 100 year old Duling Legacy at Georgia Tech. I am sad to say that my Dad never even got to see the video that I made for him and never knew they honored him. He died at 9 am the very next morning, on Sunday Sept. 22nd, 2014. Robbie and I continued to attend every game that season and sat with his friends of 30 years in the Alumni section. And, I hope to be able to continue to go represent my father at future games until I die, and maybe Robbie will carry the tradition on for another 60 years. God Bless my Dad, the Number One Georgia Tech fan, I hope he is watching with Bobby Dodd every game this coming season and brings tech some of that old Dodd luck.