Throwback Thursday – Opening of Allen E. Paulson Stadium – September 29, 1984 Georgia Southern Head Football Coach Erk Russell didn’t concern himself with his surroundings, even as he and his staff had meetings and watched films in a trailer/makeshift office behind Hanner Fieldhouse. One of his legendary quips, “when you don’t have the best of everything, make the best of everything you have,” applied to more than a few things as the program went from a start-up to national champion in just a few short years. From the beginning, Georgia Southern Football has been a community effort. Contributions for practice attire, a coaches’ tower, blocking and tackling sleds, a sawbuck for socks or this or that, -- so many items completely taken for granted everywhere else – were accepted and appreciated. An assembly of players wore hand-me-down jerseys, helmets and football pants in an array of colors from their gridiron brethren at older, more established institutions, as part of the football program’s own humble beginnings. The team’s first practice “facility” was none other than the tennis courts by Hanner Fieldhouse and they wouldn’t long suffice once the Eagles would start contact . Dirt and weeds on the north side of campus were transformed into two practice fields on the “banks of Beautiful Eagle Creek” through kindness and sweat equity. And with fans packing in the stands to double the capacity at Statesboro High School to see the new college team in South Georgia play, the Eagles would need a stadium of their own. Georgia Southern President Dale Lick, Athletic Director Bucky Wagner and the “Dirty Dozen,” already had “stadium” on their wish list when moving the Georgia Southern football program from dream to reality. It wasn’t long after Coach Russell arrived in Statesboro when Sen. Glenn Bryant, from nearby Hinesville, made a major commitment to the program and donated the property that is now “Erk Russell Athletic Park.” M.C. Anderson, a contractor, pledged to...
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 03:04:10 +0000
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