Yesterday I took my son Thomas for a haircut. As I waited for him, I picked up a copy of ESPN Magazine, and casually turned the pages. This issue covered the histories of many of the upcoming college football bowl games. My attention was drawn to a sidebar wherein a few failed bowl series were mentioned. One in particular - "The Poultry Bowl" really caught my eye. It appears that there were exactly two Poultry Bowl games ever held: the inaugural one in 1973 and the last in '74. Both games were held in Gainesville, Georgia.
Now I happen to know Gainesville, Georgia fairly well. I lived there from 1988 until 1992...most of the time while living on a houseboat, but that's another story. Located about an hour northeast of Atlanta, and situated alongside Lake Sidney Lanier, the Gainesville I knew was a sleepy little burg soon to be the recipient of development growth akin to an out-of-whack thyroid condition. It was a lovely place...with (obviously) the lake, a quaint downtown square, and scores of beautiful Georgian homes, all saved from the match wielded by that drunk Yankee arsonist, General W.T. Sherman, but that's another story.
Just south of downtown is this monument (pictured above) to Gainesville's #1 industry: chicken processing. The monument is a bit underwhelming...a fairly tall column for a very small chicken statue. I always thought of it at the "Nelson's Column of The South", but that's another story. Gaineville bills itself as the "Chicken Capitol of the World", and, when the wind blows from the direction of any of the dozens of poultry plants on a hot afternoon, it's hard to argue...and that's not only due to the gag reflex induced by the accompanying stench.
I learned a bit about Gainesville's place in history while I lived there. I knew that it was the first town south of Baltimore to be outfitted with streetlights. I knew many residents who can still recall its total obliteration from a 1936 tornado. I myself even had the misfortune of being caught in a pretty bad tornado while living there, but that's another story. But, until yesterday, I had never heard tell of Gainesville's shot at college bowl fame and fortune.
In searching the internet, I found it all but impossible to find anything about the Poultry Bowl. I did find this photo of then-governor Jimmy Carter at a public affair in Gainesville at which he declared the day "Poultry Bowl Day".
I had gotten to know Jimmy Carter a bit back in the time I lived in Gaineville, as we shared a love of Atlanta Braves' baseball and Civil War/Confederate history, but that's another story.
I am amazed that I've yet to find any real evidence of the Poultry Bowls themselves. Where were the games held? What teams played? Who was responsible for conceiving of The Poultry Bowl, and what was responsible for its quick demise?
It remains a mystery to me...for now. I plan to do a little bit of Poultry Bowl research, and - should you have any information to pass along - I'd really appreciate hearing about it.
That will surely make for another story.
Now I happen to know Gainesville, Georgia fairly well. I lived there from 1988 until 1992...most of the time while living on a houseboat, but that's another story. Located about an hour northeast of Atlanta, and situated alongside Lake Sidney Lanier, the Gainesville I knew was a sleepy little burg soon to be the recipient of development growth akin to an out-of-whack thyroid condition. It was a lovely place...with (obviously) the lake, a quaint downtown square, and scores of beautiful Georgian homes, all saved from the match wielded by that drunk Yankee arsonist, General W.T. Sherman, but that's another story.Just south of downtown is this monument (pictured above) to Gainesville's #1 industry: chicken processing. The monument is a bit underwhelming...a fairly tall column for a very small chicken statue. I always thought of it at the "Nelson's Column of The South", but that's another story. Gaineville bills itself as the "Chicken Capitol of the World", and, when the wind blows from the direction of any of the dozens of poultry plants on a hot afternoon, it's hard to argue...and that's not only due to the gag reflex induced by the accompanying stench.
I learned a bit about Gainesville's place in history while I lived there. I knew that it was the first town south of Baltimore to be outfitted with streetlights. I knew many residents who can still recall its total obliteration from a 1936 tornado. I myself even had the misfortune of being caught in a pretty bad tornado while living there, but that's another story. But, until yesterday, I had never heard tell of Gainesville's shot at college bowl fame and fortune.
In searching the internet, I found it all but impossible to find anything about the Poultry Bowl. I did find this photo of then-governor Jimmy Carter at a public affair in Gainesville at which he declared the day "Poultry Bowl Day".I had gotten to know Jimmy Carter a bit back in the time I lived in Gaineville, as we shared a love of Atlanta Braves' baseball and Civil War/Confederate history, but that's another story.
I am amazed that I've yet to find any real evidence of the Poultry Bowls themselves. Where were the games held? What teams played? Who was responsible for conceiving of The Poultry Bowl, and what was responsible for its quick demise?
It remains a mystery to me...for now. I plan to do a little bit of Poultry Bowl research, and - should you have any information to pass along - I'd really appreciate hearing about it.
That will surely make for another story.
1 comment:
We now know the one thing that catapulted Jimmy into the National limelight; Next stop.. "The Presidency."
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