page_title: History of the Georgia Institute of Technology
section_title: Sugar Bowl controversy
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Georgia Institute of Technology / Postwar changes and unrest (1944–1956) / Sugar Bowl controversy
caption_attribution_description: In 1956, the University of Pittsburgh's Bobby Grier was the first to break the Sugar Bowl's color-barrier.
context_page_description: The history of the Georgia Institute of Technology can be traced back to Reconstruction-era plans to develop the industrial base of the Southern United States. Founded on October 13, 1885, in Atlanta as the Georgia School of Technology, the university opened in 1888 after the construction of Tech Tower and a shop building and only offered one degree in mechanical engineering. By 1901, degrees in electrical, civil, textile, and chemical engineering were also offered. In 1948, the name was changed to the Georgia Institute of Technology to reflect its evolution from an engineering school to a full technical institute and research university.
  The Georgia Institute of Technology is the birthplace of two other Georgia universities: Georgia State University and the former Southern Polytechnic State University. Georgia Tech's Evening School of Commerce, established in 1912 and moved to the University of Georgia in 1931, was independently established as Georgia State University in 1955. Although Georgia Tech did not officially allow women to enroll until 1952, the night school enrolled female students as early as the fall of 1917.
context_section_description: After a successful (8–1–1) football season in 1955, Tech was invited to play in the 1956 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans against the University of Pittsburgh. It would be the school's fifth straight bowl appearance under renowned coach Bobby Dodd. Pittsburgh had a black starting player, fullback Bobby Grier, but as Tech had played a 1953 game against a desegregated Notre Dame team, and the University of Georgia had very recently played out-of-state games against desegregated opponents, president Van Leer and the Tech Athletic Association saw the game's contract as acceptable. However, racial tension in the South was high following the recent Brown v. Board of Education decision. Georgia Governor Marvin Griffin had privately given Dodd his support, but he surprised the campus and the state on Friday, December 2, 1955, by bowing to pressure from segregationists and sending a wire to the Georgia Board of Regents chairman, Robert O. Arnold, requesting not only that Tech not play the game, but that all University System of Georgia teams play only segregated games:
  It is my request that athletic teams of units of the University System of Georgia not be permitted to engage in contests with other teams where the races are mixed on such teams or where segregation is not required among spectators at such events. The South stands at Armageddon. The battle is joined. We cannot make the slightest concession to the enemy in this dark and lamentable hour of struggle. There is no more difference in compromising integrity of race on the playing field than doing so in the classrooms. One break in the dike and the relentless seas will rush in and destroy us. We are in this fight 100 percent; not 98 percent, nor 75 percent, not 64 percent– but a full 100 percent. An immediate called meeting of the State Board of Regents to act on my request is vitally necessary at this time.
  Enraged, Tech students organized an impromptu protest rally on campus. At midnight, a large group of students hung the governor in effigy and ignited a bonfire. They then marched to Five Points, the Georgia State Capitol, and the Georgia Governor's Mansion, hanging the governor in effigy at each location. The students did some minor damage to the Governor's Mansion before the march was dispersed by state representative "Muggsy" Smith at 3:30 am.
  Van Leer's only comment to the media came on Saturday, December 3, 1955: "I am 60 years old and I have never broken a contract. I do not intend to start now". At a tense meeting of the Board of Regents on Monday, it was decided that Georgia Tech would be allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl. The new policy was that "all laws, customs and traditions of host states would be respected but all games played in Georgia would be segregated", a policy that would remain until 1963. The regents, with the exception of Tech alumnus David Rice, condemned the "riotous" behavior of Tech students. Rice instead criticized Marvin Griffin, and was lauded by The Technique as the "only man with the moral conviction to stand up against Griffin, ... and co". Ironically, Tech defeated Pittsburgh 7–0 because of a pass interference call on the black player. Van Leer died six weeks after this incident, on January 23, 1956; the stress of the controversy was believed to have shortened his life.
caption: Bobby Grier at the controversial 1956 Sugar Bowl
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