Saving Saturday 2017

(This article appeared in its original form in 2013. It has been edited and updated.)
By Sam Burnham
​@C_SamBurnham

Football has a storied tradition in the South and Georgia is
no exception. This particular story goes back to the days when football was young, back before Southern towns doubled their population on Saturdays in the fall.

On October 30, 1897 the University of Georgia, before they were known as the Bulldogs, played the University of Virginia. Sometime during the game, a 17-year-old from Rome named Von Gammon was involved in a play that ended violently with a huge pile of players.

When the pile unfolded, Von Gammon remained motionless on the ground. Doctors at the game determined he had a serious head injury. Legend has it that he begged his teammates to continue as he was carried from the field, although it is more likely that he was unconscious at the time. He was carried to Grady Hospital where he died early the next morning. He would be buried in Myrtle Hill Cemetery next to Col. Pennington's Fountain.

The legislature was in session at that time and as the news spread across the state the government did what it does best. It initiated a knee jerk overreaction and passed a bill that would ban the sport of football in Georgia. It was said to be too dangerous. No football. No "Between the Hedges". No "Ramblin' Wreck". No tailgating. Nothing.

But football had an unlikely ally.

Rosalind Burns Gammon, Von's mother, wrote the local representative to the legislature. (I'm hesitant to call him "her legislator" as in 1897 she couldn't legally register to vote for another 25 years.) She lobbied for the sport her son and his friends loved. She didn't want Von's death to be the reason his friends were barred from playing. She begged them to stop the bill. The letter found its way to the governor - the last step the bill needed to become law. Part of Mrs. Gammon's argument was that Von had two friends die, one rock climbing and one skating, and their sports had not been banned from the state.

In the end, the governor vetoed the bill. Georgia Football was saved. It was all because a mom stood up, refused to be a victim and kept the government's meddling out of football.

120 years have passed since that sad Saturday. Football has changed greatly. But two things remained the same. It still takes 11 Virginians to tackle one Georgian, and there is still a lot of debate on the safety of football.

This debate will continue. We need to work toward more safety features and better treatment options. Players need to be taught the safety fundamentals early on. We need to make the sport safer, as we've done since 1897. It can be a dangerous sport. But I won't advocate abolishing it. I'm thankful for the example of Mrs. Rosalind Gammon and I hope we'll follow it.

Von Gammon