Important Events
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Dean Field's Model T rambles across campus
1916-1928 (Atlanta, GA)
Throughout his term on campus, Dean of Men Floyd Field drives his 1916 Ford Model T. Eventually, the car becomes an icon on campus and beloved by the student body and is later called a "Ramblin' Wreck".
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Dean Field gives his car an overhaul
October 8, 1926 (Atlanta, GA)
With the help of the machine shop on campus, Dean Field gives his Model T a massive overhaul. As described by the Technique, 'Gone are the wheezes and grunts. New fenders on the rear have restored her shapely form and hidden her spindly axles. A new top has given the needed touch of seasoned smart- ness and an enveloping coat of paint has been imposed upon her lovely tin body. Thus we have with us yet "our own original Ramblin' Wreck" locking daintier, and, as the dean himself puts it, "Better than ever."'
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"Rambling Wreck" Goes Into the Past And Is Replaced by the Up-to-Date
September 28, 1928 (Atlanta, GA)
Dean Field replaces his aging Model T with a brand-new Model A, a move decried by the student body who mourned for the beloved car, calling it "a stimulus to flaggering spirits" and "a symbol, a signpost pointing the dim road to the Unknown".
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TECHNIQUE TO SPONSOR OLD COLLEGIATE AUTO RACE TO ATHENS
May 17, 1929 (Atlanta, GA)
In honor of Dean Field's old Model T and old cars everywhere, the Technique sponsors an "Old Ford" race to test the mettle of dilapidated cars from across the region in a race from Atlanta to Athens. The first race takes place on May 18th, bookended by a Tech-u(sic)ga baseball game. This race later becomes known as the "Flying Flivver Race".
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Yellow Jacket Club chartered
September 26, 1930 (Atlanta, GA)
Lamenting low morale and school spirit on campus, head football coach Bill Alexander charters the Yellow Jacket Club, an organization built to promote school spirit and traditions. The first class of the club is built of about 60 upperclassmen from all walks of campus life - "fraternity men and non-fraternity men, politicians and non politicians, men who study and those who are interested in activities, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors".
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The original Ramblin' Wreck Parade
1932 (Atlanta, GA)
After the Tech administration declares the "Flying Flivver Race" unsafe, the Yellow Jacket Club reorganizes the race into a parade of 'wrecks' on campus. Student organizations are encouraged to build heavily-modified and decorated cars and contraptions to show off to campus and be judged for technical complexity and creativity. Dean Field and his 1916 Model T lead the first parade, won by participants from the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. Today, the race is led by the modern-day Ramblin' Reck and has evolved to include three categories - classic cars, fixed-bodies, and contraptions. Throughout the years, painstaking effort has been invested to ensure the parade does not turn into a procession of fancy floats and maintain the technical and ingenious character of the Georgia Tech student body.
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Yellow Jacket Club disbanded and reformed into Ramblin' Reck Club
July 28, 1945 (Atlanta, GA)
After failing to plan a school dance in January and uphold their responsibilities as denizens of school spirit because of infighting within the organization, the Yellow Jacket Club is disbanded in early July 1945. Later that month, ANAK, with the help of a few determined Yellow Jacket Club members, created a new organization to manage school spirit - the Ramblin' Reck Club. To avoid the domination of specific Greek organizations, the founders of the new club mandated that each Greek organization could only send up to two members to the club.
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