Passion play by Michelle Hiskey

By MICHELLE HISKEY - 08/28/05 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The passion for college football blows through the South each fall like the wind.

It's easier to feel than to touch or describe.

You can see it easily, though, by looking at how it shapes these fans' most personal choices.

To them, it's not enough to fly a car flag, dress head to toe in team colors or tailgate until hours after the game ends.

To these folks, from cradle to grave, devotion for college football runs way deeper.

Goodbye to a loyal Bulldog

Herschel Scott loved the Georgia football team so much he died on an off week.

It was November 2003, between the Florida and Ole Miss games.

His tombstone had been ready for years.

"Bulldog Born, Bulldog Bred, Here I Lie, A Bulldog Dead," read its engraving.

Scott listed himself as "Mr. Bulldog" in the Monroe phone book. He attended 471 consecutive Georgia games, both home and away. He started in 1929, when Sanford Stadium was new.

He compared the Georgia football spirit to being born again, and refused to eat mustard because it reminded him of the gold of archrival Georgia Tech.

The retired restaurant owner and U.S. Navy veteran was hospitalized before his death at 82.

Even then, he talked to visitors about the team, said his younger brother Calvin Scott, 75.

"He went to more than 200 home games, so he could have been talking about any of them," Calvin Scott said.

Summing up his brother's gravestone, his brother said simply, "It's him, that's what it is. That's who he was."

A volunteer for half a century

Red Mullins lost count of how many years he's spent volunteering at Georgia Tech games. It's more than 50.

The Peachtree City retiree laughs when asked how much money he might have made had he been paid for his service in the press box. "It would be phenomenal," he said. "But money doesn't mean anything to me."

Mullins, 79, missed one game last season after quadruple-bypass heart surgery. That's what it takes to keep him from Bobby Dodd Stadium.

"I started out there when Coach Dodd was there. It's a great school, a good tradition," Mullins said.

Following Tech was also convenient. Mulllins had gone to Georgia — and still pulls for the Bulldogs against Tech — but as a young transplant to Atlanta, he wanted to immerse himself in the local teams.

He compiled stats for Tech until computers came on the scene. Today he oversees the photographer's area and takes care of visiting scouts. It's quieter, he says, ever since they banned drinking in the press box.

His devotion to sports spills over from Tech. He operated the scoreboard for Braves and Falcons games in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. He's volunteered at all 37 Peach Bowls. He's been married for 56 years.

"He enjoys the people and the atmosphere," wife Marcia says. "He just doesn't miss the games."

The wedding game

Many couples in the South plan fall weddings around football games.

Ben Moore, 24, and Amy Childres, 22, tried to do that, but their team is so new that it didn't work out. So their passions for each other and the Georgia State football team will be at odds Oct. 1.

Moore is probably the biggest booster of his alma mater's football club. Between classes and waiting tables, Moore poured himself into promoting the Panthers. He wore G-State gear everywhere. He got his dad to announce the games. He even dressed up as a GSU player for Halloween.

Efforts like his seem to be paying off. The school's new athletics director is looking into making football a varsity sport.

Moore graduated in 2003 and got engaged in July 2004 "to knock it out before football season." The high school sweethearts picked Oct. 1 as their wedding day, an off day for both Georgia and Georgia Tech, and they hoped, Georgia State.

But the Panthers didn't firm up this season's schedule until early this month. Moore was crushed to see his team plays North Greenville on his wedding day.

"My buddy re-arranged his wedding for Georgia's schedule, but Amy wasn't having that," Moore said. "I have to grin and bear it."

His wife-to-be has faith in his promise to love and cherish her more than his team. "I love him and I know he loves me, and football will never come between us," she said.

On Oct. 1 at 2 p.m., the couple will wed at Community Bible Church in Stockbridge. Nearby, he hopes, will be a computer set up to stream the score of the game he's missing. The groom's cake will be the shape of — take a guess — a football.

A true Rattler

If you're Darryl Scott, you've got college football on your mind even on a trip to Lowe's.

Two years ago, Scott was picking out paint for the inside of his new house in southwest Atlanta. A palette of bright green and orange caught his eye. The colors of his Florida A&M Rattlers.

Scott's ties to the 118-year-old school run deep. He grew up next to the campus. His dad was a professor, his uncle ran the bowling alley. He and two siblings graduated from there.

Such devotion has been tested recently with the school's admission of widespread NCAA infractions. Scott says the bad news won't ruin his season. When the team appears at the Atlanta Football Classic on Sept. 24, all weekend he'll welcome his friends to his home.

The living room and dining room are orange. A sitting area near the kitchen is bright green, and the family room is a golden green.

"Now this is a true Rattler!" is a common response. So is "Amen." Scott, a pastor, holds church services in this part of his home. So the spirit moves here not just on Saturdays.

FAMU's Marching 100 band remains a huge draw for Scott, 40, a computer engineer for Coca-Cola. His favorite moment is the crowd's gospel-like singalong, "I'm so glad I'm from FAMU." It could be the theme for his paint scheme, too.

BC just a blog away

You're 28 and separated from your team by a whole culture. The cure?

You blog.

Several times a week, year round, Bill Maloney writes his thoughts on Boston College football on his Web site "Eagle in Atlanta."

"Capturing the highs and lows of being a BC fan living 1,000 miles from Chestnut Hill," is its motto.

"My passion was stoked by being far away, and being in Atlanta where college football is king," said Maloney, who fell for the team at age 8 when he saw Doug Flutie's famous pass. "It's a way to take the passion in the South and mix it with the northeastern sense of doom we have with our team."

His musings at http://atleagle.blogspot.com draw fans curious about the Eagles as they debut in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Maloney introduces them to TOB (bland head coach Tom O'Brien), Kiwi (star defensive player Mathias Kiwanuka) and Spaz (defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani).

He critiques the team's "robotic stiffs." He praises those who exemplify the school motto, "Ever to Excel."

"It's an outlet, just like calling a sports talk station or sending in a Vent," said Maloney, who worked on the team's radio broadcasts before he graduated in 1998. "No one will publish 2,000 words on BC's kicking game, but I can."

Hot off the grill, seared with 'A' kiss

Burcher Gammage enjoys inviting football fans to his Suwanee home for a cookout. His favorite guests are ones who follow teams that have lost to his alma mater Auburn.

By now, these friends are wise to his cooking style. He loves to serve them up a nice steak or chicken breast seared with his team's big "A" logo. It's visible proof of how fired up he is.

"The best part is watching the look on a friend's face when Auburn is a school they don't like," said Gammage, 40, who graduated in 1987.

ith Auburn dominating last season, his logo grill has gotten a good workout. The "Fan Brand" is an invention of his friend and neighbor Raymond Monroe.

Monroe, conveniently for Gammage, is an Alabama grad.

"The way I figure it, you are what you eat," Gammage said. "I keep feeding my Alabama friends these steaks and they'll become Auburn fans."

You're named after Bear — now live up to it

Bryant Brantley of Douglasville is only 3, but when he says his name, his family and friends all know where it came from.

Alabama, and legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.

So many boys are named after him that the Paul Bryant Museum hosts a cookout for them each season at the first home game.

In 2004, the Brantleys went, with pride. Bryant's parents admire the tough love and loyalty displayed by the old coach. Their son loved seeing his name all over Tuscaloosa.

"You have to live up to your name, and I feel like this is a good name for him to have to live up to," said Bryant's dad, Wayne Brantley, 35, a principal and quarterbacks coach at Landmark Christian. "Coach Bryant has been dead for 22 years and he's still the most popular man in the state of Alabama. That's a pretty powerful statement to what kind of man he was and what he did."