My first game at Sanford Stadium was 1972. I was 6 and the only child of Martha and Ken Carroll. We lived in Athens.
Dad was a 1964 Tech graduate and Vietnam vet and was attending law school at UGA.
I had a laminated dependent student ID that got me into the game for free. We sat in the Georgia student section, near the UGA band and cheerleaders.
Georgia was killing us 20-0 at halftime.
The second half got nasty. My uncle Johnny, a '68 Tech grad, got in a shouting match with a drunk Georgia dude and the next thing I know he pulls an empty bottle of whiskey over his head and threatens my mom's brother.
Well, I freaked out and started to cry. My dad swept me up and took me down near the field behind the hedges, facing the Tech cheerleaders. He put me on his shoulders where I could see better.
In the fourth quarter, Tech's David Sims, our stud RB crashed into the endzone right in front of us on a 20-yard sweep. We witnessed up close Tech's only score and I was elated.
We lost the game 27-7 and I survived my initiation into the Tech-Georgia rivalry.
Interviews with Butker and DJ after Tech 30-24 win over Georgia 2014