The Rag Tag Gang: The Story of America's Zaniest College Football Team

by Ken Mink

Overview

This is the story of the characters and circumstances surrounding the wildest college football game ever played: Georgia Tech’s 222-0 victory over little Cumberland University on Oct. 7, 1916, in Atlanta. Cumberland dropped football after a disastrous 1915 season in which it was outscored by an aggregate 276-0 in five games. But Cumberland beat the Georgia Tech baseball team 22-0 by illegally using a half dozen professional players. Coach John Heisman, who coached the Tech baseball and football teams, discovered that Cumberland had not formally cancelled its contract to play Tech in football in 1916. Heisman, looking for revenge, insisted the game be played or Cumberland would have to pay Tech a $3,000 forfeit fee (a huge sum at the time). Cumberland wanted to avoid the costly forfeiture fee so it told the school’s young sports team’s managers, George Allen, to somehow come up with a team to play Tech. Allen’s adventures in putting together a bunch of misfits and finding a coach result in some hilarious moments. The game itself also included numerous humorous situations.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940013375871
Publisher:	Mink Media
Publication date:	09/15/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	124
File size:	31 KB

About the Author

Ken Mink has spent more than 50 years as journalist/author.

A Kentucky native, he retired from active newspaper work in 1998 but continues to serve as a journalist, editing an online magazine. Ken Mink lives in Knoxville, Tn., semi-retired after a 48-year career as a journalist. He is editor of the travel magazine, The Travelling Adventurer (www.travellingadventurer.com), and writing freelance articles for newspapers and magazines. Other daily newspapers he worked for include the Lexington, Ky., Herald-Leader, the Dayton, Ohio, Daily News, the Bristol, Va., Herald-Courier, Kingsport, Tn., Times-News, Harrisonburg, Va., Daily News-Record and the Hopkinsville, Ky., New Era.

He is the author of several books, including So, You Want Your Kid to be a Sports Superstar, Teen Gunslinger, A Bloody Trail, Nightmare on Black Mountain, Serpent on the Cross, The Mailman Murders, The Cola Conspiracy and Hoops Dreamer: The Ken Mink Story.


But he is perhaps best known as the World’s Oldest College Basketball Player. He was unjustly expelled from college in 1956 while playing on his college team at Lees Junior College, Jackson, Ky. After retiring in 2007 he got the urge to try to return to college basketball at age 73 to finish his career. Incredibly, he made the team at Roane State College, Harriman, Tn., and went on to play in seven games and scored in three, setting several world records. He was featured on numerous national TV shows and was highlighted in hundreds of newspapers and magazines and Ripley‘s Believe It Or Not. He has signed with a Hollywood producer to do a movie based on his life.