If ever one person deserves the title of Auburn Man it's George Petrie.
He was not the founder of East Alabama Male College in 1856 since has born in 1886, but he is the dominant person in Auburn history.
He was a true Renaissance Man though he may have been a Confederate historian and blind defender of the Southern Way of Life.
Most likely he would have liked Dolly Parton. :)
When I was an Auburn freshman in the fall of 1968 the athletic department .was located in a little building next to what would become Haley Center named for Petrie. I had no idea at that point who he was. Dinkly little building compared to today. No idea if it's still there.
I have always been intrigued by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Hopkins students were not given to frivolity. P. 46
In the late 19th Century, if you couldn't make it to a German University, Germany having defined the modern University, Hopkins was THE fresh, landing place where academics was supreme.
In 1888 Petrie was determined to leave Auburn, he could not see staying there, to pursue a Phd in modern languages at Hopkins. So away he went for the fall of 1888 to Baltimore hoping to remain in Baltimore for the duration.
Petrie graduated with his doctorate from Hopkins intending not to return to Auburn, but he was recruited back to Auburn by President Broun. He did not go to Hopkins intending to be a historian but got turned on to history while at Hopkins understanding how to study history rigorously beyond just memorizing facts.
History people tend to get inspired by historians who are brilliant at their craft and great teachers. What Petrie found at Johns Hopkins and what I found at his Auburn University.
Rufus Doresey scored Auburn's first touchdown on the gridiron.
The rudimentary beginnings of the game of football as described in this book in recounting the 1892 game between Auburn & Georgia in Atlanta are mind-boggling. The game certainly evolved over the years.
Mike Jernigan - Auburn Man:The Life and Times of George Petrie
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