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Georgia Tech Football Top 50 Best Moments, #49: The First Win At Notre Dame

By Reeves Guyton

MIAMI GARDENS, FL - JANUARY 05: A detail of a Georgia Tech logo is seen on a canopy of a tailgating tenst prior to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets playing against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the FedEx Orange Bowl at Land Shark Stadium on January 5, 2010 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
MIAMI GARDENS, FL - JANUARY 05: A detail of a Georgia Tech logo is seen on a canopy of a tailgating tenst prior to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets playing against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the FedEx Orange Bowl at Land Shark Stadium on January 5, 2010 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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49. Georgia Tech Beats Notre Dame, 1942

October 3, 1942: Georgia Tech 13, Notre Dame 6

The year before, Georgia Tech Coach Bill Alexander’s team was 3-6 and had lost four of their last five games, including a 21-0 loss to Georgia at home. No one knew what the 1942 season would hold for Georgia Tech but people were excited.

Clint Castleberry was only 5-foot-9 and 155 pounds but was all-state in football, basketball, and baseball at Boys High. He set state marks for scoring in a season with 102 points while gaining 171 yards a game on the ground and winning a state championship. He had spurned other big-name programs to stay home and play for Bill Alexander at Tech and boy did he live up to the hype as he finished third in Heisman Trophy voting (only two freshmen have finished higher than him in Heisman voting since then).

After a 15-0 win vs. Auburn, Tech only sent 31 players to play the Irish in South Bend. Georgia Tech had played Notre Dame 7 times previously and had never scored more than 7 points. Castleberry was so impressive in his debut that Notre Dame scout William Millner informed coach Frank Leahy that the Tech rookie was “the most dangerous runner in America.” Even after the fantastic debut and win, a win against Notre Dame, especially in South Bend, wasn’t expected.

Castleberry put those doubts to rest as he came in, absolutely dominated and outplayed the future Heisman Trophy winner Angelo Bertelli as he threw the game-winning touchdown pass. He was hailed after the game as, “one of the finest backs in the country, and leave size out of it.”

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This game helped springboard one of the most improbable seasons in Georgia Tech history and helped cement Clint Castleberry and the #19 legend at Georgia Tech. Although Castleberry died in World War II, he and this game will forever be remembered!

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