With Hokie football right around the corner, my excitement level is through the roof! I've been re-watching highlights of old Tech football games and reminiscing about some of my favorite Hokie memories. I began thinking about the first Tech football game that I attended in person. It was November 30, 2002; and the opponent was none other than LOLUVA.
Growing up in North Carolina, I didn't know too much about Virginia Tech. That all changed when the Tech baseball team began recruiting my older brother. They brought him up to Blacksburg for an official visit during the Tech/Marshall football game in 2002. I wasn't able to go with him, but I remember the look on his face when he came back home. He told me that he had never experienced anything like a football game in Lane Stadium. There was something magical about that place. His eyes lit up when he told me about the duo of Lee Suggs of Kevin Jones, known as "The Untouchables"!
He also told me about "Enter Sandman" and about this crazy cheer called "Old Hokie" that he was trying to learn the words to. He said that I had to go up there for a game ASAP!
My brother and I drove up to Blacksburg with my parents for the 2002 Tech/LOLUVA game. My greatest memory from that game was that it was COLD. I vividly remember trying to eat a personal sized pizza while my hands were shaking uncontrollably. It was senior day in Blacksburg, and I remember that Lee Suggs got a huge ovation from the crowd. Once the game started, I was hooked. The Wahoos held a 3-0 lead after one quarter, but Tech came storming back for a 21-9 victory thanks to a scoop and score from Darryl Tapp and two rushing TDs from Lee Suggs. After the game, my brother informed the baseball coaches that he was committed to play for them. I then purchased my very own Lee Suggs jersey from the bookstore. When I came back to NC, I told everyone at school about the experience. I described how the entire stadium jumped up and down for "Enter Sandman." I even acted out the motions for the "Stick It In" cheer, which the teachers deemed "inappropriate." From that day forward, Virginia Tech was MY TEAM!
So what are your memories from the first Tech football game that you attended? Was it at Lane Stadium or another venue? Did the Hokies win, lose or tie?
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Victory Stadium, Roanoke Virginia. Thanksgiving Day late 50's. Playing VMI . was the Game back then. First Game at VT, 1964, VT playing Fla. State. Upset Game for Fla. State. I was a junior in high school. Fred B. played and was a All American. Went on to play for Oakland Raiders, Been many years a VT Fan.
I miss that stadium.
JMU game, I am walking into the North end zone, waiting in that long ass line. A middle aged alumni gives me his full jack and coke to finish before we get there. I gladly oblige.
good times, 2003.
Beating coach chinballs with tyrod at qb, the orange bowl season if I need to be specific
All I know is it was in the 03 season. I was 10 so I don't really know any of the details we played BC and lost. Still had a good time I guess cause my parents ended up with season tickets from 2004 until 2016.
Edit: The more I think about it the less I'm sure this was my first game, but I'll stick with it.
I don't have any memories from my first game, but I'm sure I had a great time. What I do remember is our RA ripping shots of Southern Comfort with us in East AJ dorm room for a pregame.
Our first home ACC football game against Duke in 2004. First home game experience, first time marching onto Worsham Field. It was magical. Plus people were passing out these cool wooden poker chips to commemorate the first ACC home game. Also helped that we got the win.
I was at that game too. I think I still have a few of those wooden chips at my parents' house.
Three of us with the same home game!
Truth be told the night before this game I was introduced for the first time to a substance called Bourbon. I drank the whole 5th myself and basically laid waist to our room in Pritchard. It was not a good time. I was young and foolish.
That being said it really had an affect on my energy level the next day at the game. I am pretty sure I continuously dozed off the whole time. I walked back to my still destroyed dorm after that and passed out the rest of the weekend.
The NC State game the following week was much more enjoyable for me, despite the outcome...
That was my 2nd game...we got like 7 chips in my parents basement lol
That was my first home game as well.....sadly lost my wood chip
Nice! I still have a couple and one of those is a little worn from being a good luck charm during games!
I didn't go to that one, but my parents did. My mom gave me her wooden poker chip, and we still have a few of the plastic drink cups.
The Marshall/VT game was my first. Crazy experience as a 6 yr old. My dad was there for a conference and we got to eat with the president and sit in the student section! Atmosphere was crazy!!
Pitt 2003. High up in the SEZ. Froze my ass off. My dad was ready to fight Ronyell Whitaker on the way home that night.
Our savior Sean Glennon was 38-0 bro'ing fools like Northeastern in 2006 back before it was cool... But really all I remember was playing pickup football with friends and chasing the ball onto Southgate and dodging cars.
Oh boy... So the first VT game I attended was VT-Miami... College Gameday... in 2005... so yes my first game in Lane Stadium is one of the absolute worst games in our team's history.
Was there a memorable moment? Yes, in fact there was, while going for an onside kick very late in the game Adibi and Flowers combined to hit a Miami player so hard everyone just kind of went silent. It was pretty scary how hard they hit him.
I was an infant and going to games in the early 90's but the first game I truly remember was losing to Temple in 1998 so trust me it can get much worse...
I don't remember my first game actually going, but I do remember the first time I started to take notice of college football as opposed to the NFL. I was living in Thomas Hall and watching our game that was happening in the stadium at the time with some other students (back when students had to wait in line for the week to get tickets). We scored a touchdown and you could hear the crowd noise on the TV, and moments later you could hear the crowd noise from outside. I knew then I wanted to start going to the games.
Reminds me of this video from Texas A&M. I wish a video like this existed for Lane Stadium. I'm sure it sounds like this at the Duck Pond when we have a big play.
1996 against Rutgers...I honestly don't remember it at all. From later that year, I can vaguely remember the awkward walk to the cage to get my car after the win over WVU (which was where all the WVU fans parked).
I have far clearer memories of my first few basketball games in Cassell, especially the win over George Washington. I think that's the game where the AD asked us before tipoff to stop saying "Sit down, you suck." IIRC the game was going to be on ESPN2, and he was concerned about how we'd be perceived on TV. Which, of course, made the fans yell it even louder.
Well at least y'all weren't cussin.
My first game was as a freshman in 2008 in Carolina against ECU with the MVs. The experience of my first Tech game plus performing on the field at halftime for the first time was amazing. It was hot as hell that day and Dave let us remove our top layer, which apparently never happened. Overall it's a great memory, its just too bad the game was never completed....
Same. All of it.
My first memory was talking to my hall mates in Barringer Hall about an upcoming football game (I don't remember exactly which one). They asked me if I was going and I said, "No. I don't like or watch football." To which they responded, "Sure you do! Liking football is not optional here." And thus began my 24 year and counting love of football. The thing that really helped was having someone sitting in Lane Stadium with me explaining what was going on. My first love was watching the defense. I really enjoyed the presnap shifts. My first game was definitely at Lane Stadium and I think it was either Arkansas State or West Virginia. I definitely remember West Virginia because the goal posts were taken down and paraded through the streets!
#teambarringer
I remember telling someone I lived in Barringer. They asked, "Is that off-campus?" and I responded, "Sort of."
that's funny.
Barringer 2012 checking in. Basically how my first game went except I was the one convincing people to go. Labor Day OT win against chin balls was a good day to start my Hokie fandom. Sat way up in SEZ and still had a blast
Barringer 2010 #Dudefest
2005-2006 Vawter destroyed Barringer with the pranks.
Do I know you? What was the top floor of Vawter? 3rd? 4th? I was on that floor.
I was 2nd floor Vawter 270 Freshman year then an elegant corner spot in 271 Sophomore year.
Former Vawter resident here, I had 271 my freshman year too! Great room after the triple left. Moved to 263 for the next three years.
All you youngsters.
Barringer, Sophmore year 1980-81
I was a Junior in high school....my gf got me tickets to the WVU game for my birthday.... I rode up to Blacksburg from Richmond with her and her parents and they dropped me off to stay with my brother who was a Junior at VT.... we went to a party and I bonged a bunch of jungle juice (which were my first ever drinks) and got a random lap dance.
Hungover in the morning, I got dropped off at Lane to meet my gf and her parents, found our seats, I raged too hard during Enter Sandman, just after kick off I felt a rumbly in my tummy, immediately got up and ran down the steep upper level steps, barely made it to the South EZ bathrooms in time to hurl.
Felt invigorated, rallied, bought a turkey leg on my way back up to the seats, got that big W
You should have skipped your senior year, it sounds like you were already prepared for college.
I also received a random lap dance as a junior in high school on a trip to Blacksburg. It was at a party on Center Street. Good times.
I was an infant... sooo... don't remember much.
NC State 2004. Didn't know a thing about football at the beginning of the game and learned everything I needed to know as the game went along. We were in section 17 in the east stands, so we didn't have a good view of the south field goal posts that Brandon Pace was trying to kick into as time expired. I cheered because I thought the kick had gone through, but everyone else was quiet which helped me figure out that he had actually missed.
I have long thought me and my friends were the only idiots that thought we had won the game (libations were involved). We high five and go nuts. Look down and see NC State rushing our field. Actually told a friend, "don't they know they lost?"
Still baffling how deceiving that kick looked
I was in the North EZ for that one and for just a few seconds we thought we'd won.
Heck I was in the South Endzone and thought we won the game...
Our players ran on the field like they thought we had won the game. It was so close.
Went with my pops in 2001 as a junior in HS against Arkansas St (would have been in 2000 for homecoming to see Vick play but I had some stupid HS obligation and couldn't attend). Snagged cheapo tickets in the visitor section. Was surprised that as "bad" as the seats were, they didn't really feel like it. First time I witnessed Enter Sandman and remember telling my pops how freaking cool that was, even for a day game, against a no-name. Only later when I was a freshman there for '03 Miami did I realize the full impact of the entrance. Anyway, up 35-0 at half, stayed until the clock hit zero. 63-0 was the final I believe? I was already die-hard after watching Vick for two seasons, and the experience solidified my love for the team.
Arkansas State was in 2002. Also was my first home game. Great time. Blew up that scoreboard.
walking out of doak cambell on labor day after destroying the Seminoles on our way to an undefeated season and rolling the tide for our first ever national championship.
2002 against Temple. Rode up from Bristol with two drumline buddies and one's dad who was an alum. I was a senior in HS and had already applied for early decision because there was no doubt in my mind that if I got accepted to VT I was going there. Sat in Row WWW in the West stands. The most memorable thing about the game was doing all the "cheers" and air drumming along with the MV drumline. Sugar, Defense, Timbale, Brake Drums, and of course, Stick It In.
My first game as a student in 2003 was that weird Sunday opener game against UCF. Nothing memorable about that one except we won and I remember standing next to an ECU student and talking to her about how she was going to transfer to Tech after that year. I doubt she ever did.
My first game was Miami '01. You know the one where Wilford dropped the 2 point conversion that would have tied the game. Yep, that was my first game. Didn't end the greatest but it got me hooked.
Blocked punt for a TD is the loudest Lane has ever been. Don't @ me.
I never attended Tech. Still never been to a home game. I was a casusal fan of VT and cfb overall up until about 07, the year I joined the military. VT felt like a connection to home, so my interests intensified 1000x. Anyhow, the first and only time that I've seen the Hokies play in person is down in New Orleans; Sugar Bowl 2011. I was stationed at Barksdale at the time, so when I found out that we, surprisingly, were selected for the Sugar Bowl - I was thrilled.
I knew the base would eventually get tickets and give them away for the game, but I couldn't wait. I bought tickets for myself and a friend. Great seats. Frustrating game, but it was still fun as hell. The end tore me to shreds, I'm already a poor sport when it comes to my team losing - but seeing it happen live was heartbreaking.
It's about a 5 hour drive from New Orleans to Shreveport; I think I may have said a total of 3-4 words from the time that we left the stadium until we arrived back home. lol.
It was a catch.
Live in MI now and it's infuriating to show the UM peeps the video and they still deny...
It definitely was a catch AND, even if it wasn't, you need INDISPUTABLE EVIDENCE to overturn the original call!!!! Nothing about it was indisputable.
And it was even more infuriating being AT the game, because - if I'm remembering correctly - they weren't showing any replays!
What drove me crazy was how at the end of the game, they introduced the Allstate CEO and Michigan alum to speak. I threw on so many tinfoil hats it wasnt even funny
I'm still wearing the tinfoil hat. The head man of the Sugar Bowl at the time was also a Michigan alum. I have a hard time believing that as long as that replay took, there weren't phone calls being made around the suites and someone running to the replay booth to deliver the "result."
Same on the poor sportness. The drive home from the 05 Miami game was brutally quiet. I wanted to craw under a rock that night.
"Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser." -Cam Newton
We gotta get your ass to Lane, brother!
One day I'll make it to the promised Land!
I'n sure TKP will find tickets for you if you can get to Blacksburg.
1997, beat Syracuse 31-7 in the home opener. I grew up in Atlanta and was always a pro football (Go Falcons) fan, never really followed college football closely.
After 5 minutes in Lane that changed. I had never seen an atmosphere like it. I got a random hug from a girl when we scored our first touchdown, and a few alums gave me some bourbon shots.
I hope that my three kids can have that same eye-opening experience one day.
I didn't go to a win at VT until I was a student in 2008. My list of games as a child include:
-98 Temple.
-02 Pitt.
-04 USC
oof.
Fedex Field vs Boise St followed by jmu at home 5 days later. Not a fun time as a new freshman cadet lol
2009 game vs Nebraska. I was 14 years old and this game made me fall in love!
Its cool to finally see someone else living in VA Beach up here. When I graduated from high school in Norfolk and went to Tech I swore I was never coming back, but I'll be damned if I dont absolutely love it in Va Beach now
UVA-VT in Blacksburg in 2010. I lived in Cincinnati at the time and had been begging my much older brother who lived in Craig County to take me to a game. It was just my brother, his girlfriend at the time, and myself. Even though I was underage, it was cold, and he let me get a liquid blanket in the parking lot leading up to the game. I lost my shit during enter sandman. It was magical. Of course, tech won 37-7 and I was hooked for life.
'99 vs BC
-Sealed the NC
-Stormed the field
-Tore down the goalposts
What a first game!!!
This is mine too, but I spent my time being concerned the goalposts were going to fall on me in the SEZ wooden bleachers.
Haha. I was hanging on that one until some asshole pulled me off.
It rained sugar that night, it was glorious!
In order: losing to Auburn in the Sugar Bowl, losing to BSU, the ball popping up in the air against Clemson (David Wilson), losing to ECU the week after OSU, losing to GT the week after that, 3-6 in Wake Forest, blowing a 14-pt lead in Bristol.
I need to stay away from these games :(
(Although I was at FedEx field for WVU)
Sounds like we lost all the games you attended that were coached by Frank, but we've won all the games you've attended that were coached by Fuente. Let's keep the trend going.
Except for Bristol
Right... well hopefully now that the streak ended it'll stay gone.
2000 vs. Pitt. My first major college football game.. I remember my middle school aged self being amazed by how much faster the game was compared to high school football/watching it on TV.
Vick goes down with an injury and all hope is lost.... Antonio Bryant is eating Eric Green(?)'s lunch on every drive..... but Lee Suggs (literally) carries us to the victory, cementing himself as my favorite Hokie of all time... dude was a BEAST.
I don't remember my first game - I think my parents took me as a young child. First memory is Michael Vick's first game, 1999 vs. JMU. Some favorites are 1999 Syracuse, 1999 BC (Beamer's speech at the end, the goal posts coming down. That was a magical day and evening), 2003 Miami, 2005 WVU, 2007 FSU, 2009 Nebraska, 2009 Miami, 2010 GT, and 2011 Miami.
Even some of the losses had their moments - 2001 Miami and 2017 Clemson stand out. Last year's Clemson game really did have the same energy in the stands as the early 2000s.
high school senior, early acceptance at bill & mary, but hedging on it. visited VT for the 1990 uva game. you remember that yr they were no. 1 in the
nation, I meanacc, errstate.campus was nuts, the game was incredible.I was home.
decommitted from W&M and the rest was history.
Was at that game as well, although I had a few semesters under my belt already. Rushed the field after the game.
So sounds like you were 100% committed to W&M and 800% committed to VT.
Oof ouch owie, my croots!
My dad proposed to my mom via airplane and banner that game. It flew over at halftime.
Wow. Very small world. I'm 100% certain that was Nov. 24th, 1990, my wedding day. We were getting married at Blacksburg Baptist Church that evening. Our piano player came in with her hand all swollen from punching a UVA student and she struggled to get through the songs. Apparently she was a badass. It was horrific, yet hilarious. Still married and get reminded by my buds occasionally that they had to listen to the some of the game on the radio, while getting ready. I haven't missed a game for another wedding in almost 28 years.
I was at that game with some hs buddies from MD, none of which went to Tech (one went to MD). We weren't very good that year, but we were awesome that game. Lane was electric!
2003 JMU. Even better memories, however, are from my second game in 2007 game vs W&M. It was Tyrod's first season and I was so hyped to see him in person.
04 USC, I was eight I think at the time, not a whole lot of memories from the game besides a drunk college kid attempting to slide down the railing in the nosebleeds and enjoy a nice cement sandwich at the bottom.
2011 UNCheat on a Thursday night in November. My dad (a WVU fan) and I made the 4 and a half hour drive for the game then drove the 4 and a half hours back home so I could make it to college the next day for a test. I walked in for the test all decked out in VT gear of course and the professor says "what a game last night!" I said trust me I know it was even crazier in person...there are few times in life I've gotten a more strange look than that one she gave me. We got the W against UNCheat and I aced the test!
Being the sophmore in high school that I was, I went down to visit my sister for that game and she snuck me off from my parents, found me a student section seat, then proceeded to introduce me to wonderful Busch Latte and the rest has been history.
This is going to cause quite a stir amongst our Starbucks aficionados around here.
Beats a Pumpkin Spice every day and all days.
Coffee is meant to be black and beer is meant to be Busch Light, these facts hold true
First game I remember being at is ECU in 2007. I wasn't old enough to fully grasp how special that moment was, but watching it back on YouTube makes me extremely thankful to have been in that stadium on that day.
Oh wow, talk about a range of emotions for that game. I was a sophomore at the time, and I remember fighting back tears during the entire pre-game. Right before Sandman, they played the saddest possible song for a memorial video and we all starting crying our eyes out. Then we tried to regroup to jump for Sandman. It was definitely unlike any sporting event I've ever attended.
I didn't go to the first game of the season my freshman year (1979) because I was trying to figure out how to keep up with academics (by the second home game I had decided that this was futile). Don't remember too much about it, other than I had a lot of fun and decided not to miss anymore home games. We beat W&M, but we lost to FSU, WV, Clemson, & LOLUVA that season. Not a particularly inspiring season.
WVU game in 1990, my freshman year. My now brother in law's redshirt year, we walked over to meet his parents in the commuter lot to tailgate, right into the middle of the cousins. Needless to say a great introduction to the rivalry, neither one of us were very aware of it then....but we've never forgot since. We won, cut down on the yapping post game
My first home game was in 2004 vs Western Michigan. I don't really remember a whole lot from the game, but I remember the atmosphere being just awesome. My first Thursday night game was that same season vs Maryland and I remember barely being able to hear myself think because it was so loud in the stadium. I can't wait for the season to start this year!
Vick against the Akron Zips 2000: Watched a ton of games growing up with my family but this was the first one I went to live. Sat in the old wooden bleachers and got sunburnt like crazy but saw Vick live which I have never seen anything close to his talent, live, since that day.
I don't remember anything about the first game I attended (BC in 1995). I do remember the second game...a 16-0 loss to Cincinnati in a steady rain. And I remember the third game even more...13-7 win over Miami.
The turning point game. I remember the end like it was yesterday.
My first game was as a freshman when we played ECU in 2007. I think I was in the NEZ and just remember the walk from Pritchard up to Lane, the massive crowds, and the sheer emotional weight of that game. I remember it feeling so much bigger than just a football game.
Cold, very cold for an October in WV. VT - WVU in 97. Our high school drumline met up with the WVU drumline before hand to see how they prepared, etc. Watched them run through their show and them drank beers with them at the law school. They made fun of the VT hextet players having custom jackets. I snuck into the student section and watched Amos run all over us.
My first game as a Hokie was canceled due to Lee Corso parking his car in the path of lightning.
I believe the 99 game WVU was a week or two before I was accepted to VT.
2005 Miami, I was a junior in high school and my older brother was a sophomore at Tech at the time; my parents and I drove down to visit and get to the game. Got to GameDay which was awesome. My brother and his friends got me into the student section with them. My favorite memory was, sometime on a third down on defense in the second quarter, Lane's gettin' loud, I'm screaming as loud as I can and jingling my keys, hokies make the stop -- and brother asks if I'm having fun and I turned and said "this is the best worst headache i've ever had" and he said "isn't it great?"
First memory in Lane... losing to Temple in 1998. Ouch.
I assume therapy has helped.
It has not.
I was 5 and the Hokies were not a good team. My dad was at a conference in Blacksburg. At the end of the day, seats in the President's box were offered and the offer circled the room before my dad asked if he could bring my brother and I. He hopped back over to Franklin County and we saw our first game. Mostly I remember that there was free food, which was a pretty big deal for 5 year old me, but I also remember one of our guys hurdling the opposition and thinking that was pretty amazing. We ended up rolling to a comfortable victory which happened to be the first win for a young up & coming coach named Frank Beamer. A couple years later I got the opportunity to take my dad to see Beamer's last game in Lane.
Fall '92 playing JMU. We had just joined the Big East in football. Still Metro in Bball at that point. Beamer's rolling off a 5-6 season, so the expectations weren't high. To be honest, don't remember much. Little did I realize it was the start of a fantastic voyage called Hokie Football!
August 25, 2002, freshman year. Arkansas State. 63-7 shellac-ing by the good guys.
I was never really a college football fan prior to coming to Tech. No family influences (first generation college grad here). But my NFL fandom died that day. What an experience 2002-2007 was as a Tech football fan. I miss the game day experience living on campus. Just something different when you live out of town or even just off campus as an adult/graduate. The total immersion and excitement during the lead up to game day, amazing stuff.
First game was the 95 Sugar Bowl watching on TV. Before then, I had never even heard of VT or Blacksburg, VA. My first thought was, these guys(VT) are nasty and will knock your block off(i was in HS at the time and just started playing football and this how we wanted to play)
My first game was that extra game in 2002 versus Arkansas St in what would now be called week 0. It was the Sunday of move in weekend of my freshman year. There were no student tickets for the game at least not for freshmen, but my dad gave me cash the day before to get a ticket. Went with my roommate, we missed kick off standing in line to buy tickets. Pretty sure we actually had pretty good seats, East Stands 30-40 yard line and not too far up. It was a blow out, but I stayed the entire game, because I was raised by my father to be a "bitter ender" and pretty much refuse to leave any sporting event early. (Well at least ones that cost money).
Nothing about that experience excited me. I didn't know anything about VT football other than Michael Vick. Anyways the next day my RA comes around and is gathering athletic cards for anyone that wants a ticket for the LSU game. Those seats were in the top row of the NEZ, as soon as Enter Sandman came on and everyone started jumping I was hooked, went to every home game as a student.
I don't feel old but...my first game we lost to William and Mary 31-24, Arians was third string, Ricky Scales had yet to be caught in the ghetto Kroger parking lot for public fornication and Charley Coffey still lived across the street. He had already fired Coach Clay and Coach Ellis as my folks bought Coach Clay's house.
I waited at the gate to get picked to sell Cokes and didn't get picked but got a free ticket. Dismal 2-9 season.
Basketball was the sport of choice at VT in those days.
I need to know this story!
Also, I love reading about the Charley Coffey years. I know he was a UT diehard and all, but he is responsible for Don Strock and the first time a pass first offense had been in Blacksburg. In the context of the time, I crack up thinking about the checkerboard end zones and all of the orange he instituted in Blacksburg.
Welp, My brother and I had a long argument last night and he's convinced it was another RB, maybe Coales or Lawrence later in the 70's. I only remember because the Charley's son Mike ran with a bunch of us in the neighborhood and we heard a lot of stories. I'm not sure if the incident ever made the papers or not.
Ricky, if you're out there, my apologies if it wasn't you...if it was, Congrats. You lived in a time where instant media didn't air everything you do.
Now I have to keep digging to know for sure. The 70's weren't good for my memory storage. LOL.
My buddy's dad got some tickets to a game back in the early 90's. Our seats were way up in the East stands- there was nobody around us but we had a great view of the field. We managed a pretty good drubbing of Akron.
I came home on leave over Thanksgiving in 2000 and my friends got me a student ticket to watch Vick run all over UVA from the NEZ.
The first game I bought my own tickets for was a rainy Thursday night game in 2007. I was living in Ohio, but figured I might want to see if attending games in person was something I would like to try again.
We lost, but I got hooked on the sharp migraines obtained from the intense screaming, and I've tried to make it to at least one game a year ever since.
First memory 2003 Miami. Nuff said
My first game was the 1998 season opener. We played ECU - this was before I knew I'd watch us play ECU 75 more times in my life.
I knew basically nothing about Tech football prior to going in Lane that day. I had never seen a Tech game even on TV (I grew up out-of-state) and couldn't have told you the name of the coach. I did know that the punter was named Jimmy Kibble because a guy on my hall was a walk-on punter and friends with him (and randomly, my first-ever night in Blacksburg, I ended up sleeping on Jimmy's couch in Pheasant Run Crossing as we went out to a party and missed the last BT back to campus). I also knew through my walk-on friend that we had a ridiculously talented freshman QB who wasn't going to play due to a promise made to his high school coach. Honestly the only thing I really remember about that game is that we won handily and there was plenty of room in the stands- by the 4th quarter there was enough room for us to lay down on the bleachers. This was pre-West side expansion, pre-SEZ, pre-NEZ, and pre-HokieVision, so there was no Enter Sandman or anything. Back then the traditions were just the Let's Go ... Hokies pregame, stick it in, throwing our plastic stadium cups after a touchdown, and then throwing people up in the air for each point. We also passed the Hokiebird from field level all the way to the top of the East Stands. Some of those traditions are still around, some aren't. I guess throwing paper airplanes have sort of replaced throwing plastic cups.
I quickly got up to speed on the players and coach and then got really hooked the following year (1999). Hard to believe it's been 20 years and Tech football has gone from something I knew nothing about to something that I spend months planning around. I went to the home games as a student and then started adding more away games as I've gotten older (I guess because I have the money). These days, I go to almost all of our games (home/away/neutral). FSU will be my 179th Tech game.
Please tell us more Jimmy Kibble stories.
That night I slept on his couch we woke up to a phone call (I believe it was either Shayne Graham or Cliff Anders [long snapper]) trying to figure out where the hell he was bc he was late for a team breakfast
One funny thing about Jimmy was that he was pretty protective of his sister (she was at Tech at the same time and played on the women's soccer team). Jimmy made it known to all of us that she was off-limits. When I was up in Boston a few years ago for the BC game, I ran into one of the former football players who hung out in that circle at the time (name withheld to protect the innocent!). He confided to me that he didn't exactly uphold Jimmy's "rule" about his sister. Knowing how Jimmy would've blown a gasket about that, we had a pretty good laugh, even 15 years later.
I didn't hang out with Jimmy a ton- he was a senior and I was a freshman - but we we maybe hung out at his place a half-dozen times that year. He was always nice to me, starting with that first night where he let me crash on his couch having never even met previously. I will say that we definitely shouldn't have brought so many of our freshman female friends to his house. It was like shooting fish in a barrel for him. If we were there 6 times that year, I'm pretty sure he was 6 for 6. Maybe even 7 for 6. Having seen his "game" in action on these girls who'd been on campus for all of like 5 minutes, I guess I wasn't that surprised by his later legal trouble after Tech (*dad voice*: just disappointed). I haven't seen or talked to him since 2000. Hope he is doing well in life.
Honestly, I was too young to remember. I wanna say I was 5 years old? Maybe the NC State game in 1990?
Whatever the game was, I remember the fans in the stadium always sat whereever- my dad always got south endzone seats, but we sat in the East Stands near the 50 every. single. game.
Getting painted up in the FedHex parking lot, heading into the game early, doing a spot for the USC annual football video crew in which I called a 3 pt Hokies upset 24-21, had pretty good seats thanks to my dorm roommate's dad, getting hosed on a offensive PI call, ultimately playing the #1 team in the country better than anyone expected.
That 2002 VT UVA game was the second one I went to.
Remember it being cold having hot chocolate and Lane stadium exploding when we blocked a punt.
First game I went to was earlier that season versus Temple. What I remember most is being at the top of the east stands and a gust of wind blowing my hat off.
I reached over the back of the east stands and caught it before it fell all the way down.
Had a few firsts.
First game was the 2001 Gator Bowl on New Years Day (2000 season) in Jacksonville. I was 11. Great game. Beat Clempson. I remember Carter Worely kicking a field goal that bounced off the cross bar.
First home game was Arkansas State in 2002. Fun blowout game.
First Thursday night game was against Maryland in 2004. Blowout win for the good guys. Made it to school the next day to tell everyone about the fireworks and the cannon and how cool it all was.
First game as a student was 2007 ECU. Pretty heavy stuff there.
My freshman year was 1969, and the first home game of the year was........Alabama. There was this strange hush when Bear Bryant walked out of the tunnel onto the field. We put up a valiant fight, but lost to the Tide 17-13. But the atmosphere was great, even back then.
1st Game- Temple 02: Don't remember too much about the game other than it was a fun time and squeezing into seats so we could all sit together. We went in sat down then somebody left with the right tickets to bring somebody else in....
1st Night Game-Miami 03: Crazy fun night. It was so loud that I could barely hear HokieEnginerd and we were standing shoulder to shoulder and yelling at each other. Everybody rushing the field and the fireworks were awesome.
1st ACC Game- I was at the Duke 04 first ever ACC game. I remember them giving out first ACC game shirts
1st Bowl Game- Belk Bowl: Amazing day with the hubby. Hanging out in Charlotte, watching the free Tim McGraw concert. Then going into BoA Stadium, and watching the biggest VT comeback ever. It was so much fun!!!
Definitely jealous of that Belk Bowl experience.
It was a great experience (minus the first half of the game where Tech was not up to standard and the stupid fair weather Hokie fans around us were complaining about every play called, every mistake, everything Tech did). It was a beautiful December day in Charlotte (sunny and not super cold), we found a good place to eat, went to the concert, then the game was fun. It got cold as it got dark, but we definitely warmed up in the 2nd half when the team woke up and we really started jumping around.
My first game was in '88. My uncle's brother was getting inducted into the VT Sports Hall of Fame and they honored him on the field during the game. I don't recall who we were playing, but I do remember the stands being half full. Looking back at attendance numbers from that year, it must have been against JMU (18,753) or ECU (37,200).
C'mon! Name drop!
LOL
So do you sit in the Beasley or the Houseright branch of the family tree?
I'm kidding. Don't answer that. Your twitter is in your profile. I'm not gonna be creepy past that.
So, your dad was honored?
I was gonna say it, but I realized that he could be talking about the brother of an uncle by marriage (dad's sister's husband's brother, for example).
I used to play music with my wife's sister's husband's sister's husband. Does that count?
So a sibling-in-law
I don't remember what year my first game was. I was a fairly young kid. My friend's parents took us. We stopped in Salem to "tailgate" and the drove the rest of the way to campus. I am pretty sure the game was against W&M. My mom gave me $10 and I bought a soda and one of those long plastic orange horns. I think that horn remained in my possession less than an hour when I got home.
Early 80's, was 7 or 8 years old, sat in the East stands. There was a bench clearing brawl just before halftime and there was a college age girl behind us in a mini skirt with no undies. To some that would be a bonus, but to an 8 year old, IRL lady bits were a bit weird....
Wow, was in school in the early 80's, I would have thought I'd remember a brawl. I don't understand how you could remember the brawl, given the other things going on at the time.
I'm not sure if it was my actual first game. But, the first game that I remember was the 1999 Syracuse game. 62-0! I was six years old at the time and sat on my dads lap the entire game because it was so cold. Great memory!
Good grief. You were 6 when I was a freshman.
My Dad was in the US Army and we were stationed in Germany for my senior year of high school. Virginia Tech was chosen out of a guidance counselor's reference book because I thought I wanted to work in the US Forestry service. I arrived on campus in 1965 having never seen it before.
My first game experience was unique in may ways. As a member of the Corps of Cadets, we were required to go to every home game. We marched in and sat in block at about the 35 yard line in what felt to be an enormous stadium and played a well known school, William and Mary. We won the game and the freshman "Rats" were given extra privileges, as was the custom. A young relatively unknown Frank Beemer would have been on the field somewhere (probably on the bench).
There were no stands in either end zone as I recall. There was no "Enter Sandman". William and Mary is not widely known for its football program. There were no Maroon Effect or White Out games. All of that sounds pretty tame by today's standards, but it was a big deal for naive freshman cadet.
Just missed a Lot Holtz coached team
That is Alot of Holtz
First I can recall paying attention to Virginia Tech football was hearing the end of the 1998 LOLUVA game on the radio in my grandparents' house outside Charlottesville (not great, Bob)....first game I went to was vs Temple in 2000. My dad is a professor at the vet school and I guess a colleague of his abdicated his tickets to him that day, because he took my mom and I to see Michael Vick live and in person (he didn't and doesn't care enough about sports to spend money on tickets). Row MMM in the west stands.
Vick doing things is the sum total of my memories from that game--throwing a TD to Cullen Hawkins, leaping through the air and landing in the north end zone to seal the deal in the 2nd half, throwing a pick 6 late in the 1st half (not his best day through the air according to the hokietapes copy of the game)....interesting to note that Temple scored 13 unanswered at one point in that game but to young Beard the outcome was never in doubt. I miss those days when other teams would make plays but I just wouldn't get worried.
Dad took me. 1985 Lost to Richmond. I distinctly remember catching a mini-football from a cheerleader AND rescuing a football the VT FG kicker kicked through a hole in his net.
Sat press box side - wooden benches. Slightly wet. Crowd of MAYBE 100 people, all huddled up like a V around the 50 yard line.
Anyone remember when we could just walk in, no ticket because the gate attendants left at halftime? Good times.
September of '68, don't remember anything about the game. I was more worried about getting the halftime marching moves right and avoiding the wrath of the dreaded upperclassmen than I was the actual football game. Not surprised I don't remember too many 50 year old details, though. It was so long ago that Frank Beamer was still playing, and we went to the Liberty Bowl that year, but I remember more about the bus ride than the game
I don't believe that I can remember which game I first attended, but my earliest memory was attending the LSU game in Blacksburg. I was 9 or 10 I think and all I could think of was that other team was nowhere near as good as VT because it seemed like we easily beat them in my mind. I think that I even thought of them as some directional small school.
First game was likely October 4, 1986, VT vs. WVU in Lane. We won in a low scoring affair, but I was less than 2 months old so I have no recollection of the game. Been a die hard Hokie ever since.
My parents took their 3 kids to Hokie games throughout our childhood. We never needed season tickets until the current bowl era. Many times we would buy 2 tickets, and then hit up the scalpers right after kickoff to pick up a few more cheap tickets. If that failed my mom would wait until the 2nd half to bring the rest of the children in for free, while my dad would take one of us into the stands.
The first year that I clearly remember the games is 1995, the game clearest in my mind is the Temple game in RFK stadium. It was my first neutral site game and it was awesome to see how well the Hokies traveled outside of Blacksburg. The only other thing I remember from that game is that it was cold up in the nosebleed section that day, but we won, so it was worth it.
My Dad swears up and down that I attended the Temple loss, but I have no recollection of being there. I was young, but not nearly young enough for it to make sense that I wouldn't have any memory of it. Maybe what they say about the brain and its ability to purge bad memories is true.
My first true memory of watching VT football in person is watching our QB sprain his ankle after being flipped into the endzone for a TD the following year.
Pretty sure I've been to 76 games total at this point.
Think my first game seeing VT in person was the Gator Bowl against FSU. My best friend went to FSU so we got seats in their section. It was fun at the end of the 3rd quarter because all of the FSU people started holding up 4 fingers for the quarter and a Hokie sitting near by commended them on being able to count how many points they were down... Everything went sideways after, but I enjoyed giving them a hard time while we were up.
First home game was the first weekend after I got home from a deployment against UVA in '14. It was cold as hell and I think my wife and I finally just thawed out, but it was an amazing experience. I will forever be grateful to this site as someone from here hooked me up with their tickets... On that note it's probably high time I get my key and join the club.
I do not remember my first game, although I have some great early memories. I grew up in Blacksburg and I can remember in the late 80's early 90's era being able to walk into the game for free right around halftime. I also sold cokes, then pepsi's to many a drunken student and alum. You sold 20 cokes for a dollar and got to keep 2 bucks per tray, they kept 18. My bro and I would make 50 to 80 bucks a game. Best part was you got to watch the last quarter without selling. Probably my greatest memory was that prior to the upgrades, the east side of the stadium had a chain link fence behind it. There was a big wooden plank back there that a couple of guys would grab and throw up against the fence. A bunch of us would run up the plank, jump and scatter in different directions. Good times for a high school kid.
Wait... I did everything you just said in the late 80s and early 90s. Is this... me? So confused.
Btw they also left a stack of free tickets at counter in the downtown 7-11 by Tech Bookstore (also basketball). Ride your BMX bike down, swoop in for a slurpee and some free tix. Man, we really were bad back then.
I wasn't sure I made the right decision about going to Virginia Tech, until the first home game.
I'm from 8 hours away, from the north, and I grew up a huge Metallica fan.
This was back in the early 2000's when Enter Sandman was kind of a newer thing to the team.
As soon as "Enter Sandman" started for the team to enter the field, I thought to myself "I made the right decision" and I never looked back!
I will be able to answer this question in October after the GT game. I have been a lifetime fan growing up in Central Virginia but never had a chance to go to game. Went into the military and have been in California ever since. Me, my wife and two daughters will be attending our first game when GT comes to town and I'm so stoked. Go Hokies.
Awesome! Thanks for your service.
Thanks much appreciated.
October 25, 2007. I was a senior in high school and drove up to visit my friend who was a student at Tech. I had been a fan of Tech since the MV7 days but had never been to a game. Boston College and Matt Ryan were in town and IIRC BC was ranked #2 and Tech was #8? It was freezing cold, rain coming down like a hurricane. Basically, from what I remember it wasn't that great of a game until about 5 minutes left in the fourth. You all know what happened in those last 5 minutes.
As I recall, having been there and experienced that mess, it wasn't that great of a game in the last 5 minutes, either.
And insert the obligatory and now getting old "Fuck Matt Ryan"!
I've always thought the "Fuck Miami" chant was way better.
Since I came to VT as a graduate student I was new to big time college football. My 1st ever home game - The Lightning Bowl. Not a single snap of football was played. Learned how to properly smuggle airplane bottles and full flasks in a couple of different methods from my new classmates who were 5 and 6 yrs into living in Blacksburg. We weren't allowed to get to our seats but I was hooked. We crammed into the East Stands entryways with what seemed like a couple hundred other folks and watched the downpour and the lightning hoping it would pass and we could get a kickoff in.
Long time reader. First time poster. Had to create a username just for this post. Miami 99. Gameday was there. Got to touch the Heisman trophy. Then thought Anthony Midgit was the greatest cb ever
I really don't recall watching a ton of college football before attending VT. Grew up in MD, and went to an occasional Colts game, but never any D1 football games (one or two Towson State games). First VT game that I remember watching was the 1980 Peach Bowl against Miami with Jim Kelly, probably because I knew I was enrolling at Tech the following year with aspirations of playing football. First game in attendance was at Lane in Sept. 1981 against William & Mary, I believe. Think it was the weekend before classes started, cause I went with my parents, met up with Coach Dooley before the game since I was planning to walk-on, and I remember him saying with this deep southern drawl, "Son, you need a lid?" I remember looking at my dad for a split second, thinking what the hell language is this man speaking, before it dawned on me that he was talking about a hat, which I had just purchased earlier that day. I don't remember the score, but I think we won handily. Not a super exciting game, but entertaining nonetheless.
I got my acceptance at Christmas in 97 and watch us get throttled in the Gator Bowl by north carolina. Then my Freshman year as ECU in 98.