Home Schedule Godfather

[JohnDeere 0]

Home Schedule Godfather

by Dru McGowen

Article for Inside the Auburn Tigers

October 1988 Vol 8, Number 8

In one his (Jeff Beard) first actions, he drove the first line stake to mark off the new stadium. That was the simplest part. It was also necessary to cover a creek that meanedered from where the infirmary is now located, through what would become the field, and over to the not yet built Donahue Drive. It's still there, and only Jeff and his colleagues know how many bed springs and other odds and ends were thrown into the foundation under the football field by Dean Cary of veterinary medicine to give some reinforcement to the poured concrete.

Students of the era remember the stadium site as the home of Cary's "nervous goats." Students would walk by and clap their hands, prompting the goats to faint. It was an amusing pastime to everyone but Cary.

Grading for the stadium was done by convict labor, two dump trucks and hand shovels, Beard says. "A Captain Johnson was in charge of the convicts. He was smart enough to put the track in just right around the football field. Ours was one of the best tracks in the country for a long time."

Cliff Hare Stadium, with 7,290 seats rose 27 rows high, and was played in for the first time in 1939 in a game with Florida that resulted in a 7-7 tie. Its restrooms alone were a marvel compared to Drake Field's slit trenches enclosed with curtains.

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He (Jeff Beard) was even a cameraman during those pre A.D. years. "Coach Meagher purchased a movie camera and assigned it to me to film Auburn games. I bought a book on how to make better movies. The camera was one such as Walt Disney made famous. An Eastman One special. I loaded it, changed films, and after games would send them to Chicago for developing. If I missed a play, Coach Meagher would give me heck."

In 1942 Beard filmed the Auburn-Georgia game and sent a copy to his old friend Shug who was in Okinawa. "That game may have been the first athletic film to go overseas," he laughs. "We also sent it to the South Pacific. It was shown in nearly every was zone. I remember Wally Butts saying he hoped Auburn would hurry up and win another game because he was tired of hearing about the 1942 game."

[AUloggerhead 2,237]

...  In 1942 Beard filmed the Auburn-Georgia game and sent a copy to his old friend Shug who was in Okinawa.  "That game may have been the first athletic film to go overseas," he laughs.  "We also sent it to the South Pacific.  It was shown in nearly every was zone. I remember Wally Butts saying he hoped Auburn would hurry up and win another game because he was tired of hearing about the 1942 game."

249546[/snapback]

I'm sure the author meant to say North Africa. If Shug eally was in Okinawa in 1942, he would have been a POW.

[JohnDeere 0]

...  In 1942 Beard filmed the Auburn-Georgia game and sent a copy to his old friend Shug who was in Okinawa.  "That game may have been the first athletic film to go overseas," he laughs.  "We also sent it to the South Pacific.  It was shown in nearly every was zone. I remember Wally Butts saying he hoped Auburn would hurry up and win another game because he was tired of hearing about the 1942 game."

249546[/snapback]

I'm sure the author meant to say North Africa. If Shug eally was in Okinawa in 1942, he would have been a POW.

249550[/snapback]

Good Point.... 1942 Okinawa would be a rough tour..

I had always heard CSJ had been in North Africa and Europe. In the "Auburn Legends Reunion" DVD somebody pointed out that he was a Combat Engineer and landed on D-Day. I can find no reference to prove this though. Can anybody prove this?

[AUloggerhead 2,237]

...  In 1942 Beard filmed the Auburn-Georgia game and sent a copy to his old friend Shug who was in Okinawa.  "That game may have been the first athletic film to go overseas," he laughs.  "We also sent it to the South Pacific.  It was shown in nearly every was zone. I remember Wally Butts saying he hoped Auburn would hurry up and win another game because he was tired of hearing about the 1942 game."

249546[/snapback]

I'm sure the author meant to say North Africa. If Shug eally was in Okinawa in 1942, he would have been a POW.

249550[/snapback]

Good Point.... 1942 Okinawa would be a rough tour..

I had always heard CSJ had been in North Africa and Europe. In the "Auburn Legends Reunion" DVD somebody pointed out that he was a Combat Engineer and landed on D-Day. I can find no reference to prove this though. Can anybody prove this?

249551[/snapback]

I found this: Link

During World War II Coach Jordan was in the first wave of troops in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, and Normandy, where he was wounded and awarded the purple heart and the Bronze Star. Recovering from his wounds, he participated as a front line officer in the invasion of Okinawa and in the Philippine campaign.

Doesn't mention anything of him being a combat engineer. Still, that's quite a resume of invasions! WDE