Championship Caliber and Flip Phones: Northside High on October 23 (2006–2016)
If you were walking into Northside High School on an October 23rd back in 2006, you were living in the epicenter of Georgia high school football royalty. The hallways buzzed with electric excitement as Coach Conrad Nix guided the Eagles through an untouchable, undefeated 15-0 season that would culminate in Northside's very first GHSA State Championship trophy.
When students weren't scheming ways to get front-row seats in the student section, they were dramatically snapping shut their Motorola Razr flip phones, stressing out over their MySpace "Top 8" ranking, and layering three polo shirts on top of each other with all the collars popped like miniature sails.
Meanwhile in Georgia History
On October 23, 1941, the world premiere of the Hollywood motion picture Swamp Water was held down in Waycross, Georgia. The event was such a spectacle that Governor Eugene Talmadge officially proclaimed it "Swamp Water Day," celebrating Georgia's mysterious Okefenokee Swamp on silver screens across the nation.
Today's History Sidebar
The Birthday Registry: First, we tip our hats to Gertrude Ederle, born on October 23, 1905. In 1926, she became the first woman to ever swim across the treacherous English Channel—beating the men's world record by over two hours—before spending decades teaching deaf children how to swim.
Second, we salute legendary coach John Heisman, born on October 23, 1869. Heisman revolutionized college football during his iconic tenure at Georgia Tech, championing the legalization of the forward pass and line shifts before lending his name to the most coveted individual trophy in American sports.
The Retrospective
We eventually closed our MySpace accounts, retired our popped collars, and upgraded to smartphones. But the memory of that magical 2006 state championship run proves that once you earn your wings at Northside, you carry that pride for the rest of your life. Go Eagles!