McAshan, Eddie, III, 2001 September 25

This is a Living History interview with Eddie McAshan, class of 1979, conducted by Marilyn Somers on September 25, 2001 on the Georgia Tech campus. The subject of the interview is Mr. McAshan’s life and experiences at Georgia Tech. Mr. McAshan was born in Gainesville, Florida on Janaury 1, 1951. His father was a mortician, so he grew up seeing death as a part of life. In elementary school, he was very involved in sports, especially basketball. His competitive attitude in sports carried over to his schoolwork, and he was a good student. He went to a segregated elementary school, but later chose a non-segregated high school. He went through school with a close group of friends, and some of them are still in touch. Even though it was easier for black athletes to be accepted in basketball, Mr. McAshan chose football to stick with after high school. He would have liked to have gone to school at Florida A&M University, who had a great football team, but they did not recruit him. He was heavily recruited by Georgia Tech, and chose to come here for the Atlanta atmosphere and Tech’s football tradition. His parents and coaches worried about him being a target for racial attacks, but Mr. McAshan never thought about it. Mr. McAshan had never been in an engineering/academic environment. He remembers that some professors did not think that Black students should be at Tech. His schedule kept his busy all day. He had some friends on campus, but he had many more at Atlanta University Center. Mr. McAshan’s football team did not have a problem with him being their quarterback. At that time, Tech was not in a conference so that they could award more athletic scholarships. Mr. McAshan played for Coach Bestwick his freshman year. He injured his knee while playing, and that injury later came back to haunt him. Student athletes at Tech were actually here to be students, unlike student athletes at other schools, who are there just to be athletes. Mr. McAshan’s family was very supportive of his athletics. During his sophomore year, Mr. McAshan was on the varsity team, but he was always competing for the starting spot with a senior, Jack Williams. Mr. McAshan knew other black students on campus, and they had a house on 10th street called the Black House, where they used to hang out. Mr. McAshan came back for his junior year as the starting quarterback. The team had a 6-6 season and played in the third ever Peach Bowl. During his senior, the team had a new coach, but they had a good year and Mr. McAshan had his best game statistically and set school records. He knew he would not be drafted into the NFL, so when the opportunity arose, he went to play for the Jacksonville Sharks in the World Football League. He was very excited to play with professionals who he had always admired, but his career ended short when he re-injured his knee. Mr. McAshan then got a job with the City of Atlanta in Maynard Jackson’s administration in the Bureau of Cultural and International Affairs. After that, he sold industrial supplies for a bit and then got involved in insurance. Mr. McAshan was later drafted by the New England Patriots, but he never really played for them. When he finally graduated from Tech, he did not walk in graduation. While looking for a job after graduation, Mr. McAshan ran into barriers because he had been a student athlete. After a news piece was done about him, Dr. Sid Williams of Life University pursued him. Mr. McAshan went to work for Life University, recruiting multicultural students and researching grant awards. He has been very successful at Life University and has recruited other Tech grads to work there as well. Mr. McAshan finally married a woman he has known since he worked in insurance. They live in Marietta, Georgia but would like to move back into the city.