Sac Fly: Ode to E.O.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Ode to E.O.

Georgia Tech kicker E.O. Whealler played before my time, but older students passed along the legend of the crowd favorite. E.O. passed away last year. There’s not much of a record of the sidewinder since he played long before the age of the internet.

In 1975 the great John Underwood featured Whealler in an interesting Sports Illustrated story about college placekickers. An excerpt:

A young man named E.O. Whealler, who kicks "only the long ones" for Georgia Tech, has a reputation for oversleeping, missing buses and disappearing from practice to call his girl or get his car fixed. Against VMI in 1973, Tech coaches yelled for Whealler to go in for a field-goal try. When there was no response, they searched and found him asleep on the bench. Upon being awakened, E.O. rushed into the game and kicked a 55-yarder, a Georgia Tech record. He clicked his heels as he came off the field. Whealler says the only problem a field-goal kicker has is getting bored. When the game is on, he amuses himself by looking at the action in the stands.

http://www.si.com/vault/1975/10/27/613687/theyre-having-a-field-day

Upperclessman Wayne Price regaled me with stories of E.O., and how the student section would stand for kickoffs, humming "Eeeeeee" as the players lined up, then as he approached the ball "Ooooooo" and finally "Whealler!" as the ball sailed out of the end zone.

E.O.’s obituary:

WHEALLER, Edward Osborne "E.O." For over 40 years, Edward Osborne Whealler (E.O.) has held the Georgia Tech record for the longest field goal kick55 yards against VMI in 1973. He was legendary in Atlanta's soccer and football circles for his powerful and accurate kicking and for his gusto-grabbing approach to life and sports. E.O. was a member of the Druid Hills High School soccer and football teams, the Hot Spurs soccer club in the early 1970s and the Georgia Tech football team 1972-1975. Tech football fans from that period remember kick-offs accompanied by "Eeeee Oooooo!" E.O. earned his undergraduate degree in Industrial Management from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Georgia State. He had a career in financial services, interrupted one year to work on a hospital in Saudi Arabia. E.O. died at home in Atlanta on Wednesday, September 29, at the age of 61. He was the proud father of Benjamin Edward Whealler, a current Georgia Tech student. He is also survived by his wife, Elizabeth Carter Whealler, his brother, John Anson Whealler of Cohasset, MA, and his sister, Susan Whealler Johnston of Berryville, VA. Donations in E.O.'s memory may be sent to the Alexander-Tharpe Fund of the Georgia Tech Athletic Association.