But when you talk about A.P.I. parades there's only one worth mentioning, the old Wreck Tech parade that leads into the pep rally of what was once Auburn's biggest rival.
Here the students are marching down College Street, with Toomer's Drugs just in the background. The photographer is standing at fabled Toomer's Corner, this is the intersection where college and town meet. The corner is the spot that turns into an Auburn blizzard after every big victory.
There had not been a victory against Tech in a long time, though, and there would be none this year. Three years later, in 1955, Auburn would end a 13-game losing streak against the Ramblin' Wreck.
The Wreck Tech parade, and the pajamas, date back to their first football meeting in 1896 where legend has it that the A.P.I. students snuck to the train station under cover of darkness and greased the tracks. The train couldn't get stopped at the station and the Tech players had to walk some five miles back to Auburn to get their 45-0 beating.
Tech, the legend says, wouldn't play Auburn again until there were assurances that there'd be no more train jokes.
Ironically Georgia Tech students had cheered for Auburn's team just a few years before. The setting was the inaugural game of The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry, featuring Auburn and Georgia. That first game was held in Piedmont Park in Atlanta and Auburn wanted some fans in attendance cheering for them, but that wasn't such an easy trip in 1892. So the Auburn people got in touch with the Georgia Tech people. Tech students disliked UGA so they were happy to come out and cheer Auburn on to victory.
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