50 / 100 years ago, continued from pg. 1C

Sunday, Aug. 29, 1965

It’s Atlanta Falcons in NFL

ATLANTA (UPI) – The new Atlanta entry in the National Football League (NFL) Saturday adopted the Atlanta Falcons as its official nickname.

Falcons owner Rankin H. Smith, in a pre-recorded announcement, revealed the name of the team during pregame ceremonies at the Baltimore Colts-Pittsburgh Steelers NFL exhibition game in the Atlanta Stadium – the new 57,000-seat structure which will be the Falcons’ home when they begin play in the league in 1966.

The name was selected from thousands of entries submitted in a contest.

Forty persons suggested the Falcons and the contest committee named as winner Miss Julia Elliott of McDonough, Ga., a high school teacher at Griffin, Ga.

Miss Elliott won four season tickets for the Falcons’ 1966 home games for her accompanying reason:

“… The Falcon is proud and dignified, with great courage and fight. It never drops its prey. It’s deadly and has a great, sporting tradition.”

Smith, a multimillionaire insurance executive, had to be out of town on business when the announcement was made.

But before leaving, he said, “It has been a harrowing experience trying to get a name that would please the most people. I think the Atlanta Falcons is a good name and we’ll do our best to make it a famous one.”

The NFL voted in July to expand to 15 teams in 1966 with Atlanta the newest member.

The Falcons will get preferential treatment in the college draft in December and then get to pick some players from each of the other 14 teams later.

Each present NFL team will be allowed to “freeze” 25 of the 40 players on their active rosters. The Falcons then select three players, from among the remaining 15, from each team.

Smith has hired former Detroit Lions’ chief scout Gene Cronin as his director of personnel (chief scout) and Lions’ assistant general manager Edward M. (Bud) Erickson as his executive assistant.

Monday, Aug. 30, 1965

Old book linked to Gen. Floyd

A Rome businessman has come into the possession of a book once owned by Gen. John Floyd, for whom Floyd County is named.

John Grigsby of the Coosa Valley Antiques and Rare Book Shop near Coosa has received a book bearing the nameplate of John Floyd. The book is Vol. 1 of “A New System of Methodology Giving Full Account of the Idolatry of the Pagan World” by Robert Mayo.

Mr. Grigsby obtained the book from the library of the late Lucius Lamar Knight of Atlanta.

The volume was published in 1815 in Philadelphia.

Grigbsby said the book itself is of little value. He said the only value is of local interest. The book is not for sale and will most likely be given to a local library, he said.

General Floyd was a U.S. Congressman and was instrumental in the defeat of the Creek Indians in Alabama. He died in Camden County in 1839.

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 1965

Carney spends 95th birthday in hospital

ROCKMART – Rockmart’s M.E. Carney, one of the oldest citizens in Polk County, has been looking forward to the celebration of his 95th birthday, which has become a sort of annual affair at Wayside Park in Rockmart, but this time he was forced to spend the day at the Rockmart-Aragon Hospital, where he has been a patient for several days. His birthday was Monday.

However, he was remembered by many relatives and friends who joined in wishing him an early recovery from his illness.

Mr. Carney is a native of Floyd County and has a number of relatives in and around the Rome area. He and his family came to Rockmart 40 years ago to make their home, after residing in Oklahoma for a number of years. He lives with a daughter, Mrs. T.J. Carlton, on Cartersville Road.

100 Years Ago as it appeared in the Fifty Years Ago column in the Sunday, August 29, 1965, edition of the Rome News Tribune

After much rivalry among Georgia cities at a meeting of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Rome was chosen to be included in the second annual “Seeing Georgia” tour to take place in October 1915.

The delegation of 300 or more automobile tourists were to leave Macon and visit leading north Georgia cities, ending the tour in Macon, the trip to follow the annual meeting of the State Chamber there.

A scouting committee was to make a preliminary tour of the route to determine the best roads and the places where the delegates would stop overnight.

*** Romans read that Germany was anxious to placate the United States and was ready accede to President Wilson’s insistence on the country’s rights on the high seas. … From Washington came the announcement from the Public Health Service that a tremendous increase in the number of persons submitting to anti-typhoid vaccination was such that there was “no reason why typhoid fever should not be a rare disease by 1930. …