SoCalFalconFan Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 The off-season sucks. I miss football and was sitting here reminiscing about my earlier days as a Falcons fan. Who in here ever sat on the hill behind McDonald's in Suwanee and watched OTAs? I've got some great memories from those good ol' days. If you have any memories or experiences from back then you would like to share... post them here. gtech1, Knight of God, E. T. and 5 others 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Daywalker Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 (edited) Ray Buchanan took us to Wendy’s. Lol Chris Chandler sat with my now wife in the lobby and ate ice cream. Blair Thomas bought me a sprite. Jamal Anderson signed everything then had a breakout year and would sign nothing while washing his own Mercedes with all 3 of us fans there lol. Art shell asked me what I was gonna do with my football if he signed it like I was looking to get money for it. Just a few quick memories but driving up from Savannah every summer and be able to just hangout with players was amazing for me and my family. Edited June 10, 2019 by The Daywalker Misspelled gazoo, kiwifalcon, Emmitt and 6 others 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalFalconFan Posted June 10, 2019 Author Share Posted June 10, 2019 1 minute ago, The Daywalker said: Ray Buchanan took us to Wendy’s. Lol Chris Chandler sat with my now wife in the lobby and are ice cream. Blair Thomas bought me a sprite. Jamal Anderson signed everything then had a breakout year and would sign nothing while washing his own Mercedes with all 3 of us fans there lol. Art shell asked me what I was gonna do with my football if he signed it like I was looking to get money for it. Just a few quick memories but driving up from Savannah every summer and be able to just hangout with players was amazing for me and my family. That's great! Yeah, the players were crazy accessible there. I saw Billy "White Shoes" Johnson in that McDonalds one afternoon when I showed up. All I had on me when I asked for his autograph was an old velcro wallet that I was carrying. He signed it and I had that wallet for 25 years before my kids got hold of it and destroyed it. LOL! But the guy was really nice and stood around signing autographs in there for what seemed to be an hour. Faithful Falcon and PokerSteve 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atl Falcon Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 I was there on opening day for at least 10 yrs.....I watched practice from Jerry Glanville’s office balcony one day. I think it was around ‘92. Lots of memories from the Suwanee days. I met many a players and coaches. SoCalFalconFan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elo53 Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Glanville was the nicest dude. Talked to us for at least a hour. Still have Farve’s autograph from there. Got Deion’s autograph on his FSU rookie card and he signed it with the dollar sign as his S in Sanders. Got Goldbergs autograph. I was probably 10 or 11 at the time. A lot more up close and personal with the players than Flowery Branch for sure. VTCrunkler, PokerSteve and papachaz 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazoo Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Yep, I spent many days on that hill watching training camp over the years. What i think is comical today, is that I thought that was a really long drive out there to the boonies. And that McDonalds so many players would eat there! VTCrunkler and SoCalFalconFan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCFalconfan Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 I met "The Bomb Squad" (Chuck Smith, Travis Hall, Dan Owen's and Lester Archambeau) in the lobby when I stopped in back in 97. Nice guys, talked to them for several minutes. The Falcon Inn was always the landmark my brother and I looked for whenever we went to Atlanta to visit my grandparents when we were kids. It always meant we were getting close to their house. PokerSteve, Emmitt, papachaz and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xfactor Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Great stories everyone SoCalFalconFan and papachaz 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
putnam6 Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Man loved Suwanee and during the Glanville days security was lax my brother in law got to know Eric Pegram "Manster". We got to stand on the sidelines one practice. Tossed football with Billy Joe Tolliver a little bit and overheard him talking **** about Phil McConkey when they both were on the Chargers. Players had a good time LOL there was a pile up and Chris Hinton was on it *** sticking up in the air, LOL Tim McKyer jumped on him and was dry humping like a rabbit, then McKyer takes off running zigging and zagging with Hinton trying to run him down it was hilarious SoCalFalconFan, Emmitt, VTCrunkler and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalconFanSince1970 Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Favorite moment was meeting Dan Marino walking from the hotel to the field for a scrimmage. We had easy acces in those days. And Gazoo you're right. That drive seemed endless, but is nothing compared to a drive to the Branch. gazoo, papachaz, octoslash and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDaveG Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Me, my wife and @Leon Troutsky drove to Suwanee after Morten hit that kick to send us to the Super Bowl. Well, we drove to the airport first and they told us to go meet the team at training camp, so we did. Dan Reeves spoke. Jamal spoke. Maybe Tuggle. I forgot who else. We still have pictures somewhere of us playing on the practice field. Some dude had a gigantic American Bulldog in a Falcons jersey. It was a fun time. Emmitt, VTCrunkler, octoslash and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
octoslash Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 7 hours ago, FalconFanSince1970 said: Favorite moment was meeting Dan Marino walking from the hotel to the field for a scrimmage. We had easy acces in those days. And Gazoo you're right. That drive seemed endless, but is nothing compared to a drive to the Branch. I saw the Tunas scrimmage there as well. It was fun watching Marino's fastball in person. Just a pure cannon. SoCalFalconFan and FalconFanSince1970 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spts1 Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 15 hours ago, NCFalconfan said: I met "The Bomb Squad" (Chuck Smith, Travis Hall, Dan Owen's and Lester Archambeau) in the lobby when I stopped in back in 97. Nice guys, talked to them for several minutes. The Falcon Inn was always the landmark my brother and I looked for whenever we went to Atlanta to visit my grandparents when we were kids. It always meant we were getting close to their house. hands down the best falcon uniforms even though I like the black jerseys also... SoCalFalconFan, JDaveG, NCFalconfan and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
US-41 Falcon Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 One of my earliest memories was over there in Suwanee. We were actually up there crazy early before a home game against Pittsburgh in what I believe was 1996 (couldn't have been more than 6-7 years old). Dad was up there looking at a car, and we stopped by the adjacent waffle house around 8am. We walked in and 4 extraordinarily large men were jammed into the center booth eating waffles, hashbrowns, and anything in-between. Apparently, the health-conscious revolution in sports had yet to kick in. I'm wearing this black, Falcons helmet t-shirt. Man at the table motions me to come over. It's backup QB Billy Joe Tolliver, and a few offensive lineman. He chats me up a bit about football, asks me about the Birds, and what position in pee-wee I played. End of conversation, hands me and my dad 2 family seats on the 50. He actually ended up getting in that game, as I believe Hebert left the game with an injury. Everyone was super friendly, and it was almost like they were a part of a neighborhood team. Looking back, it's crazy how popular the Falcons, and the NFL have gotten. I mean, that was 1996. Fast forward 6 years later during the first MV7 year, these dudes were like rock stars. octoslash and SoCalFalconFan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E. T. Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 What has ever become of that old facility? Is it still standing or has it become a parking lot? Anyways, I'm talking early 80's here when I went. I remember that McDonalds next to the fields and they hated the "loitering" but it was ok as long as you were spending money. I remember wearing my old tall mesh trucker Falcon hat that was signed by Goldie Locks himself, Steve Bartkowski. I have no idea what ever happened to that hat, I'm sure it be worth a steak dinner by now. SoCalFalconFan and octoslash 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilleniumFalcon Posted June 14, 2019 Share Posted June 14, 2019 My parents bought a house in Suwanee in the mid-90s, I was a young boy in school back then but I remember briefly watching some of the practices from the Mcdonald's on Lawrenceville-Suwannee road. SoCalFalconFan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla1985 Posted June 15, 2019 Share Posted June 15, 2019 Don’t have the cool stories most have but l do remember watching practice ther as a kid from the McDonalds. FA91 and SoCalFalconFan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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