Eddie McAshan
| No. 1 | |
| Place of birth | Gainesville, Florida |
|---|---|
| Career information | |
| Position(s) | Quarterback |
| College | Georgia Tech |
| NFL draft | 1973 / Round: 17 / Pick: 420 |
| Career history | |
| As player | |
| 1973 | New England Patriots |
| 1974 | Jacksonville Sharks |
Edward 'Eddie' McAshan, III was born the son of a mortician in Gainesville, Florida. He was a successful college quarterback for Georgia Tech and became one of the most famous athletes in college football history for being the second African American to start at quarterback for a major Southeastern university.
Eddie began his football career as the first African American quarterback to play for predominantly white Gainesville High School. Over the years of 1966-1968, he threw for 61 touchdowns (top 20 all-time Florida career touchdowns). His high school quarterbacking was good enough to be noticed by Georgia Tech head coach Bud Carson.
McAshan would become the first African American football player to start for Georgia Tech, and the second African American quarterback in the Southeast (after Freddie Summers at Wake Forest in 1967). Carson started McAshan in 1970 as a sophomore and McAshan would go on to set several career records for Georgia Tech (which have since been broken by Shawn Jones and Joe Hamilton). McAshan's first career start was on September 12, 1970 against South Carolina. His start marked the second time that an African American had ever started at quarterback for a major Southeastern university and McAshan did not disappoint. He rallied Tech with a fourth quarter deficit, defeating the Gamecocks 23-20 with two late touchdown drives.
Over McAshan's career, he passed for 32 touchdowns. His most notable single game performance came against Rice in 1972 when he threw 5 touchdown passes. In this game he also threw five interceptions, so the game ended in a tie. Over the years of McAshan's quarterbacking, Georgia Tech would ramble and wreck off a 22-13-1 record.
McAshan was the first scholarship African-American for Tech while the first walk-on African-American football player at Tech was defensive back/returner Karl "PeeWee" Barnes who lettered in 1971-72. The second scholarship player was running back Greg Horne from Atlanta and the third was linebacker Joe Harris, an eventual NFL career player. Harris still holds the single season record for tackles in a season at 188.
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