Countdown to Kickoff: No. 55
Maxie Baughan
The countdown to kickoff is officially on as Georgia Tech‘s season-opening matchup at Colorado on Aug. 29 is less than 100 days away.
Until then JOL will be counting it down with one Jackets’ player daily that wore the corresponding number of days remaining until toe meets leather in Boulder.
With it now 55 days until kickoff in Boulder, today’s focus is on No. 55 Maxie Baughan, who was a legend on The Flats in the 1950s as he started at both center and linebacker and collected several prestigious honors before being a high draft pick in the NFL and playing more than a decade professionally and then transitioning to long career as a football coach.
Baughan is an Alabama native where he played his prep football at Bessemer City High before choosing to continue his athletic and academic journey at Georgia Tech under legendary head coach Bobby Dodd. Baughan played for the Jackets from 1957 to 1959, seeing action on both sides of the ball and culminating in being named First-Team All-American as a senior when he was the team captain for Georgia Tech. During that final season on The Flats, he compiled 124 tackles.
Also during his college career, Baughan was the Southeastern Conference Lineman of the Year in 1959, a two-time All-SEC honoree in 1958 and 1959 and Co-MVP of the 1960 Gator Bowl.
Baughan graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in industrial engineering in 1960 and was also drafted that year in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. He immediately became the starter at linebacker for the Eagles and played there for six seasons before heading to play for the Los Angeles Rams from 1966-1970. He briefly retired and stepped away from the NFL and became the defensive coordinator at his alma mater Georgia Tech for the 1972 and 1973 seasons before returning to playing professionally with the Washington Redskins in 1974 for one season.
In all for his NFL career, Baughan played in 147 games with 143 of those being starts and finished with 24.5 sacks, 18 interceptions, 10 fumble recoveries and one defensive touchdown. He was a nine-time Pro Bowl pick and a seven-time All-Pro selection.
Along with his two-year stint as DC at Georgia Tech, Baughan went on after his playing career to coach on the college and NFL level until 1998, serving as defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Colts, defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions, head coach at Cornell, linebackers coach for the Minnesota Vikings, linebackers coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and linebackers coach for the Baltimore Ravens.
Baughan was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1965, the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988, the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1980, the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1983 the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Gator Bowl Hall of Fame in 1992. He has been a semifinalist multiple times for voting in the Pro Football Hall of Fame but hasn’t been selected yet.
Baughan passed away back in 2023 at the age of 85. Upon news of his death, Georgia Tech head football coach Brent Key said of Vaughan, “Maxie is one of the most legendary figures in our program’s history and a shining example of what a Tech Man is. We are heartbroken by his passing.”
Honorable Mention
–Greg Gathers (defensive lineman from 2000-2003, set the program record for career sacks at the time with 31 (later passed by Jeremiah Attaochu with 31.5 sacks) despite Gathers’ career being cut short early in his senior season due to kidney disease, has received two separate kidney transplants with the latest coming in 2017 and was in good health as of the last update)
