George P. Burdell

George P. Burdell is a fictitious student officially enrolled at Georgia Tech in 1927 as a practical joke.

[1] He has evolved into an important and notorious campus tradition; all Georgia Tech students learn about him at orientation.

Smith conceived the idea for Burdell when he mistakenly received two Georgia Tech enrollment forms.

"[9] During World War II, service members continued the hoax, with Burdell's name appearing on various fronts.

[10] The 50th wedding anniversary of "Mr. and Mrs. George P. Burdell from Atlanta" was acknowledged on the September 23, 2006 broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion.

To this day, George P. Burdell is listed as a letterman in the official media guides of two Tech sports: from 1928 to 1930 in football[12] and 1956 to 1958 in basketball.

[1][2] WREK,[17] the Georgia Tech student radio station, lists him as a staff member, and he is credited for playing baritone on the 1995 album Jesus Christ Superstar: A Resurrection, which was made in Atlanta by musicians from the local alternative rock scene.

While the author of the new calendar event was marked as George P. Burdell, undergraduate Computer Engineering student Ryan Pickren was ultimately arrested and indicted for the crime.

[26][27][28][29][30] On June 25, 2019, George P. Burdell's name flew engraved on the Prox-1 satellite mission designed and built by the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech.