There was history on the horizon when the 1973 GHSA Football season kicked off. Southwest Atlanta was coming off its first-ever undefeated regular season—a 10-1 finish—and had its sights set on becoming the first-ever Atlanta Public School to capture a state title. The Wolves achieved that goal and closed the 1973 season with a 21-7 win over Americus to cap a perfect 13-0 season. In the process, Southwest Atlanta became the first All-Black football team to win a GHSA state championship and the first and only Atlanta Public School to win a football state title. On Wednesday, Score Atlanta and the GHSA will recognize the 1973 state championship team at Mercedes-Benz Stadium after the Class 5A championship and before the Class 7A championship kicks off.
“One of the big stories at our Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in October was the induction of Anthony Flanagan,” said Score Atlanta president I.J. Rosenberg, who is also the executive director of the GHSFHF. “Anthony is not with us anymore but the number of people that showed up for him was amazing. I had one former woman call me and get a ticket for herself. Her husband had passed but he had taught Anthony at Southwest and out of respect for her husband and Anthony, came to the event. This was a very special team.”
Southwest Atlanta head coach Ted Sparks had improved the Wolves overall record in each season since he took over in 1969 and the foundation was built for his fifth year at the helm to achieve the ultimate goal. The growing success on the gridiron came as the average GPA on the team was excelling north of a 3.4 GPA and the statewide attention was also sharpened after head coach David Jones and the Wolves basketball team won the state title in the winter of the 1972 season. Winning that state title in basketball boosted the confidence of the multi-sport athletes starring on the gridiron and hardwood during their varsity careers—including Anthony Flanagan—who would shift his talents to quarterback the Wolves during the 1973 season. Flanagan began his football career at center and finished it as one of the most impactful quarterbacks to come through the state. During the 1973 season, Flanagan earned AJC Class 2A Back of the Year and was a Parade All-American. He was 126-of-233 passing for 2,136 yards and a state-record 31 touchdowns on a 13-0 team. He also scored 12 touchdowns on the ground and kicked 56 extra points and two field goals.
“Quite frankly, Anthony Flanagan represents one of the Mount Rushmores of Atlanta Public Schools,” said APS Director of Athletics Jasper Jewell. “The things that he was able to do, particularly in the era that he did it in is just unmatched. His name continues to come up in conversations around the district and community to this day. The family is very humble and Southwest will always have that pride and image of Anthony Flanagan at that quarterback role leading them to the championship.”
Southwest opened its season with a 47-0 win over Smith High School and then closed out consecutive undefeated regular seasons. The closest game came against No. 8 ranked Northside-Atlanta and former Wolves great and Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Anthony Terry said that game was the “wake-up” call the team needed. Despite finishing the season as the Region 5 champions, Southwest had to go on the road for the entirety of the playoffs.
“That was the first time we ever travelled outside of Atlanta to play,” said Terry. “Those atmospheres were unbelievable and hostile to say the least.”
Southwest scored a 14-7 win over powerhouse East Rome at Barron Stadium and then traveled to Habersham Central in the semifinals—where they ran away with a 42-0 victory. The championship was played at Americus—which was led by future Georgia Tech greats Mackel Harris and Kent Hill. Southwest stamped a 21-7 victory that ranks at No. 15 amongst the greatest state championship games in state history according to the Georgia High School Football Historian’s Association.
HOW IT WAS WON
Americus took a 7-0 lead with 10:07 left in the third quarter on John Jordan’s 11-yard pass to Charlie Austin. With just six minutes left in the game, Americus lined up at the Southwest 1-yard line and had a chance to all but put the game away. Southwest’s linebacker Kent Mason turned the game around with an interception in the end zone that he returned more than 100 yards to the Americus 1-yard line. Flanagan rushed in a touchdown on the next play, but a bad snap on the extra point created a potential disaster that was turned into an opportunity. Flanagan was the team’s kicker and holder Gerald Glover corralled the arrant snap and found Flanagan in the end zone to give the Wolves an 8-7 lead. Americus was forced to pass its way back into the game and the Wolves were prepared—forcing back-to-back interceptions and icing the victory with Flanagan’s second touchdown run and a 51-yard interception return for a touchdown by Randy Smith.
“I think with them, they were just blessed with an over-abundance of talent and great coaching,” said Jewell. “And they had a belief that they were going to be great. It didn’t matter. They had a sense of pride and it didn’t matter who they were playing. You had a guy like Flanagan, who is probably not only the greatest quarterback to ever grace APS, but also probably one of the best athletes to ever lace up his boots in APS schools. And you had guys like that leading the charge with great coaches. Coach Willy Burkes. Who also works as a retiree for APS. He is a retiree in my athletic monetary department and he was on that staff and there were just a lot of great individuals and it’s just mind-boggling with the success and all the odds they were up against. And for me this group will always have that exclamation point next to it because they will always be that special team for what they did.”
The Wolves captured a back-to-back basketball state title following the 1973 football championship. There have been three Atlanta Public Schools that have reached the finals in the years since the Wolves, but the only state championship continues to belong to Southwest.
“No. 1, when that win took place I was only one-year-old, it was in 1973,” said Jewell. “It meant a lot because it was during a time when not necessarily segregation was going on, but there was still a bit of black versus white at play. And for our kids and our coaches to endure all the hardships that they go through 7:30 to 3:30 in the building, but also in the extracurricular was monumental. It is something we always strive for at APS to win another state championship and to build on the legacy and tradition of all of our football teams. We’ve been blessed and fortunate enough to have three of our teams make it to state championships since then, but we haven’t been victorious. And so we are always looking to get back to that measuring stick again, because that was something special that that ‘73 class was able to accomplish.”
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