From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
George P. Burdell is an imaginary student, officially enrolled at Georgia Tech in 1927 as a practical joke. He remains enrolled today. The credit for the origins of Burdell go to William Edgar "Ed" Smith, BS 1930. George P. Burdell was born when Ed received two enrollment forms for Georgia Tech. The exact origin of George Burdell's name is still hazy but Smith says it was originally intended to enroll his Highschool principal, George P. Butler. But he decided against it and changed the last name to Burdell.
After being enrolled, Burdell signed up for all the same classes Smith did. And Smith would do everything twice changing it slightly to avoid Professors catching his sham. When he had a test, he would take it twice and then turn it in under both names.
By 1930, George had earned his Bachelors. And only a few years later received his Master's degree. He became an official Alumnus, even though he has remained an active student ever since.
During World War 2, George P. Burdell served in the armed forces on many fronts, his name appearing around the world. He was listed on the flight crew of a B-17 bomber, flying 12 missions over Europe with the 8th Air Force in England. However, when a Tech graduate became the new operations officer for the crew, he immediately recognized the name on the flight log, and Burdell's flying days were over.
In 1969 Georgia Tech computerized it's class registration, believing they had successfully found a way to keep George from registering for class that semester. As it turned out, he registered for every class, over 3,000 credit hours. And he did so several times, including 1975 and 1980.
George P. Burdell was listed on Mad Magazine's board of Directors from 1969 until 1981. Also when Time magazine was attempting to select their man of the year for 2001, George Burdell slammed all over opponents holding 34% of the votes until Time magazine removed him from the running.
He is a campus icon, and his name is revered among the students on campus. Incoming freshman are introduced to him as one of the greatest alumnus to graduate from the school. To this day stories fly around campus of where George will appear next. Georgia Tech students or alumni often use his name as an alias when they do not want to disclose their real name. There is a store near the Georgia Tech Student Center named Burdell's.
