 In the second half of that game, a Georgia fullback named Richard Vonalbade ("Von") Gammon, was fatally injured in a play.In reaction to his death, the Georgia, Georgia Tech and Mercer football teams disbanded, the "Atlanta Journal" ran a headline proclaiming, the ""Death Knell of Football"" and the Georgia legislature passed a bill to outlaw football in the state of Georgia.As the bill sat on the desk of Georgia Governor William Yates Atkinson, a letter that Gammon's mother, Rosalind Burns Gammon, had written to the state legislature was revealed.