It started as a prank—one of the many stories that made Gordon Military College a place of unforgettable characters and outrageous moments. Kike Seda, a cadet known for his antics, had an unusual pet: an alligator. Not a figurine or a stuffed souvenir from Florida, but a real, live alligator.
The story goes that one weekend, at the T Street Barracks on Thomaston Street, Kike was giving his alligator a bath in the communal dormitory bathtub. The reptile, as comfortable as any cadet in the barracks, was splashing around when a surprise dorm inspection was announced. Water overflowed, shouts rang down the halls, and before anyone could react, the alligator made a break for it. A full-grown alligator in a military dormitory was enough to send even the most disciplined cadets into a frenzy. Kike, somehow keeping a straight face, stepped forward to “help” catch the rogue gator—never admitting it was his all along.
At the time, it was just another outrageous moment in Gordon’s history. But today, that alligator might be something more than a legend. It might still be alive.
Alligators live much longer than most people think. In the wild, they can survive 35 to 50 years, but in captivity—free from predators and with regular food—they can live 70 years or more. The oldest known alligator, Muja, has been living in a Serbian zoo since 1937 and is over 85 years old today.
If Kike’s alligator was young at the time of the incident and somehow found its way into a sanctuary, a zoo, or even a remote swamp, there’s a real possibility that it’s still alive. It could be sunning itself on a riverbank somewhere, a relic of Gordon’s past, carrying with it the legacy of a cadet who turned an ordinary military dorm into a scene of pure chaos.
So, what happened to Kike’s alligator after the infamous dorm escape? Did it slip away into the nearby creeks, blending into the waters of rural Georgia? Did someone relocate it to a wildlife refuge, where it still lurks in the shallows, unseen but very much alive? Or does it live in captivity, its old age spent basking under heat lamps, unaware of the legend it left behind?
There’s no official record of what happened next, leaving plenty of room for speculation. Maybe it’s better that way—an enduring mystery, much like the best stories from Gordon’s history.
But next time you walk the Highlander Trail, pause when you reach the pond in the athletic complex. Look carefully at the water’s edge. Watch the ripples.
Have you seen Kike’s alligator?
