One Old Dawg on Gamecocks, the General, Butt Drills, Ties, and Sacking Spurrier

When the 1964 team played South Carolina , it was not their second game of the season, but their third. They’d come off a 7-0 win against Vanderbilt.

Dan Reeves  quarterbacked for South Carolina and would later play for the Dallas Cowboys. He would end his college career as leading passer in Gamecock History and participate in more Super Bowls as a player and coach than anyone else in NFL history including his appearance with the Atlanta Falcons at the Super Bowl in 1999.

It’s good Georgia had lineman like George Patton (All SEC, Atlanta Falcons).

Dubbed the “General" by Dan Magill, Jerry remembers, “It was great to play with George Patton. We were close friends and did a lot of things together off the field. George was so tall, he could cover a lot of ground, which made my job as a defensive end a lot easier. My job was to turn everything in. Our opponents couldn’t push George around. He could stand strong, and he could cover a large area. We’d played together enough we could read each other’s mind. Very seldom would we have a mix up on play calls or stunts. It was a joy to play with George.”

South Carolina was an opponent to be reckoned with, but this young Georgia team believed they could beat them—a belief instilled in them in part by legendary defensive co-coordinator, Erk Russell. “Everybody loved Coach Russell from the start,” One Old Dawg says. One of the ways Russell won over the players was by participating in “butt drills.”

In the pre-game warm-up, players took turns in the middle butting the shoulder pads of three players in the circle. Russell would step in to take a turn without a helmet, leaving blood streaming down his bald head.

The match up with South Carolina proved to be a back and forth struggle. With Lynn Hughes (All SEC, All American) and Preston Ridlehuber (Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets) alternating at quarterback, Hughes got the ball to Bob Taylor who scored first for Georgia. However, South Carolina soon matched them making the score 7-7. All the points were scored in the second quarter, but neither Georgia nor South Carolina were able to break the tie during the second half. Other players who received press were Ray Rissmiller (All-American, Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints, Buffalo Bills),George Nowicki, Bob Etter (Atlanta Falcons, Memphis Southmen), Mack Faircloth, Leon Armbrester, Ken Davis, Fred Barber, Vance Evans , Joel Darden, Wayne Swinford (San Francisco 49rs), Jerry Varnado, and of course George Patton.

When asked what he thought about tie games, One Old Dawg said, “A tie is like taking a shower with a raincoat on. You don’t accomplish anything. Neither team suffers defeat or experiences victory. It all comes to nothing. I hate ties. I don’t know why we didn’t have the good sense to put in an overtime rule like we have now, so that we could resolve the game and have a winner.”

About this time in the '64 season, One Old Dawg says, "We were beginning to gel as a team, becoming friends, and realizing our need for each other. Ecclesiastes 4:12 comes to mind. 'By yourself you're unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third? A three stranded rope isn't easily broken' (The Message)."

One Old Dawg predicts Georgia is going to win this Saturday.  “I read Texas A& M handed the Gamecocks their first loss in eighteen games in Williams Brice stadium. No tie game this weekend. The Dogs will beat South Carolina in regular time. The Gamecocks will come out fighting, but I believe we’re strong enough to beat them soundly on their own turf.”

Just for fun, we're including a couple of pictures which a fan had colorized from the Florida Times-Union and later gave to One Old Dawg. They now hang on our walls and are from the 1966 Georgia-Florida game where One Old Dawg had a chance to sack then Florida quarterback, now South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier.

Here Jerry, 88, comes after Spurrier.

And he's got him.

Go Dawgs!

Remember, you can always count on us at One Old Dawg for the finest, mostly true, Bulldog lore.