One Old Dawg on knocked out, run over, and what matters

As One Old Dawg predicted, Uga has a new tiger skin rug installed in his Dawg House. What a game! Georgia  45, Clemson 21. The '64 Dogs beat Clemson, too, 19-7. That game served as a road sign that Georgia football was heading in a new direction.

The Bulldogs have a bye this week. One Old Dawg had kind of a bye early in the 1964 season, too, but not in a good way.

In the second game of the season against Vanderbilt, he was knocked out, and  later learned George Nowicke, an offensive end, had to go in for him.

“Poor Nowicki told me he had to play both ways the rest of the game,” says One Old Dawg.

That knock-out somewhat erased One Old Dawg’s memory of the Vanderbilt game. We’ve had to turn to news accounts to learn that UGA won a defensive struggle 7-0. Barry Wilson’s early interception put the Dawgs in good field position (Wilson went on to be head coach at Duke University). They capitalized on Vanderbilt’s error to score the only points of the game with a Lynn Hughes sneak from the one yard line. Georgia’s great defense was able to hold off the Commodores, who barely threatened for the rest of the game.

What One Old Dawg does remember is an incident that happened just outside Stegeman Coliseum one afternoon that fall. He and some other players were sitting on the curb resting before practice. A car approached on the way to the ticket office. Not paying much attention to what was happening around him, Jerry stuck his feet out in the road.

The car cruised right over them.

One of the player’s dads, a physician, just happened to be there that day and witnessed the accident. He rushed over. “Don’t move,” he said, “until we get someone to carry you inside.” He seemed certain the diagnosis would be dire.

When he was carried into the training room, the trainer Dick Copas (later Hall of Fame UGA golf coach) said, “What have you done now, Varnado?”

If you’ve been reading here, you know One Old Dawg had a tendency to get hurt. He would later receive the Johnson and Johnson Award for player with the most injuries.

X rays were made; consultations were done.

The report came back, “No broken bones.”

He walked away from the incident.

One Old Dawg has an endless string of stories to tell, but none more amazing than this one, and none point more to the truth that God had plans for Jerry Varnado.

When asked what spiritual truth he draws from this experience, One Old Dawg says, “That incident once more cemented in my mind the idea small things matter. Coaches had tried to instill that in us as players—small things matter—tackling correctly, blocking correctly, that football is a game of inches. One inch of not making the first down may mean the game.

The radiologist said to me that if the tires had crossed my feet one inch lower, it would have crushed every bone in my feet. If they’d crossed one inch higher, it would have snapped my legs at the ankles. But those tires crossed my feet at the exact point the structure of the feet and ankles could support the weight of the car except for minor bruising. Small things matter. 

Reminds me of Luke 16:10, ‘He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much . . . .’”

One Old Dawg was a little down Sunday afternoon. The Georgia-Clemson game didn't record in its entirety, and he couldn't watch the end of the game again. Also, he realized Georgia doesn't play next Saturday, and he'll have to sustain his adrenaline rush for two weeks. He's looking forward to that South Carolina game. 

Did we mention we have a 1966 Georgia/ Florida game photo hanging on our wall depicting One Old Dawg sacking Steve Spurrier? Of course, that’s a story for another day, but let that image bring a smile to your face.

Go Dawgs!

We extend our condolences to the Seiler family in the loss of their matriarch, and Uga's mom, Cecelia . The whole Bulldog nation mourns with you.