Getting ready for Alabama

One Old Dawg is wearing a Georgia logo shirt at every opportunity this week preparing for the matchup with Alabama this week. He returned smiling ear to ear from the Athens Touchdown Club meeting Monday night (he’s the chaplain), and this served to further bolster his optimism about this weekend’s game. The 1965 team beat Alabama the first game in the season for an astounding win as Alabama was national champions in 1964 and went on to be national champions in 1965 as well, with Georgia being their only loss. We wrote about it HERE. As he pours coffee into his Georgia logo cup, and takes a seat at the kitchen table, One Old Dawg offers his thoughts on the similarities between what happened in 1965 at this point in the season and what’s happening this week.

 

“It’s finally here, what we’ve been waiting for since last January, the week the Alabama Crimson Tide rolls into town. Bama’s loss to Ole Miss two weeks ago will be a damper on the media hype for this game but that doesn’t change a thing for the Dawgs. This is a BIG game.

“As this game relates to the fiftieth anniversary of the 1965 team, there are some similarities. Back then, we were 4-0 and ranked # 5 in the nation. We were not facing a ranked opponent that week, but it was a dangerous one, Florida State in Tallahassee, at night. In 1964 the Seminoles whipped us 17-14, finished 9-1-1, including a Gator Bowl victory over Oklahoma, and were rank eleventh nationally in the UPI poll. Graduation had decimated their offense but their highly touted defense was still solid. We were entering the game minus several key players due to injury.”

 

One Old Dawg grimaces as he recalls the details, “It was one the longest, most miserable nights of my life. Our bench was right in front of the FSU student section. Many of the students were intoxicated and obnoxious. We could not take our helmets off on the sidelines because they were throwing ice and cups of ice at us all night. On one occasion, one of our players jumped the fence and went after a guy who was yelling profanity at us. Coach Russell had to drag him back to the bench. Bob Taylor, our running back and my former roommate, suffered a broken leg that ended his career. After a very rough, hard fought game, we lost 10-3. It was a long trip back to Athens and a sad day Sunday.”
 

One Old Dawg puts his coffee cup down and pauses a moment before continuing. “I was spiritually ignorant at the time and had no idea what it meant to turn to God or how one could even do that.  This was football and it had nothing to do with church. Reminds me of a story Coach Dooley told at a charity dinner I attended. He and his wife, Barbara, were at a dinner the day before Georgia played Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl for the national championship in 1980. Being devout Catholics, they were excited to meet a well-known Notre Dame school representative. Barbara said to him, ‘I know you’ve got all the Catholics in America praying for Notre Dame tomorrow!’

 

“He, rather piously, responded: ‘No, my God doesn’t have time for football.’

 

“Barbara said, ‘Well that’s good, because mine does!’ We should take note that Georgia won the national championship that year.

One Old Dawg with Barbara Dooley at a Letterman's event

 

“I agree with Barbara, God is interested in everything we do, including football. Listen to Romans 8:28 (NASB):  ‘And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.’  Paul’s reference is not to just religious or spiritual things, but all things, good or bad, even losing football games. Somehow, it is easier for us to accept a setback and move on, if we know that this failure will somehow work for our ultimate good, and that is exactly what God does, if we will let Him.

 

“Our coaches didn’t quote the Bible to us but they did paraphrase it. Learn what you can from your failures and mistakes. Then forget them and move on. Don’t let today’s failure keep you from tomorrow’s success. So we tried to swallow our wounded pride to get ready to travel to Lexington for a fight with the Kentucky Wildcats the next Saturday.”

 

As One Old Dawg drains the last of his coffee, he wraps up his thoughts for this week. “There are also some significant DIFFERENCES between 1965 and now. The Dawgs are healthy and at the top of their game. We’re not traveling; we have the Tide between the hedges. All of you know in advance that I’m going to pick the Dawgs to win every week. If you don’t expect to win, why even bother to play. This is not just wishful thinking on my part, we have the goods and we can whip this bunch of Alabama pachyderms. It will be low tide at Sanford Stadium about 3:30 this Saturday and the Dawgs will roll that Tide right back to Tuscaloosa carrying with it the bitter taste of defeat . In fact, I believe this just might be the year of the Dawg. Gooooo Dawgs, sick ‘em, woof, woof, woof.”

 

The year of the Dawg, indeed.

 

If that doesn’t get you pumped up for this Saturday’s matchup, we don’t know what would.

 

Join us again next week here at One Old Dawg for more mostly true Bulldog lore. And once more, Go Dawgs!

Big Chests, Big Wins, and Big Heads

One Old Dawg is going to have to buy new buttons for his Georgia logo button downs, because his chest is so swollen, he’s about popped all of them off. As he says, “All my teams won this weekend.” Our grandson, Walker, won his middle school football game on Thursday. One Old Dawg works with FCA in a volunteer capacity as a chaplain for the Athens Academy Football team, they also won a big game on Friday, and then, well, you know, Georgia beat South Carolina. Big Time. Although One Old Dawg was there to cheer the Bulldogs on to victory, he watched the recorded game again on television.

 

Someone asks him. “You just want to see Steve Spurrier’s face, don’t you?”

 

He grins and nods.

It really was a good weekend.

Now, he sighs as he makes a cat move out of his recliner and settles down to pontificate the fourth game of the season in 1965. He takes a big sip of his Coke Zero and begins. (He doesn’t even get anything for plugging Coke Zero. He just loves it.)

“In 1965 our fourth game of the season was Clemson between the hedges; we didn’t even know Southern University (The Bulldog’s opponent this Saturday) existed. Georgia - Clemson was a heated rivalry that began back in 1897. The close physical proximity of the schools had a lot to do with the intensity of the rivalry but along the way, the head coaches also fueled it. Wally Butts was Georgia’s legendary coach from 1939-1960. Frank Howard started at Clemson in 1931 as an assistant and was named head coach in 1940, a position he held until he retired in 1969. For you young folks who have no memory of these two men they were truly colorful characters of the highest order. Their bantering back and forth made the rivalry more than it really should have been since Georgia had dominated the series since 1920 (12-1-1)

“We had beaten Clemson in 1962, tied them in 1963 and won again in 1964. We were number four in the nation after beating Alabama, Vanderbilt and Michigan. Clemson had beat North Carolina State and Virginia but was nursing a wounded ego after falling to Georgia Tech 38-6 in Atlanta. They could just smell a big upset that would get their season back on track. And I confess we may have been a little bit big-headed.

“Anyway, Clemson was leading 9-6 in the third quarter. Jimmy Cooley, a defensive guard, who saved my bacon in the Michigan game, came in on special teams when Clemson was punting from their 38 yard-line. I’m not sure but I think Jimmy may have had one hand foam-padded and taped due to an injury. In any event, he broke through and blocked the punt and the ball shot back 38 yards all the way to the goal line where our other defensive end, Larry Kohn (All SEC) picked it up and rolled into the end zone for a touchdown. That seemed to awaken us from our complacent slumber and we went on win the game 23-9."

 

 

Furman Bisher in the Atlanta Journal Constitution also noted the contributions of quarterback Preston Ridlehuber (Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets), end Pat Hodgson (All SEC, Washington Redskins, Coach at San Diego Chargers, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets), and kicker Bobby Etter (Atlanta Flacons, Memphis Southmen). In a

separate account, writer Hal Hayes quotes Erk Russell who gave accolades to Lynn Hughes (All SEC, All American) as safety.

"His leadership has been most important. He has done an outstanding job in readjusting to defense after playing quarterback for so long." Erk continues with high praise for George Patton (All SEC, All American, Atlanta Falcons) "And certainly, George Patton turned in another of his typically brilliant games. He is the type boy who continually is making the big plays; just like he did against Alabama. And Saturday, he was just tremendous." Erk goes on with praise for Jimmy Cooley, Ken Whiddon, and Jerry Varnado. "Our boys kept a lot of pressure on Clemson passers all day and this was pleasant to the coaches' eyes."

 

 

One Old Dawg continues, "An interesting note is that advance scheduling resulted in a problem for Georgia. SEC teams were required to play six conference opponents each year. Georgia Tech had withdrawn from the SEC in 1963 and that left us only five conference games in 1965. It was impossible at that late date to change the schedule so the SEC designated Clemson as a conference game for us that year. So Clemson went 0-1 in its short SEC stay and Georgia moved into first place in the conference. We were still riding high.”

One Old Dawg puts his soda down as he thinks about the more serious lessons he learned from his experiences in 1965. “Spiritually speaking I’m thinking of what Moses told the Israelites over and over. When things are going well for you do not forget the Lord Your God. But they did forget, over and over again, resulting in God’s judgment which meant hard times. They would then turn back to God and repeat the process.

“Last week’s spiritual point was about pride and thinking too highly of ourselves. We were guilty of that in the 1965 Vanderbilt game after we jumped out to a 10-0 lead. I think we silently said to ourselves, “Yes, we are as good we thought we were.” But in an instant, Vanderbilt tied the game, and we realized we had a fight on our hands.  A big play got us back on track, and we settled down and went on to win the game 24-10. Then the big win over Michigan and just two weeks after Vanderbilt, we again had to overcome a case of the big head in the Clemson game. Will we never learn? I repeat Romans 12:3: ‘Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment….’”

One Old Dawg concludes with his thoughts about this week’s game. “I did a little research on Southern University and found the school was really quite impressive. However, it is still a small Division 1 school in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The 2015 Dawgs are good, maybe on the way to being great; so if we don’t get to thinking too highly of ourselves this week, the Jaguars should prove easy pickings for a pack of full-grown Bulldawgs.”

Thanks for joining us this week at One Old Dawg. If you’re receiving this by email and feel you may have missed a post, please click HERE to peruse the archives or see our most popular posts. We’ll be right back here next week for the Alabama game. One Old Dawg is going to have lots more “mostly true Bulldog lore.”

    

One Old Dawg on a Big Ten Win and Barbecued Chicken

The Bulldogs face South Carolina this Saturday, but in 1965, South Carolina was not on the UGA schedule and not even in the SEC. For the third game of the season, they faced Michigan. Anyone who knows One Old Dawg can testify to his story-telling prowess. And at times, he can embellish with the best of them, but the tale of how the 1965 University of Georgia football team beat Michigan, one of the Big Ten, on their home turf in Ann Arbor needs no embellishment. It is the stuff of legend.

 

Here’s One Old Dawg’s story told as only he can tell it:

“After dispatching Vanderbilt 24-10 we were to travel to Ann Arbor to play mighty Michigan in the Big House. Michigan’s stadium seated over 100,000, the largest in the country and still one the largest sports venues in the world. We were excited only because we were too young or too dumb to be intimidated. In 1964, they had won the Big Ten Championship, The Rose Bowl and were ranked number four in the nation.

 

“I was reading an account of the game that stated Michigan outweighed us fifteen pounds per man. I don’t know what scale that writer was using but every player but one on their starting offensive outweighed me by at least 25 pounds, many of them by 40 pounds.

 

“My biggest hope was their All-American tailback, -----, who was 6’ 2” and weighed 220 lbs, would not recover from his knee injury in time to play in the game. When he was in there, they liked to run the power sweep, which routes right over the defensive end position. He didn’t start the game but he came in the middle of the first quarter. Sure enough, it was pro-set to my side, which meant the power sweep my way. The quarterback pitched the ball to that big tailback who was led by the fullback, a pulling guard and the quarterback. That was over 900 pounds of human flesh about to attack my puny 185-pound frame. I felt like I was trapped in an old west cattle stampede. God bless Dickie Phillips and or the late Jimmy Cooley.

One of them shot through the hole left by that pulling guard and cut down that tailback to stop the play before one person hit me. Whew! Close call, I thought I was about to meet my Maker.

 

"We hung in there with those big guys and came home a 15-7 winner. We were really riding high! The most amazing thing happened later that evening.

 

“We flew back to Athens right after the game. I was dozing in my seat when I heard someone tell me to look out the window as we going over downtown Athens.  We thought it strange that at such a late hour, we could see car lights lined up for miles on one of the roads leading out of Athens. We were worried that it might have been a bad wreck that backed up traffic. Upon landing, we learned the truth.

 

“So many people had come to the airport to welcome us home the parking lot filled and backed up traffic all the all the way to downtown Athens. Over ten thousand people were there, cheering like crazy. I don’t think my feet touched the ground; two guys picked me up on their shoulders and carried me to the bus. You would have thought we had won the national championship; it was quite a day.”

 

News accounts laud kicker Bob Etter (Atlanta Falcons, Memphis Southmen) for three field goals, as well as offensive players, Preston Ridlehuber (Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets) , Bob Taylor, Ron Jenkins, Pat Hodgson (All SEC, Washington Redskins, Coach at San Diego Chargers, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets) , and safety Lynn Hughes (All SEC, All American).


Outstanding defenders were noted as George Patton (All SEC, All American, Atlanta Falcons) , Jiggy Smaha (BC Lions, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Oakland Raiders, Jacksonville Sharks) , Doug McFalls (All SEC, Chicago Bears) , and Tommy Lawhorne.

One Old Dawg ponders the greater implications of this story. “I was again living a spiritual truth I wouldn’t realize until much later. Isaiah 40:6 says, ‘A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry? All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.”’  All of us are pretty much on the same footing. As my high school coach, Wright Bazemore used to tell us when we were playing a highly favored opponent: “They put their britches on just like you do, one leg at the time.” The glory of mighty Michigan wilted that fateful day in 1965; they were just like us, mortal men who sometimes fail.”

 

As for the matchup between the Dogs and the Gamecocks this Saturday between the hedges, well, everyone at One Old Dawg’s house pauses a moment in front of the picture in the den of him sacking then Florida quarterback Steve Spurrier. It’s always an encouragement.

One Old Dawg prognosticates, “From all appearances, they do not have as good a team as in past years; but they’ve only played two games. They won a close one against a very respectable North Carolina team and lost to Kentucky last week.

"The bottom line is the Gamecocks are licking their wounds and working up a good mad. They lost their tussle with the Cats and they will be trying to take it out on the Dawgs. Regardless of what kind of team Spurrier has, they always seem to play their best game against us. Spurrier really hates Georgia, because of how we treated him when he was a player at Florida, but more about that in October and next season.

 

“The Gamecocks will give us fits as they usually do, but at the end of the day the Dawgs will have a mouth full of feathers, barbecued chicken for supper, and another W on their schedule.  Sick ‘em Dawgs.”

And that wraps it up for this week’s One Old Dawg.  Be sure, you can always count on us here for “mostly true Bulldog lore.”

 

One Old Dawg comments on the Commodores

At One Old Dawg’s house, the family is breathing a sigh of relief that the University of Georgia football season is now underway. Everyone here loves the Bulldogs but was growing a bit weary of seeing reruns of last year’s games and more than a few showings of One Old Dawg’s well worn favorite video, “Twenty Five Years of Georgia Football.”

He tivoed last week’s ULM game and while watching it, shouts of “Boy, don’t those dawgs look good,” rang through the house. The Bulldogs are definitely off to a great start. Now on to the Vanderbilt game.

In an anecdotal mood, One Old Dawg sits in the recliner and hits the foot lever. And as he leans back, he says he doesn’t remember Vanderbilt ever being a consistent, serious contender for the SEC championship, and 1965 was no exception.  He takes a sip of Coke Zero from his Bulldog glass. “It seemed we had forgotten that we were in the same boat for the last few years. But after the amazing start of the Dooley era in 1964 (7-3-1and first bowl trip in five years) and the stunning 1965 opening victory over reigning champion Alabama, we were thinking pretty highly of ourselves.  It took our coaches all week to get us back down to earth; they kept reminding us these same Commodores had played Georgia Tech to a 10-10 tie the week before.”

An early fumble recovery by Dickie Phillips led to a Bob Etter (Atlanta Flacons, Memphis Southmen)  field goal and an exciting 82 yard punt return by Preston Ridlehuber (Atlanta Falcons, Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets) . This put Georgia ahead 10-0. One Old Dawg remembers, “I think we started getting the big head again, but before we knew it, a long drive for a Vandy touchdown in the second quarter followed by a field goal after a fumble recovery in Dawg territory tied the game. Thankfully, destiny seemed to be in our favor that day. Defensive tackle Vance Evans blocked a pass which guard Dickie Phillips caught and took to the end zone to give us the lead at half-time. The second half we settled down, took care of business and came out a 24-10 winner.”  

 



Jerry Varnado and Bob Etter

 

 

Preston Ridlehuber remembers a story with Jerry Varnado and Pat Hodgson

 

 

 

Preston Ridlehuber, George Nowicki, Jerry Varnado, Pat Hodgson

 

Vance Evans with One Old Dawg

Dickie Phillips, Anthony Dennard, Randy Wheeler, Pat Hodgson, Wayne Brantley, Marvin Hurst, Duncan Newkirk
 at 64 reunion

 

When asked what spiritual truth he gleaned from the Vanderbilt game in 1965, One Old Dawg thinks a moment and says, “Later in life I learned something that I unknowing lived that week in 1965. Proverbs 16:18 tells us that ‘Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.’ Romans 12:3 affirms that principle, ‘…Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment….’ Thank God, our coaches forced us to think of ourselves with sober judgment each time we drifted into believing our vain imaginations.”

As far as a prognostication for the Vanderbilt game this Saturday, One Old Dawg is full of confidence. “The last time the Dawgs visited Nashville was 2013 and the Commodores were not very hospitable. In fact, they torpedoed our ship for a 27-31 win, and sank our hope for a SEC East title. We got some revenge last year with a 44-17 win between the hedges, but this year we have to sail back to Nashville and you can be sure the Commodores are planning some rough water for us.

"I know these guys couldn’t keep their ship afloat last year, finishing 0-8 in conference play, but they lost to the SEC East Champ, Missouri by only 14 points. The Commodores will have their ship ready for battle this Saturday with all torpedo tubes loaded ready to sink our title hopes again. We can’t take this bunch for granted.

"But the Georgia coaching staff knows Proverbs 16:18 and they will be helping the team to think about themselves with sober judgment. I know the Dawgs will be sea worthy and ready for war this Saturday. I expect a fierce battle at the start but the Dawgs machine gun of running backs will soon sink the Commodores’ ship so we will have smooth sailing all the way back to Athens. Gooooo, Dogs, Sic ’em.”

That's it for this week at One Old Dawg, but we’ll see you here again next week where you’ll always find mostly true Bulldog lore.

One Old Dawg is back for another fiftieth anniversary celebration

One Old Dawg is back! He’s holding court and raring to go for the fiftieth anniversary of the 1965 University of Georgia football team. Vintage news accounts are spread all over the dining room table, and there have been quite a few jogs down memory lane. So here we go with another year of more mostly true Bulldog lore.

We begin with one of the most amazing wins Georgia has ever had.

When One Old Dawg is asked what the average Georgia fan would have said in pre-season 1965 if they had been told that the Bulldogs would beat reigning National Football Champions Alabama in the opening game, he declares, “They would have said no way.”

Alabama, coached by the legendary Bear Bryant was a powerhouse in the SEC and in the nation. Georgia had lost the last five match ups against Alabama and not by a little. By a lot. In fact, as  mentioned last year in One Old Dawg, when Vince Dooley’s first team at Georgia, the 1964 Bulldogs, deboarded the bus in Tuscaloosa, a senior Georgia player said, “Alabama always beats us by thirty points.” And in this player’s memory they always had. No one imagined that this young Georgia team in only the second year of Vince Dooley’s tenure would garner front page headlines in the Sunday edition of The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, “BULLDOGS STARTLE TIDE, 18-17.”

In the first half, After a field goal, George Patton (All SEC, All American, Atlanta Falcons) returned an interception 55 yards putting the Bulldogs ahead 10-0.

But the win wouldn't come easy. It was hot that day in Sanford Stadium. When players returned to the locker room during half time, One Old Dawg says his feet squished in his shoes. “Trainer Dick Copas (later Hall of Fame UGA Golf Coach) was about to have a fit.  He was doing all he could to cool us off. They had to lay us out on benches and training tables and drape ice cold towels over us to try and get our body temperatures down.”

In the third quarter, Alabama scored twice bringing the score to 17-10. Next, three Georgia players pulled off a play that has gone down as one of the greats in UGA football history.

News accounts laud Kirby Moore, Bob Taylor, and Pat Hodgson (All SEC, Washington Redskins, Coach at San Diego Chargers, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets) for the Flea Flicker.

 

One Old Dawg got a little pre season press himself in 1965 along with his good friend Larry Kohn (All SEC) in the Atlanta Constitution. 

 

And here they are in an emotional greeting at the 1964 Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration.

In fact, news reports quote assistant coach Jim Pyburn (Baltimore Orioles, Washington Redskins)  as saying One Old Dawg played the best he’d ever played in that Alabama game. But at a price. During the game he received a severe hit in the back. It would result in problems for weeks to come and eventually lead to back surgery at the end of the season.

Spiritually speaking, One Old Dawg draws this conclusion from that celebrated 1965 opener, “It’s like I said last year when we talked about the 1964 game in Tuscaloosa. It was a day of "small beginnings" (Zechariah 4:10). And beating Alabama in 1965 was the culmination of that. We had a small beginning last year. We reduced our loss from 30 points to 28. But something happened in that game. We began to gel as a team and believe in each other. That small beginning in 1964 resulted in a big win in 1965. We beat the reigning National Champions.”

The AP poll would again name Alabama as national champion in 1965. Their only loss? To a team that believed what they had been taught by young Coach Vince Dooley―that they could win. And win they did.

And now back to 2015 and who will win the Bulldogs’opening game against the University of Lousiana at Monroe. One Old Dawg says, “The Bulldogs, of course. I believe we have a high quality team that that has the potential to be a great team. And ULM should present no serious threat.”

We’ll see everyone here next week for One Old Dawg’s account of another startling win in 1965.

And in the meantime, Go Dawgs!

 

Dan Magill on the 1965 Georgia-Alabama game