One Old Dawg's Tailgate with Frank Lankewicz

Thank you for dropping by One Old Dawg’s Tailgate where this week Jerry Varnado  interviews Frank Lankewicz, a senior on the 1964 University of Georgia football team who went on to play for the Wheeling, West Virginia Ironmen in the Continental Football League. And stick around for Jerry Varnado's comments on the upcoming Tennessee game. 

Frank, tell us how you got started in football and your high school career?

I started when I was eight years old in the midget league in Butler, Pennsylvania. I played in that league until high school. I’d played football and baseball all my life. I could have signed a baseball contract but decided to come to Georgia. I enjoyed my high school career at Butler Senior High, where we were called the Golden Tornadoes. We had good coaches, and one of my favorites was Red Uram. He wasn’t the head coach but coached the back field. My senior year, we only lost one game to Beaver Falls in the next valley. (Frank comments these were steel mill and coal mining towns). Joe Namath played for them. His team beat us by a touchdown, and he was outstanding. (One Old Dawg makes a note that UGA’s first game in 1964 was against Alabama where Joe Namath was quarterback). I had good seasons in high school and played in an All-Star game my senior year. I played in the Big 33 game—a contest which was supposed to be between the top thirty-three players from Pennsylvania and the top football players in the United States. The game was held in Hershey, Pennsylvania. But that particular year, they cut out the rest of the U.S. for travel reasons, so it was an all-star game between East and West Pennsylvania. Ray Rissmiller played for the East, and I played for the West. (Ray was another senior on the 1964 Georgia team). I played fullback and missed MVP by a couple of points. After the game, I got with Joe Namath who was there pitching for a western Pennsylvania All-Star game. I rode back to Pittsburgh from Hershey with him and a trainer from Maryland who drove us. I asked Joe where he was going to school and he said, “I think I’ll go to Maryland.” I told him I thought I’d go to Georgia. The next time I saw him he was playing for Alabama. I had twenty-nine football scholarship offers, and I narrowed it down to Georgia, Notre Dame, and Miami, but chose Georgia.

What is your most memorable play from the 1964 season?

Coach Dooley came in 1964, organized everything, and we wound up going to the Sun Bowl. Texas Tech was the toughest team we played, but we won. We contained their All-American, Donnie Anderson, and I scored a touchdown (One Old Dawg comments it was the winning touchdown).

What is one important lesson you learned from your time as a college athlete?

I think college athletes should take advantage of the situation and get an education. I came back and got a master’s degree between my pro seasons, and then took post graduate courses. Athletes should understand the great opportunity they have to get an education. I have a grandson, Ulysses, on a javelin scholarship.

Frank, who were your inspirations or role models?

Red Uram, my high school coach was my biggest inspiration. I was doing all sports, swimming, basketball, track, football—twelve letters. So, one day, Coach Uram comes up to me, grabs me by my face mask and says I have to make up my mind whether I want to play baseball or football. So, I decided to play football. He was also a gymnastics coach, and I did a little gymnastics, too.

(Red Uram went on to be a conditioning coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 70’s and 80’s and won four Super Bowl Rings with the Steelers).

What advice would you give to someone just beginning their college football career?

Do the best you can at football, but always get back to that education. The football only lasts so long. Learn good communication skills, speaking and writing, along with your education. (One Old Dawg adds that many of the players he’s interviewed emphasize the importance of getting an education.)

Thank you, Frank, for taking the time to answer our questions. We loved hearing your story.

And now, One Old Dawg weighs in with thoughts about the upcoming game with Tennessee.

Things did not go well for the Bulldawg nation last Saturday. Sure, it was a terrible disappointment, but we must not hang our heads in despair, we are still in the hunt. We don’t have time for grief, Tennessee is coming to town this Saturday and they are also in the hunt. If we don’t beat Tennessee our chance of making the twelve team playoff drops to near zero. The Dawgs have owned Smokey for seven years, the smallest margin of victory was 14 points in 2022. You can bet they are chomping at the bit to hand us our third loss. So, we focus on what is ahead, not the past. These Blue Tick Hounds are playing for keeps and are surely looking to give us some payback for the last seven years.

I am reminded of James 1:2-4 (NIV):” Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops Perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  We should not see temporary setbacks as failures, but opportunities for growth. Our goal, a national championship, is still reachable, so we have not failed at this point. We have been and are being tested, but if we learn from these losses and press on with perseverance toward our goal we can still come out the winner. So, Gooo… Dawgs! Sic ‘em.

We include this week a One Old Dawg sighting, here from the Athens Touchdown Club Program in October:

That's it for this week. Only three more regular season games this year and we'll be here for all of them. See you next week with more "mostly true Bulldog lore."

Who is One Old Dawg?

Jerry Varnado played defensive end at the University of Georgia on Vince Dooley’s first three teams, which included an SEC championship in 1966, placing Georgia fourth in the nation. He helped coach the UGA football team while in law school, and practiced law for over a decade. Later, after a series of tragedies, he gave his life to Jesus Christ. After much soul searching, he left his law practice and has preached the gospel for forty years. He’s still at it every Sunday.

Inducted into the Valdosta/Lowndes County Sports Hall of Fame, he is also the recipient of the Athens Athletic Hall of Fame Fosky Henderson Award for community service. He is a past president of The Athens Touchdown Club and is now the chaplain. He has been an FCA chaplain for the Athens Academy Football Team for ten years.

He is the proud father of four children, and one sweet girl now with Jesus, as well as Bapa to two of the best grandkids ever.

The 1964 Sun Bowl and moving into a new era

For all of you getting ready for the Belk Bowl, here’s our final post for the year as One Old Dawg  concludes his memories of playing on the 1964 Georgia Bulldog football team.

After all the uncertainty of the 1964 season with new head coach, Vince Dooley, a young team, and so much nay saying, all of those hardworking Bulldogs captured a trip to the Sun Bowl.

 

From El Paso, Texas, Furman Bisher wrote of the game’s beginning in the Atlanta Journal, “Wayne Swinford returned the kickoff from the end zone to Georgia 20, and the Bulldogs set out on an impressive offensive that left the crowd agog. They ground out six first downs in the kind of strangling attack that has been typical of the Bulldogs this season.”

Of the game deciding touchdown, Bisher wrote, “Ridlehuber . . . flipped one . . . to Barber, who ran as hard as he can run down the west sideline, but was grabbed from behind the Tech six . . . . The play, however, covered 52 yards. On third down Frank Lankewicz crashed across the goal line from the two, and Bobby Etter made the score 7-0 with 7:57 left in the half.”

Sadly, Fred Barber suffered a pulled hamstring in that 52-yard run which would be the last run of his college career, but what a legacy he left.

 

Bisher commented on how Texas Tech struggled to move into Bulldog territory, and that “Mainly, this was because of tackle George Patton . . . “ Of course, Patton went on to be All SEC and All American as well as playing for the Atlanta Falcons.  

Also highlighted were Don Porterfield , Bob Taylor , Jim Wilson(All SEC, All American, San Francisco 49rs, Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Rams) , Leon Armbrester,  Vance Evans , Lynn Hughes (All SEC, All American), George Nowicki, and Pat Hodgson (All SEC, Washington Redskins, Coach at San Diego Chargers, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets) for their outstanding work.

The Sun Bowl win would help the Bulldogs complete the 1964 season with a 7-3-1 record.

Hidden away in the box of clippings One Old Dawg’s mama saved, we found a small clip from an unidentifiable newspaper entitled, “Varnado way well earned.” None other than a very young Lewis Grizzard who went on to be a nationally known Southern writer and celebrity wrote it.

Grizzard writes, “Varnado, a native of Valdosta where he played on two AAA state champions, came to Georgia without a scholarship. However, his love of football, especially the defensive phase, enabled him to get his grant-in-aid and become one of the Buldogs’ most promising ball players.”

 He quotes Jerry as saying, “You should never let any runner get to the outside, and this requires a lot of effort sometimes when they send two or three blockers at you. This is the toughest part about defensive end, but it really makes you feel good if you can do your job and make a good play that will stop the other teams offense.”

Grizzard goes on, “From the sounds that a mass from the Georgia cheering section when the Bulldog defensive corps comes off the field, it looks like Jerry Varnado is not the only one who feels good when the opposition’s offense is thwarted.”

The truth is the fans would continue to rally around these young players, many of whom would persevere and still be playing in 1966 when the Bulldogs won an SEC championship for only the second time since 1948 and which ranked them fourth in the nation. But it is this 1964 team which moved Georgia football into a whole new era. Each one of these players is truly a legend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Old Dawg concludes, “It has been a lot of fun sharing bulldog lore with you these last few months and I want to be sure that you all know that none of this would have happened if not for my incredible wife Beverly. This was her idea, and she made it happen. Not only has she freely shared her award winning writing skills with us but also spent many hours researching, gathering, and organizing a lot of information she used to produce these blog posts; and that’s in addition to putting up with me and my story telling for all these years. Thank you Beverly from all Bulldawgs everywhere, but especially us Old Dawgs, for remembering and preserving something of our story and the part we were privileged to play in the history of Georgia Football.

"The Belk Bowl is fast approaching; hunker down Dawgs; let’s close this season on a winning note and get on the right track for next year.

"Hope to see you back next fall for more “mostly true” bulldog lore from One Old Dawg."

 

And if you'll forgive a bit of author intrusion from One Old Dawg's wife, it has been my privilege to partner with One Old Dawg for this nostalgic trip back to 1964. It's been a joy to get to know many of you through the years, and the fiftieth celebration was a fabulous experience I and my children and grandchildren will never forget.

 

We end here in our traditional way with a great big loud, "Go Dawgs!"