One Old Dawg Remembers the 1964 Coaching Staff, Part Two

Happy Thanksgiving!! On this last regular season week for Georgia football, Jerry Varnado is back with part two remembering the coaches from the 1964 University of Georgia football season on the sixtieth anniversary of that team. This week we’re highlighting Dick Copas, John Donaldson, Jim Pyburn, and Frank Inman, the person who was responsible for Jerry playing football at the University of Georgia. If you missed part one, which included Bill Dooley, Erk Russell, and Hootie Ingram, you may find it HERE. 

And now let’s hear from One Old Dawg: 

“Dick Copas was hired as the Athletic Trainer and to say he was beloved is an understatement. It is important for players to know they can trust the head trainer to look after their best interest, which was true of Dick Copas. Team morale is critical to developing a winning tradition and Copas was a great encourager to that end. After one victory over Florida the football team insisted on giving Copas the game ball, the presenting player simply said, “He never gets the credit he deserves, but I don't know of anyone who isn't a friend of Mr. Copas.” His personality and competence as a leader were shown clearly in his later role as UGA golf coach beginning in 1970. In twenty-five years as Coach, the Dawgs produced thirty-one All-Americans and sixty-one All-SEC honors. Seventeen of his golfers went on to play on the PGA Tour. He was chosen as the National Coach of the Year in 1978 and was tabbed as the SEC Coach of the Year seven times. In 1994, he was inducted into the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame and into the UGA Circle of Honor in 2006. He was a friend to all and a great contributor to Georgia athletics.

“John Donaldson Assistant Offensive Backfield coach. Coach Donaldson played at George in 1945-46-47-48 at halfback and won four straight bowl games. In the 1946 Oil Bowl game, he caught a sixty-five-yard TD pass from the legendary Charley Trippi. He went on to play for the Chicago Hornets and then coached at Jesup High School. While there, he won state AA championships in 1954 and 1959. Then, after serving on the Florida staff for three years, he came to the University of Georgia from 1964-1968 coaching the backfield winning an SEC championship in 1966. He went into business for awhile but then came back to Georgia in 1971 as the freshman coach. In 1973, he became head coach at Wayne County High and retired in 1982.

“Jim Pyburn  Asst. Coach. An Alabama native, Coach Pyburn played for Auburn in 1953-1954. He set a record for most receiving yards in a season. He was also All-SEC, UPI “Player of the Year,” and an AP third team All-American. He was voted SEC Best Offensive End by coaches in 1954. Having excelled in both football and baseball, he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles and played there from 1955-1957. During this time, the Washington Redskins also drafted him. He later came to Georgia in 1964 as a coach for the defensive line, linebackers, and defensive backfield  over the course of the next sixteen years. He briefly retired and then returned to coaching to coach at Abilene Christian University from 1985-1986.

“Frank Inman was the Head Offensive Backfield Coach. In 1960 and 1961 Valdosta, where I played,  beat Richmond Academy for the South Georgia AAA Championship. Frank Inman was the Head Coach of Richmond Academy but at the end of the season he became an assistant coach at the University of Georgia. His last act as a high school coach was the North-South All-Star game in which I was a participant along with  other seniors on Valdosta’s championship team. I was unrecruited by any college, being too small and slow for college football. Coach Inman thought differently and somehow convinced the Georgia staff they needed to recruit me. All available scholarships were taken so they offered me a preferred walk on arrangement where I paid my way the first school term and the next year I was put on scholarship. . He remained on Dooley’s staff for 15 years in various positions and proved to be an important asset in the rebuilding process. He left Georgia in 1979 to take the position of Athletic Director for Glynn County School System which enjoyed much growth and success during his tenure. In his spare time, he spent twenty-four seasons working with Erk Russell, then Athletic Director and Head Coach of Georgia Southern as the color commentary voice on Eagle Football broadcasts. I will be forever grateful to Coach Inman for taking a chance on me, coming to Georgia was a life changing event. One of my big regrets in life is that I never sat down with Coach Inman and told him how much I appreciated what he did. But as the apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:3, “I thank my God every time I remember” him because of all he did for me. I know he was a Christian, and is in heaven, so one day I hope to get another chance to tell him.”

And now One Old Dawg weighs in about the upcoming game:

“Well, here we are at the end of our regular season and Georgia Tech is coming to town to play us between the hedges and on Friday night under the lights. I could not remember Georgia ever playing on Friday, which shows how bad my memory is. We played Georgia Tech in Sanford Stanford in1994, I’m sure I watched that game, and may have been  there. Anyway, we have the same Yellow Jackets this Friday at 7:30 p.m.  This swarm of Jackets is only 7-4 but they have several key wins including handing #4 Miami their only loss making them a dangerous team. We have a lot riding on this game, it is a must win for us, so we can’t let this bunch of bees get in our bonnet and mess with our minds. We need to keep our focus and take care of business, and I believe we will. This game will most likely turn out about like that Friday night game thirty years ago, which was Dawgs 48, Jackets 10. Gooooo Dawgs! Sic’em, woof, woof, woof!"

Well, that's it for the regular season One Old Dawg. Thank you for joining us in this sixtieth anniversary year. We hope to catch up with  you in the playoffs. Until then, a big Go Dawgs!!

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. 

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