Former players cheer coach

Famous members of Dooley’s teams join dedication ceremony.

There is probably not a better friend to, and certainly no greater admirer of, Vince Dooley than Billy Payne. The two have walked lockstep into Georgia sports history ever since they fifirst met in 1965.

But as close as they are today, that relationship was once based on fear.

“I used to laugh at people who didn’t know him well,” said Payne, who returned from his summer home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to participate in this weekend’s Dooley Field dedication. “They would describe him as this very serious man who was always deliberative and rarely emotional. I can remember in practices and sometimes even in games, I was afraid to get anywhere near him. He was so emotional, so into it, so demonstrative.

“Yet, through all those ye ars of hi s tenure as a coach, people on the outside never saw that side of him. That was because, after the game was over, he would go into a different gear. He would become the administrative, thoughtful, deliberative, reflective, articulate leader.

“But I’ll tell you what, if we were at practice or in a game and we didn’t do what he wanted us to do, he let you know it.”

And, yes, Payne said, he was often the target of Dooley’s attention.

This weekend, all eyes will be on Dooley, the Georgia Bulldogs’ football coach — and athletic director — with the most wins all-time. After UGA gained the approval of the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents in May, its football field at Sanford Stadium will be christened Saturday as Dooley Field.

The official act will take place at about 3:30 p.m., which is a half-hour before the Bulldogs are scheduled to kick off against Murray State. But the celebration will start tonight when hundreds of Dooley’s former players, family and close friends will attend a banquet in his honor in the Grand Ballroom of Tate Student Center.

Payne is scheduled to speak at that gathering, as well as Frank Ros, captain of Dooley’s 1980 national championship team, and former running back Herschel Walker, who won the Heisman Trophy under Dooley’s tutelage in 1982.

All the fuss has been a bit overwhelming — but enjoyable — for Dooley, who turned 87 on Wednesday.

“If I had my way they would just hurry up and get it over with and get the focus back on where it belongs, which is on the football team,” Dooley said. “But I understand. There are so many people that have taken pride in this, particularly the players that I coached. They’re part of the celebration, and I’m particularly proud that’s happening.”

Captains of all 25 of Dooley’s teams will accompany the Dooley family onto the field for Saturday’s dedication. UGA President Jere Morehead, who brought the motion to name the field to the board of regents, will preside over the ceremony, along with Athletic Director Greg McGarity.

It has been almost 90 years to the day since Georgia’s football field was first dedicated as Sanford Stadium on Oct. 12, 1929, in a pregame ceremony before the Bulldogs played Yale. It was named for Steadman V. Sanford, who was dean of the school at the time and soon to become the president. He was the man most responsible for raising the funds it took to build the stadium for $300,000.

As football coach and eventually athletic director at Georgia, Dooley oversaw seven expansions of Sanford Stadium since then. UGA double-decked the facility after his 1966 team won the SEC championship, enclosed the East End after his 1980 team won the national championship and added more upper-decking and the SkySuites on the South side while Dooley was athletic director.

By the time he retired in 2004, Sanford Stadium had reached its current seating capacity, which is 92,746. That makes it the fifth-largest on-campus stadium in college football.

Dooley retired with a 20177-10 record from 1964-88. In those 25 seasons, the Bulldogs won one national championship (1980) and six SEC championships. He took his teams to 20 bowl games and coached a Heisman Trophy winner (Walker), a Maxwell Award Winner (Walker, 1982), an Outland Award Winner (Bill Stanfill, 1968) and produced 40 All-Americans and 10 Academic All-Americans.

“I wanted to win some championships, a national championship and have a Heisman Trophy winner, and we did all that,” Dooley said.

Dooley also retired as athletic director in 1988. But after briefly exploring a career in politics, he decided to return. And Charles Knapp, then UGA’s president, was gracious enough to give Dooley his job back.

That proved a wise move. Under Dooley’s watch as athletic director, Georgia teams won 23 national titles — including 10 in his final six years — including an unprecedented four during the 1998- 99 year (gymnastics, women’s swimming, men’s tennis and men’s golf ). UGA teams won 78 SEC team championships and numerous individual national titles in both men’s and women’s sports.

That left Dooley with the distinction being only person ever to hold the presidency of both the American Football Coaches Association and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics — a testament to his contributions to coaching and athletics administration.

“As good of a head coach as he was, I’m not sure he wasn’t a better athletic director,” said Ros, who served Dooley as a graduate assistant for three years.

An Auburn alum, Dooley has stayed loyal and fully committed to Georgia since he was hired by Joel Eaves in December 1963. Fifty-five years later, his service to the university continues, and his commitment to his players remains as strong as ever.

“He’s the reason I’m in the Hall of Fame, period,” said All-American cornerback Scott Woerner, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017. “He went to bat for me. I found out after the fact that he might’ve done a little Vince Dooley politicking. I can tell you he was as giddy as anybody when I was elected.”

And that’s the sentiment one hears from most of the lettermen who played for Dooley. That includes Payne, who finally got over his fear.

“When the Olympics came along, we needed the help and involvement of the university,” said Payne, who became chairman of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) in the 1990s. “He was one of our earliest and best supporters, and that kind of took our relationship to another level. It went from him being a patriarch to a partner, and that was good.”

“He’s just a great man,” Woerner said. “They come along every once in a while, and I’ve worked for a few of them. Vince is one of the finest.”

AJC FILE Vince Dooley, carried off the field after Georgia defeated Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl for the national title in January 1981, also won six SEC championships.