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Georgia football podcast: UGA fans should adopt the mindset of one of the all-time greats
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Georgia football podcast: UGA fans should adopt the mindset of one of the all-time greats
Georgia football is the No. 1 topic every day on DawgNation Daily — the daily podcast for fans of the national champion Georgia Bulldogs. Catch up on everything happening with UGA athletics with host Brandon Adams and the DawgNation experts as they break down the latest Georgia football recruiting news and discuss coach Kirby Smart’s quest to keep the Bulldogs on top of the college football world. On episode No. 1,744 (July 28, 2022) of the podcast, Georgia fans can hear a discussion about how an old letter written by legendary former UGA defensive coordinator Erk Russell strikes the right tone for the Bulldogs’ mindset for the upcoming season.
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In 1980, I was a junior at UGA and a sousaphone player in the Redcoat Band. Our pre-game show opened by marching down the field to the east end zone. When we started our pre-game show, we can look up and see the reaction of the Track People. The Tech game was the last game of the season and the last game for the Track People. Aside from saluting the upcoming sUGAr Bowl by spelling sUGAr on the field instead of Georgia, we saluted the Track People by turning and playing Glory facing them.
In the fall of 1980, the drinking age was 18 and most of the Track People did partake in the spirits of the day.
Those were the days!
Brandon, thanks for sharing the letter. I looked it up and read it, in it's entirety.
I graduated HS in '79 from a Ga HS with special ties to UGA. Mike Cavan spent a lot of time there recruiting some my teammates over the years and my HC was a former UGA RB and RB Coach under Dooley. His wife, Ann designed and patented (copyright) the "G" on the side of UGA's helmets...which was later leased to the GB Packers. LOL. When my Coach passed away recently, Coach Dooley came and did a eulogy.
It invoked a lot of fond memories of that time period. A period in which we didn't take ourselves so seriously and kids were allowed the room, to be kids. While any National Championship is special, the one in 1980 holds a special place in a lot of hearts. It wasn't "supposed to happen", if you listened to most of the media. There were a lot of very talented Freshmen and Sophmores from the State of Ga., on that team, some of which I played, with and against, in HS...and a few very close games that could've gone the other way.
Erk Russell was like a beloved Deity to all of us. We heard all the pregame stories of bent lockers and bloody foreheads and emotional tirades. He was an inspiration to all of us. Coach Smart, during the Florida half-time speech in 2021, was like an apparition of Coach Russell. It's no wonder to any of us that he had the success he had at GA Southern. He would have been just as successful as UGA's Head Coach, had he been give a chance. There's little doubt that UGA's downward spiral of the '80's and '90's, began, when he left to build that Ga Southern program. He was a master of inspiration and recruiting.
Thanks for the letter and the reminder of a Great Coach.
Back in the day (1976), for away games, we'd go up to the tracks with a cooler of Old Milwaukee and a radio to listen to Leonard's Losers and then Larry Munson.
I was there in grad school for that Tech game in 1980.
Great days.
All of these posts are fantastic (as is the Coach Erk letter on the podcast) and brings me back to those wondrous years I spent at UGA from the fall of '76 to spring of '80.
I missed the Herschel years, having graduated in the Spring, but we had some memorable games and teams in the late '70's. And that is when Coach Erk was king! NOBODY inspired the fan base as he did!
1) The 21-0 shutout of Bear's boys in Athens in '76 is my all time favorite and first home game as a freshman when the tracks were full and Coach Erk gave his rebel yell to wake the track people up!
2) The second coming of Coach Erk's Junkyard Dawgs in '76 which included the one regular season loss to Ole Miss and the loss in the Sugar Bowl to a buzzsaw named Tony Dorsett. We won the SEC that year with Goff and Robinson and had a chance at the National Title even before Herschel!
3) James Brown's halftime show where he sang "Dooley's Junkyard Dawgs"
4) The "Prince Charles does it Dog Style" game in '77
5) The "Mac attack" with Kevin McLee and Willie McClendon
6) Unfortunately, Dooley's only losing season in 1977 (But then came Buck and later, Herschel)
7) The "Wonder Dogs" team of 1978 going 9-2-1 featuring a very stout Coach Erk defense. Remember UGA and KY were one of the last teams to run the "Split six" defense with two middle linebackers over center.
8) Buck Belue to Amp Arnold in the GT game in 1978 with minutes left to play where Belue came in to win the game as a freshman. My favorite play until "Run, Lindsay,..."
9) 1979, the prelude season to Herschel
And, of course, there was Munson (remember sneaking in my old AM/FM transistor in the games to try and catch the broadcast on a very weak signal) and Leonard "Post Toasties" Postero's prognostications every week (could get a printout at all the fast food places!)
And off the field there was Disco Dancing at B & J's Warehouse, the Mad Hatter, the Fifth Quarter, O'Malley's, Toga Parties etc.
Just a great time to be a Georgia Bulldawg!