Vince Dooley's Tales from the 1980 Georgia Bulldogs

by Vince Dooley, Blake Giles (Contributor)

Even Moses could not have parted the red sea of fans who engulfed the Georgia Bulldogs football team after it clung tenaciously to 17-10 victory over Notre Dame in the 1981 Sugar Bowl, capping a perfect season to win the school's first consensus national championship. Vince Dooley had the perfect view of the bedlam, riding atop the shoulders of his players, and he had the perfect view of everything that happened in 1980 that led up to the ultimate climax. They played with the tenacity of Bulldogs all year, yet it might have been the purloined pig that united the team. It was also the year the silver britches returned. It was the last year for the fans on the railroad tracks. And on the eve of a national championship, Vince Dooley almost left Georgia to return to Auburn to coach his alma mater. One year removed from a mediocre 6-5 season, Georgia certainly got a boost from freshman tailback Herschel Walker, the most sought-after schoolboy athlete in the state's history. It was so important that Georgia sign Walker, in fact, that backfield coach Mike Cavan moved to Wrightsville, Georgia-100 miles south of the Athens campus from Christmas to Easter-when divine intervention seemingly moved Walker to a decision. But Walker alone was not enough. That became clearly evident when a dramatic comeback was needed to overcome Florida, and a wide receiver who had lost his scholarship for disciplinary reasons and suffered an offseason injury in a car accident resurrected his college career with the most incredible play in Georgia's history. Yet the championship season was almost derailed before it started in the season opener, when Nate Taylor, Pat McShea, and even punter Jim Broadway epitomized the roles of the unsung heroes in a onepoint win. From beginning to end, it was a year of unusual drama, sprinkled with generous doses of humor. And when it was all done, the 1980 team had reached a place no Bulldog team had ever gone before.

Genres: Sports

185 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2005

Reviews

[Tim Chavel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book details the games from the 1980 National Championship Season of the University Georgia Bulldog team. One of the seniors on that team, Scott Woerner, was a classmate of mine in high school. The first chapter in the book tells of "The Pig" incident. I had never heard about this situation. Some of the team members decided they would kill one of the pigs at the UGA Botanical Gardens where the did swine research. The pig was cooked and eaten at the annual party before the 1980 season. The five football players involved in the "Pig" incident were Scott Woerner, Chris Welton, Frank Ross, High Nall, and Nat Hudson. It was very interesting to see how Coach Dooley handled the situation. I love reliving all of the games from this championship season. I was in college in Pensacola at the time and had to listen to most of the games on radio. Although I did see the UGA USC game on TV and also the Sugar Bowl vs ND.

Sometimes in the book it was hard to understand who was talking also the book flipped back and forth from the 1980 season and other seasons that Dooley recalled (sometimes this was a bit confusing). I wish the book would have spent more time detailing the recruitment of each of the players that played a significant role in that season. Of course the book did detail Herschel Walker's recruitment.

But I believe all Bulldawg fans will enjoy this book!

[Prismo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never realized how spoiled I am to be a Bulldog fan at this point in time... like the 1980 team clawed their way to a natty aided by a lot of luck, and now you can reliably count on Kirby Smart's Dawgs to be one of the best teams in the country on all three sides of the field year-in and year-out. If you are even a smidgen of a fan of the Georgia Bulldogs, this really is a must-read!

Also, it's funny that I read about the 1980 Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia today, and tomorrow (as of this review's posting) Georgia and Notre Dame will be facing off in the 2025 Sugar Bowl... GO DAWGS!!!

[????? CRAZY · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1980, the college football world was introduced to the future Heisman winner Hershel Walker. He in his first game rushed for over 100 yards, as a true freshman (which means he was not red-shirted). Vince Dooley wrote a fantastic book about the1980 Georgia Bulldogs. The book starts with the story of the purloined pig, and ends with the Sugar Bowl win against Notre Dame. The book has a weird, well not weird but interesting, way of telling the story. It is almost like short stories, but they are like newspaper articles. They talk about all the games from the opener against Tennessee, to the comeback win against Florida, and the final Governor’s Cup (G.T. v/s U.G.A.).
Vince Dooley was the Head Coach of the 1980 GA Dawgs. He went to Auburn University, and after the regular season he was offered the coaching job at Auburn. He didn’t take it but eyed it very carefully. He went to the National Championship for two more years, but never won it again. There weren’t any arguments that I didn’t believe he did wrong. He did the right thing bringing back the silver britches, and he did the right thing bringing Walker in when he did. He did just what I would do.
In conclusion, I would like to say this is a very impressive book. I highly recommend it.

[Joseph R. Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hunker down, you Hairy Dawgs!!!

[Cain Oz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tells of the Dawgs #GoDawgs