Georgia Football: Past, Present and Future on Display in Win
The Georgia Bulldogs moved to 2-0 with a win 63-17 win over Murray State. The past, present and future of Georgia Football was on full display during the week two victory.
The Georgia Football program took another step in their quest for a national championship, with a blowout win over Murray State. While Bulldogs were expected to win big and did, there were interesting elements of UGA’s past, present and future involved in this past week’s win.
The Past
The thing that made the Georgia victory on Saturday special, was it marked the official renaming of the Bulldogs field. The field is now known as Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium, in honor of the Bulldogs championship winning coach and former athletic director Vince Dooley.
The Georgia Bulldogs honored coach Dooley with a special ceremony prior to their week two victory. There was a touching video tribute for coach, with former UGA players and coaches speaking on the impact Dooley had on their lives.
They spoke on how coach taught them not only the game of football, but life lessons that were able to reach far beyond the lines of a football field. Coach Dooley was joined at the 50 yard line by his wife Barbara and UGA president Jere Moorhead.
Several Bulldog players that played for coach Vince Dooley were in attendance for the ceremony, to celebrate the legacy of their leader. This includes the greatest Georgia Bulldogs player and arguably the greatest NCAA football player of all time, Herschel Walker. Walker got the crowd riled up for the game with a Go Dawgs chant just prior to kickoff.
It was an emotional scene as coach Dooley was honored. The honor is certainly fitting, as Georgia Football was elevated to new levels under coach Dooley.
Obviously the fact that the Georgia Bulldogs won their only National Championship of the modern era in 1980, on back of Hershel Walker and under the guidance of coach Dooley, was cause for honor and celebration in itself. However Vince Dooley did much more for the program than win that national title.
Georgia Football saw its biggest growth as a program, under the direction of Vince Dooley as a coach and athletic director. In the process Sanford Stadium was expanded in a major way during Dooley’s tenure.
When Coached Dooley arrived in Athens, UGA had just begun the process to expand the stadium to just over 40,000 seats. When Dooley’s stint as athletic director ended in 2004, Sanford Stadium had added a second deck and seated over 90,000 fans. The venue now seats nearly 96,000.
The expansion of the stadium by more than double the capacity, makes it fitting that the field be named after Vince Dooley. It was a wonderful and well deserved honor.