My college years included the football season of ’59 when serendipity graced the University of Georgia campus as it had almost two decades earlier.
With the remarkable accomplishments of Kirby Smart making him the most successful coach in UGA history – especially with the balance of his career still unfinished – one can only imagine the magnitude of what Wallace Butts had going on in the early days of World War II.
The first bowl game, the Orange Bowl skirmish with Texas Christian in 1942, was followed up with a successful bout against UCLA in the Rose Bowl one year later. No telling what “The Little Round Man” might have pulled off had it not been for the “Good War” coming about.
Then there were the Herschel years, a singular highlight of the Vince Dooley era: three consecutive SEC titles and the 1980 national championship.
Butts in the ‘40s, Dooley in the ‘80s, and Kirby in the here-and-now represent the three greatest eras in Georgia football history. The current senior class on the UGA campus, those graduating in June, will have seen their alma mater lose only four games throughout their time on campus.
A victory over Florida State in the Orange Bowl would mean they will have witnessed 50 victories, which would have been more had it not been for the COVID year of 2020 when the Bulldogs posted an 8-2 record.
Winning and winning championships is the Smart self-imposed mantra.
But you always remember what took place during your own campus time as a favorite if not the favorite era. As much as I appreciated the Herschel years and the back-to-back championships from the Smart attack of 2021 and 2022, I have the fondest memories of the 1959 season.
Coach Butts, the toast of the collegiate game in the 1940s when his pass-oriented offenses dominated the SEC, had fallen on hard times in the ‘50s. He didn’t recruit as well, and he had difficulty defeating his cross-state rival, Georgia Tech.
When Theron Sapp’s one-yard touchdown plunge broke the drought in 1957, the worm turned and turned dramatically. Since that time, the Bulldogs have dominated the series against their archrival, 49-18.
Butts’ rebound in 1959 was heartwarming throughout the state of Georgia as the legion of Dawgs fans was anxious to pay tribute to the Bulldogs in every one of its 159 counties – from Rabun Gap to Hahira and Tybee Light to Lookout Mountain.
The favorites to win the SEC were LSU, Ole Miss, and Auburn. LSU, the defending national champion, eliminated Ole Miss with Billy Cannon’s historic punt return on Halloween night in Baton Rouge. The next week in Knoxville, Cannon’s effort to keep LSU undefeated failed as the home team stopped him on a two-point conversion attempt, eliminating the Tigers from the title chase.
When the Bulldogs, led by Fran Tarkenton, upset Auburn in one of the classic all-time games between the hedges, Georgia became the surprise SEC champions.
Those were heady days. Athens became intoxicated, euphoric, and emotionally out of control. It continued right on through the Orange Bowl, where two Tarkenton touchdown passes to the late Bill McKenny and the late Aaron Box took the measure of Missouri 14-0.
I have never seen the state so receptive to a championship team as it was following the Orange Bowl. Butts was back for the 1960 season and so were All-Americans Tarkenton and Pat Dye. Season ticket sales were over the top, at least for the times.
Dan Magill, the sports information director, Bulldog Club Secretary, and tennis coach was at his all-time best, organizing celebrations and tributes across the state. In conjunction with the Touchdown Club of Athens, Magill came up with a coronation party that celebrated Georgia’s noteworthy success with a “hard times are over” theme.
It was short-lived, however. In the spring of 1960, line coach J. B. Whitworth, whose leadership had a monumental impact on the team’s attitude and performance, died of a heart attack as a snowstorm hit Athens.
The Bulldogs posted a 6-4 record under Butts in 1960, including a 7-6 win over Tech 7-6 in Athens with Dye’s big play making the difference.
Moving to the defensive end, where his speed and quickness were more impactful, Dye blocked both a Tech field-goal attempt and an extra-point attempt, which turned out to be the margin of victory.
Butts’ last four years at UGA were bittersweet. The ‘57 team won only three games and the ’58 team four, but his teams defeated Tech each year to perpetuate a four-game streak.
The highlight of his tenure, though, was the 1960 Orange Bowl. After Tarkenton led the Dogs to victory, you would have thought Athens was the center of the universe for the next six months had you walked into the downtown Varsity for a couple of chili dogs and a frosted orange.