Georgia’s own Mecole Hardman will be long remembered when Super Bowl histories are recalled. His three-yard touchdown catch last Sunday was not that spectacular as far as spectacular plays go, but what it meant for the Kansas City Chiefs will make him a hero forever.
Then there is the humility of how he figured into the process. Down and out in New York but getting a second opportunity with his old team was like a jilted lover being reunited and a broken heart mended.
Add to that the small-town aura. The population of his hometown of Bowman is 875. His winner’s share of $164,000 for a day’s work in Las Vegas probably rivals the net worth of the entire town.
We often find small-town boys achieving fame and fortune through the avenue of sports. Stories of Jerry West and Cabin Creek, West Virginia; Ty Cobb and Narrows, Georgia; Jim Brown and St. Simons Island, Georgia; Herschel Walker of Wrightsville, Georgia; Red Grange from Wheaton, Illinois; and Darrell Royal from Hollis, Oklahoma, are all Walter Mitty fantasies come to life that never cease to amaze and enthrall us all.
Now you can add Mecole and Bowman to that list.
I remember when Mecole was being recruited by Georgia. One coach called him “the best football player in America.” Perhaps that was an overstatement but no doubt everybody in Bowman today is ready to declare him the greatest thing since sliced bread.
The community is ready to bring about a parade in his honor, although with his speed he could run from one side of the town to the other in less time than he could run a hundred-yard dash.
Mecole always had a smiling, outgoing demeanor that endeared him to his teammates and coaches. He is still bringing great smiles to the Kansas City locker room. When he shows up in Bowman again, though, he will be the small-town boy they knew when he was growing up.
It will be the same when he returns to Elberton, 12 miles away, where he played high school football for coach Sid Fritts, who called Mecole “not just the best player I coached; but he was the best player I ever saw.”
Mecole’s versatility as an athlete was such that he started out as a defensive back at Georgia and then switched to wide receiver, which was the perfect home for him.
In the national championship game with Alabama in 2017, he scored on an 80-yard bomb from Jake Fromm. In his junior year in 2018, he caught 34 passes for 532 yards and seven touchdowns.
Following his NFL rookie year, I called friends in Kansas City and there were rave reviews about his popularity with Chiefs fans as his small-town humility made them appreciate him that much more.
While he made the headlines, it is to underscore that one of his teammates who will be getting sized for a ring will be Malik Herring, former Bulldog defender, who was injured for last year’s victory over the Eagles. He was credited with a tackle and an assist against San Francisco.
This marked the 23rd straight year a Georgia player participated in the Super Bowl. The first former Bulldog to win a Super Bowl ring was Zeke Bratkowski, the backup quarterback to Barr Starr in Green Bay’s defeat of the Chiefs in Super Bowl I. He also was on the Super Bowl II winning squad.
John Rauch, former Georgia quarterback under Wallace Butts, coached in that second Super Bowl as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders.
He had two assistants: John Madden was the line coach and Bill Walsh was the backfield coach. I was fortunate enough to interview both of these great NFL personalities. Madden said that Rauch was the only coach he ever knew who could actually coach every position on the team, and Walsh said the “genesis” of the West Coast offense began with Rauch and that Raiders team.
It is easy to conclude if that was the case, then the roots of the West Coast offense had its beginning on the UGA practice fields, where Rauch learned the basics of offensive football from coach Wallace Butts.
Three former ‘Dawgs have been named MVP of past Super Bowl games: Jake Scott in 1972; Terrell Davis in 1998; and most recently, Hines Ward in 2006.