Vince Dooley
When I decided to walk on at Georgia in the fall of 1978 back when players themselves could decide to walk on and did not have to be invited or go through a brief tryout, I nervously arrived on the day we were to report.
Instead of having to do some grueling initial workout as I feared, we were told by the freshmen or JV coaching support staff simply to watch the varsity practice. Here, I saw a lot of intense running, hitting and enthusiastic coaching, but one man was noticeable by his seeming lack of involvement.
That was head coach Vince Dooley, who simply stood on the top level of the terraced grass practice fields and watched quite stoically – but no doubt observantly.
I had seen movies about Vince Lombardi’s heavy involvement at practices and read Bear Bryant’s book and even knew that my Baylor high school coach, E.B. “Red” Etter, was quite involved at practice. So, this came as a surprise.
And he pretty much stayed that way for most of the practice, as if he were simply a spectator at a Masters golf tournament practice round.
And then when practice ended, a very small number of reporters went up to him and asked how practice went as everyone left the field. That was my introduction to coach Vince Dooley.
But I no doubt realized later he did quite a bit more behind the scenes to enjoy such success.
I thought about all that this weekend as I heard the unfortunate news that the longtime former Bulldogs coach and athletic director had died at the age of 90. That announcement has saddened longtime Georgia football fans, as has the recent death of former star Charley Trippi, another of perhaps the five or six most important figures in Georgia football history.
I also had the opportunity to interview Mr. Trippi a couple of times over the telephone, including about playing the Chattanooga Mocs several times!
Regarding coach Dooley, I did not have a whole lot of contact with him as a lowly walk-on getting to play primarily on the freshmen and JV team for a couple of years. I did pass him sometimes coming and going from practice because the varsity would practice a little later than the freshmen team of walk-ons my freshman year, and I remember he would occasionally nod or say hello to me if I made eye contact with him.
And once during spring practice, I dropped a pass in front of him when I was struggling while trying to get used to playing on a big stage, and he did say something like, “We’ve got to have those, Shearer,” in a low-key manner after seeing my name on the front of my helmet.
He obviously had a nice and diplomatic manner and would be the last coach to get in a spat with another coach, although he and U.Ga. President (and former Chattanooga High graduate) Michael Adams did have one or two disagreements in coach Dooley’s later years as AD.
I did get to talk with him once at the end of spring practice my freshmen year, when the 10 or 20 walk-ons who had stayed out through all of spring practice got to chat with him for a minute or two individually under the water break pavilion after a manager called us up.
I remember he realized I was from Chattanooga or Baylor and referenced new Alabama Gov. Fob James, a former teammate from Auburn, and his son, Tim, who was a football recruit.
At some point in my college years, I realized coach Dooley and I had the same birthday of Sept. 4, so maybe I could have brought that up if I knew it at the time.
While my individual contact with him was limited, even though I did get to know two or three of the assistant coaches somewhat, I certainly observed him and his rather unique coaching style then and before he retired following the 1988 season after 25 years at the helm.
Most would call him a stoic who often seemed to show less emotion than many coaches during a game, even though he was known for displaying a little body English.
He was certainly not an offensive guru but focused on the running game and threw the ball only a few times during a game. Although cerebral and known for visiting the history section of the library and a man who once worked the discipline of an artist into a preseason team meeting that I attended, he was mainly about defense. He would often play high school quarterbacks on defense, probably because they were good athletes and naturally had a good sense of awareness of the game of football.
Although he did sign Herschel Walker, he mainly had a lot of good players who played smart and were well disciplined on the field. I always thought that coach Dooley, perhaps more than any other coach I have seen, could come back and win more close games often after the other team seemed to be playing statistically better. His teams would usually make minimal mistakes, play smart and still often find themselves in a position to win late in a game.
As a result, Georgia during his 25 years at the helm often had quite a few thrilling, come-from-behind wins that were a contrast to his reserved personality. The 1965 win over Alabama, the 1973 win over Tennessee, the 1978 win over Georgia Tech, the 1980 wins over UT and Florida, and the January 1984 Cotton Bowl victory over Texas are a few that come to mind.
And with the excitable Larry Munson announcing the games, the two made a perfect pair to bring many thrilling and happy moments for Georgia football fans.
Off the field, I understand from those who knew him, coach Dooley could be entertaining as a public speaker, although maybe not quite in the style of his gregarious wife, Barbara, who spoke with him once at the Tivoli in 1992 at a fund-raising event.
He also had a sense of humor but could also on occasion be aloof – as I heard one sportswriter describe him.
But overall, the U.S. Marine veteran was considered a great face representing Georgia football in a mostly admirable way. Although I got to observe his son, Derek, at Tennessee a little while living in Knoxville and while Derek was coaching there and he and his family attended our church, Church Street United Methodist Church, I understand he maybe did not quite have the people skills with the overall athletic department like his father had. At least that is what I heard after Derek Dooley left.
In later years, I understand coach Vince Dooley was usually accessible to reminisce in interviews. I kept meaning to try and contact him for maybe an interview looking back at his career in some way but never did. I did write him once about the football team when he was the athletic director, and he wrote me back.
I also sent a copy of the book I wrote on the history of UTC football to him on another occasion about 20 years ago, and he wrote me a note thanking me and said he remembered former Mocs coach Scrappy Moore well and was quite aware of him as a young assistant coach.
Scrappy Moore, a Georgia alumnus, was the Chattanooga coach when Georgia played the Mocs in 1942, 1945 and 1946. That was also when Charley Trippi was a star player and his Bulldogs won the Southeastern Conference two of those years under Wally Butts, who, unlike coach Dooley, was a pioneer at the passing game.
Mr. Trippi died on Oct. 19 at the age of 100 in Athens. Of Italian descent and from Pennsylvania, he became a legend at Georgia before and after World War II and then starred for the Chicago Cardinals on his way to being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
At Georgia, he played alongside Frank Sinkwich in 1942 when Mr. Sinkwich won the Heisman Trophy. Wearing the unusual jersey number of 62, he returned to Georgia to star after the war, finishing second in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1946 behind Glenn Davis of Army and winning the Maxwell Trophy and the Walter Camp Award.
My father, Dr. C. Wayne Shearer, was a student at Georgia after the war and remembered seeing him walk around campus with his head almost down and not appearing to want to draw any attention to himself. He was known as a quiet-but-pleasant man who later invested in real estate ventures wisely and reportedly was frugal and had the first dollar he ever made.
I interviewed him a couple of times over the phone, with one of them about the three times his great Georgia teams played at Chattanooga’s Chamberlain Field. That is right, some star SEC teams and Heisman Trophy winners and runner-ups played in Chattanooga.
Tennessee also came to Chattanooga in the 1930s when they were a powerhouse.
Sportswriter Wirt Gammon Sr. said after the 1942 Georgia-UC game that Mr. Trippi ran down the field like a locomotive in the 40-0 Georgia win. The 1945 contest against Chattanooga was the first one he had played in since being released from military service, and he scored two touchdowns in the 34-7 Georgia win. In 1946, when Georgia won by a score of 48-27, he gained 105 yards on only four carries to entertain the Scenic City locals.
Mr. Trippi told me over the phone that his Bulldogs were not that excited to have to travel to Chattanooga to play a game against a smaller school, an answer probably typical in the days before smaller schools getting to host bigger schools in football became such a rarity.
But college football fans in Chattanooga at the time no doubt looked forward to and enjoyed seeing him.
In turn, all the Bulldog football fans in Chattanooga and North Georgia generally always looked forward to seeing coach Vince Dooley on the sidelines over his mostly successful career.
And since so much of this week is focused on the upcoming game between the highly ranked Bulldogs and UT Vols, for the record, Mr. Trippi never played against Tennessee, while coach Dooley’s record against the Knoxville school was 4-2-1 from 1964-88.
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Jcshearer2@comcast.net
Charley Trippi