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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2016
Recalling the Georgia-TCU Orange Bowl of 1942
Georgia's matchup with TCU
in the forthcoming Liberty Bowl
brings about reflections of the
original promot
er of the holi
day game and.
of course. Frank
Sinkwich, who
set a record for
total offense ver
sus the Horned
Frogs in Miami
that ranks with
the best individ
ual performances
ever in any bowl
game.
What is so
insightful about that, is that Sink
wich, a modest man, was the last
player at the University of Geor
gia to relish an individual accom
plishment. He was all about his
team and his teammates.
Yet his record for total offense,
365 yards, would turn the heads
of latent offensive performers in
today's high octane offenses.
Years later, his coach, Wallace
Butts, would say that game in
the Orange Bowl, New Year’s
Day 1942 was the best offensive
performance of any of his teams.
And don't forget that a season
later, Sinkwich and the other
Bulldog legend of that era, Char
ley Trippi, would be playing in
the same backfield.
Even so, Butts couldn’t
remember a more produc
tive afternoon by a team of
his than on that first bowl
outing.
Sinkwich was, perhaps,
the most modest Superstar
ever.
When I was at Georgia in
the early 60s, I was invit
ed by an apartment which
Sinkwich allowed a Georgia
player with limited resourc
es, George Guisler, to use
while Guisler was trying to
complete degree requirements.
(Sinkwich often hired Bulldog
players to work for him, espe
cially those who were keen on
the work ethic and needed to
make extra money which rules
permitted in those days.)
As I walked down the hall to
the kitchen, I noticed that there
was a bedroom without a stick
of furniture, but in a corner sat
Frank’s Heisman trophy.
Years later when I met the
great Bulldog legend, who wore
No. 21, which was retired years
ago, I recalled that visit to his
apartment and noted that if I
had won the Heisman Trophy it
would be sitting in a prominent
place at the entrance to my home.
Frank laughed and then said,
“You know it really doesn't
belong to me. It belongs to the
University of Georgia. In fact, I
plan to give it to the school.’'
With that I told then Athletic
Director, Joel Eaves of my con
versation with Sinkwich.
Eaves, who was not all that
big on promotions, nonetheless,
appreciated Sinkwich's gesture
and suggested that something be
worked out for an on-the-field
ceremony for a home game.
When I went back to Frank
with the plan, typically, he asked:
“Do I have to be in the ceremo
ny?”
I explained that it would not
make a lot of sense if he gave
the trophy without his handing
off the trophy to UGA officials.
Reluctantly, he agreed.
When Herschel Walker won
the Heisman some 40 years later,
a Heisman official told me that
the Sinkwich act of magnanim
ity stimulated the Heisman com
mittee to begin the tradition of
giving two trophies each year-
one to the player and one to his
school.
We are reviewing an era when
there were not that many bowls,
and prior to the 1942 Orange
Bowl, most teams worked tire
lessly for an opportunity to play
in the Rose Bowl.
Georgia partisans wanted to
see that happen as much as any
body. The Bulldogs had never
played in a bowl game by the
time Wallace Butts became head
coach in 1938. There were only
five at the time: Rose, Sun,
Orange, Sugar and Cotton, com
pared to the 40 plus bowl games
today.
Bill Hartman, Georgia’s back-
field coach, remembered that one
of Butts assistants came in pos
session of some TCU game film.
It was against the rules to study
an opponent’s game film at that
time. Hartman remembered a
projector was found, a bed sheet
placed on the wall and shades
drawn as the staff watched the
flickering Horned Frog game
film “in guarded secrecy.” He
concluded that the film did not
enhance Georgia’s offense any
because of Bulldog stars like
Sinkwich, Lamar Davis and Cliff
Kimsey.
There were 35,786 in atten
dance for the Orange Bowl with
the game starting a trend of
holiday vacations for Georgia.
The Rose Bowl invitation would
come a season later.
This is the fourth time the
Bulldogs have played the Homed
Frogs and can expect the tough
est test yet. All other games
Georgia's offense has put up 40,
34 and 38 points. The challenge
is that if you score 40 points,
you still could get beat with
Gary Patterson’s high powered
offense.
Any trip to Memphis is a
reminder of how Bud Dudley, the
originator of the Liberty Bowl,
struggled with his bowl game
which began in 1959.
He even played the game
indoors at Atlantic City one year.
Memphis welcomed him with
open arms, and the game found a
home there.
A happy marriage developed
for the game and the city and
nobody was more deserving of
that to happen to than Bud Dud
ley.
Loran Smith is a sports colum
nist for the Barrow News-Jour
nal. He is co-host of the Uni
versity of Georgia football radio
pre-game show.
loran
smith
Braves show necessary restraint
at MLB Winter Meetings
For a team that has been
a whirlwind the past two
offseasons, the
Atlanta Braves
were very quiet at
last week's Major
League Baseball
Winter Meetings.
There was no
fleecing of the Ari
zona Diamond-
backs like a year
ago when pitcher
Shelby Miller was
shipped off for
No. 1 draft pick
Dansby Swanson.
The Braves were part of
the proverbial “hot stove,”
but nothing of significance
materialized and that’s
probably for the best.
Ever since the Braves won
96 games and the National
League East crown in 2013,
the last three years have
been difficult to swallow for
many fans.
It started in 2014 with a
mediocre 79-83 season that
was mostly due to incon
sistency across the board
— from the pitching staff
to a lineup that was built
too much on all-or-nothing
power and not enough on
guys who could get on base.
That led to the exit of
Frank Wren as general
manager and a subsequent
gutting of the big-league
club in favor of replenish
ing the minor league system
under the direction of John
Hart and John Coppolella.
I was initially skeptical
of the rebuild and it hasn’t
been without its warts.
But it's impossible to sit
here today and say the orga
nization is in worse shape
now than it was entering the
winter of 2014.
The 2015 season was
very bad. and the second
half was particularly atro
cious.
And it was followed by
more wheeling and dealing
as part of a continued effort
to build the farm back up.
The lowest point was
the first 37 games of 2016
as the Braves sputtered to
an abysmal 9-28 start that
finally got manager Fredi
Gonzalez fired.
But there have been signs
of a turnaround in the mak
ing.
Under interim skipper
Brian Snitker, the Braves
played better. After they
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were seemingly destined
for a 110-loss season, they
played greater
than .500 baseball
the second half
and resembled a
competent, highly
functioning con
tender in the final
month.
The perfor
mance was
enough to remove
the interim tag
from Snitker and
give him the full
time gig. And
with the arrival of prized
rookie shortstop Swanson,
other young guns on the
horizon and the allure of
a brand new, shiny park
in the suburbs (which no
one might be able to even
get to. but that’s a different
story for a different day),
it’s understandable that the
mood is one of morning in
Braves Country.
Back when the rebuild
started, the new Braves
front office pegged the 2017
season as the target to start
getting back to the fran
chise’s winning ways of the
past quarter-century.
Assuming things con
tinue to trend in the right
direction, it’s more likely to
be 2018 at best before the
Braves are serious pennant
contenders.
But it’s not unreasonable
to think they can be compet
itive next year.
The most realistic expec
tation for them is to finish
over .500 and it's not out
side the realm of possibility
they could challenge for a
Wild Card spot.
But an awful lot would
have to go right for the
Braves, who are still like
ly to be looking up at the
Washington Nationals
and New York Mets in the
East, along with the Chi
cago Cubs, Los Angeles
Dodgers. San Francisco
Giants and St. Louis Car
dinals around the rest of the
National League.
Before last week’s Winter
Meetings, the Braves had
already done a lot of the
groundwork toward build
ing the 2017 club. That
included padding the start
ing rotation with veteran
arms Bartolo Colon, R.A.
Dickey and Jaime Garcia,
who will be penciled in
behind Julio Teheran and
Mike Foltynewicz and
bridge the gap to a slew
of talented young arms
still working their way up
through the system.
The abundance of talent,
particularly pitching, the
Braves now have stock
piled in the minors makes
it tempting to use it and
go after a surefire ace or
slugger.
The Braves were linked
to talks with the Chicago
White Sox for left-handed
ace Chris Sale before he
was shipped off to Boston
for a number of top pros
pects.
Some fans likely still are
hoping the Braves pursue
another young, talented and
controllable ace like Chris
Archer in Tampa Bay or
Sonny Gray in Oakland,
but the organization has
signaled it’s not likely to
do that because the asking
price is way too steep. In
today’s game, young, con
trollable top-of-the-rotation
pitching comes at a pre
mium.
Again, that's for the best.
The Braves are not a one-
player-away type of team
right now and though it
would be lovely to have
one of the hurlers men
tioned above, none of them
are worth a complete raid
ing of the system, which
almost certainly would have
included Swanson and other
top prospects, right now.
In any effective rebuild,
patience is crucial. The
Chicago Cubs under gen-
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eral manager Theo Epstein
are a nice example of that.
Though they were aided by
big spending pockets this
past season in snapping
their 108-year World Series
championship drought,
most of the team’s core was
acquired through giving up
short-term assets for long
term ones and being willing
have a couple of lean years.
At this point, Atlanta has
no choice but to model itself
in similar fashion. Let the
young talent develop. Con
tinue to build the depth so
when the right time comes
and a no-brainer deal for top-
notch MLB talent is there
for the taking, the Braves
will be able to pull the
trigger without completely
mortgaging the future.
Shooting too high right
now — when there is still
work to be done — would
risk destroying all the prog
ress that the front office con
tends has been made since
this project began.
Scott Thompson is editor
of the Barrow News-Jour
nal. He can be reached at
sthompson@barrowjournal.
com.
Prep Roundup
Janco earns all-state
softball selection;
Webb to coach in
FCA all-star game
Apalachee High
School shortstop Holly
Janco was recently
selected to the first team
of the Georgia Athletic
Coaches Association’s
GHSA Class AAAAAA
all-state softball team.
Janco, a Georgia Gwin
nett College signee, hit
.617 this fall with 37 runs
scored, 17 runs batted
in and 19 stolen bases,
helping lead the Wildcats
to a second-place finish
in Region 8-AAAAAA.
She was also named
the region Player of the
Year and was selected to
the MainStreet Newspa
pers all-area team.
Winder-Barrow’s
Webb to coach in
all-star game
Winder-Barrow High
School head football
coach Heath Webb will
be coaching one of the
teams in the Northeast
Georgia Fellowship of
Christian Athletes All-
Star Game this week.
The game will be
played 7:30 p.m. Fri
day at Clarke Central
High School in Athens
and includes players
from Barrow. Clarke,
Oconee. Walton, Mor
gan. Oglethorpe, Mad
ison, Franklin, Greene,
Elbert and Hart counties.
Webb’s team includes
seven players from
Winder-Barrow (wide
receiver Casey Thur
mond, offensive lineman
Dylan Brown, offensive
lineman Cameron Best,
defensive back Deon
Williams. linebacker
Nate Millwood, line
backer Mason White
and punter Drake Power)
and four from Apalachee
(wide receiver Ethan
Morris, defensive back
Gunnar Wright, defen
sive back Will Smith and
defensive lineman Jason
Craig).
Adult Literacy Barrow in conjunction with our presenting sponsor,
BRANDBANK, and catering sponsor, The Georgia Club
Proudly presents the
24th Anniversary Literacy Ball
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Hors d’oeuvres served
at 6:30 p.m.
Winder Community
Center
j? fNoveCAffair
An Evening of fun to support a worthwhile cause
Tickets are available for $75 each ($57 is tax deductible)
at the Adult Learning Center, 89 East Athens Street, Winder
The Literacy Ball again welcomes “Back in Time” band lead by
WBHS graduate, Mercer Crook.
Dance and listen to the sounds of “rock and roll, beach and soul!”
Hors d’oeuvres and dinner buffet catered by “The Georgia Club.”
Cash bar by “Top Dawg Tavern”
Black tie is optional. You must be over 21 to attend.
Adult Literacy: An opportunity to teach a parent, reach a child and
touch the future...
To inquire about sponsorships or for more information call
770-531-3361