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Lake Oconee News
Friday, December 29,2017
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UGA’s Rose Bowl
victory and 1942
championship
Throughoutthehistoryof
college football there have
been years of argument
and speculation over which
team should be named
as national champion. In
earlier times, the NCAA
recognized a number of
polls andachampionbefore
final bowl games were
played. There is still not a
universally accepted play
off system to settle on
the national champion
for schools in the largest
division.
There have also been
those pastyears when teams
named by the Associated
Press as No.l and national
champions were defeatedin
their final bowl games. For
example, Oklahoma lost to
Kentucky 13-7 in the 1950
Sugar Bowl; Tennessee was
beaten by Maryland 28-13
in the 1951 Sugar Bowl;
Minnesota went down 17-7
to Washington in the I960
Rose Bowl; andTexas edged
Alabama 21-17 in 1964’s
Orange Bowl. Some colleges
still claim questionable
national championships.
To add to the confusion,
there are years when multi
ple champions were named
to include Alabama and
Stanfordinl926; Nebraska,
Texas and Ohio State in
1970; and Colorado and
Georgia Tech in 1990 (to
name just a few). And with
all the talk about strength
of scheduling, it’s not an
easy task to determine the
best team in all of college
football. Maybe that’s why
Hank
Segars
Lakelife Associate Editor
the process is sometimes
referred to as the “mythical”
national championship.
A “consensus” national
champion is said to be a
team selected by over half of
the recognized polls during
a specific year. Some polls
gave votes to UGA in 1927,
1946 and 1968, but other
schools won more of the
major polls in those partic
ular years. The 1980 team,
however, is considered to be
a consensus national cham
pion and for good reasons.
“With talents like Lindsay
Scott, BuckBelue andfresh-
man sensation Herschel
Walker,” notes the univer
sity’s athletic department,
“the Bulldogs recorded a
12-0 season under head
coach Vince Dooley.
Georgia met Notre Dame
in the Sugar Bowl and ran
away with the crown after
a 17-10 win. The Bulldogs
ended the season as the only
undefeated, untied Division
I-A team in the nation.”
SEE SEGARS » A5
Memories from Pasadena
When the Georgia team
arrived in Pasadena in
December 1942, the travel
ing party included enough
team members for coach
Wallace Butts to effect a
normal scrimmage, but
there were very few non-es
sential personnel making
the trip.
A few of the coaches’
wives went along, includ
ing Winnie Butts, the head
coach’s spouse.
It wasn’t just that there
was a war going on; the
athletic budget was bare
bones, and there were few
who could take the time
off to spend three weeks
on the trip, which is about
whatittookconsideringthat
Loran Smith
Columnist
the traveling party made
their way west by train and
returned the same way.
Coaches were allowed
to take their wives but
not children. ‘We went to
Milledgeville and listened
to the game on radio at
our grandparents’ house,”
Faye Butts Jones, coach
Wallace Butts’ oldest daugh
ter remembers. “I was quite
upset about it and still
resent that I couldn’t go to
Pasadena to this day.”
One of Georgia’s most
passionate fans is Allison
Yeomans, Faye’s daughter,
who will be making the trip
to the game along with her
husband Craig, her daughter
Mary Cameron and her first
cousin, Jack Murray. Jack’s
mother, the late Nancy
Murray, was a cheerleader
for the Bulldogs, as was her
older sister, Jean Jones, who
lives in Richmond.
A close friend of the Butts
family, Frank Troutman,
was 8 years old and did
make the trip west with his
parents, FrankSr. andMary.
The younger Troutman
was a longtime trustee
of the Georgia Student
Educational Fund, which
preceded the current
“Hartman Fund.” F rankwas
a competent quarterback
in high school, playing for
a Butts protege, Wayman
Creel, at Northside High in
Atlanta. He says proudly,
“It was Billy Payne’s father,
Porter, who signed me to a
scholarship.”
Frank played briefly for
coach Butts and Georgia. He
later gave up the game, but
SEE SMITH » A5
New Year's brings back memories
It was many years ago -
over two decades now - that
I attended a writer’s confer
ence in hopes of learning
how to write a book and get
it published.
Since I was a small child
of 4 or 5, I knew I was
born to write and tell sto
ries. As you may have read
before, my childhood game
of pretend was packing the
family suitcase (I literally
packed my clothes in it) and
going to New York on “book
business.” In this beloved
childhood game, I was
Ronda
Rich
Dixie Divas
always warmly welcomed
in New York, and the books
I wrote were celebrated. I
have no idea how a little girl
on a farm in the Deep South
could know of such things.
Still, this is the unvarnished
truth. I am grateful to the
good Lord that I stayed the
path.
Years passed, the little
red-headed girl grew, gath
ered a couple of college
degrees, chased adventure
and worked some menial
jobs. I was past 30 before I
picked up the strands of my
childhood heart dream and
began, in earnest, to seekmy
true calling. I signed up for
a writer’s conference where
New York Times best-selling
author, Sharyn McCrumb,
was keynote speaker. It was
a day that fueled my hopes.
I hung on every word.
This I shall never forget.
She said, “The best way to
get published is to actually
write. I meet people all the
time whowanttobe authors
but say, ‘I don’t write. I can’t
find the time.’ Well, let me
tell you, IhadMOREtimeto
write before I was published
than I do now.”
McCrumb, at the begin
ning, was working on a
Master’s degree and raising
afamily when she wrote her
first novel. As she explained,
“Now, there are so many
demands on my time that
came with the success of
my books. Speaking engage
ments, a publisher who
wants more books, book
signings. Ihaveto make time
to write.”
It’s funny how words that
have no relevance to you at
the time will stick like thick
mud to your soul. Those
words never left me. After
the success of my first book,
I found the truth in what
she said. Almost 20 years
and seven books later, I
have found that each year,
it is harder to squeeze into
my schedule the creation of
new books.
Thus, I come to what
my New Year’s resolution
will be: I am bound and
determined to return to the
roots of my dream. Every
morning I set out to do that,
SEE RICH » A5
Lake Oconee News
General Excellence Award Winner 2015-2016
GEORGIA PRESS ASSOCIATION
President / Publisher A. Mark Smith
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Lakelife Associate Editor Hank Segars
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Legal Advertising/Circulation Becky Meyer
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DEDICATION
Battle B. Smith
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
1956-1988
Micky Smith
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
1989-2003
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