Friday, December 29,2017
Lake Oconee News
Page A5
GREENE COUNTY
Zapien & Crew visit Harbor Club Ladies League
Members and guests of the Harbor
Club Ladies League were treated
to an afternoon of glamour when
Norman Zapien and staff from
Zapien’s Salon, here in Lake Country,
visited their October meeting. Not
only did they hear and learn of the
latest in hair styles and make up, but
two lovely ladies, Kathy Kurlic and
Kathy Rivers, received makeup and
hair make-overs.
Lois Miller opened the meeting by
introducing two new Ladies League
members, Sandra Schmid and Penny
Davis. Various committee chairs then
gave reports.
Lucky Door Prize winners
were Debbie Cherry, Sarah Evans,
CONTRIBUTED Larraine Mcllroy, Terri Shaul and
Visiting together at the Harbor Club Ladies League are, in no particular order, master stylist/owner of Zapien's Salon Norman Zapien, Patty Temple. Each won a gift cer-
make-up artist/master stylist Kathryn Yearwood, master stylist Hope Maudsley, Kathy Kurelic, Kathy Rivers and others. tificate from Zapien’s Salon.
Segars
Continued from A4
UGAalso had a Rose Bowl
win and another consensus
national championship in
1942, ayearthatis nowsome-
times forgotten. These 1942
bulldogs featured running
back Frank Sinkwich and
lineman George Poschner,
both named All-Americans
during their outstanding
careers.
These feisty Bulldogs won
nine games to include a
75-0 victory against the
University of Florida at
Jacksonville, 48-13 defeat of
Ole Miss, 35-13 win against
Cincinnati, 40-0 beating
of Tulane, 21-10 win over
Alabama and 34-0 defeat
of Georgia Tech in Athens.
The only loss during the
season came at the hands
of the Auburn Tigers, 13-27,
at Memorial Stadium in
Columbus, Ga.
RankedNo. 2inthenation,
UGA was invited to play in
the 1943 Rose Bowl before a
crowd of90,000 during the
beginning of World War II.
The results were stunning:
the unheralded Georgia
Bulldogs soundly defeated
UCLA by a score of 9-0 to
win what is now considered
to be UGA’s other consensus
national championship.
This historic Rose Bowl
marked the debut for UGA’s
Charlie Trippi, who would
later become a member of
the Pro Football Hall of
fame. Also, Walter “Chief’
Ruark of Bostwick, an All-
SEC lineman, served as
alternate captain for this
championshipfootballteam.
After graduation, Ruark
became a staff sergeant
in the U.S. Army and was
tragicallykilledbyaGerman
sniper in December of1944.
Wally Butts, Georgia’s
renowned coach (from
Milledgeville), called Ruark
“the best all-around guard
that played here since I have
been coach.” Ruark is now
recognized as a hero both
on and off the football field.
On January 1, 2018, in
a few days, the University
of Georgia will once again
return to the famous Rose
Bowl, nicknamed “the
Grandaddy of Them All,”
to play the University of
Oklahoma with its Heisman
Trophy quarterback, Baker
Mayfield. The winner of this
game will compete in the
final championship game
in Atlanta.
Many Georgia fans are
now making their way to
Pasadena. My wife and I will
be watching the televised
game from home here in
Lake Country. We will also
be living vicariously as our
niece, Jessica Durden, who
attended Jones County High
School, performs with the
UGA band. These redcoats
will march five miles down
Colorado Boulevard in the
Rose Bowl Parade and then
travel over to the Rose Bowl
field to loudly play during
Georgia’s return to national
prominence.
UGA hasn’t been given
the best of odds to win this
year’s national champion
ship. Nevertheless, with
outstanding running backs
and a tenacious defense,
this team is similar to the
1942 champions in heart
and style. These Dawgs,
coached by Kirby Smart,
will be ready. And, after the
final win in Atlanta, we’ll
be talking about the 2017
national champions for a
long time.
For now, let’s get ready to
holler “Go Dawgs!” as UGA
returns once again for aRose
Bowl victory and the chance
for another championship.
CONTRIBUTED
Walter "Chief" Ruark of Bostwick, an All-SEC lineman, served as alternate captain
for the 1942 National Champion Bulldogs.
Smith
Continued from A4
never lost his passion for the
Bulldogs. Today, Franklives
in the Atlanta home where
he grew up and is overjoyed
that the ‘Dogs are returning
to Pasadena.
Before Christmas, he
reviewed his scrapbooks
from the ‘43 Rose Bowl
trip with his son, Fielding,
who will be joining the red
and black aficionados at
the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.
Frankhas agrandson, Clem
McDavid, who played foot
ball at Harvard, but never
abandoned his feelings for
his family heritage. He will
be joining the Dawg nation
in Pasadena, too.
Frank Troutman's
memories remain cogent
and fresh. However, if he
were to need something to
jar his memory, all he has
to do is pull out his Rose
Bowl ball signed by the
players. Trippi, Sinkwich
and Racehorse Davis, for
example. As the deflatedball
is rotated for inspection, you
see other names, including
Ryals Lee, Jim Todd, Walter
Maguire, Andy Dudish, Leo
Costa and Clyde Ehrhardt.
Then there is the name
Walter Ruark. His story
ended like so many of the
Greatest Generation who
returned from the Rose
Bowl and joined the war
effort. Ruark would give his
life to his country.
In one of the headlines
about Georgia’s 9-0 defeat
of UCLA, there is also
a headline that reveals
that “Red Army Captures
Strategic German line.”
The tragedy of the war was
later confirmed to Frank’s
family when All-America
end George Poschner was
all shot up during the time
of the Battle of the Bulge,
losing his legs and use of
his right side. He had to
learn to write left handed, a
laborious task that became
painful to watch. Poschner
wound up in a veteran’s
hospital in Atlanta. Frank’s
father visited the Bulldog
letterman every dayuntilhe
was eventually discharged.
One newspaper featured
a photo of Red Boyd, the
mountain boy from Toccoa,
who wore No. 49 and had
just blocked the punt of
Bob Waterfield, UCLA
quarterback. “I remember
UCLA ran the T-for mation,”
Troutman says. He also
remembers his mother
taking him down to see the
Pacific Ocean. The Georgia
team arrived Dec. 26 and
departed Jan. 2, a duration
of eight days. Troutman
remembers sitting in the
stands with his parents. He
recalled that lineman Harry
Kunaniasky invited actress
Paulette Goddard for a date
and noted that there “were
troops everywhere we went.”
He has a photo auto
graphed by Sinkwich, “My
best wishes for a Merry
Christmas to Frank Jr., a
greatlittlefellow.Yourfriend
and pal, Frank Sinkwich,
Georgia ’43.”
One of the fun stories of
those who played in the Rose
Bowl has to do with that
of Van Davis, the rugged
end from Philomath. He
had promised his father, C.
W. Davis, a rural minister
in Elbert County, that if
Georgia won, he would bring
him a ball signed by all the
players.
Late in the game, Georgia
moved into scoring position
with Van, on a couple of end-
around plays, advancingthe
balltothel-yardline. Coach
Butts sent Frank Sinkwich
into the game, hobbling on
two sprained ankles, but he
plunged over the goal line for
the game’s only touchdown.
Theball that was in play at
the end of the game was the
one Van Davis hadhis team
mates sign and brought
home to his dad, which
today is in possession of his
son, Andy Davis, who lives
in Dalton. Andy will travel
to Pasadena this week with
that ball in his possession,
one of the most significant
artifacts from that memo
rable championship game
New Year’s Day 1943.
Van Davis lived out a
modest life, like most of his
teammates, and became
a schoolman. I remember
him on Bulldog Club trips
to Douglas, Ga., where he
spent a portion of his career
as a high school principal.
Also a baseball player at
Georgia, Van continued his
career as a slugging first
baseman in the old Georgia-
Florida League, setting the
season record for home runs
with 44.
Three-quarters of a cen
tury from now, wonder
what the Rose Bowl mem
ories will be for the current
Bulldog players about to
enjoy their thrills for playing
in the oldest bowl of all.
Rich
Continued from A4
but get distracted by every
day life. Recently, I went to
my childhood home where
first that dream of writing
books was born. I stood in
my bedroom, long reprieved
from the mingled, pink shag
carpet, pink chiffon bed
spread and matching cur
tains, and I listened. I heard
her, just as she sounded at 5
years old when she squealed
with excitement over seeing
her publisher when she
arrived in New York. I saw
her set down the Samsonite
leather luggage she had
carefully packed with her
Sunday clothes and rush
across the room to hug her
editor, a man dapper in a
suit and tie.
I owe it to her. She’s asked
so little of me over the years
but to that little red-headed
girl, I must be true. I must
finish what she began those
long years ago.
In January, I will start
revising and updating the
book that started it all as
Penguin-Putnam prepares
to release a 20th anniver
sary celebration in 2019
of What Southern Women
Know (That Every Woman
Should). Less than 2 percent
of books are still in publi
cation many years later, so
it is a touching, humbling
experience that I wrote one
that will have a special 20th
anniversary edition.
“Thank you,” I whis
pered to the little girl whose
laughing spirit still lives
within the walls of that tiny
bedroom.
To her, I owe so much.
RondaRich is the best-sell
ing author of Mark My
Words: A Memoir of Mama.
Visitwww.rondarich.com to
sign up for her free weekly
newsletter.
STEFFEN THOMAS
MUSEUM SHOP
Tuesday - Saturday 11:00 AM-4:00 PM
St^en Thomas Ori^inads and Prints
Currently featuring a wide selection of pottery
from North Carolina Potters, Interchangable
Snap Jewelry and much more!
Shop first and get free admission to Museum
with shop purchase of $10 or more!
4200 Bethany Road, Buckhead, GA 30625
706-342-7557 www.steffenthomas.org
