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SPORTS
Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
Unties
gainesvilletimes.com
Friday, December 7, 2018
SOCCER
Associated Press
Atlanta Chiefs’ forward Peter McParland, rear,
heads the ball past San Diego Toros’ fullback
Miroslav Milovanovic (2) during the 1968 North
American Soccer League championship game
in Atlanta.
Remember
the Chiefs as
United plays
for MLS title
PAUL NEWBERRY
pnewberry@ap.org
Dick Cecil still has the championship trophy,
tucked away somewhere in his home, a cher
ished prize that has been reduced to bits and
pieces by the ravages of time.
He’d like to get it fixed up, maybe give it a
place of honor at Manuel’s Tavern, a famed
Atlanta watering hole.
“It needs to be on display,” Cecil says.
Indeed, it does.
When Atlanta United takes the field in Satur
day night’s MLS Cup championship game, you’ll
hear a lot of talk about this city — once dubbed
“Loserville USA” — seeking
only its second major league
sports crown. They’ll point
to the 1995 Atlanta Braves
as the only barrier to a total
title blackout in a place that
has known far more agony
than triumph.
Well, let’s not forget the
Atlanta Chiefs.
Fifty years ago, in a fit
ting bit of symmetry, an
upstart soccer team in a
fledgling league gave an up-
and-coming city a reason to cheer. The Chiefs
won the very first title in the North American
Soccer League, beating the San Diego Toros
3-0 before a crowd of about 15,000 at Atlanta
Stadium.
When it ended, those fans — small in num
ber, but eager to celebrate — stormed the field.
Afterward, there were champagne toasts in
the locker room.
And then? Well, that’s about it.
“A lot of people back in 1968 thought God
did not intend Southerners to play soccer,” said
Bob Hope, who was the Chiefs’ right-out-of-
college public relations director.
Cecil, the team’s vice president and chief
architect, still has some team memorabilia in a
small building behind his house, which serves
as his office and a de facto museum of Atlanta
sports history.
He shows off a ball signed by all the Chiefs
players, their signatures still as legible as the
day they put pen to synthetic leather. He still
has a gold medal awarded to the champions
by the league office (“We bought all the play
ers rings, but they really just wanted a medal,”
Cecil says, chuckling at the cultural divide
between American-based sports and the rest
of the world. “I doubt anyone ever wore one of
those rings.”)
Cecil also has a picture of a bunch of smiling
young men posing behind their trophy (still
intact) on that glorious September night in 1968,
when Atlanta was on top of the American soc
cer world, whatever that was worth at the time.
I Please see CHIEFS, 2B
HIGH SCHOOL
SPORTS
Nominations for
Gainesville High’s
inaugural Hall of
Fame due Jan. 1
The deadline to nominate
players for the Gainesville
High athletics Hall of Fame is
Jan. 1.
The eight-member inau
gural class (six athletes, one
team and one athletic sup
porter) will be inducted during
a ceremony April 20 at Scott’s
Downtown in Gainesville. To
be eligible, a candidate must
have graduated from either
Gainesville High School or the
former E.E. Butler and Fair
Street high schools no less than
10 years before induction.
Candidates will be consid
ered for either their athletic
achievements or “outstand
ing service to athletics in
Gainesville.” Each inductee
class will also include a team
that “achieved and per
formed at the highest level
of competition.”
Nomination forms are
available at the school’s
athletics website: www.
gainesvilleredelephantathlet-
ics.com.
For more information, con
tact Gainesville athletics direc
tor Adam Lindsey at adam.
Iindsey@gcsskl2.net.
Compiled by Bill Murphy
GEORGIA BULLDOGS
An exciting bowl awaits
JOHN AMIS I Associated Press
Georgia players huddle in the end zone after a touchdown from tight end Isaac Nauta against Alabama during the SEC
Championship on Saturday in Atlanta.
Despite missing playoffs, Sugar Bowl a good consolation
For three quarters of Georgia’s gut-
wrenching SEC Championship loss
to Alabama, it appeared the Bulldogs
were destined to return to the College
Football Playoff for the second-straight
season.
Head coach Kirby Smart’s squad had
a stranglehold on the Tide’s explosive
passing attack, while quarterback Jake
Fromm and Georgia’s running back
platoon seemed to push Nick Saban’s
supposed unbeatable team around at
will.
But then starting Alabama quarter
back Tua Tagovailoa went down with
an injury, forcing backup Jalen Hurts
to come in and prompting a collective
groan among Georgia fans who had
seen this story before.
“Backup Alabama quarterback leads
Tide to comeback win over Georgia”
is an all too familiar headline to sup
porters of the red and black, and after
Round 2 of last year’s National Champi
onship game ended in similar fashion,
the easy reaction would be to trash
your No. 1 foam fingers and “We want
Bama” signs and move onto basketball
season.
But that instinct would be wrong.
Sure, football in general may be
painful right now, (bonus points in that
column if you’re also a Falcons fan)
but there are still plenty of reasons to
stay with the Bulldogs through their
Sugar Bowl game against Texas on New
Year’s Day and finish your spectating
season off strong. Below are just a few:
NATHAN BERG
nberg@gainesvilletimes.com
Previewing the stars of
tomorrow
Contrary to what many Georgia fans
may choose to believe, the world did
not come to an end following the Geor
gia loss and subsequent ousting from
the CFB Playoff, and there will, in fact,
be Bulldog football next year as well.
With championship qualification no
longer in the picture, Smart will have
an opportunity to see how younger play
ers respond to the biggest stage, and I’d
guess he’ll take it.
Expect to see a bit more of Justin
Fields than you got in the SEC Champi
onship game.
The bowl game will also serve as a
prime opportunity for future stars to
burst onto the scene, an occurrence
which Georgia fans don’t have to look
too far into the past to find.
In the 2016 TaxSlayer Bowl, then
freshman wide receiver Terry Godwin
was coming off of an ultimately disap
pointing first-year campaign. But after
catching one touchdown and throw-
MIKE STEWART I Associated Press
Georgia offensive lineman Solomon
Kindley (66) lifts Georgia wide receiver
Mecole Hardman (4) after Hardman’s
touchdown during the first half of against
Austin Peay on Sept. 12 in Athens.
ing another during the Bulldogs’ bowl
game, Godwin won MVP honors and
eventually turned into an offensive cor
nerstone for the team.
Looking for this year’s Godwin is
reason enough to tune in and see what
happens.
Setting up a rivalry
While nothing is official, Georgia
and Texas are reportedly working on a
home-and-home series a couple years
■ Please see GEORGIA, 3B
LAKE LANIER FISHING REPORT
Bass fishing strong for those who hrave the weather
BY ERIC ALDRICH
For The Times
Lake Lanier continues to hover less than
a foot below full pool at 1,070.57 or .43 below
the normal full pool of 1,071. Lake surface
temperatures have registered from as low as
49 degrees to a high of 55 degrees this past
week.
The main lake and lower lake creeks are
clear in some areas and stained in other
locations. The upper lake and rivers remain
stained to very stained. The Chattahoochee
below Buford Dam is stained, but is starting
to clear as lake turnover finishes up.
Check generation schedules before head
ing out to the river below Buford Dam at
770-945-1466.
I am now offering instructional trips for
bass fishing. Email me at esaldrich@yahoo.
com or PM me on Facebook. Costs are $200
for a half day and $300 for a full day.
These costs are for two anglers and I offer
certificates that can be used for Christmas
gifts.
Bass fishing is good for anglers that are
tough enough to fish in these cold and some
times rainy conditions. Bundle up in layers
and finish with a waterproof outer skin to
stay warm enough to enjoy the day!
For the most part we are still concentrat
ing on the ditch bite. Get out in time so that
you can be fishing productive areas at safe-
light. Bass feed at different times of the day,
but you can usually catch a few up shallow
before the sunrise.
Start out close to shallow, rocky banks
where these ditchers enter the lake. Cast
crank baits, under spins and jerk baits
directly to the shore.
I love to slow crank a SPRO Little John
or McStick 110 when targeting these early
morning shallow bass.
Cast these lures so that you dig bottom
on the beginning of your cast. Most strikes
occur as your lures deflect off of rocks or
right after they break free from the bottom.
This week it seems as though Lake Lani
er’s spotted bass are relating more to the
sides and dropoffs of the ditches than the
deeper centers of the ditch.
Quality electronics outfitted with detailed
mapping, like a Platinum Navionics or the
new C-Maps Lake Insight chips, will greatly
benefit anglers to find the “sweet spots.”
Look for curves and bends in the ditches that
have the steepest drop as fish will use these
as resting points as they move from shallow
■ Please see FISHING, 2B
