Product Description

Even Moses could not have parted the red sea of fans who engulfed the Georgia Bulldogs football team after it clung tenaciously to 17-10 victory over Notre Dame in the 1981 Sugar Bowl, capping a perfect season to win the school's first consensus national championship. Vince Dooley had the perfect view of the bedlam, riding atop the shoulders of his players, and he had the perfect view of everything that happened in 1980 that led up to the ultimate climax. They played with the tenacity of Bulldogs all year, yet it might have been the purloined pig that united the team. It was also the year the silver britches returned. It was the last year for the fans on the railroad tracks. And on the eve of a national championship, Vince Dooley almost left Georgia to return to Auburn to coach his alma mater. One year removed from a mediocre 6-5 season, Georgia certainly got a boost from freshman tailback Herschel Walker, the most sought-after schoolboy athlete in the state's history. It was so important that Georgia sign Walker, in fact, that backfield coach Mike Cavan moved to Wrightsville, Georgia-100 miles south of the Athens campus from Christmas to Easter-when divine intervention seemingly moved Walker to a decision. But Walker alone was not enough. That became clearly evident when a dramatic comeback was needed to overcome Florida, and a wide receiver who had lost his scholarship for disciplinary reasons and suffered an offseason injury in a car accident resurrected his college career with the most incredible play in Georgia's history. Yet the championship season was almost derailed before it started in the season opener, when Nate Taylor, Pat McShea, and even punter Jim Broadway epitomized the roles of the unsung heroes in a onepoint win. From beginning to end, it was a year of unusual drama, sprinkled with generous doses of humor. And when it was all done, the 1980 team had reached a place no Bulldog team had ever gone before.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1118064 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-01
• Released on: 2005-08-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

About the Author
Vince Dooley was head football coach at the University of Georgia from 1964 to 1988, winning 201 games, six Southeastern Conference championships, and the 1980 national championship. He was the SEC Coach of the Year seven times and national Coach of the Year in 1980 and 1982. He has been inducted into both the Alabama and Georgia sports halls of fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. Blake Giles was sports editor of the Athens Banner-Herald from 1971 to 1983. He was with Athens newspapers from 1969 to 1996, also serving as sportswriter, associate editor, business editor, and managing editor for sports. He was a two-time winner of the Georgia Sports Writers Association's Sweepstakes Award for the best sports story of the year and received numerous awards from the Associated Press and the Georgia Press Association.

Customer Reviews

'Tales' tells all
Vince Dooley and Blake Giles have captured the hallowed 1980 season with a spirit and accuracy that have no equal. This book helps those old enough relive the season and educates those young enough on what it felt like to live through the season.
The book begins with what any coach will tell you is the foundation of any season, albeit an unlikely one for a book: the end of spring practice the year before. 'Tales' lays the groundwork for why the team had unparallelled unity as the leaders of the team had to pay their debts to society after stealing a pig.
From there, the book tackles each game, one at a time, with a chapter devoted to each. The history leading up to each game, with details not found anywhere else, helps the reader feel the sense of all fans in the days and weeks leading up to each game of that season.
There is even a chapter introducing all of the coaches, who had coached for whom and teases apart the intricate incest that is southern football. And what account of the 1980 season would be complete without a chapter devoted to Herschel, his high school days, the recruiting process, his personality, and his phenomenal athleticism.
Vince Dooley and Blake Giles are the foremost authorities on this season: the coach and the sports editor of the local newspaper. This is evidenced by the exquisite details that simply cannot be found anywhere else. This is the ultimate book on the 1980 season for the serious Georgia Bulldog fan.