JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – At the annual Georgia-Florida rivalry game in Jacksonville, you expect rowdiness, crazy tailgating setups and excitement for the SEC East matchup that’s often intense, regardless of the teams’ rankings.
All that still came to pass – however, beloved former Bulldogs coach Vince Dooley’s death the Friday before the game added an undercurrent of deeper emotion for Georgia fans. It also provided an occasion to remember Dooley’s legacy as Georgia’s football coach with the most wins (201) who brought the school six SEC titles and the 1980 national championship.
“There’s a different just feel about it,” Danise Taylor, a Georgia fan from Jesup who had met Dooley last year, said of Saturday’s Georgia-Florida game. “It was almost like it was God’s timing, almost, so that we can celebrate him (Saturday). I feel like he deserves it.”
Many Georgia fans heard the news while making their way down to Jacksonville on Friday, adding a somber tone to the trip.
“The passion and what he brought to Georgia, it’s just remarkable,” Burnice Howard, a Georgia fan from Atlanta, said. “It was just a sad day, as we were coming down, to hear the news of Vince Dooley dying, passed away, it’s just unbelievable. It hurts the whole dawg nation. It hurts college football as a whole because of what he brought to college football and the university of Georgia. … It makes the day extremely emotional for this to be the first Georgia-Florida game that he’s not going to be present for.”
In addition to his football resume (Dooley was a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, plus the Georgia and Alabama Sports Halls of Fame) and tenure as Georgia’s athletic director, Dooley also was known for being active in the community in Athens and across the state.
“A true southern gentleman,” Chris Garner, from Tucker, said of Dooley’s legacy. “The ultimate damn good dawg.”
Dooley served as Georgia’s football coach from 1964-88. That longevity is a rarity now, and makes Dooley’s time at Georgia so unique, pointed out Robert Harrison, a Georgia fan who attended his first Georgia-Florida game in 1975 and hasn’t missed one since 1984.
The success Dooley achieved has left a lasting impact, Harrison added.
“Vince Dooley was our coach for 25 years, which if you think about it, is unheard of today in coaching,” Harrison said. “Coaches don’t stay around 25 years at one school and then after he coached for 25 years, he was AD for the University of Georgia. The things that he did for the University of Georgia were just enormous. Monumental. The reason our program is where it is today is because of the foundation that Vince Dooley had.
“It led to Ray Goff, it led to Jim Donnan, it led to Mark Richt, and now with Kirby Smart. So you can see how the program has grown and grown and grown and advanced to where it is today. Vince Dooley laid the foundation. … He was a phenomenal person and a great coach.”
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