It’s the same with everybody you talk to in the Waycross area. Legendary University of Georgia head coach Vince Dooley was a great man who was gracious and down to earth.
Dooley, who died Friday, October 28, touched many lives here. Local players who jumped from high school here to the Classic City during Dooley’s tenure include Todd Williams, Charles Junior, Davis Jacobs and Stuart Saussy. Fred Barber, Marvin Hurst and Ken Whiddon were already there when the new young coach arrived in 1964, having been recruited by the Johnny Griffith regime.
Two counties over in Wayne were Lindsay Scott and Jeff Lott. Scott is the recepient of a pass from Buck Belue scoring the game-winning touchdown against Florida in 1980.
“I was headed to Clemson when Coach Dooley came to see Lindsay in a game against Benedictine in 1978,” recalled Lott of his senior year with Scott. “I had a great game with 15 tackles, a couple of sacks and a fumble recovery. After the game Coach Dooley offered me a scholarship.
“Coach was the finest man you will ever meet. He was very generous and stayed in touch with his players. His mind was sharpe. As a player was always fair ... you could not ask for a better coach. Lindsay loved him. He called me about 2 (p.m.) Friday to break the news before it got out.”
Lott, who has been a season ticket holder the last 22 years, said he would see Coach Dooley about 5-10 times a year. He also added he was close friends the coach’s son, Daniel.
“I was there (Sanford Stadium) when the field was dedicated last year,” he said, “and, I was in Atlanta for the opener against Oregon and the singing of “Happy Birthday” to coach.
Then there were local high school stars such as Gerald Anderson and Fred Gibson who stood out at UGA in the early 2000s, during Dooley’s tenure as athletic director. Dooley coached the Bulldogs from 1964 through 1988, serving as the athletic director from 1979 to 2004.)
The late Waycrossan Randy Sharpe was a football team trainer in Athens in the 1970s.
But Dooley, a 32-year-old freshman team coach at his alma mater of Auburn, might have never been hired if it had not been for a Waycross banker, George Fesperman, who was on the University of Georgia Athletic Foundation Board of Trustees which sanctioned Athletic Director Joel Eaves’ recommendation to hire Dooley.
Dooley and his family would soon become very close to Fesperman and the Fesperman clan. They often visited each other, even vacationing together.
In his book with Blake Giles, “Tales from the 1980 Georgia Bulldogs,” Dooley wrote: “At a press conference before the (1981 National Championship Sugar Bowl) game (Georgia defeated Notre Dame), I was asked who I would like to dedicate the game to, and I mentioned a fellow from Waycross named George Fesperman.
“He was the loyalist of loyalists. Regardless of what went wrong, George Fesperman was always supportive. In the darkest moment, he would write encouraging letters. He was a real gentleman and was humbly appreciative of my remarks that got a lot of play in the newspapers.
“His grandson, Stuart Hunter Saussy, walked on and was our punter in 1991.
“Mr. Fesperman is dead now, but he raised his family to be the same way, the most loyal of the loyal. He represented the loyal fans to whom the Notre Dame game was dedicated.”
(George Fesperman —may he rest in peace —was actually a student trainer at the 1929 inaugural Sanford Stadium game when Georgia upset Yale 15-0.)
Another Waycross connection was Dooley’s friendship with the late Freddy Jones, a former Waycross Journal-Herald sports editor.
“Freddy left the Journal-Herald for the Macon Telegraph in 1978,” said Gary Griffin, who followed Jones as J-H sports editor, “but it wasn’t long at all before Freddy became the football ticket manager at Georgia. He and Coach Dooley were soon the best of friends. When they built Butts-Mehre, their offices were across the hall from each other.
“On the talk circuit, they would double-team. At these Bulldog Clubs across the state, right before every season they’d go on the road, and Coach and Freddy developed these comedy routines, playing off of each other and telling jokes.”
Griffin said that in his dealings with Dooley, the coach was always genuine.
“I think everyone agrees that he was very much the gentleman,” he said. “He was strictly business in the early years during interviews ... he stuck to ‘coach-speak’ and cliches, but in the last years he was much more personable. You got the idea that he was truly interested in you during the course of conversation. And I believe he was sincere in that regard.”
Bruce Tison, now at First Southern Bank, and PrimeSouth’s Cliff Knowlton got to meet Coach Dooley when the later banking institution held book signings.
“I believe we had two book signings and there were 200-300 people come by,” said Tison. “He was always gracious and treated everybody like they were his friend. He gave of his time to take pictures and sign things. It was like he was a friend to the community.”
Knowlton said he was too young to know Dooley as a coach.
“I wasn’t born until just before he retired as coach,” stated Knowlton. “So meeting him was about somebody I had heard of growing up. He was very down to earth. He took his time talking to everybody who came in and was not in any hurry to leave. It was neat to see the support from the community.”
Knowlton said Barber had a part in getting Coach Dooley to visit Waycross and sign books.
