Remembering Coach Vince Dooley
The field at Sanford Stadium was dedicated in his honor in 2019. On most home game days, you could find Vince Dooley not far away, usually greeting fans and signing his books on campus.
When the Bulldogs return home on November 5th against Tennessee, the energy will be a different. The coach who led his 1980 team to a National Championship and coached “The Georgia Way” for 24 years passed away at home on Friday. He was 90 years old.
Kirby Smart shared his connection with Coach Dooley with dawgnation.com.
“Coach Dooley was tremendous, represented UGA for so long with such class (and) was integral to my success, from the time I was here as a player to my times growing in the coaching profession. We crossed paths when he would come and speak when I was at LSU and Derek (Dooley) was there, and so we kept in touch for a long time.
There’s a lot of connected tissue there between his experience at Georgia, and my wife when she played basketball here and he watched her play. He’s meant a lot to a lot of people. I’d see him at practice from time to time, and then randomly in press conferences. We know he cared so much about the program.”
Coach Dooley’s legacy is more than football. The father of four, who was married to Barbara Anne Meshad Dooley for 62 years was a lover of family, history, gardening, and investor in education.
When he retired from coaching in 1988, he and his wife established the Dooley Library Endowment Fund. He would continue to serve as the school’s Athletic Director until 2003.
Coach Dooley’s “Georgia Way” lives on through the lives he impacted on and off the field.
According to their website, Georgia’s most outstanding male and female athlete are recognized for uncommon achievement in his or her varsity sport; who brings national and/or international recognition to the individual, team, and university; and who exemplifies the standards of “The Georgia Way.”
(Photo/Georgia Bullldogs Twitter)
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