What It Means to Be a Bulldog: Vince Dooley, Mark Richt and Georgia's Greatest Players [Hardcover]

Tony Barnhart (Author), Vince Dooley (Foreword), Mark Richt (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: What It Means to Be | Publication Date: September 1, 2004

There’s nothing quite like wearing the silver and red of Georgia Bulldogs football, and only the chosen few can fathom the feelings of pride, loyalty, and honor that define the experience. What It Means to Be a Bulldog captures that feeling through first-person accounts and recollections from legendary coach Vince Dooley and the greatest players ever to wear the Georgia uniform.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Tradition and history run deep at the University of Georgia, which was incorporated in 1785 as the first state-sponsored university in America. But no tradition evokes more pride or creates as much excitement throughout the state as Bulldog football. Saturday afternoons at Sanford Stadium are the stuff of legend: ninety-two thousand red-clad students, alumni, and other fans singing "Glory, Glory" to inspire victory, to which the Bulldogs have responded with 11 SEC titles and the 1980 national championship.

Retiring athletic director and legendary football coach Vince Dooley has been at the forefront of maintaining these traditions over the past 40 years. Dooley developed the oval G that has, for decades, been the official helmet logo of the Georgia Bulldogs, and he reinstated the "silver britches" during the team’s 1980 national championship season. Few people in this world have a better understanding of what it means to be a Bulldog than Vince Dooley does.

In What It Means to Be a Bulldog, Dooley has brought together scores of the greatest players in Georgia football history to reminisce about their days in uniform and to reflect on the impact those experiences have had on their lives. Legendary players from different eras explain, in their own words, why the Georgia Bulldogs football experience always has been and always will be different from any other in college athletics. Players such as Herb St. John and Charley Trippi from the thirties and forties, Pat Dye and Fran Tarkenton from the fifties and sixties, Ray Goff and Herschel Walker from the seventies and eighties, Garrison Hearst and Boss Bailey from the nineties and the new millennium, and dozens more share intimate recollections that collectively define Georgia’s rich football legacy.

As compiled by longtime Atlanta Journal-Constitution sportswriter Tony Barnhart, the common thread throughout each first-person narrative is the unwavering sense of pride and loyalty shared by the players, regardless of era. It is through each individual description of this shared bond that we begin to comprehend what it really means to be a Bulldog.

Vince Dooley, former Bulldogs football coach and retired athletic director, is a Georgia legend. A Mobile, Alabama, native and former Auburn quarterback, Dooley came to UGA as head football coach in December 1963. In a coaching career that ended in 1988, when he became Georgia’s full-time athletic director, he won six SEC titles and one national championship while compiling a 201–77–10 record and leading his teams to 20 postseason bowl appearances.

Mark Richt was named head football coach at the University of Georgia in December 2000 after serving fifteen years on the staff at Florida State, the last seven as offensive coordinator. His 32–8 record at Georgia is fifth best in the nation since 2001. A native of Boca Raton, Florida, he is a 1982 graduate of the University of Miami, where he played quarterback.

About the Author

Tony Barnhart, a 1976 graduate of the Henry W. Grady School of Journalsim at the Univesity of Georgia, has covered college football for 28 seasons as a reporter for newspapers, televeision, and radio. The 1999 Georgia Sports Writer of the Year. Barnhart is a former president of the Football Writers Association of America. A native of Union Point, Georgia, Barnhart currently resides in Atlanta.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Triumph Books (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157243645X
• ISBN-13: 978-1572436459
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #581,075 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If You're Already a Fan, August 31, 2004

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What It Means to Be a Bulldog: Vince Dooley, Mark Richt and Georgia's Greatest Players (Hardcover)

If you're not a University of Georgia football fan, or at least a football fan, this book won't mean much to you. But if you are, then listening to what Vince Dooley has to say, and the reminisces of the players from the last 40 years or so makes for fascinating reading.

The book is part autobiography of Dooley, and then commentary from a couple of dozen players, most of whom went on to good success in whatever they did: some in football, a judge, businessmen of all types, but all see their start on the football field. Not a great book for all time, but delightful reading.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great Georgia "fan" book, November 3, 2008

By 

Mark Adams (Atlanta, Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What It Means to Be a Bulldog: Vince Dooley, Mark Richt and Georgia's Greatest Players (Hardcover)

This is a great book . . . if you are really into Georgia football. The casual fan might not be as enthusiastic about it. People who love Dooley (and I'm a huge fan of his, by the way) will enjoy some great insight offered by this book -- but if you want a more up to date accounting of the state of Georgia football I'd suggest you check out this title: Top Dawg: Mark Richt and the Revival of Georgia Football or if you want a more complete history of the Georgia program in a fun, easy to read format, then this is a great read all SEC football fans will enjoy: UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOOTBALL: An Interactive Guide to the World of Sports (Sports by the Numbers)

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MUST HAVE FOR GEORGIA FANS, February 6, 2007

By 

M. J. Brasington "Joy B" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: What It Means to Be a Bulldog: Vince Dooley, Mark Richt and Georgia's Greatest Players (Hardcover)

We enjoy having this book in our home. My daughter reads it often. It was a gift for her dad. He loves it too. Anyone who loves the Georgia Bulldogs would love to have this book.