Zero Looking Ahead!

oriented. It was just a Cinderella year. Everybody felt good and everybody worked.
“You could see the resemblance with the 2021 team,” Loran said. “Erk came out with the
“Big Team, Little Me” so from the beginning everybody, led by (captain) Frank Ross, took
the attitude that they were going to find some way to win – they didn’t care who had the
glory. Everybody had to run wind sprints and Herschel would be first in line. Both the 1980
and 2021 teams were very similar in that they had all the ingredients of selflessness.”
However, unlike most of the 2021 team’s 14-1 season, Dooley’s 1980 Bulldogs had to win
a number of close games to remain unbeaten. “They just found a way to win,” said Smith,
“and that was another of Erk’s big slogans…’One More Time.’ I remember him saying it in
New Orleans when we knew Notre Dame was going to be a tough, tough opponent.”
Smith said Kirby Smart’s 2021 Bulldogs, like the 1942 and 1980 national champs before
them, just had a brotherhood all across the board.
“Like the great defense, the offense had it, too,” he said. “And I think the beauty of that
team was you had that impregnable defense, except in the SEC Championship Game.
You know Stetson Bennett, if there’s ever been a rags-to-riches story …. It was against all
odds and he was perfect for Georgia’s play-action offense. He was just a perfect fit; he’s
got such quick feet and touch on the ball and he’s very smart, a very heady player. People
that remember Eddie Stanky (former MLB second baseman, manager), he was that kind of
player. He might not in the flesh be the best talent but he was hard to beat.”
Smith admitted that ‘Return to Glory’ was somewhat of a challenge to get finished on time.
“The challenge with this book was we had so many players and coaches that were
significant in the story so I did little vignettes and sidebars and there’s close to 50 of those,”
he said. “And then the big thing was trying to get Kirby’s insights. You know after the game
he got to bed about 4 a.m., something like that he told me. And then he’s up for the press
conference and then he flew home. So, he didn’t sleep in his own bed until the second
night. So, Monday night was Indianapolis, Tuesday night was Athens and then Wednesday
morning, it was business as usual he had gone back to work. And he starts flying on that
helicopter, recruiting then. Then the meetings he had to attend. He just didn’t have time
but he did help me at the strategic points. I wanted more of his insights into the thing and
that’s what I kept badgering him about. And, we got that done!
“But, really, I got this Return to Glory done relatively quickly because I had to start doing
the interviewing with the players and coaches on a deferred basis,” said Smith. “I couldn’t
do Kirby and the coaches until they got through recruiting so it was February. So, I got a
late start but that gave me a chance to write the transcript in January.”
Smart has the foreword in Smith’s new book, praising the support of the Bulldog Nation
and pointing out how the Georgia fan base was most instrumental in the Bulldogs’ run to
the national championship.
Return to Glory can be purchased online at the UGA Bookstore (bkstr.
com/georgiastore), Whitman.com, Amazon, Books A Million and
Barnes & Noble. Cost is $39.95.
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71 ISSUE TEN • FLORIDA