Loran - Smith

Loran

I know that arrogance in our society has reached its highest level in history, and we now have come to that juncture where boatswain mates could be allowed to teach Sunday School. Then when foul language is coupled with arrogance, you don’t have to be a minister to be offended. I don’t know Diego Pavia, the Vanderbilt quarterback, but his tirade last week left me aching for the institution. Perhaps things have changed, but traditionally, the Vanderbilt athletic family has been among the classiest people in the sports business—dating back to the legendary Grantland Rice, who studied Greek and Latin at Vanderbilt.

Somewhere he was not smiling. Likely it was the same with Freddy Russell, who enjoyed the poignancy of a well-articulated story and was the classy gentleman of the Southeastern Conference— an insightful sportswriter with a bent for humor and goodwill.

Were they in our midst today, they would level both barrels in Mr. Pavia’s direction. They would hold undying contempt for his style, content, and arrogance. They would not hold anything back with their scolding.

Sadly, Pavia is not the only college athlete to succumb to the evils and deceit of social media. Not sure what life will be like when he has grandchildren, but his tirade will be there for them to explore and analyze ad nauseum. If he doesn’t connect them to his gutter verbiage, some critic will. Over and over. Again and again. He’d better shy away from ever running for public office.

Profanity in the locker room, the clubhouse, and aft deck is one thing, but to blatantly choose to soap box vulgarly on a public medium makes one wonder if he knows anything about the Vanderbilt constituency through the years. ********* Georgia’s appearance this year in the Sugar Bowl was the Bulldog’s 14th trip to New Orleans for a championship game. Only Alabama, with 17 invitations to New Orleans, has more.

But Georgia lost this trip to a tough Ole’ Miss team, 39-34.

Georgia’s first Sugar Bowl outing was following the 1946 season as Wallace Butts had ushered UGA back into national spotlight with an undefeated season—and then defeated North Carolina 20-10 in a matchup of Charley Trippi and UNC’s highly regarded Choo Choo Justice.

North Carolina scored first and led at the half, 7-0, but Charley Trippi’s 67yard TD pass to Dan Edwards in the third quarter plus two other scores enabled the Bulldogs to win 20-10. I am fortunate to have seen all of Georgia’s Sugar Bowl games except for the ’46 encounter with the Tar Heels. New Orleans has always been a favorite destination.

One of the most disappointing aftermaths in Georgia history came about in 1968 when the Bulldogs won the SEC title with a 17-3 victory over Auburn at Auburn.

In those days, bowl representatives and school officials were not supposed to communicate until a specific date, but there was a whole lot of winking and whis- continued from page

pering going on. The Sugar Bowl obviously tipped its hand and sent a signal that it would take Georgia, win or lose.

Dan Magill and I took the Orange Bowl reps to Leo’s Steak House in Columbus on the Friday night before the game, and they informed us that they had to have a winner. It did not turn out well. The players wanted go to Miami and felt betrayed. For Georgia, it was not a well-played game, mistakes galore, and Arkansas won 16-2. A couple of nights before the game, the Sugar Bowl hosted a party for the teams as the temperatures dropped down into the twenties—which prompted Georgia President, Fred Davison, to note that with the bitterly cold weather, it should be good a good day for a hog killing. I thought Vince was going to commit hari-kari on the spot. Davison said it in jest, but it was not the best comment on the eve of the game—especially in front of the Arkansas delegation. Frank Broyles, the Arkansas coach, was delighted, however.

The day after the game, the two teams were invited to the race track at the New Orleans Fairgrounds. Chuck Dicus, the Razorback’s outstanding receiver— who had a supersuccessful day matched up against Georgia’s Jake Scott with 12 receptions for 169 yards and was the game’s MVP—met Scott for the first time.

Scott, ever the hardnosed competitor, looked Dicus in the eye and said, “I hope you are as lucky at the track today as you were yesterday.”