[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 91 (Tuesday, July 6, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H5169-H5170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1930
                        TRIBUTE TO VINCE DOOLEY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gingrey). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Isakson) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Vince Dooley 
upon his retirement as Athletic Director at the University of Georgia. 
I could use the time to recite the countless achievements of this great 
Georgian as a Coach and Athletic Director, but I will not. Instead, I 
will submit for the Record a 4-page resume outlining Coach Dooley's 
lasting contributions to the University of Georgia.
  I prefer to use this time telling America about the man who made such 
a difference in so many lives, including my own. I first met Coach 
Dooley in 1961, when he was the guest speaker at my high school banquet 
for our football team. He was the freshman coach at Auburn and friends 
with our coach, Jim Loftin. That night, he made a three-win team feel 
like national champions, just like Vince Dooley always did, always 
encouraging and always motivational.
  Three years later, he arrived in Athens, Georgia, as the new football 
coach for the Georgia Bulldogs, and Athens would never be the same 
again. He took a three-win team from the previous year and molded it 
into a 7-3-1 team, defeating Georgia Tech and winning the Sun Bowl 
Championship over Texas Tech.
  In the years to follow, Vince Dooley led Georgia to intersectional 
victories over Michigan, Texas, Notre Dame, UCLA and Michigan State. In 
his 25 years as head coach, he led the Bulldogs to six Southeastern 
Conference championships, 20 bowl games and the 1980 National 
Championship.
  His tributes, however, do not lie in the trophies he collected, but 
rather in the lives he molded; men like Tommy Lawhorne, an undersized, 
over-achieving linebacker, now a leading surgeon in Columbus, Georgia; 
and Billy Payne, an all Southeastern Conference end, responsible for 
convincing the world to come to Georgia for the Centennial Olympic 
Games; or the greatest player ever to play for Georgia, or, I would 
submit, for any other university in the country, Hershel Walker. Only a 
coach like Vince Dooley could instill the character and humility for 
which Hershel is known.
  There are thousands more I could mention. They may not be in a Hall 
of Fame, but they played for Vince Dooley. They all represent the 
character, humility and work ethic that Vince Dooley instilled in all 
that came his way. We know them as Bucky Kimsey, Clayton Foster, Fred 
Barber, Andy Johnson and Frank Ros. Their communities know them as 
leaders.
  There is no greater tribute to a man's career than the success of 
those who learned under him. It is only fitting that the man replacing 
Vince Dooley as Athletic Director is Damon Evans, just one of many who 
played for Georgia's greatest coach, Vince Dooley.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentleman from Nebraska 
(Mr. Osborne), the former national championship coach of the Nebraska 
Cornhuskers.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. It is a 
pleasure to be able to speak for a few minutes here on Vince Dooley.
  I first met Vince in 1969, when he was coaching at the University of 
Georgia and I was an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska, and 
I was impressed by his humility, his willingness to talk to a lowly 
assistant coach. Of course, 24 years as a head coach and 25 years as 
Athletic Director is unprecedented. Many people say one year in 
coaching is like a dog year, so Vince is about 175 years old by that 
figure.
  I thought that Vince was just an excellent representative of college 
football. He was a leader in regard to the Rules Committee, he worked 
on the College Football Association, was a very good person as far as 
compromise, keeping people on an even keel, because sometimes things 
got a little heated.
  Of course, Vince, I guess nobody knows for sure what his politics 
are, but his wife ran for Congress as a Democrat and then again as a 
Republican. So he obviously is a man who has a very even keel. I think 
Barbara was a great asset to Vince, they are a great team. Of course, 
Vince has been a tremendous asset to the University of Georgia, to 
college football, and, of course, the State of Georgia.
  So it is a pleasure for me to have a couple of minutes to talk about 
Vince. We wish him well in his retirement.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the profile on 
Vince Dooley I referred to earlier.

                              Vince Dooley


      head football coach: 1964-1988; athletic director: 1979-2004

       For the past 40 years, Vince Dooley has had an enduring 
     impact on the University of Georgia, Southeastern Conference, 
     and collegiate athletics across the country. He has been a 
     man of great foresight in times of charting the future, 
     stability in times of change, and vision in critical times 
     that have shaped the path of college athletics. His national 
     stature was reinforced when he was chosen from athletic 
     leaders around the country to chair a national sportsmanship 
     summit in the spring, 2003.
       There is no stronger indicator of Georgia's overall 
     athletic prominence than its recent success in the annual 
     Sears Directors Cup which includes a second place finish in 
     the 1998-99 season, third place finish in 2000-01, and top 
     ten finishes in four of the past five years. Sears Directors 
     Cup competition annually recognizes the top athletic programs 
     in the country. Under his watch as athletic director (since 
     1979), Georgia teams have won 18 national championships (nine 
     in the past five years) including an unprecedented four 
     during the 1998-99 year (women's swimming, gymnastics, men's 
     tennis, men's golf). Since Dooley became athletic director, 
     Georgia athletic teams have also won 75 SEC team 
     championships and numerous individual national titles in both 
     men's and women's sports.
       He has also been a standard-bearer for academic excellence. 
     Under his leadership, more than 100 Georgia student-athletes 
     have been named first team Academic All-America, 43 have 
     received NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarships, seven have been 
     named recipients of the SEC's Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete 
     of the Year award, seven NCAA Top Eight Award winners, three 
     NCAA Woman of the Year recipients, and well over $275,000 has 
     been awarded to the University's general scholarship fund 
     through performances by Georgia student-athletes.
       In 1985, Dooley was also instrumental in fostering the 
     pledge which has resulted in $2 million being contributed by 
     the Athletic Association to the University--the principle 
     being used for non-athletic scholarships and the interest 
     used in the recruitment of top students and other nonathletic 
     programs. These funds also provided private matching

[[Page H5170]]

     money which made possible the construction of the chemistry 
     building expansion and the Performing and Visual Arts Center. 
     And as part of the University's Third Century Campaign, he 
     also initiated the Vincent J. Dooley Library Endowment Fund 
     which was created with Coach Dooley's personal gift of 
     $100,000 to the University library. Under his leadership, the 
     Fund raised over $2.3 million.
       In addition to his commitment to Georgia's athletic 
     facilities, he was instrumental in the Athletic Association's 
     participation in the University's Ramsey Student Activities 
     Center, a facility rated by Sports Illustrated in 1997 as the 
     top student physical activities building in America. It cost 
     more than $35 million, over $7 million of which was funded by 
     the Athletic Association including $2 million in advance to 
     begin the project. The complex, which hosted the 1999 NCAA 
     Women's Swimming and Diving Championships and the 2002 NCAA 
     Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, includes competition 
     facilities for varsity swimming and volleyball and practice 
     arenas for basketball and gymnastics.
       His community service and charity work is extensive and 
     includes work with the Heart Fund, Multiple Sclerosis, 
     Juvenile Diabetes, Boy Scouts, the homeless, and he is 
     currently serving on the Advisory Board of the Salvation 
     Army. He has served 28 years as the long-standing chairman of 
     the Georgia Easter Seals Society and in 1987 was named 
     National Volunteer of the Year for his service. For his many 
     contributions, a new Easter Seals facility in Atlanta was 
     built and named for him in 1990. He and his wife, Barbara, 
     are currently co-chairing a fund-raising campaign to 
     establish a Catholic high school in the Athens and northeast 
     Georgia area. Dooley, who was instrumental in the 
     University's campus being designated as an arboretum, was 
     presented with the Georgia Urban Forest Council's 2001 
     Individual Achievement Award given for significant 
     accomplishments in promoting urban forestry in Georgia.
       He served six years on the Advisory Committee to the 
     Atlanta Olympic Organizing Committee and was in Tokyo with 
     his former player, ACOG president Billy Payne, when Atlanta 
     won the bid to host the 1996 Games. Through his efforts and 
     association with Payne, Dooley helped secure for Athens and 
     the university three Olympic venues (soccer, volleyball, and 
     rhythmic gymnastics) which was the largest number of events 
     in a city outside Atlanta. Dooley was selected as a flame 
     bearer in the 1996 Summer Olympics torch relay receiving the 
     flame from Payne in Sanford Stadium. He also chaired a $1.5 
     million fund raising campaign for new Salvation Army 
     facilities in Athens.
       Another honor came Dooley's way in June, 2001, when he was 
     named the Division 1-A Southeast Region Athletic Director of 
     the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors 
     of Athletics (NACDA) and award sponsor Continental Airlines.
       Dooley was born into an athletic family in the Alabama 
     coastal city of Mobile, September 4, 1932. His younger 
     brother Bill, former head football coach at North Carolina, 
     Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest, was an All-SEC guard at 
     Mississippi State in 1954. After graduating from McGill High 
     in Mobile, Dooley accepted a football scholarship to Auburn 
     where he was an all-star football and basketball player. He 
     received his Bachelors Degree in Business Management ('54) 
     and Masters in History (1963). After serving in the Marines 
     and as an assistant coach at Auburn, he was named head coach 
     of the Bulldogs in December, 1963, at the age of 31. Dooley 
     still maintains his academic and continuing education 
     interests by auditing classes at the University in such 
     disciplines as history, political science, art history, and 
     horticulture.
       Dooley is married to the former Barbara Meshad of 
     Birmingham. They have four children; Deanna (Mrs. Lindsey 
     Cook), Daniel (married to the former Suzanne Maher), Denise 
     (Mrs. Jay Douglas Mitchell), and Derek (married to the former 
     Allison Jeffers). The Dooleys also have ten grandchildren: 
     Patrick, Catherine and Christopher Cook; Michael and Matthew 
     Dooley; Ty, Joe and Cal Mitchell; and John Taylor Dooley and 
     Peyton Dooley.


                      FAST FACTS ON VINCENT DOOLEY

       Program success--In NACDA's Director's Cup Competition that 
     recognizes the top athletic programs in the nation, Georgia 
     has finished as follows over the last five years: 2001-02--
     7th; 2000-01--3rd; 1999-2000--12th; 1998-99--2nd; 1997-98--
     8th.
       Standard bearer for academic excellence--over 100 Academic 
     All-Americans; 43 NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship recipients; 
     seven NCAA Top Eight Award winners; seven SEC Boyd McWhorter 
     Scholar-Athlete of the Year winners; three NCAA Woman of the 
     Year winners, more than any school in the country.
       Hall of Fame Football Coach--Inducted into College Hall of 
     Fame in 1994; 25 seasons (1964-88); 20 bowl games; 201 
     victories ranked third nationally among active coaches at 
     time of his retirement; 1980 National Championship; six SEC 
     Championships (1966, 68, 76, 80, 81, 82); 1980 and 82 NCAA 
     National Coach of the Year; SEC Coach of the Year seven 
     times; State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame; State of Alabama 
     Sports Hall of Fame; Sun Bowl Hall of Fame; Georgia-Florida 
     game Hall of Fame; Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Hall of Fame.
       Award winning athletic director--2000 Georgia Trend 
     Magazine Top 100 Georgians of the Century; 2001 Amos Alonzo 
     Stagg Award from American Football Coaches Association for 
     lifetime contributions to the sport of football; 2001 NACDA 
     Division 1-A Southeast Region Athletic Director of the Year; 
     1984 ``Georgian of the Year'' by the Georgia Association of 
     Broadcasters; 1984 ``Sports Administrator of the Year'' by 
     the State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.

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