[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 173 (Monday, November 7, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           REMEMBERING COACH VINCENT JOSEPH ``VINCE'' DOOLEY

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                         HON. BARRY LOUDERMILK

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, November 7, 2022

  Mr. LOUDERMILK. Madam Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of my 
friend and Georgia football legend, Coach Vince Dooley, who went to be 
with the Lord on October 28, 2022.
  Coach Dooley was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1932. He began his 
football career at Auburn University, where he played quarterback from 
1951 to 1953. After earning his undergraduate degree. Coach Dooley 
served for two years in the United States Marine Corps, before 
returning to civilian life to pursue a graduate degree. While studying 
for his Master's in history at Auburn University, he began working as 
an assistant coach, a role he would hold for eight years. In 1963, 
Coach Dooley accepted an offer to serve as the head coach at the 
University of Georgia, unknowingly setting into motion a chain of 
events that would change college football forever.
  Shortly after assuming the role of head coach at UGA, Coach Dooley 
led the Bulldogs to an eighteen-to-seventeen win against the University 
of Alabama, the reigning national champions at the time. Over the 
following quarter century, Coach Dooley would orchestrate the 
University of Georgia's rise to the top of the college football ranks, 
earning a total of six Southeastern Conference Championships, 
culminating in the historic 1980 National Championship, which the 
Bulldogs carried undefeated. In total, Coach Dooley led the team to 201 
victories, the most under a single coach in the school's history. 
Later, Coach Dooley would accept a new role as director of UGA's entire 
athletic department, in which he would cement the school's reputation 
as one of the top athletic schools in the country. In 2009, Coach 
Dooley would go on to help Kennesaw State University establish their 
own football program, which is set to join the prestigious NCAA 
Division 1-A by 2024.
  Coach Dooley was the recipient of seven SEC Coach of the Year Awards 
and the Bear Bryant Lifetime Achievement Award. He was inducted into 
the College Football Hall of Fame, the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, the 
Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame, and 
the University of Georgia's Circle of Honor, and many other honors. In 
2019, the University of Georgia christened their stadium `Dooley Field' 
in his honor.
  Coach Dooley's interests extended beyond the gridiron. He was a 
master gardener, author, and advocate for historic battlefield 
preservation. He was a committed family man who is survived by his wife 
of sixty-two years, Barbara; as well as their four children, eleven 
grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
  In the south, where bitter rivalries between college football teams 
can be as divisive as politics, it is indisputable that Coach Dooley 
found his place among the greatest legends of football. He will be 
remembered as one of the southeast's most accomplished sons, and one of 
Georgia's most faithful servants.

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