This is overdue, and I regret having to pay tribute to a good friend belatedly.
When I heard the news that my long-time friend Wayne Brantley had passed away a few weeks ago, I made plans to drive down from Athens to Vidalia for his final service.
Since then, I have spent considerable time recalling Wayne’s days in Athens, when he was a small guard (5-11, 195 lb.), but an overachiever who performed much bigger than his stature. Wayne was a fierce competitor and imbued with a deep and abiding commitment to enjoying his campus days as a student-athlete.
While he loved the game, Wayne also knew a degree would enhance his career when his college days were over. That meant it was just as important for him to make good grades in the classroom as it was to create a hole in the defense for Georgia running backs.
Some athletes are good at one but not the other. Wayne excelled at both. In addition, he was a good teammate, exhibiting the intangibles that become the glue that bonds a team.
Wayne had a flair for drawing, so he enrolled in Industrial Arts when he entered UGA. Following graduation, he coached high school football in Greenwood, S.C., before returning to Vidalia to take over the family business.
Everywhere he went, Wayne easily made friends.
With an engaging personality and constant smile, he became known in high school as “Smiley.” If anybody ever deserved such a nickname, it was Wayne.
Longtime friends say they never saw him frown.
Wayne was awarded a football scholarship by UGA late in 1961, and he became a regular at guard in 1962 with the freshman team.
By 1963 he was a co-regular with the varsity squad.
Vince Dooley was hired in late December that year, and Wayne set about accruing more playing time with the new staff in 1964, Dooley’s first season, which turned out to be serendipitous.
The Bulldogs won six games that year, including the Georgia Tech rivalry game, and against Texas Tech in the Sun Bowl at El Paso, one of the most memorable years for many Bulldog partisans. There was such harmony on the team that it spread over to the fans. Some longtime observers felt Dooley’s initial squad played with such heart that the fans exhibited the greatest feeling for those ‘Dogs as any that ever played between the hedges.
In the middle of all that upward emotion was the smiling and ebullient Wayne Brantley, the friendliest man in Toombs County and maybe in the state of Georgia.
In 1965, the Bulldogs got off to an encouraging start. The schedule was daunting: defending national champion Alabama in Athens, Michigan at Ann Arbor, FSU in Tallahassee, North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Tough conference games with Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Florida, and Auburn were also part of the challenge.
After getting up on Alabama 10-0, the Bulldogs fell behind 17-10 with time becoming of the essence in the fourth quarter. At a point when things were dire, a big play was sorely needed.
The staff had talked in pre-season about what to do in an emergency and came up with a “flea flicker” play. If you know anything about Georgia football history, you likely know the rest of the story.
The flea flicker — which never worked in practice — was executed to perfection. Quarterback Kirby Moore threw a short pass to a button-hooking Pat Hodson, who shoveled the ball to halfback Bob Taylor, who went the distance, 73 yards for a touchdown. Next, Moore’s two-point conversion pass to Hodgson was good enough for the 18-17 victory.
In the aftermath, there was the celebratory photo of the team taking Dooley off the field on their shoulders to shake hands with legendary Alabama coach Bear Bryant. The centerpiece of the prized photograph was “Smiley” Brantley in one of the greatest photos in UGA football history.
Football was fun for ol’ No. 61. He didn’t mind the grind a player had to go through during the week because of the opportunity to play between the hedges on Saturday. He loved his Bulldog days and was forever a doting alumnus. He was proud of his diploma and his letter jacket because of what each represented.
When Wayne was honored in 2015 for postgraduate achievement by the UGA Chapter of the National Football Foundation, he brought his family and showed them where he had lived, where he played, and where he went to class. I don’t think UGA has ever recognized a former letterman who was as appreciative as Wayne was.
Without question, Wayne Brantley was a “Damn Good Dawg.”