Herschel Walker statue ‘not a priority right now’ for UGA
Rob Saye (L) started the 'Herschel Walker Statue Project' on Facebook and created quite a stir. (Photo by Rob Saye)
ATHENS — What about Frank Sinkwich? What about Charley Trippi? What about outstanding individual athletes in Georgia’s 14 sports other than football.
That’s the problem Greg McGarity has with the “Herschel Walker Statue Project.”
Is the Heisman Trophy winner and star player on the Bulldogs’ 1980 national championship team deserving of a statue? Absolutely, McGarity says.
But are not those aforementioned individuals also?
“You have to look at the program as a whole, with all sports,” McGarity said Friday. “Once you make a decision to single out certain individuals for accomplishments, then what is the domino effect? We have 14 other sports here that have had some tremendous accomplishments from certain individuals. There are just so many moving pieces that it just has to be an institutional decision. Right now there has been no discussion about that.”
Rob Saye, a freelance photographer, UGA alumnus and Bulldogs fan extraordinaire, decided earlier this week to create a Facebook Page – aptly named “Herschel Walker Statue Project” — calling on Georgia fans to get behind the idea of erecting a statue of the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner somewhere on campus. The reaction, as might be expected, has been passionate.
Loading ...McGarity has listened politely, but it doesn’t sound as if it’s something that is going to happen any time soon.
“What I’ve told people is we’ll consider it at the right time, but the right time is not right now,” McGarity said. “You basically have to have an institutional philosophy on something like that for every sport and how the university handles such things in general.”
Generally, UGA hasn’t been big on statues. Just last fall it erected a statue of Abraham Baldwin, the university’s founding father, on North Campus. There’s a life-size bronze sculpture of benefactor Bernard Ramsey sitting on a bench, also on North Campus. As for athletics, a statue of former coach and athletic director Vince Dooley was unveiled on the corner of South Campus in 2008. And that came only after considerable public debate and private fundraising.
Otherwise, there are only busts of Dr. Steadman Sanford, Dan Magill and Frank Foley in front of the respective athletics facilities bearing their names.
“Very rarely has there been individual recognition on this campus or in our facilities,” McGarity said. “That’s something you have to be very careful about how you approach it. Once you start you better have a plan to be inclusive.”
Saye appears to have gotten the message. He and his cohort Jimmy Taylor softened their “call to revolution” approach when they updated the status of the Facebook page late Thursday night.
“Thanks so much for everyone’s support of this idea! We have definitely gotten a lot people’s attention!
“This effort has exceeded all of our expectations and is going strong. When we started on Saturday, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. Lots of things are now coming into view and becoming clear as we move forward.
“At this stage, we ask for your continued support and patience, as we navigate the proper channels within the various UGA organizations that we will need to partner with to bring this project to fruition. Please also keep in mind, as we have learned, that we are looking at at least a one-year timeline for the design and construction of the statue!
“The bottom-line is that we started this in good faith with the goal of honoring our greatest player with a permanent tribute and a charitable foundation that will continue to contribute positively to the community. We move forward with these goals still in place and the resolve to work within the system to achieve this mission.
“Thank you again for your support. More to come as we work the process!”
But what got Saye – and subsequently other Georgia fans – motivated about the starting the “Herschel Project” in the first place was seeing how many other football players at other schools had statues. There’s Doug Flutie at Boston College, Ricky Williams at Texas and Johnny Unitas at Louisville, just to name a few. Last April, Florida unveiled statues of Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel and Tim Tebow, its three Heisman Trophy winners. And Auburn is building monuments to Bo Jackson, Pat Sullivan and Bo Jackson this year.
Even Walker seems to like the idea. Though he couldn’t be reached for comment, he sent out this tweet via Twitter on Thursday: “Hey UGA Fans.Thanks for your support on the ‘Herschel Walker Statue Project’ page on Facebook!! Totally honored!!”
But McGarity said that Georgia can’t be influenced by what others are doing.
“It’s more or less a philosophical approach that the athletic association and the institution must have and I’m not even aware of what the policies are,” McGarity said. “Is this something we would consider for the future? I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about it. I don’t want to be disrespectful but that’s not a priority for us right now and it just opens the door to so many other things.
“Right now it’s just not on our radar.”
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264 comments Add your comment
coddyhawk1
March 17th, 2012
3:28 pm
Perhaps more fitting of that era ofGeorgia football would be a statue of Jan Kemp.
Beast from the East
March 17th, 2012
4:05 pm
Stepen A. Dawg,
Penis envy is not an admirable quality in a man.
Will
March 17th, 2012
4:08 pm
the statue include his Trans Am? Will Jan Kemp have a statue close by?
Vince Doodly
March 17th, 2012
4:48 pm
Why is this even McGarritys decision? Pay for it with private funds (which would take about 10 minutes to raise.)
Gene
March 17th, 2012
5:09 pm
Mike Adams may not like football, but he loves money, and most of his comes from football revenue. That’s a good point about Sinkwich and Trippi, so let’s split the difference and just have a statue of Adams stuffing his wallet.
bigreddawglover
March 17th, 2012
5:26 pm
Whether or not there exists other great UGA athletes from the past, there is only one all-time #1 collegiate football player ever who is univerally recognized as such. He happens to have graced the UGA campus for his collegiate career to the exclusion of all other institutions. Not only are his feats on the gridiron unsurpassed by all who have played this great game before and after him, no matter where they may have played, his accomplishments never outweighed his humility. His personna exemplified
the true meaning of ” Glory, glory…..to Georgia and this truly American game that dominates the spirit and envigorates us all.
Mr. McGarity, you, more than anyone should support this effort, rather than
list all the reasons why this is not the time nor the place for this undertaking.
Additionally, how often does a “Hershel” come along in a lifetime. I can only count one. Stand back and let the movement to commemorate this most outstanding example of a man as a competitor be honored with a statue
that will depict Hershel as the icon that he has become in the minds and memories of those who love all college sports for what they are supposed to represent.
230gr Full Metal Jacket
March 17th, 2012
5:34 pm
I’ve got to agree with Will. If you are going to build a statue of the illiterate buffoon, it should be of him in his black Trans-Am, wearing his Mister-T starter set (ALL paid for illegally by Alumni), or perhaps even better one of him accepting an envelope of cash from Vince!!!! But they HAVE to go right beside a statue of Jan Kemp — who did more for UGA athletics than every athlete who has ever worn red and black combined!!! Or why not one statue to honor ALL of the “great” athletes? You can have them all leaning over the back/hood of a City of Athens Patrol car in handcuffs with a pile of empty PBR cans around their feet!!
And you can tell most of these bloggers are kids by the fact that they don’t even recognize what TRUE greats like Sinkwich and Trippi did for the program. Herschel isn’t worthy of carrying their gear for them!
dawg4u
March 17th, 2012
5:49 pm
Why not play ‘Let’s make a deal.’ The statue of Herschel is approved after UGA wins their next SEC Championship in football.
Disgusted
March 17th, 2012
7:59 pm
Why does this once proud football university have to be held hostage by that POS Micheal Adams.
He is the worst thing that has ever happened to the entire state of Georgia.
When will it be that he will be outta here. Bad hire of a bad human being.
And tennis geek Mc Garrity needs to be gone too.
The only hold up is
March 17th, 2012
9:49 pm
I think the only thing really holding up a Herchel Walker statue at UGA is what color play-dough to use and what Athens Dollar General will have enough of that color in stock to build it.
True DAWG
March 17th, 2012
9:50 pm
Screw Mcgarity and Adams- we need a statue of herchel!!! They dont take football at UGA serious enough- please people of power put pressure on Adams to start taking football serious with starts with a statue of the best college hb of all time!
The Idiot Police
March 17th, 2012
10:09 pm
Thanks for the blog AJC. We have been looking for 230gr Full Metal Jacket.
Humpmaster
March 17th, 2012
10:23 pm
Stephen A.Dawg: Herschel=Greatness, Tebow certainly owned your sorry butts didn’t U G A Y boy.
Humpmaster
March 17th, 2012
10:28 pm
Stephen A.Dawg: Herschel=Greatness Tebow will win about as many championships in the NFL as did Hershel and 1 more NC than Hershel + he broke Hershels rushing TD records as a QB, how many TD passes did Mr. Multi Personality have?
ga gator
March 17th, 2012
10:28 pm
Build it and quit arguing.
Fred Flintstone
March 17th, 2012
11:29 pm
What about Deborah Norville?
beanster
March 18th, 2012
12:50 am
“Penis envy is not an admirable quality in a man.”
LOL @ Beast. However, not sure anyone would ever envy Tebow’s penis. Isn’t he still a virgin?
13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
March 18th, 2012
12:57 am
Dating Taylor Swift, but losing his QB gig.
13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
March 18th, 2012
1:13 am
Jborodawg March 17th, 2012 8:28 am
“As is bringing up CMR’s record against winning teams for the umpteenth time in a totally unrelated blog.”
________________________________________________________
What everyone has said is that Herschel Walker should have had his Statue for those who remember that it was not Herschel left, right, up the middle; that Greg McGarity is as poor an Athletics’ Director as any in the nation; that Mike Adam$ wants a Statue of him lining his pockets with cash; and that Mark Richt will never have a Statue of him because out of 39 games in his 11 years as our Head Coach, he has won exactly 9 games against teams who end season were top 25, including none after Georgia tek # 13 in 2009.
13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
March 18th, 2012
2:16 am
7576DAWG March 17th, 2012 3:50 pm
“Aaron Murray has been very disappointing because all the coaches rave about him but all of his turnovers are from the same mistakes. Bobo set Aaron up to fail by turning a roll out Quarterback into a pocket passer. Murray gained 1000 yard his senior year of high school ball if I remember correctly.”
http://www.maxpreps.com/athletes/W2hZ4HK0lUiYlKk6jeI5TA/football-fall-08/stats-aaron-murray.htm
257 yards rushing his senior season at Plant. Aaron Murray is NOT a dual-threat quarterback as we all know by now. His inability to run with his 4.81 speed in the 40-yard dash has prevents him from finding a lane where with his small stature he could throw the football over the DL who are all faster than he in The SEC, thus his poor showing at 0-9 vs teams who season end are top 25, running his coach’s record to 19-30 all 11 years vs teams who season end are top 25 here at UGA. The bigger faster DL in The SEC have, once they caught the slow puny Quarterback, thrown him around like a rag doll. He is tough and gets right up, but his pass completion percentage at 59 Percent 2011 when he ran up his stats vs 10 cupcakes is good enough for # 72 in the nation for quarterbacks Pass Completion Percentage. As you say, his 23 fumbles in 27 games, 11 lost, 22 interceptions in 27 games, 56 sacks in 27 games, and his 1 yard per carry with 6.44 carries per game all 27 games proves he cannot run the football.
Why a guy who was at college with me in Athens, attended classes with me, went to the games with me since, comes in here and says Aaron Murray should roll out, when he cannot find the lanes, gets sacked, cannot see over the line, and cannot complete his passes with them instead over-thrown over the heads of his receivers, or behind them when only Malcolm Mitchell did anything with his 403 pass attempts in 2011 alone and now leaves us with just Chris Conley, him filling in for 7 defensive backs kicked off the team or just transferred whom Mark Richt gave a Scholarship to for 2012 plus 2 more suspended for Mizzou, when our Secondary has been no good whatsoever for many years and certainly has no top player there such as Alec Ogletree moved to LB where we are already loaded.
Bobo is no good as OC.
I am the 1st poster to these blogs to call for his Extension which by the way he has NOT SIGNED.
I will remain steadfast, however, that we are NOT FINE. That we’ve not been doing fine vs teams who end season top 25 at 19-30 over the 11 years of Mark Richt and that the problem areas are specifically : offense not running the ball, bragging about wins over cupcakes and running up stats vs same, poor coaching of Quarterbacks the entire 11 years, special teams full of nothing but walk-ons, and defense not having anyone manning what Erk Russell called Rover – along with all the myriad of 140 arrested / suspended kicked-off including # 6 all-time in Fulmer Cup points for Mark Richt – perhaps you forgot what got Fulmer fired ?
2012 is more of the same with at most 1 team all 12 regular season games against a team who will be season end top 25. When are we going to beat the top teams at 19-30 all 11 years of Mark Richt vs just season end top 25 teams.
7576DAWG, sir, when you in every single solitary post for all these years to this blog you devote your time and energy talking with fellow Bulldog fans such as I and there are 61 posters who agree with your criticisms of the decision-making at UGA all 11 years to-date and specifically this very moment in time 2012 in this latest Chip Towers’ blog all 61 agreeing with you 7576DAWG, you cannot separate the points you make with
CRITICISM of Mark Richt.
If Mark Richt has an OC who cannot teach his QB nor figure out how to run especially with all the RB on our roster 2012 when we should exclusively run the ball given Aaron Murray’s melt-downs vs every team season end top 25 – all 9 of those QB better that day than he…
If Mark Richt shows such favoritism toward Aaron Murray with 5 Quarterbacks on his roster of such acclaim with his latest commitment last month and another who was a great high school Quarterback playing another position, that you have to spend your days of your hobby like mine in here discussing it…
Then,
7576 DAWG you, sir, are
CRITICIZING MARK RICHT.
Now, if this even remotely resembles me saying I am saying
FIRE MARK RICHT
then Brainiac ain’t anything but a misnomer.
We will be made or break again 2012, by beating the lone top 25 season end team we face.
Even RED DOG 77 wants something done about Aaron Murray and agrees with you
7576DAWG.
What ? Does RED DOG 77 want
MARK RICHT FIRED
I find Mark Richt trying – very trying at 19-30 vs teams end season top 25 all 11 of his years to-date. I like Mark Richt. I will not come in here and lie for Mark Richt, and don’t care for posters whose only retort to the facts is a personal FLAME when it has been since beating # 13 Georgia tek in 2009 that Mark Richt has beat a team season end top 25, forget the lies that stats are not kept that way when I have shown URL Link after URL Link that it is how stats are kept, forget that he is
8-14 vs top 25 time of game after 2007.
What ? That is supposed to be great ? Good heavens.
money train
March 18th, 2012
5:33 am
did herschel ever go to a class at georgia? if so, maybe they can have him holding a book when they do the statue, to make him look intellectual.
Joe
March 18th, 2012
6:07 am
Let Donald Trump pay for a statue and let him put it in th Generals’s Football Museum.
North Georgia Dawg.
March 18th, 2012
7:03 am
How bought a statue for these Dawgs . Terry Hoage , a genetics major. Academic All- American in the class room and on the field or David Pollack a 3x All- American.
13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
March 18th, 2012
7:10 am
AltamahaDawg March 15th, 2012 3:21 pm
“Everybody wants the same thing, everybody wants to win.”
________________________________________________
19-30 all 11 years vs end season top 25, and you stand there daily telling us we are great. Uh, no. Some of us have higher expectations for our football program # 11 all-time in wins.
13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
March 18th, 2012
7:41 am
30 Losses in 11 years vs end season top 25
means 8 Losses 11 years vs not top 25
-teams such as 4-8 Vandie 2006
-teams such as 6-6 South Carolina 2007
-teams such as 5-7 Colorado 2010
-teams such as 7-6 Kentucky 2009
-teams such as 7-6 vols 2009
-teams such as Auburn 2001
-teams such as Kentucky 2006
-teams such as Florida 2002
It is this combination of losing to teams we should beat, having our recruits heaped great praise upon Mark Richt for bringing here 26 of them for 2012 who will not play 2012 because they are arrested / kicked-off / suspended / not given fair shot at playing time because of Favoritism, and Losing 30 of 49 games vs teams end season top 25.
Some try to make up lame excuses for all of it.
Others are dog-tired of the excuses that don’t hold water any way, such as hey look at his record vs ranked teams at game time such as 6-6 South Carolina 2007 which he lost anyway along with this 8-14 at game time after 2007 vs ranked teams at game time.
13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
March 18th, 2012
7:46 am
8-14 vs ranked teams at game time after 2007
is supposed to be what ? Great ?
Isn’t that what you told me, now that I’ve looked it up ?
13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
March 18th, 2012
8:06 am
1st you told me rank game time all that matters
2nd I look that up 8-14 after 2007
3rd you tell me don’t talk about it
4th you told me game time all that is tracked
5th I give you URL links where that isn’t true
6th you tell me don’t talk about that, either
7th so I tell you Richt can’t beat top teams
8th so you tell me I’m a Georgia tek fan
9th everyone tells you that isn’t true either
10th Chip Towers’ latest blog 61 say not fine
11th you run in here saying 61 all Ga tek fans
12th the list of 61 includes way more Bulldogs saying Mark Richt is not doing fine, we’re not fine, we can’t beat the top teams, we continue to have our players arrested/suspended/kicked-off than the vocal minority who say somehow unexplained that 8-14 after 2007 vs teams ranked at game time is great.
OldSchoolDawg
March 18th, 2012
8:09 am
Being a Dawg means that you are a believer in deep long standing Southern traditions. That does not include a statue of Herschel. I’ll give you a bobble head doll in the gift store but that’s it.
13-1 SEC East Champions 2012
March 18th, 2012
8:16 am
We can make a Deity of Mark Richt.
gt4ever
March 18th, 2012
8:21 am
How about a statue where Vince and Hershal are reenacting the money exchange that got him to UGA…..Just sayin….
RedandBlackDAWG
March 18th, 2012
9:03 am
I am sure that a private fund could be started and the donations alone, would get the required money to erect a statute of Herschel walker. It is hard though to just think about Herschel walker alone though, when UGA has had so many great football players. Perhaps something along the lines of a ring of fame, inside the stadium like the Dallas Cowboys have might be just as well.
Gt4ever, I am sure they could find room for one at tech. as well. The only problem is, that you have on an average, about 1 out of every 15 years when you have a really good player. It would be easier in techs. case to have a ring of shame, coaches included.
dill
March 18th, 2012
9:30 am
How ’bout a Jan Kemp statue?
Coastal Dog SSI
March 18th, 2012
9:34 am
I thought I’d made this perfectly clear before: Other than Herschel, who is the best player to ever play at UGA?
The
March 18th, 2012
9:56 am
best player in Georgia history is Crowell. Go back and read the post from last year. He needs a statue ASAP!
fred
March 18th, 2012
9:56 am
greg talley
Thomas Brown = Mr Negativity = 13-1 East (blogger) = Techie
March 18th, 2012
9:56 am
Hey 13-1 blogger…….we all know you are a Techie and trying to pull-down the BullDawg nation. P.S. Your psychological profile gives you away. We all know you are a psycho and your other persona is Thomas Brown. You are one and the same……please take your meds!!!!
Thomas Brown = Mr Negativity = 13-1 East (blogger) = Techie
March 18th, 2012
10:03 am
@gt4ever
Don’t recall anyone ever mentioning $$$ for Walker, but I do remember the big GT cover-up and lying to the NCAA investigators. That should have cost GT at least a conference championship…..oh yea, it did!!!!
Mr. Negativity
March 18th, 2012
10:11 am
UGA’s NCAA compliance staff handles all player payments. That way they don’t worry about being caught. The funds come from the “Hart”.
Gator
March 18th, 2012
11:09 am
13-1, Thomas brown, You are the same person. Not that his senior year rushing stats matter, but Murray missed most of his senior season with a broken leg, 2ndly he wasn’t recruited as a dual threat QB, he was a highly recruited pro style QB who was an Elite 11 winning If you dislike UGA so much , find another team and do everyone a favor.
Torching a Blunt with Crowell
March 18th, 2012
11:47 am
I can just see it now. Herschel in the Heisman pose with his right arm clutching a bag of hash browns.
Neutral observer
March 18th, 2012
12:19 pm
I think everyone needs to quit following Alabama as the trendsetter. They have 5 statues for the various coaches that won national championships and after that a statue arms race broke out with AU and then Florida and now everybody else wants to build statues. I don’t think there is anything wrong with a statue to commemorate specific achievements. Bama has them for coaches that won national titles, AU and UF for their 3 Heisman winners each.
Georgia doesn’t have enough Heisman winners or national title trophies to really warrant statues because having a heisman trophy for all of 2 Heisman winners looks kinda goofy. Same with one national championship statue. It just looks like it would have the exact opposite and instead emphasize the lack of national achievement for the Georgia program with only 2 trophies.
jawga boy
March 18th, 2012
12:47 pm
Lots of sentiments and passions here. I’m way late weighing in. An alumni, and a loyal dawg. Lots of things surround Herschel…..lots. What if he’d stayed his last year? What if he’d gone to NFL vs WFL, donald Trump?.I say this, read his book…… and then you decide. I don’t think a statue is in order at all. Maybe a proclamation read at a ballgame would be appropriate. He’s only human.
jawga boy
March 18th, 2012
12:51 pm
Coastal Dog……the list is long. Jake Scott, Fran Tarkenton, Bill Stanfill, Hines Ward, Stafford #1?….and don’t forget Pulpwood Smith !
gt4ever
March 18th, 2012
12:53 pm
@Thomas Brown …..
Vince Dooley was the MOST corrupt football coach at UGA… He has the NCAA infractions to prove it….. The truth may hurt but, well that’s the way the cookie crumbles… Your NCAA history is a shame and embarrassment to the state of Georgia…
Fats OKelly
March 18th, 2012
2:21 pm
Quit kissing this Walker’s HIney for crying out loud. He is just another man that was a great football player,that UGA promoted like nobody’s business. Walker’s ego does not need this. Quit the idol worship of Mr.Walker. That’s all
evil empire
March 18th, 2012
7:06 pm
how about a group statue of some generic uga playas dancin’ to some stupid rap song while a couple more are smokin a blunt on the sidelines…kinda in a half-circle with real hedges ringing the outside…maybe include the team bail bondsman to add an even more realistic look…
alpharetta alice
March 18th, 2012
7:10 pm
I’m tired of this “once in a lifetime” talk about Walker…he wasn’t near the back Marcus Dupree was.
3d
March 18th, 2012
7:19 pm
McGarity sounds like what he is.
A CEO sitting in an ivory tower. Out of touch and laughing all the way to the bank.
Nothing and I mean nothing is going to change in Athens until big money gets involved and starts telling Adams what to do. We’re waiting Georgia Crown.
Maybe after some more second half meltdowns next year and another fine 9 & 5 season on the football field.
What will be the propaganda in 2013 after that? More our problems are correctable crap from CMR.
More we need stability in our program crap?
In your heart, you know it's the right thing to do
March 18th, 2012
7:20 pm
I think most decent people agree that the first statue should be for Saint Jan Kemp, the courageous young lady who risked everything to expose the corruption and sleazes created by Vince Cooley and continued even today by Mark Richt.
Gator
March 18th, 2012
7:36 pm
@In your heart, you know it’s the right thing to do, and your program is on Ncaa probation for the 2nd time in 8 years, LOL Jans dead and it was 30 years a go.@34 who was 9-5 ?