Athens icon ‘Sky’ Hertwig dead at 60 (updated)
Among the many claims to fame for Craig "Sky" Hertwig was a small acting part in the movie "North Dallas Forty." (Photo by BulldawgIllustrated.com)
Updated with funeral information . . .
ATHENS — An Athens icon has died.
Craig Hertwig, better known as “Sky” around Athens, passed away at about 6 p.m. Wednesday at St. Mary’s Hospital, family members confirmed. He was 60.
Ed Hertwig said his brother died of heart failure. Sky was actually admitted to the hospital on Tuesday evening and “died in less than 24 hours.” his brother said.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Lord & Stephens (West) of Athens, 1211 Jimmie Daniel Road, Bogart, GA 30622. There will be there service Saturday at 1 p.m.
Hertwig, a Macon native, at 6-foot-8 was unusually tall for a football player, hence his nickname. He starred for the Bulldogs as an offensive tackle from 1972-74 and earned All-America honors from The Associated Press as a senior. He was drafted in the third round by the Detroit Lions in 1975 and played three seasons in the NFL before retiring after getting traded to the Buffalo Bills in 1978.
Hertwig returned to Athens and forged a career as a nightclub owner. Bars he owned and operated were some of the most popular in Athens, including The Fifth Quarter, Sky’s Place and The Odyssey, which today is known as The Nowhere Bar. When not downtown running one of his establishments, Hertwig could often be seen jogging on Milledge Avenue and in Five Points. UGA legend Dan Magill referred to him as the “Giant Jogger.” He was also a staunch supporter of Georgia men’s basketball and was always present at games in the first seat next to the tunnel in Section J at Stegeman Coliseum.
“It’s sad,” said Jeff Dantzler, a longtime Athens radio personality and writer. “He was very well liked by a lot of folks and a lot of people are very sad. He was an Athens icon. Loved the Dogs.”
Here’s some remarks from Vince Dooley, Hertwig’s coach at Georgia and a longtime friend:
“Certainly we’re all saddened by the sudden loss of Craig, who was a great football player, a great fan and a great supporter of all the athletic programs at Georgia. Our deepest sympathy goes to his family and friends.
“Obviously, Craig was nicknamed ‘Sky’ because of his height. During his playing days, he was really tall for a lineman. I actually had gone to see another player on another high school team when I saw this big ol’ guy jumping around. He was kind of under the radar but that eventually led to us signing Craig.
“Because of his size, he was not ready to play as a freshman and we redshirted him,” Dooley said. “One of the things I remember most about Craig is how big a fan he was during that season he redshirted. He loved to get in the stands with the students and cheer for the team. I don’t know if I ever had a player who was as big of a fan as Craig. He matured and became a great player an All-American played professionally and came back to Athens. He always continued his support of Georgia football and all Georgia sports in that social way. He was so well known all over Athens and will be missed.”
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89 comments Add your comment
Ian Saunders
May 31st, 2012
1:17 pm
RIP Sky. Extremely nice guy. I frequently came to Nowhere to play pool and drink beers. He always remebered my name, and was nothing but nice to everyone. Gonna miss ya big guy.
Mike
May 31st, 2012
1:52 pm
Even though I went to GT, I remember quite a few great nights in Athens at Sky’s. You will be missed.
ShadyDave
May 31st, 2012
2:09 pm
This was one of the chillest dudes ever! Athens has lost a great man.
John Gurley
May 31st, 2012
3:11 pm
Great roomate..I was gone all day….SKY was gone all night
and he could throw a golf club as far as Bubba can hit one …loved the Dawgs as much as anyone ever did or ever will
Bobby Ramey
May 31st, 2012
3:36 pm
I first met Sky in 1970 at Swino’s Firth Quarter. We remained close friends for over 40 years. I could tell some good stories but most are probably better left unsaid. Rest in peace big guy! My sympathy and condolences to Sky’s family.
RunningDog
May 31st, 2012
3:43 pm
A much loved Athens figure and Bulldog will be missed.
Al Wise
May 31st, 2012
4:28 pm
I remember many bus trips to the Falcon and Braves games. Sky was always a great host in his various clubs. Big loss for Athens and UGA
chicken
May 31st, 2012
4:46 pm
SKY you will be missed by me and all your friends at Jennings Mill and Monroe CC. You were a gentle giant of a man who really cared about people. I will always have great memories of playing golf with you many times in our dog fight and seeing you at Georgia Football games. And how could I every foget when you would see me at the course you yelling CHICKENHEAD CHICKENHEAD whats up. I will always cherish the memories and your friendship.” GO YOU BIG ONE OF A KIND DAWG FOREVER”. May your rest in peace in Heaven forever from me and all your friends at the Mill.
Johnny Bryant
May 31st, 2012
5:18 pm
Sky was a member of our country club in Monroe for at least 25 years. Everything about Sky was big. When you heard a very loud yell, you knew Sky was playing. He was truly a gentle giant!! He gave me two of his seats for a basketball game last year. He would not take any money and even bought my wife and I refreshments during the game. A HUGE heart that pumped red and black!!!
Miamidawg
May 31st, 2012
5:23 pm
Knew him when he owned Sky’s Place.
Great big guy with an even bigger heart. He will be missed.
Big Daddy
May 31st, 2012
5:25 pm
Not many men in Athens who could look me in the eye, but you could Sky. You always did. Firm handshake. Big smile. Bigger heart. Spent many a night with ‘The Ol’ General’ talking about life and how things have changed. Enjoyed his company at Plantation quite a few times as well. He will be truly missed. Thanks for 9 years of cold beer and great memories. Big thumbs up to you for finishing the drill, even if it was earlier than we expected or wanted. Tonight me and the boys raise our glasses high.
mouse
May 31st, 2012
6:38 pm
Lost a great dawg fan and friend! Bailed me out of trouble more times than I can count. I miss the 5th quarter and am sure gonna miss Sky! RIP Maybe Dawgs rally around his unfortunate and untimely death.
Lonnie
May 31st, 2012
9:12 pm
Sky was as good a man as you come across. Truely a larger than life kinda fella and someone who will be missed. Enjoyed talking football with him over the years and shooting pool at Nowhere. Tonight everybody needs to crack open a cold beer and Hold One High For Sky. Rest easy sir and God Bless.
Brian Moore
May 31st, 2012
9:19 pm
I know SKY from back in the very early eighties…..Great fun at the Fifth Quarter. Happy Hour on Friday’s the crowd spilling on to Broad Street ,,,,,Thank God the APD would let them get away with it.
You know who you are! It was Great FUN! I would go inside and say Damn! He would would say, It’s going on Brother!!! How Awesome! Always smiling and filling up those cardboard pitchers. I played for his softball teams…….You know who you are. LOL. We did not win many games, but we always beat the Athens Police Department, which to us the one win was like winning the Pennate. We would celebrate like hell!!!! He was a Great Gentle Giant!!! I am Glad that my son got to meet him! SKY I love you BROTHER and will never forget you!! RIP!!!
LB
May 31st, 2012
9:53 pm
Just played golf with BIG SKY a month in UGA Football Lettermans Golf Tourney…He will be missed by many! Was a true UGA BULLDAWG!
Sally Gurley
May 31st, 2012
10:03 pm
What wonderful comments to Sky. I well remember what a great,, polite roommate he was to my son, John Gurley at UGA. Rest in peace, big guy, you will be greatly missed!
spencer
May 31st, 2012
10:20 pm
RIP BIG UGLY. Since I was 5 he has always been a giant to me. Great man who would look at you and you knew you had a friend. MISS YA DAWG
Gary
May 31st, 2012
10:21 pm
Nice to read all the wonderful comments about Sky. His memory will live on for a long time. Sky used to have an old RV and tailgated with us at many of the UGA road football games. He was a true Dawg fan and a great person to hang out with. Always a gentleman as well. RIP DGD.
Dale
May 31st, 2012
10:51 pm
Remember Sky? Sad news but great tributes left in the comments.
Frances Riley
May 31st, 2012
10:52 pm
When my husband & I married, I told Sky he would have to wear a suit. He said OK! He showed up in a plaid suit. He handed me moth balls out of the pockets. Said, this will tell you how long it has been since I wore this suit. We had so much fun at The Fifth Quarter on football game day. Road the “Boogie Bus” to the games. Of course, it was painted Red & Black. A friend that no matter how long it had been since we saw each other, made you feel so great & always glad to see us. We had a huge white cat. He called her “The Wicked White Cat of the Jungle.” What a gentle soul he was. He loved the Dawgs & will be truly missed. RIP our “gentle giant friend.”
Terry Allen
May 31st, 2012
11:15 pm
I had a softball class with him back in 1974 his senior year as a Bulldog. Everyone called him Twig back then not Sky. When Twig would come up to bat he would swing REALLY hard and could clobber the ball from home plate at the intramural field all the way to the railroad tracks which was about a mile over the outfielders head! So, basically, he got a home run almost every time he came up to bat and he would just laugh as he trotted around the bases. EXCEPT, every now and then he would swing really hard and whiff the ball to someone in the infield in which case he would just throw the bat down and cuss and go back to the dugout without even try to make it to first! Which cracked everyone up including our instructor. He was loved by all…..
Dog in Nam
June 1st, 2012
1:56 am
i go here by dog in nam, but i am bill holmes bba 71, and i have lived here in vietnam for nearly six years. today i am saddened to read about sky dieing way too young. i frequented the fifth quarter in my days there and often returned for football games every year thereafter….often visiting sky’s bars…when my kids attended uga in the 90s and 10s, i became a nowhere bar regular…i love music and sky really ran some gooduns through there…i don’t get back there now so i will forever remember athens with sky in it ….i prefer it that way….oh yeah, one last thing, i’m sure many of you have this nowhere bar t shirt i will describe below…but i sleep in it here almost every night and it is now ragged, but always a classic….also many of my filipino and vietnamese musician friends wear them on stages all over southeast asia as gifts from me about the coolest bar on the planet5 ….ok here it is
on the front it says: NOWHERE BAR
240 north lumpkin street – athens, georgia
on the back it says: I WAS GOING
NOWHERE
BUT I AM
NOW HERE
NOWHERE BAR
240 north lumpkin street – athens,georgia
i love it, it helps me sleep in peace and dream of my true home in georgia….athens and my true love in georgia(and south carolina)
… my children and grandchildren……and the University of Georgia Bulldog Football…….God bless you Sky…..hi to all my sorely missed good friends at butts mehre and downtown….i love you all…..wait on us Sky…..maybe some of us will be so lucky as to join you there…..if i am one, i will bring my slingbox so we can still watch the dogs play on the net like i do here in Viet Nam thanks to my good friends Stuart and Jan Satterfield in Athens….bye for now all y’all ( which is the plural for y’all)
ON
Sid From Covingtion
June 1st, 2012
7:02 am
I remember a you boy like myself playing sports in the Covington, Poterdale , Ga area. We were all associated with Bibb Manufacturing Co. in some way. A tall young guy who had a bad slice on the Golf Course. He caddied for many of the guys who played golf the like Albert Norton, Gerald McGibboney, Felton Hudson. His friends who caddied with him were the likes to Tony Moon and some of the other guys from Porterdale. He left Porterdale and moved to Macon. I did not see him for years. I stumbled up on him in the State Basketball Tourney at Georgia Tech when his was the tallest man on the Mark Smith team and spend most of the time on the pine. When he played that night he had the task of dealing with Joby Wright if any old guys remember the kid from Savanah who looked 25 then before he went of the play in Kansas. I next saw him on a Saturday in Athen going to a football game. My father and I were walking along and he spoted my daddy. He was on of the men Craig has caddied for in Porterdale. He had cuts on his face. He said they were from practice but he was having a great time. So he continued the rest of his life to have a good time. You will be missed by many Craig.
RealDawg
June 1st, 2012
8:52 am
RIP SKY. Some great memories at Sky’s throwing back a yard or two of beer before heading out.
Milledgeville DAWG
June 1st, 2012
8:53 am
Sad in the Bulldawg Nation……..A DAMN GREAT DAWG!!!!!!!
GaDawgFan
June 1st, 2012
9:40 am
Read about this yesterday and am still stunned. As someone who grew up in Athens and spent my UGA days in the early 80’s the Fifth Quarter is large in my memories. To quote Brooks and Dunn, “It’s where I drank my first beer”. When I think of Athens and UGA there are certain givens that come to mind, the Arch, the Hedges, Larry (RIP), Dooley and for many of us, Sky. It was always been amazing to me to go back to one of Sky’s bars over the years and sit back and watch as he greeted everyone with a smile and a bear hug, even those that came through UGA 30 or 35 years ago, he never seemed to forget a face or a name. Athens has shrunk a little this week.
WDE
June 1st, 2012
10:48 am
How great a guy do you have to be to be troll proof..looks like Sky’s is the limit. RIP Sky!
Mike
June 1st, 2012
11:07 am
Bummer.
Sky and i were freshmen at UGA in 1970 and spent our first college quarter in the Fifth Quarter, which he later bought. just saw him after Gday game last month and now very glad I did. Hands and heart the size of a basketball. His various bars may not have been the cleanest I ever drank in but every single one of them had a ton of Character. None bigger than the owner though. He will be missed. Go with God big guy.
rugbydawg79
June 1st, 2012
3:11 pm
+1 CUZ–dang Cuz we probably have run into each other before–I remember the 5th QTR-He was also a tremendous supporter of UGA RUGBY-and will be dearly missed by several generations of Bulldogs–R I P SKY
P. Reeves PR
June 1st, 2012
4:01 pm
Shy was a ledgen! He was a gentleman and a goog friend. After his glory days at UGA & Detroit, He became one of the dogs most loyal fans.I enjoyed many fun football trips to Ala.,Tenn., LSU,S.C..,etc..through the years with him. Now that I am LATE in the 4 yh. quarter of life, precious menories are priceless ,so remember, SKY is the limiit ! RIP
Nick
June 1st, 2012
4:37 pm
RIP ‘Sky’
P R
June 1st, 2012
4:40 pm
SKY, you were a good friend,super football player, and wonderful person. I have lived in Athens for 44 yrs.and I found him one of the greatest DWAG fans. A giant man with a giant heart who played for the lions. RIP
larry reynolds
June 1st, 2012
4:51 pm
Man, that’s hard to belive ! SKY! gone, man what a guy, red and black was his love. good man. I’m glad to have known sky. RIP BIG DOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
62andstillgo_atit
June 1st, 2012
9:36 pm
If you wanna live longer…just stop eating meat yeah? Be a vegan people.
Big Al
June 2nd, 2012
9:53 am
Cheers sky! The original Red Solo Cup will be raised in your honor! We used to drink out of them at the Odyssey in the 80’s and Sky’s place where you once showed the Rob Lowe video! Great guy!
Ronnie Smith
June 3rd, 2012
1:11 pm
I will always remember when Sky came to visit me at the hospital after my wreck there was always a steady stream of people going by peeping in the door looking at the Big Man. Sky was one of a kind never met a stranger. He will be missed R.I.P. Sky.
P R
June 4th, 2012
10:36 am
SKY was a giant man with a giant heart. Too many good memories to mention. He is now a legend ! R I P
Michael Marr
June 4th, 2012
2:34 pm
We’d eat a Gumby Dammit and go drinking at Sky’s. Loved the ’80s!
LTM
June 4th, 2012
4:29 pm
I appreciate that Sky let my band play the smooth hits of the 70’s on hotdog night for free beer. He was always a supportive friend with a bear-like hug. I will miss him.