Sports
July
Friday July 26 2:00-5:00
College Football Preview
This Program is Sponsored By Doc Wilson & Ronnie Elliott
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The program features Tony Barnhart, Loran Smith and Don Munson, each a long-time observer and supporter of college football. As in previous years, the main topic will be the ever changing and controversial status of college football today and the general direction of college athletics in the future. The days of Wally Butts, Frank Howard and Bobby Dodd, which many Highlanders are still young enough to remember, are long gone. The focus will be on SEC and ACC football programs but also will include some programs that have not recently been in the national championship discussions. Now that the national championship playoffs have expanded to twelve teams: How will the selection process work? Where will games be played? What impact will this have on the various athletic conferences? Do traditional bowls have a future in light of the post-season departures of key players? What challenges in roster management face all sports programs – not just football – because of NIL and the transfer portal? Barnhart will talk about his new book, The 19 of Greene: Football Friendship and Change in the Fall of 1970. Smith will discuss his new book, How Bout Them Dawgs! After the program, enjoy complimentary signature cocktails, beer, wine and light bites at the meet-n-greet tailgate party, from 4:00- 5:00pm.
Location: Village Green Cashiers, NC (Please do not call the Village Green to register)
Tony Barnhart, a 1976 graduate of UGA’s school of journalism, has covered college football for 47 years. This includes 25 years as a columnist and reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and stints with CBS Sports and ESPN. Tony is currently an analyst for the SEC Network and a columnist for TMG College Sports. He is the author of many books on college football, including biographies of Vince Dooley and Larry Munson and most recently The 19 of Greene: Football Friendship and Change in the Fall of 1970.
Loran Smith is a lifer in the world of Georgia Bulldog Sports. He graduated from Georgia in 1960 having been MVP of the Georgia Track Team in 1959. He has spent most of his professional life in various positions for the Georgia Athletic Department. Bulldog loyalists remember him most famously for his work as a sideline reporter responding to the growl of Larry Munson: “Whaddaya got, Loran?” No one knows more about the lore of Georgia sports than Loran Smith who has authored or co-authored eighteen books on the subject in addition to numerous news columns.
Don Munson is Director of Broadcasting for the Clemson Athletic Department in a career that began in the department in 1994. He is one of the most knowledgeable, versatile and busiest of sportscasters and currently works as the radio playby-play announcer for Clemson football, basketball and baseball. Regarded for his preparation and attention to detail, Munson’s approach is to gain the trust of the coaches and players and tell the audience what he sees on the field, “I just tell the play-by-play and hopefully, I do it well.” Clemson fans will attest that he indeed does it well.
August
Tuesday August 13 2:00-4:00
Considerable Passions: The Life and Legacy of Bobby Jones
This Program is Sponsored By Terry Adamson & Ede Holiday
When Robert “Bobby” Tyre Jones Jr. won the four major golf tournaments (the British Amateur, the British Open, the U.S. Open, and the U.S. Amateur) all in the same year (1930), he became a worldwide hero and the first to achieve golfing’s “Grand Slam.” Dr. Catherine M. Lewis leads us “down the fairway” of Bobby Jones’s life and golfing career, from his days as a competitive golfer, through his early retirement in 1930 at age 28, to his phenomenally popular instructional books and newspaper columns and his involvement in club and course design (such as the most revered American course, Augusta National Golf Club). In 1928, Bob Jones struck the very first ball christening the Highlands Country Club gold course. Jones’s charisma, talent, and foresight shine through, and it’s easy to see why he is considered the greatest of them all.
Location: CLE Lecture Hall
Presenter: Dr. Catherine Lewis is Assistant Vice President of Museums, Archives & Rare Books and KSU Libraries and Professor of History at Kennesaw State University. She is the author, co-editor, or co-author of fifteen books, including Don’t Ask What I Shot: How Eisenhower’s Love of Golf Shaped 1950s America and Kick Up Some Dust: Lessons on Thinking Big, Giving Back, and Doing It Yourself with Bernie Marcus. She has curated more than 40 exhibits for organizations around the nation including the Atlanta History Center, the Breman Museum, Delta Air Lines, Augusta National Golf Club, and the United Way. Dr. Lewis’s research interests are varied and include World War II and the Holocaust, Jewish history, public history, sport history, African-American history, women’s history, and museum studies. Dr. Lewis completed her second term as president of the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries in 2016. She serves on several boards, including the Women’s Leadership Committee at Kennesaw State University, the Yates Scholarship Board for the Georgia State Golf Association, and the Museum Committee for the United States Golf Association. She is the chair of the Bobby Jones Scholarship Advisory Committee, a partnership between Emory University and the University of St. Andrews.
Wednesday August 14 10:00-12:00
Don’t Ask What I Shot: How Eisenhower’s Love of Golf Helped Shape 1950s America
This Program is Sponsored By Terry Adamson & Ede Holiday
On January 24, 1953, four days after his inauguration, the New York Times reported that President Dwight D. Eisenhower had been spotted on the White House lawn practicing his short irons in the direction of the Washington Monument. This image of “The Golfing General” was one that the American public quickly became accustomed to, as Eisenhower is said to have played nearly 800 rounds during the course of his two-term presidency. He befriended the game’s most beloved players, including Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, and Byron Nelson, and was the subject of hundreds of golf jokes and cartoons. The public’s awareness of Eisenhower’s obsession with golf led directly to the sport’s mid-century surge in popularity. In Don’t Ask What I Shot, historian Dr. Catherine M. Lewis offers a unique portrait of Ike, the sport he loved, and this watershed period in American history.
Location: CLE Lecture Hall
Presenter: Dr. Catherine Lewis is Assistant Vice President of Museums, Archives & Rare Books and KSU Libraries and Professor of History at Kennesaw State University. She is the author, co-editor, or co-author of fifteen books, including Don’t Ask What I Shot: How Eisenhower’s Love of Golf Shaped 1950s America and Kick Up Some Dust: Lessons on Thinking Big, Giving Back, and Doing It Yourself with Bernie Marcus. She has curated more than 40 exhibits for organizations around the nation including the Atlanta History Center, the Breman Museum, Delta Air Lines, Augusta National Golf Club, and the United Way. Dr. Lewis’s research interests are varied and include World War II and the Holocaust, Jewish history, public history, sport history, African-American history, women’s history, and museum studies. Dr. Lewis completed her second term as president of the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries in 2016. She serves on several boards, including the Women’s Leadership Committee at Kennesaw State University, the Yates Scholarship Board for the Georgia State Golf Association, and the Museum Committee for the United States Golf Association. She is the chair of the Bobby Jones Scholarship Advisory Committee, a partnership between Emory University and the University of St. Andrews.