Today’s selection takes us a little ways back, but for me, it takes me to a golden time where I had nearly daily contact with a Georgia legend – Erk Russell, and Red Dog.
I was a graduate assistant at Georgia Southern in Athletic Marketing, and I lived right down the road from the Country Store, a little convenience store that I took for granted until one day I walked in and saw the legend himself buying a cigar and a beer in the store. He was buying Red Dog, which was popular at the time but I like to think he bought it because he thought it referenced Georgia Bulldogs, in Red Dogs.
Our first interaction was simple enough. I saw him, and he looked at me, and I told him that I was a huge fan. He asked me the following:
Erk: “Which team are you rootin’ for, young man?”
Me: “I’m a Georgia grad, but I’m working for Georgia Southern now”
Erk: “Well, either way, you can’t go wrong. Nice choice.”
Coach Russell died of a stroke leaving the Country Store, which still holds a special place in my heart to this day.
My second interaction was way better. I was running a golf cart for a local golf tournament in Statesboro, where Erk was in a foursome with Paul Johnson and a few other big donors. I was riding parallel to another co-ed who was driving the alternate cart.
To be fair, I was driving the alcohol cart, and she was driving the refreshing, non-alcoholic cart. We came around the bend from a par 5 and doglegged it to the back end of a par 4, where Erk was lining up a putt for God-Knows-What, but he was lining up a putt, nonetheless.
When we came around the corner, I hit the brakes hard, with a clear and audible “clank” and Erk was immediately disturbed from his line up. I thought I was dead. I thought I was definitively f*cked. Erk rose straight up, and started a slow discernable walk to our carts. He was definitely walking with a limp by then, and he was slow to our carts. I waited on baited breath.
As he approached, he looked at us and asked the following:
To the female, non-alcoholic drink cart girl: “Young lady, may I ask what you have in your cart?”
She laughed a little, knowing we were talking to a legend, and responded “I have Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, and other beverages”.
He then looked at me and asked, “and you, son, what do you have there in your cart?”
I said, “sir, I have Coors Light, Miller Light, Bud Light, and some Heineken”.
Erk looked at the co-ed, and calmly said “Young Lady, it was a pleasure to meet you, but I don’t have anything to do with you from here on out”.
He looked back at me and said “thank you, sir, for your service”.
He quickly pocketed four cans, two in his pocket, one in his bag, and one in his hand, and promptly drained the putt, one handed. It was the greatest moment I ever experienced, and his legend status was solidified in my mind from there on out.
On our 94th day from kickoff, I toast Erk, I toast us all, and I toast legends amongst men in Georgia football. I’m proud I got to meet him, even for a moment, and I hope you all have a legendary tale in your back pocket to tell your kids someday, because being in the presence of a legend, even for a moment, is a very, very good thing.
Pairs well with:
- Excellence
- Championships
- National Titles
- Golf
- Life
Love you, Erk, wherever you are. I hope you’re laughing it up with the Senator. Your many stories and belly laugh were more than you’d ever know.
Godspeed, and salutations.
-JP
Man that is cool. I used to like me some Red Dog. Had a RedDog ball cap that I’ve long since lost. I be got to ask, what flavor were the four beers Erk grabbed? Great story. Go Dawgs.
Used to be a occasional bartender for Spanky’s @ St. Simons in the late 80’s. Regular job was @ Sea Island Golf Course. Was in Spanky’s one afternoon, was at the bar right across from the entrance. Heard a little buzz from the other customers, looked over and it’s Erk coming in the door with a big ‘ol cigar in his mouth and a thirsty look on his face. Immediately went over and told him how big a fan of his I was and chatted briefly. Hell of a nice guy, and he appreciated my ‘Go Dawgs’ too. Made my day for damn sure!!
“If you don’t have the best of everything, make the best of everything you have”…GO DAWGS!!
Damn Good Dawg … nothing else really needs to be said.
After he retired, he still drove himself to Jacksonville for the Cocktail Party. He parked 2 cars down from us one year in a big white Cadillac, and my wife was the first one to recognize him.
It’s really too bad UGA hasn’t recognized him more although his fingerprints are still all over Sanford. I wish they would rename the locker room the Erk Russell Georgia Lettermen’s Locker Room.
It was always telling to see Erk at a UGA game when they were honoring one of the former team from his and Dooley’s era. When introduced Dooley got a golf clap, when ERK was introduced he got a standing ovation. It then took him 30 minutes to get back to his seat because of all the autograph seekers. I wish we had gotten him instead of Goff but I’m pretty sure Dooley didn’t want that. I saw Erk at the Atlanta Touch Down Club meetings several times and he was a favorite with all the attendees.
You can tell from the 1980 Dawgs documentary that the players on both sides of the ball respected Dooley but they loved Erk.
and rename the visitors locker room,
”The Mule You Rode In On Dressing Room”
Fantastic story
I, too, interacted with Coach Russell on a near-daily basis when I worked in the sports information office at Georgia Southern, first as a graduate assistant and later as assistant SID. Our office was actually in the trailer (i.e., mobile home) behind Hanner Fieldhouse that had previously been the football office. One of Erk’s gigantic cigars was still in the refrigerator and we kept it in there for good luck. Funny, while I was there, Erk didn’t like playing golf because he said he didn’t enjoy games where you couldn’t control your opponent. We used to have an annual hit-and-giggle athletic department golf outing at a little nine-hole course down in Claxton, and our equipment manager, the legendary Roger Inman, would pull together a bag with a few right-handed clubs and a few left-handed clubs for Erk, who spent most of the day just hob-nobbing with the staff and having a few cold beers. I heard that when he could no longer play tennis because his knees got so bad, he fell in love with golf when he, like many outstanding athletes in other sports, probably figured out that golf involved the most challenging opponent ever–yourself! I cannot count how many times I went over to the fieldhouse first thing in the morning to get a cup of coffee (the coffee pot was in the football office) and Erk was usually the only one there, sitting at his desk reading the New York Times. After exchanging good mornings, his typical follow-up was, “Today is another day in which to excel.” He was the most positive person I have ever met. So many great memories of a great man!
We were lucky, we were in Hanner by the time I worked in the marketing department, and Sports Information was downstairs. My office was a closet in a bigger office, but I guess it beat a trailer!
I met Erk a few times back in the early 80’s, enough so that he recog ized me when he saw me. When he was talking to you, he made you feel like you were the most important person in the room. Even if you were just a nobody like me. He was a true legend.
Great stories about a great man!
Erk Russell belongs in the College Football HOF.
Post of the day!
I will never go to the College Football Hall of Fame until they change their damn rules. Erk is getting screwed but so will Stetson Bennett because he was not an “All American”. Bullshit organization.
I wish I could find this but I have looked and cannot. Maybe someone else ran into and/or can find it. There was a story someone had written where the author writes that years prior he was driving up Atlanta Highway, gets a flat and is assisted by a gruff, bald headed gentleman. Its very drawn out and detailed and the reader is made to think that the person is obviously going to be Erk. Instead, at the end, the guy tells him that he once shook Erk’s hand. And then the author’s shaking of the hand that once shook Erk’s hand is a major moment if his life. I’m not doing the story any justice, but if you’ve read it and can find it, it would be much appreciated. It is an apocryphal tale that really underscored how Erk is viewed by us all.
I have posted this before, but am going to repeat myself anyway. I had high school teammates who played at UGA in the 1970s and did very well. They told me that everyone, including the offensive players,loved Coach Russell and feared Coach Dooley.
I can’t remember what former UGA team member told me this but he said Erk was the kind of leader of men that if he called you on the phone at 3 AM and said meet him at a unknown address you would go there without asking a question to meet him.
DAYUM Y’ALL!!! Today was to be a recovery day but with all these Erk stories, when I sign off at work it’ll be time to “Run 3 Miles & hate Tech 4”!!!
#GATA #GoDawgs
Real good buddy of mine was a standout RB at Crisp County High School back in the late 60’s. He signed with UGA. Let’s just say that he was a wild one and stayed in trouble with the staff. EEThomas mentioned that the players loved Erk and respected Dooley. BarneyDog said that they loved Erk and feared Dooley. My buddy said that they loved Erk and hated Dooley, or maybe it was that he loved Erk and hated Dooley. Anyway, he didn’t care for Dooley and would try to run through a brick wall for Erk, he loved the man. Not knocking Dooley here, but he would have never won 201 games at UGA without Erk Russell. My very definition of a DGD.