September always kicks off college football season and this year we UGA fans are all especially excited to see if Head Coach Kirby Smart can take us to that next level: a national championship! It might not be this year, but hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 36 years since I “stormed” the field at the Superdome in New Orleans along with thousands of other fans when we beat Notre Dame 17-10.
Shortly after the biggest win in UGA football history, a poster was made of a drawing by Jack Davis commemorating the amazing event. My high school girlfriend, Kim Taylor, who now owns the great pizza spot Fox’s Pizza Den on St. Simons (shameless plug!) had a copy of that national championship poster framed and gave it to me for my 19th birthday. Over the next 35 years that poster has moved several times. It spent some time in a fraternity room, a New York City dive apartment, a Chicago closet (I rented a room and wasn’t allowed to put anything on the walls), two apartments in Atlanta, and two apartments in Los Angeles (where it survived an earthquake). When I returned to the island, it hung in my room in the house where I grew up, then was in my room in the house my parents rented when they sold the house where I grew up (they didn’t think I would actually MOVE with them!). Finally, after stints in two rental houses, it has a place in my house now.
The poster has hung in bedrooms, bathrooms, hallways, over fireplaces, on top of the fridge and has even sat on the floor. It’s like that first piece of artwork or furniture that you bought years ago and, no matter what, you can’t seem to “downsize it” and add it to that garage sale or toss it out. My folks still have a coffee table from the early 70’s that is so dinged up and scratched that you couldn’t give it away, but because it’s the first piece of furniture they bought, it has a special place in their hearts.
At some point in the many moves through the years, the glass in the frame broke so the poster has a few “nicks and scratches” but I wouldn’t give it away for anything. A few years back, I was having lunch at Brogen’s North (a veritable museum of Jack Davis UGA Football artwork) and saw Jack Davis and his lovely wife, Dena. They ate there often and folks would stop by their table to visit.
I walked up to their table and told Jack about how much I have treasured my 1980 National Championship poster. Without skipping a beat, he said, “bring it to me sometime and I’ll sign it for you.” Not knowing when I would bump into him again, I ran out, jumped in my car and raced home to grab the poster. I brought it back and he signed it with a smile. I can’t even begin to imagine how many times through the years he had to deal with “fans” coming up to him like that. He was truly a Class Act!
