Red and Black…and Green

Known more for his grinding, running-based offense, former University of Georgia football coach and athletic director Vince Dooley will soon be in West Ashley, spreading his love for gardening like it was fertilizer.
On Friday, Aug. 23 Dooley will be at Fiery Ron’s Home Team BBQ from 6-7:30 p.m. singing copies of his latest book “Vince Dooley’s Garden – The Horticultural Journey of a Football Coach.” Home Team BBQ has a strong tie to UGA and is home to the The Lowcountry Bulldog Club aka “The Lowcountry Dawgs.” Then on Saturday, Aug. 24, Dooley will be on hand at Magnolia Plantation and Garden from 1-3 p.m. signing copies of the book.
In the book, Dooley praises Magnolia as the nation’s “first man-made tourist attraction” in America, going onto praise it as “one of the greatest public gardens in America.”
Dooley was the head coach at Georgia from 1964-1988, winning more than 200 games, including the 1980 national championship with the help of Herschel Walker, as well as six SEC championships. The Athletic Association upon his retirement honored Dooley by funding the Vincent J. Dooley Professorship in Horticulture.
More recently, Dooley has gained renown as one of the region’s finest gardeners. Following the lead of his mentors, Dr. Michael Dirr and Dr. Allan Armitage, respected horticulturalists at the University of Georgia, Dooley has created a spectacular garden around his home that he and wife Barbara have lived in since 1964. He also has three different plants named in his honor; a camellia, an hydrangea, and an azalea. His Athens home’s five-acre garden has been praised by many.
Dooley, who won a national championship at Georgia with the help Herschel Walker, has surprised many with his distinctly non-football interests. An equally avid reader, Dooley once sponsored visits from former New York Times reporter Fox Butterfield to the university’s library. Butterfield had been the Times’ main Vietnam reporter during that war for a time. A couple months ago the 80-year-old Dooley went skydiving to raise money for Cerebral Palsy.
 
Home Team BBQ is located at 1205 Ashley River Road. For more information call 225-7427. Magnolia Plantation is located at 3550 Ashley River Road  For more information call 571-1266.