Determined competitors on the athletic field and in the classroom

It does not matter where you came from. What does matter is how hard you work, when you get there!

European explorers Hernando de Soto (1540), Richard Brigstock (1653) and John Lawson (1700) all observed that Eastern Creek Indian men were allowed to wear mustaches, after becoming proven warriors. University of Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett is a proven warrior! He grew up around seven miles north of where I was born. Undoubtedly like me, he also began wandering through the woods and paddling through the tannin-stained waters of Southeast Georgia, soon after he learned to walk. It is very revealing that the primary comment that Stetson made to the reporters, after spectacularly winning the National College Football Championship, was . . . “I can’t wait to get back to my friends and family in God’s Country.

His story of dedication and courage reminds me so much of my mother. She was the first person in her family to be allowed by the State of Georgia to graduate from a public high school. She was awarded a four year college scholarship, but my Grandpapa Obie had to ride her in a mule wagon to reach the nearest town with a bus headed toward Athens, Georgia . . . home of the University of Georgia.

In order to pay for her living costs other than dormitory rent, my mother washed, ironed and mended the clothes of the wealthy girls at the University of Georgia. She had to make her own clothes with a foot pedal-powered Singer sewing machine. Yet . . . during her four years in college, my mother only scored less than a 100 on two exams. She graduated Summa Cum Laude.

My parents wanted us to have a better education, so they sent my sister and I off to the Georgia Institute of Technology. However, I do admit that our arch rival, the University of Georgia, had a little bit better football team this year. Actually, it is one of the greatest college football teams of all time.