February 22, 2014 · 7:39 AM

“I’m just the overweight P.E. teacher,”

Scott Woerner is an inductee into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.  The AJ-C‘s Steve Hummer caught up with one of the mainstays of the 1980 national championship team and got a great story out of what he’s doing now. Definitely worth a read.

19 Comments

Filed under Life After Football

19 responses to ““I’m just the overweight P.E. teacher,””

  1. Athens Dog
    February 22, 2014 at 7:49 AM

    The punt return against tech in 78 is still unbelievable.

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  2. 81Dog
    February 22, 2014 at 7:53 AM

    I saw Scott at the UGA Red Zone downtown a couple of years ago before a game. He was signing autographs, seemed very pleasant and kind of quiet. I watched him stand up kind of slowly, and with a hint of a limp, walk across the store very stiffly and haltingly. Football takes a toll on a person’s body, and I think a lot of times those of us who just watch/cheer/obsess don’t really think about that.

    It probably wouldn’t be obvious to anyone who didn’t know who he was that once, that guy was the most fearsome, fearless punt returner in the SEC, and one of the best DBs in the country. I probably saw almost every play he made at UGA; he was an awesome player, and is a great representative of our school. The story of how he ended up at UGA, documented in Glory, Glory by Grizzard and Loran Smith, is a pretty good one, too.

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  3. Timphd
    February 22, 2014 at 8:21 AM

    An all time favorite for me. He was truly electric with the ball in his hands.

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  4. Reservoir Dawg
    February 22, 2014 at 8:29 AM

    DGD. Rollin’ the dice on one knee in the end zone. Running riot over Climpsum. Stinging Tech. Watching Woerner was more fun than watching Walker.

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  5. SouthGaDawg
    February 22, 2014 at 8:33 AM

    He had to go through the most tear-away jerseys on the team. His was always tattered or torn. Growing up, I was Buck Belue on offense and Scott Woerner on defense when we played in the back yard. My two all-time Bulldog heroes…

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  6. No One Knows You're a Dawg
    February 22, 2014 at 10:03 AM

    Glad the article mentions the pig-theft-barbeque. Today, thanks to UGA sanctimony in doing things the “right” way (as they and Jeff Schultz see it), every one of those players (who were seniors and captains) would at the least been suspended for multiple games-if not thrown off the team.

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    • Mayor of Dawgtown
      February 22, 2014 at 11:14 AM

      +1,000,000. I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing. The situation re: discipline that we have in Athens now is what you get when you let an administrator who never wore a jock strap (Mike Adams) determine disciplinary policy for an athletic team rather than the HC. Instead of suspending kids from playing, you run them ’til their tongues hang out and (1) they learn not to do it again, and (2) they show up to play “in the best shape of their lives.” We have morons running the show in Athens now.

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      • 81Dog
        February 22, 2014 at 7:27 PM

        Impossible to argue with the two of you. Any of us who were at UGA in the late 70s know damn well that boys being boys kind of stuff got you punished on the practice field, but relatively minor stupid stuff didn’t get you suspended. Of course, relatively minor stupid stuff usually didn’t get you arrested back then, either. The chances of Woerner, Nat Hudson, Hugh Nall, and the others who were in on the pig heist avoiding arrest if that happened now? About zero.

        I don’t mind that UGA has standards for behavior, but I hate “zero tolerance” automatic policies like we have. Seems to me that if you treat everyone the same, you aren’t necessarily treating everyone fairly, because everyone’s situation isn’t always the same. Suits like Adams loved to be able to show the big donors that he was “hard on crime,” so chicken(bleep) things get you treated as if you were Pablo Escobar.

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  7. IveyLeaguer
    February 22, 2014 at 10:13 AM

    Ditto to the 5 posts above. Woerner was a true All-American. And he continued Georgia’s tradition of great playmaking safeties in the likes of Charley Trippi, Jake Scott, and Sean Jones. Playmakers that were characterized by great athleticism, ball skills and, most of all, smart play.
    ~~~

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  8. AthensHomerDawg
    February 22, 2014 at 10:38 AM

    This needed to go up.

    I liked the old mascot.

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    • SouthGaDawg
      February 22, 2014 at 12:40 PM

      Gotta love Vince’s narration of the “Great Moments in Bulldog Football. He was a pro on the field and in the studio (I guess he is in the garden too).

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  9. I Wanna Red Cup
    February 22, 2014 at 10:42 AM

    I’ll never forget that punt return v Clemmons. It rivals the Glidin Glen Harrison run v FLA that was called back for illegal procedure. DGD. He was right about the Sugar bowl.I was one of those fans who rushed the field. Great time.

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  10. eethomaswfnc
    February 22, 2014 at 10:49 AM

    One of my high school teachers taught Woerner before he came to my school in south Georgia. He was an Alabama graduate and enormous Tide fan, but he said Georgia was always his 2nd favorite school/football team because of Scott Woerner.

    Everyone thinks of Terry Hoage as the best defensive back of the Dooley era, but I think Woerner as the DB who was a real game-changer. It would be really cool to see him inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame after it opens in Atlanta.

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  11. Spike
    February 22, 2014 at 12:18 PM

    I’m with ya Athens Dog.. We both were at that 78 Tech game. What atough player he was. One of the best all time… The game and Woerner…

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  12. Bright Idea
    February 22, 2014 at 9:37 PM

    Woerner was a player who relied on instinct and took chances, and was usually successful. Is that allowed today or are football players just not as savvy as they used to be?

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    • IveyLeaguer
      February 22, 2014 at 10:15 PM

      I’m with you 100%. It’s allowed today, at least AFAIK. For whatever reason though, today’s players are less instinctive. I’ve wondered if it’s because they didn’t play as much sandlot ball as we did growing up, or if they don’t play as many sports. But there’s no question today’s skill players are less instinctive as a whole.

      But the other thing is just old-fashioned smarts. Today’s players are more athletic, in terms of size, strength, speed, quickness, etc., but not as athletic overall in terms of ball skills, overall coordination, etc.. Those two things go together, but then there’s just being smart, period, and being smart on the field.

      And we don’t see a whole lot of that smart anymore in a great athlete. And safety is a place where I’m always looking for that, because that’s what we want, and what we need. Just my take.
      ~~~

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  13. PTC DAWG
    February 23, 2014 at 9:57 AM

    I had the pleasure of watching him play for Jonesboro too….good times.

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  14. Ol Dawg
    February 24, 2014 at 7:33 AM

    The story is listed as premium content. Don’t suppose anyone has a free version?

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  15. OhioDawg
    February 24, 2014 at 4:39 PM

    My dad went to high school with Woerner and can’t say enough about how much fun he was to watch play. From watching his highlights, I certainly wish we had a return man like him now.

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