The Greater Augusta Bulldog Club hosted its yearly kickoff meeting at the Julian Smith Casino on Tuesday, Aug. 30.
Buck Belue, former Georgia Bulldog quarterback and 1980 National Champion, was honored at the first kick-off meeting prior to the pandemic.
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“It’s just so much fun to be around the bulldog nation coming off that national championship, everybody is excited about the upcoming season,” Belue said. “It makes for a fun time, and it is just great to be in Augusta talking to all these great bulldog fans.”
Belue played football and baseball at the University of Georgia from 1978-1981. He led the Georgia football team to a 12-0 season when the Bulldogs beat Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl and were named the 1980 National Champions. He also had a .356 batting average on the baseball team.
He went on to play professional baseball for three years in the Montreal Expos organization. After that, he played professional football in the United States Football League with the Jacksonville Bulls for two seasons in 1984-85.
Belue said he was very excited to see the Georgia Bulldogs win the national title last season.
“Everybody on that 1980 National Championship team was just thrilled what happened a year ago, the way Stenson Bennett and all those guys finally got the Bulldog nation a national title after 40 years,” Belue said.
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Belue promoted his new book, ‘Inside the Hedges,’ at the meeting.
“This has been a project I have been working on a long time,” he said. “It’s basically the quarterbacks’ journey to the 1980 National Championship, which will detail game by game that season, all the victories we had. It is sort of the quarterbacks look behind the curtain and how we were able to win the championship that year,” he said.
The Georgia Bulldogs will return on their journey to a national title in the first game of the 2022 season against the Oregon Ducks on Saturday, Sept. 3, at 3:30 p.m.
“I got high hopes for them this season. I know they lost a lot of quality players, but Kirby Smart and his staff recruit as good as anybody in the country,” Belue said.
Chris Rickerson is a staff reporter covering Columbia County government and general assignment topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at chris@theaugustapress.com.
