The formative years of UGA’s football program is the focus of a new exhibit, “Covered With Glory: Football at UGA, 1892-1917” this fall at the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Rarely seen artifacts and photographs from UGA’s earliest gridiron heroes are featured. Visitors will learn about: coaching legend Glenn ‘Pop’ Warner, the first UGA football coach to coach for more than one year; ‘War Eagle’ Ketron, who overcame parental objections to become one of Georgia’s greatest players of the 1900s; and Herty Field, the campus site of so many early battles. The tragic story of Von Gammon, a UGA football player whose death during a game against the University of Virginia in 1897 nearly ended the UGA football program, is highlighted.
“You can’t talk about the great football tradition here at UGA without recognizing the players and coaches who helped to establish the program,” said exhibit curator Jason Hasty, athletics history specialist. “While many of the names from this era may not be familiar to fans now, I think it’s crucial to understand these early years of the program’s history in order to get a real understanding of how deeply the athletics tradition runs here at Georgia.”
This exhibit will be on display from Aug. 29 through Dec.22 in the Rotunda Gallery of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries, 300 S. Hull St., on the UGA campus. The Russell Building is open 8am-5pm Monday through Friday, and 1pm-5pm on Saturdays (closed on all home football game days). Admission is free and open to the general public. A free guided tour will be offered at 3pm on all Fridays before home football games. For more information, call (706) 542-7123 or follow the Hargrett Library on Twitter at @hargrettlibrary.