Credit: Photo by Chris McShane (provided by Buck Belue). Want to get the content before anyone else? Obviously, that did not happen. What do most people want to talk to you about at these book signings? Hyder became head coach your freshman year. "I got to work last year on it, before the football season started," Belue said. A defibrillator is a device used to treat a person who has suddenly gone into cardiac arrest, and possibly save their life. His career total of 4,756 set a state record for the highest classification. He started in 78 out of 92 career games, made three Pro Bowls and was first-team All Pro once. This is the story of the Winnersville Classic, the annual showdown between Valdosta High School and Lowndes High School. Its great that the Lord Wedgwood Charity offered to give one to a school in my name. Since it started playing football in 1913, Valdosta has won 612 games and lost 129, with 33 ties. Lastingers vision was to bring the two fan bases together all week long for community-wide events. We got the ball with about three or four minutes left inside our own 10 and drove down to the 1-yard line with like two seconds left. The Bengals drafted him in the sixth round of the 1983 NFL Draft. How would you contrast and compare those iconic coaches? In 2007, the AJC ranked Kinnebrew as the No. It was good learning from their experiences. Belue devotes several chapters to his high school days pursuing state championships under coach Nick Hyder. The players gathered together on the steps of the old McWhorter Hall athletic dormitory and seethed. They just burned the thing, Prince said. Furious, actually. They were running the same sets and plays. The defibrillator was donated by the Lord Wedgwood Charity, in Belues name. Brooks made the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. Todays interviewee is Buck Belue, sports talk show host for 680 The Fan, quarterback for Georgias 1980 national championship team, four-year starting quarterback at Valdosta, inaugural selectee into the new Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame and author of a new book, Inside The Hedges, a look at Georgias 1980 season and his athletic career. Their next option? What did those coaches mean to you? that led to a victory over the University of Florida, which was at one time tied with two other passing plays as the longest passing touchdown in Georgia history. I grew up admiring most of those guys on the list we were voting on. I had Jack Rudolph coaching the defense. . That first Valdosta game with Wilson as coach of the Vikings didnt lead to a win, but the effort was there, and it signaled that things were going to be different. However, this week in anticipation of his new book "Inside the Hedges," Belue took to Sirius XM's SEC This Morning to share a story from his . Belue has been an ultimate survivor in a fickle business, more than 15 years doing afternoon sports-talk radio with 680 The Fan in Atlanta. Told of the passage about his Auburn flirtations, Dooley laughed and said he doesnt begrudge Belue for including it. GHSF Daily recently named him the best player in Thomasville High history, and the AJC in 2007 ranked him the No. Who are some of the great players you saw from your era or before? So, Joe sits down with Martin and Sonny asks him, Joe, why should I hire you? Prince said. The signing will be held at the Salty Snapper, located at 1405 Gornto Road in Valdosta, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Belue will also be speaking to all in attendance, discussing details about the book starting . But that was about to change. He hit .447 for the 1982 season and his .356 career batting average (he also hit 30 homers and scored 114 runs) remains among the top 10 in school history. In the 2011 game, Lowndes was leading 17-7, and with only 1:14 remaining in the game, looked like they were on their way to their eighth straight win in the Winnersville Classic. On their annual Fourth of July vacation to Florida last week, the Belues made stops at the Marshside Grill in Brunswick and the Coachs Corner in Savannah to peddle books. Lastinger decided he wanted to make the annual football game more of a community-wide event and celebration, so beginning with the 1981 Valdosta vs. Lowndes game, he called it The Winnersville Classic. What had been just a game between the two local schools would become a week-long celebration involving the community, fans, players, and coaches, and the game would never be the same again. The best players I saw play in the game were quarterback Cedric Hatten for us, and for Lowndes it was Greg Reid. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. That still sort of haunts me even today., 7. Rush Propst believes the Netflix series "Titletown High," which debuts Friday and chronicles the 2020 season of the Valdosta High School football team, will "clear some things up" about . . But the current Wildcats still know who he is. Buck Belue - Player Card Home >> Minor League Baseball College Baseball High School Baseball Boxscores and Analysis Other Topics Minor Leagues >> Minor League Players Minor League Teams Affiliate History Minor Leagues Minor Leagues by Season Independent Baseball Leagues Prospects Minor League Awards Minor League People Minor League Transactions Rogers was the 1981 NFL Rookie of the Year. This record stood for 29 years. I remember Stanley Bounds. The highly recruited player chose Florida State and became the Seminoles first two-time consensus All-American (1979-80). In football, Belue was named to the first-team All-SEC team in 1981. We still do that now, just not as much.. They were running the same sets and plays. 3 Georgia high school football player of all time by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2007, and this is just his football career. The native of Jessup has made his home in Valdosta since retiring from professional football and is an avid supporter of UGA athletics and a dedicated follower of local high school football. Occasionally, however, things got a little out of control. Even though we had practiced riding the mule out there on the field several times, we had not done it with 12,000 screaming fans, Prince recalled with a laugh. In September 2020, the show was recast as Buck and Hut, pairing Belue with fellow former Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Hutson Mason after Kincade was laid off by the station. Search and browse yearbooks online! Martin brought in Wilson for an interview after hearing that the coach was not exactly happy with the Wildcats at the time. The first part of the book is my journey through Valdosta and the secrets to all the winning. He also ran for 75 yards in 10 attempts. They already had been to Jacksonville, Fla., Macon and Columbus. Find out more. Belue said he and most of his Georgia teammates understood after hearing Dooleys explanation about his deep relationships at Auburn. Redshaw also talked about the days just before the game, when fans of both teams would cruise up and down Ashley Street, hurling insults out the window at each other. How did Bazemore make a quarterback out of you? "We just love it. There were coaches before him, but it was Wright Bazemore who took over as the Wildcats head football coach in 1942 and built the foundation for the winningest football team in the country. Then in July 2021, Hutson Mason became one of five co-hosts of The Locker Room, leaving Belue with his own show called The Buck Belue Show on WCNN. He was just so far ahead of his time. All the 1980 UGA stars are mentioned, but also prominently featured are teammates such as Nat Hudson, Hugh Nall, Jimmy Womack, Amp Arnold, Jimmy Payne, Eddie Weaver and Nate Taylor and assistant coaches Mike Cavan and Wayne McDuffie, among others. It turned out it was a bad snap from the center and threw off the timing. According to Baker, the win inspired a year-long rally cry: 7 to 2 we beat Belue., John Lastinger, the son of Johnny B. Lastinger, played receiver at Valdosta and would be the guy who succeeded Belue at quarterback. Belue set the state record for career passing yards with 5,214, which he accumulated as a four-year starter at Valdosta. That would be the last time we tried anything like that, said Prince. BY DAN MATHEWS. The 2007 estimate showed a population of 130,170 in the Valdosta metropolitan area. Baker, who coached from 1976-2006, recalled showing up on Monday morning the week of the Lowndes game, year after year, to a Valdosta High campus awash in hundreds of rolls of toilet paper, and walls and windows painted with pro-Lowndes messages. The interview below follows the Four Questions format, along with three bonus questions with Belues thoughts on making the Hall of Fame (induction is Oct. 22), his most memorable high school game and how coach Wright Bazemore made him a quarterback. Bazemore watched you play in youth ball and suggested to the coaches that they move you to quarterback. We just rolled with it and said the timing is the timing. Before he was an All-SEC running back at Auburn and played 13 NFL seasons, James Brooks led Warner Robins to a 1976 Class 3A championship and a National Sports News Service (NSNS) national title. He came in from West Rome with the idea of running the wishbone like he was doing in Rome, and I was coming over for spring football as an eighth grader, and it wasnt a couple of months later we were back for preseason practice, and he was totally shifted to the Bazemore offense, as we called it. The talented running back rushed 21 times for 414 yards and 6 TDs, leading Lowndes to a 71-35 victory. ], 6. Ben Belue, 71, of Valdosta was a devoted family man and lifetime sales executive, born in Anniston, Ala. on Nov. 28, 1940 and raised in Macon, Ga. where he attended Lanier High School. He was the first 4 year starter at Quarterback at Valdosta High school. Belue threw for 299 yards in his career, completing 37 of 68 passes with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Heads up to Atlanta area high school quarterbacks and receivers: I'll be hosting my annual QB Passing Camp this July, again. Joe Wilson had accomplished two of his three goals. Last season, he was backup to another Valdosta alumnus, All-Southeastern. The police asked us about the flyers, and coach Jerry Don Baker came walking over and told the cops the plane had a Lowndes County Vikings license plate, Henderson said with a laugh. . Today's interviewee is Buck Belue, sports talk show host for 680 The Fan, quarterback for Georgia's 1980 national championship team, four-year starting quarterback at Valdosta, inaugural selectee into the new Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame and author of a new book, "Inside The Hedges," a look at Georgia's 1980 season and his athletic career. He was just so far ahead of his time. Search and browse yearbooks online! I talked with Coach [Jim] Hughes about that later. valdosta high school Fields Victoria Lane-Long Victor James Vivian Manghram Voncil Moss We have estimated Buck Belue's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets. Valdosta High School is the most successful High School football program in the country. I remember Stanley Bounds. He was unbelievable.. He was the quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs in 1980, when the team went 12-0, and, after beating Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, was named the consensus national champion. Brooks rushed for 1,816 yards as a senior, 1,852 yards as a junior and 1,088 as a sophomore. It doesnt get better than that. Host of Buck's Beat podcast. Subtitled The Quarterbacks Journey to the National Championship, Belues book also shares frank recollections of the recruiting trail as a two-sport star out of Valdosta, the tense quarterback competition he endured with Jeff Pyburn, an intimate conversation he had with Lindsay Scott the night before their historic play to beat Florida in Jacksonville, the Herschel Walker phenomenon and much more. Im just so thankful my quarterback coach was Joe Wilson. I've had these friends that have said, 'You're crazy releasing the book now, right after the '21 team.' 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