Sometimes, it can be challenging to evaluate an athlete’s makeup and determine what’s most significant to his or her success. With George Patton, there was creative ability – he just had to locate the right place to flourish and find the most promising fit – but perhaps the most defining asset was his competitive heart.
The man loved football. He was imbued with the ultimate passion to play his favorite sport. He was driven to succeed by disrupting offenses and making game-changing plays — not with brawn but with finesse.
When he arrived in Athens in 1963 from Tuscumbia, Ala., Patton was a strong-armed quarterback with impressive and substantial statistical accumulations. However, to have kept him buried in the position of a signal caller would have brought about a severe miscasting.
Patton’s enduring love of the game, the pure, unadulterated infatuation of mixing it up, getting into the thick of the action, and matching wits with his opponent led to greatness. He wasn’t all that big (6-3, 210), but with signature quickness and extraordinary football smarts, he became one of the most outstanding defensive linemen in UGA history. His quarterback experience gave him analytical insights, which, linked with his insatiable desire to play the game, enabled him to reach heavenly heights on the field.
Patton was the consummate overachiever, a two-time All-America selection, a three-time All-SEC selection, an accomplished student, and a leader non-pareil. In my time at UGA, I have never known a more accomplished player who gave more of himself to the glory of ol’ Georgia than George Patton.
You couldn’t be a better teammate than George. He was a small-town, old-fashioned good citizen, imbued with goodwill for his community. He was selfless, a leader who underscored togetherness off the field. He would buy a case of beer (or two or more) to celebrate victory, but he would make sure a few beers would not evolve into anything miscreant or become detrimental to the team’s success.
The most fortunate moment in his UGA life was when Erk Russell became the defensive coordinator. George was the eager, hungry, diamond-in-the-rough, ambitious all-American boy who became an All-America defensive tackle.
He didn’t pout when the idea of playing defense was broached.
He told Vince Dooley, the 31-year-old head coach, “It doesn’t matter to me where I play, Coach, I just want to play.”
You saw his No. 76 in the opponent’s backfield almost as much as their own running backs.
Patton was as fundamentally sound at his position as any player there was in the SEC during his time, but he also had a flair for the spectacular. Against Alabama at Tuscaloosa in 1964, his sophomore year (freshmen were ineligible for varsity competition back then), he burst through the line of scrimmage on his first career play. He tackled the great Joe Namath for an eight-yard loss.
While that was not a memorable occasion, with Alabama dominating the Bulldogs 31-3, it is evidence that Patton was a precocious young talent who would enjoy head-turning success for the new coaching staff in Athens.
Erk and George were made for each other.
Patton was the Energizer bunny on steroids, whose passion for competing and playing a game that he truly loved was flamingly exceptional. Erk was the ultimate motivator, who helped Patton hone his skills by accenting his quickness and learning to put himself in the right place at the right time.
Together, they brought about stunning results.
George helped lay the cornerstone for Dooley’s ultra-successful career.
Dooley once said that George was one player of whom you could say, “He never had an off day.”
Dooley also called George “one of the finest college football players I ever saw.”
When Bill Stanfill was recruited to Georgia in 1965, he gained an immediate appreciation for his teammate. “George,” Stanfill said, “kept us fired up all the time. He was like a coach on the field. He could diagnose plays and was always in the right place at the right time.”
The UGA Hall of Fame Chapter and the Georgia Athletic Association have nominated George Patton for the College Football Hall of Fame membership.
Patton’s nomination will be reviewed by the Ole Timer’s committee of the National Football Foundation in the coming weeks, and the local consensus is that George has an excellent opportunity to be elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
For sure, he is worthy.