 Butts, circa 1942 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1905-02-07)February 7, 1905 Milledgeville, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | December 17, 1973(1973-12-17) (aged 68) Athens, Georgia, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1925–1927 | Mercer |
| Position | End |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1929–1931 | Madison A&M (GA) |
| 1932–1934 | Georgia Military |
| 1935–1937 | Louisville MS (KY) |
| 1938 | Georgia (assistant) |
| 1939–1960 | Georgia |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1948–1963 | Georgia |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 140–86–9 (college) |
| Bowls | 5–2–1 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1national (1942) 4SEC (1942, 1946, 1948, 1959) | |
| Awards | |
| 3×SEC Coach of the Year (1942, 1946, 1959) Florida–Georgia Hall of Fame | |
| College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1997 (profile) | |
James Wallace Butts Jr. (February 7, 1905 – December 17, 1973) was an Americancollege football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head coach at theUniversity of Georgia from 1939 to 1960, compiling a record of 140–86–9. HisGeorgia Bulldogs football teams won anational championship in 1942 and fourSoutheastern Conference titles (1942, 1946, 1948, 1959). Butts was also theathletic director at Georgia from 1939 to 1963. He was inducted posthumously into theCollege Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1997.
Butts was a 1929 graduate ofMercer University where he playedcollege football under coachBernie Moore,[1] as well as baseball and basketball. He was an alumnus ofPi Kappa Phi fraternity.
Butts never failed to turn out an undefeated championship team at the three high schools he coached before arriving at the University of Georgia in 1938. He coached at Madison (Ga.) A&M from 1928–31; Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, 1932–34; and Male High in Louisville, 1935–37. Butts lost only ten games in ten years of high school coaching. Butts came to theUniversity of Georgia as an assistant toJoel Hunt in 1938. Hunt left after a 5–4–1 season to take over at theUniversity of Wyoming and Butts was elevated to the position of head coach, which he held for 22 seasons through 1960.
Butts' assistants in his first year as head coach wereBill Hartman,Howell Hollis, Quinton Lumpkin,Jules V. Sikes,Forrest Towns, andJennings B. Whitworth. During his tenure as head coach, Georgia won its first consensusnational championship in 1942 and claimed another national title in 1946.[2]Ralph Jordan, future head football coach atAuburn University, joined the Georgia coaching staff in October 1946 as an assistant line coach. Butts was a proponent of the passing game in an era of "three yards and a cloud of dust". He developed innovative, intricate pass routes that were studied by other coaches. He was often called "the little round man" as he was five feet, six inches tall and had a squat body.
Butts coached 1942Heisman Trophy winnerFrank Sinkwich and 1946Maxwell Award winnerCharley Trippi. The1942 Georgia team won theRose Bowl overUCLA, finished #2 in theAP Poll, and was named a national championship by a number of selectors. Butts' teams also won fourSoutheastern Conference championships (1942, 1946, 1948 and 1959).[3] As head coach, Butts posted a 140–86–9 record (.615 winning percentage), including abowl record of 5–2–1.[4]Johnny Griffith, a former player and assistant coach to Butts, succeeded him as head coach from 1961–63.
Butts resigned as UGA's head football coach in December 1960. He remained asathletic director until February 1963, when he resigned after a scandal erupted over a magazine article alleging corrupt practices, which Butts stridently denied.
In 1963, Butts filed alibellawsuit againstThe Saturday Evening Post after it ran "The Story of a College Football Fix" in its March 23, 1963, issue alleging that he andAlabama head coachBear Bryant had conspired to fix an upcoming Georgia-Alabama game. The University of Georgia and Georgia Attorney General Eugene Cook conducted separate investigations.Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, as it ultimately became when it reached theSupreme Court, was a landmark case that expanded the definition of "public figures" in libel cases. The court ruled in his favor in 1967, andThe Saturday Evening Post was ordered to pay $3.06 million to the Butts family in damages, the largest settlement awarded at its time in history.
This settlement was seen as a contributing factor among many others in the demise of the venerableSaturday Evening Post six years later.[5] Both Butts and Bryant had sued for $10 million each. Bryant settled for $300,000. In 1986, Professor James Kirby of theUniversity of Tennessee School of Law publishedFumble: Bear Bryant, Wally Butts and the Great College Football Scandal, which argued that the courts had made the wrong decision. Kirby had been the Southeastern Conference's official observer at the trial.[citation needed]
Butts was inducted into theGeorgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1966 and posthumously into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1997.[6] Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall, athletic administration offices and sports museum at the University of Georgia, was built in honor of Butts and his predecessor as coach, Harry Mehre.
After ending his football career, Butts established a credit insurance business in Athens and Atlanta, where he became very successful. Butts died of aheart attack after returning from a walk in 1973.[7] He was buried inOconee Hill Cemetery inAthens, Georgia.[5]
Butts was the son of James Wallace Butts Sr. (July 9, 1881 – January 2, 1959) and wife Annie (1881 – ?). Wally married Winifred Faye Taylor (July 12, 1907 – June 27, 1990) on February 19, 1929. They had three daughters, Faye, Jean and Nancy. Butts had numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. Many members of the Butts family have gone on to support the University of Georgia in his honor.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia Bulldogs(Southeastern Conference)(1939–1960) | |||||||||
| 1939 | Georgia | 5–6 | 1–3 | 8th | |||||
| 1940 | Georgia | 5–4–1 | 2–3–1 | 7th | |||||
| 1941 | Georgia | 9–1–1 | 3–1–1 | 4th | WOrange | 14 | |||
| 1942 | Georgia | 11–1 | 5–1 | 1st | WRose | 2 | |||
| 1943 | Georgia | 6–4 | 0–3 | 4th | |||||
| 1944 | Georgia | 7–3 | 4–2 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1945 | Georgia | 9–2 | 4–2 | 4th | WOil | 18 | |||
| 1946 | Georgia | 11–0 | 5–0 | T–1st | WSugar | 3 | |||
| 1947 | Georgia | 7–4–1 | 3–3 | T–4th | TGator | ||||
| 1948 | Georgia | 9–2 | 6–0 | 1st | LOrange | 8 | |||
| 1949 | Georgia | 4–6–1 | 1–4–1 | T–10th | |||||
| 1950 | Georgia | 6–3–3 | 3–2–1 | 6th | LPresidential Cup | ||||
| 1951 | Georgia | 5–5 | 2–4 | T–9th | |||||
| 1952 | Georgia | 7–4 | 4–3 | 5th | |||||
| 1953 | Georgia | 3–8 | 1–5 | T–10th | |||||
| 1954 | Georgia | 6–3–1 | 3–2–1 | 5th | |||||
| 1955 | Georgia | 4–6 | 2–5 | 11th | |||||
| 1956 | Georgia | 3–6–1 | 1–6 | 12th | |||||
| 1957 | Georgia | 3–7 | 3–4 | 9th | |||||
| 1958 | Georgia | 4–6 | 2–4 | 10th | |||||
| 1959 | Georgia | 10–1 | 7–0 | 1st | WOrange | 5 | 5 | ||
| 1960 | Georgia | 6–4 | 4–3 | 6th | |||||
| Georgia: | 140–86–9 | 66–60–5 | |||||||
| Total: | 140–86–9 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
