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SUN BOWL LEGEND PASSES October 31, 2022

IRVING, Texas – In a press release sent out by the National Football Foundation, it was announced that 2000 Legend of the Sun Bowl Inductee Vince Dooley passed away at the age of 90 on Oct. 28, 2022.

The College Hall of Fame football coach led three teams to the Sun Bowl during his extensive coaching career at Georgia. The Bulldogs, under Dooley, were 1-1-1 in the Sun Bowl: Dec. 26, 1964 (Georgia 7, Texas Tech 0); Dec. 20, 1969 (Nebraska 45, Georgia 6); Dec. 28, 1985 (Georgia 13, Arizona 13).

“It was a great honor to have a coach like Vince Dooley come and participate in the Sun Bowl,” Sun Bowl Association Executive Director Bernie Olivas said. “It’s coaches like Coach Dooley who make the Sun Bowl such a rich tradition in College Football and Bowl games.”

In 25 seasons, Dooley led his teams to 20 bowl games, six Southeastern Conference Championships and one national championship. He compiled 201 victories, for which he ranked third in the nation among active coaches at the time of his retirement. He has served as Georgia’s Athletic Director since 1979. Georgia placed second in the 1998-99 Sears Directors Cup competition, which recognizes the top athletic programs in the nation each year. During his role as Athletic Director, Georgia teams won 15 national championships and 64 SEC team championships.

“Coach Dooley made a great impact on the Sun Bowl and in all of College Football,” said John Folmer, Chairman of the Sun Bowl Football Committee. “He was honest, truthful, respectful and always remembered his time in El Paso and always mentioned the good people of the Sun Bowl and El Paso.”

Dooley was a standout football and basketball player at Auburn, from which he earned his bachelor’s degree in business management and master’s degree in history. He became head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs in December 1963 at the age of 31 after serving in the Marines and as an assistant coach at Auburn.

GAME RECAPS FROM THE THREE SUN BOWLS DOOLEY COACHED IN
Game Day: December 26, 1964 (was Sun Bowl nationally televised, by NBC)
Georgia vs. Texas Tech
http://www.sunbowl.org/the_sun_bowl_game/recap/31

Game Day: December 20, 1969
Nebraska vs. Georgia
http://www.sunbowl.org/the_sun_bowl_game/recap/36

Game Day: December 28, 1985 (then a record, sell-out crowd of) 50,203
Georgia vs. Arizona
http://www.sunbowl.org/the_sun_bowl_game/recap/52

VIDEO LINKS ON VINCE DOOLEY
Georgia Bulldogs vs Arizona Wildcats (12-28-1985) Sun Bowl “The Dawgs & Wildcats Tie-Up” by Sports Odyssey — https://youtu.be/RqQXFjYiCAI

1964 Sun Bowl by Mark Maxwell – https://vimeo.com/219146745
(Appears in 2:04, 2:18, 2:30, 6:37)

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