Mountain Empire Football Hall of fame
Inducted 2021
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Bobby Dodd
Bobby Dodd became a legend as an athlete and a coach in both Southern football lore and National football lore. He was quarterback for a Dobyns-Bennett High School football team that beat Norton, VA, 193-0, to establish the national record. Dodd played football at the University of Tennessee for Coach General Robert Neyland from 1928-1930. As quarterback, he led his team to a 27-1-2 record, with back-to-back unbeaten seasons with identical 9–0–1 records his sophomore and junior years. He was 2-time All-Southern Conference (1929 and 1930). He was a member of both the Newspaper Enterprises Association and Grantland Rice All-American teams in 1930. In addition to football, Dodd also won varsity letters in baseball, basketball, and track. He played in UT’s 150th victory in 1928, and then coached a Georgia Tech team that handed the Vols their 150th loss. Dodd was on the Georgia Tech's coaching staff for 36 years – serving as the head coach 1945-1966, and also served as athletic director 1950-1976. He posted a career record of 165-64-8. He was 9-4 in bowl games. He was 2-time SEC Coach of the Year (1951 and 1952). Legendary Alabama head coach Bear Bryant once said that he would rather look across the field and see anyone other than Bobby Dodd. Dodd was elected to the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1959. He is also a member of the Helms Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Hall of Fame, and the Georgia Hall of Fame. He is only 1 of 4 people to be voted into the College Hall of Fame as a both player (1959) and a coach (1993). Georgia Tech named its football stadium Bobby Dodd Stadium in honor of the legendary coach in April 1988. A s a testament to the character of Bobby Dodd, each year a Division I college coach whose team excels on the field, in the classroom, and in the community is awarded the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award, presented by the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation. In the National Football Foundation Mountain Empire Chapter Hall of Fame are the Bobby Dodd Coach’s Awards that were presented to Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney (2011) and University of Texas Coach Mack Brown (2008). |