had career as player, coach



By Wayne Grandy



MOULTRIE — Tift County can claim many outstanding football players it has produced over the years.

But Colquitt County will claim Jimmy Vickers, who moved from Tifton to Moultrie before his junior year and developed into an outstanding player for both the Packers and for the University of Georgia.

And the community that enjoyed watching his playing and coaching career over the years will honor Vickers on Nov. 7 when he is inducted into the Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame.

Vickers, now retired and living in Destin, Fla., said he plans to attend the induction banquet, to be held at the Colquitt County High cafeteria.

He will join former head coach Knuck McCrary, former line coach Tom White and former teammate Moultrie High and University of Georgia teammate Gene Littleton in the Hall of Fame.

Vickers played two years as an end and linebacker for Moultrie High then went on to start for three seasons at end for the University of Georgia.

After his playing days, Vickers found he still had some football left in him.

So the former Moultrie High and University of Georgia star turned to coaching, working for five schools at the college level before retiring.

One of longest stints was as the offensive line coach at Georgia from 1971-1976 under Vince Dooley.

The return to Athens was an appropriate one.

Vickers said he was a Bulldogs fan while in high school, helping him to choose Georgia over several schools eager to have his football skills.

And those skills were considerable.

In his senior year, the Packers went 4-6, but the 180-pound Vickers had an excellent season.

In the the Packers’ 13-7 loss to Lanier in the second game of the season, Vickers scored on a 2-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Bennett Willis.

The following week, Moultrie beat Leon High of Tallahassee 9-7.

The difference was a safety the Packers scored following a 54-yard Vickers punt to the Leon 1-yard line.

Vickers also scored on a 59-yard pass interception return in a shutout of Columbus and on a 47-yard pass from Willis in a one-point win over R.E. Lee in which Ronnie Schreiber’s extra point was the difference.

Vickers’ final Moultrie High touchdown came on an 11-yard pass from Willis in a 21-20 loss to Baker.

After two losing seasons at Moultrie, things got no better for Vickers during his first two varsity seasons in Athens.

The Bulldogs, under Wallace Butts, went 3-7 in 1957 and 4-6 in 1958.

But Georgia won the Southeastern Conference championship in 1959, going 10-1 and defeating Missouri 14-0 in the Orange Bowl.

The Bulldogs that season featured several All-SEC performers, including quarterback Fran Tarkenton, tackle Pat Dye, back Bobby Walden, guard Billy Rowland, back Charley Britt and end Jimmy Vickers.

Vickers, one of Georgia’s captains, and Tarkenton, were first-team All-SEC picks by both The Associated Press and the United Press International.

By then, Vickers had grown to more than 200 pounds.

“We didn’t do any weight-lifting in Moultrie,” Vickers said. “When I got to Georgia, they had a weight program and I got up to 200-210 pounds.”

Vickers needed the extra bulk, playing both offense and defense and covering punts and kickoffs.

“We had to do it all back in those days,” he said.

Following his senior season, he went to Hawaii to play in the East-West All-Star game.

Vickers then played one season of professional football in Canada.

“I was too small,” he said.

Vickers credited White, his high school line coach for getting him ready to play at Georgia.

“Coach White did a great job preparing me for college,” he said.

But armed with a degree in education and a strong knowledge of the game, Vickers soon embarked on a long coaching career.

His first job was at a high school in Jacksonville, Fla. His first college job was coaching both lines at Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C.

It was not long before he was hired by Marvin Bass at the University of South Carolina to coach his offensive linemen.

After a couple years in Columbia, he moved north to take a similar job unde





r Bill Dooley at the University of North Carolina.

Then it was back to Athens, where he worked for Dooley from 1971-1976, again coaching the offensive line.

After a year at Ole Miss, Vickers retired from coaching.

“I’d had enough,” he said.

Vickers now spends much of his time on his boat, taking life easy after teaching football for most of his professional life.

He has two girls, Caroline and Marla, and three stepchildren, Gina, Bruce and Cindy, and four grandchildren.

Vickers also still has a sister, Bonnie Glow, and several cousins living in Colquitt County.

He said he is looking forward to returning to Moultrie for his induction into the the Hall of Fame and credits football with providing much of what he has in life.

“It gave me a free education,” he said. “And I enjoyed doing it too.”