Most of the veterans of World War II had graduated by 1951, and for the next generation the university came under the leadership of two able Georgians. O.C. Aderhold from Lavonia was president from 1950 to 1967, and Fred Davison from Marietta led even longer until 1986. Both had earned degrees from the university, and both were determined to drive the old school toward national and international prominence. And over time they and their successors, Henry King Stanford (1986-1987) and Charles B. Knapp (1987-1997) and Michael F. Adams (1997-2001), succeeded.
Postwar Georgia was booming. Its population would pass eight million by the end of the century, as many Americans migrated to the sun belt. Dynamic Atlanta led a surging economy, and the state government was finally appropriating huge amounts of money for education. For the first time funds flooded into the old school at Athens and the results were dramatic.
In reaction to Russia's Sputnik in 1957, the state poured funds into scientific studies at the university, and by 1960 six modern buildings composed the Science Center on the south campus. Other shiny new buildings followed as this newer campus became a citadel of science and technology, little different from similar operations at other major American universities.
But despite dramatic changes, some old ways blocked new progress all over the South. The enrollment of the first black students at the university in 1961 was as dramatic and necessary as the enrollment of women in 1918. A riot briefly erupted, but integration continued peacefully, though at a much slower pace than the enrollment of women.
Then the good times really began to roll, and in the last decade and a half Presidents Stanford, Knapp and Adams skillfully guided the forward avalanche, avoiding any significant miscues.
Enrollment soared steadily and reached 31,000 by the new century. The fall enrollment for 2001 was 32,317. Graduate programs flourished, and some high-profile operations like the Peabody Awards in journalism drew national attention. The recent cloning of eight calves caught the attention of the world.
Locally the most dramatic change came in the early 1990s when the university moved to bring the long-shortchanged fine arts up to snuff. Almost overnight a brand new east campus developed with an impressive Georgia Museum of Art and state-of-the-art facilities for concerts and other performances at the Performing Arts Center.
Stegeman Coliseum was opened in 1964.Don Nelson/Staff
These facilities and the new Classic Center in downtown Athens brought in many outstanding exhibits and performances that would have previously not even considered visiting little Clarke County. Also emerging suddenly on the east campus was the Ramsey Student Center for Physical Activities which when completed in 1995 was considered the best such facility in the nation.
And intercollegiate athletics, especially football, remained tremendously popular.
Like most big-time sports colleges, Georgia had occasional problems with overemphasis, but generally the sports program flourished. Coach Vince Dooley guided the 1980 football team to a national championship, and a decade later the baseball team won the same honor. The men's tennis team captured titles in 1985, 1987, 1999 and 2001. Dramatic progress also occurred in women's intercollegiate sports.
Rapidly the ladies became national contenders in swimming and diving, gymnastics, tennis, and golf and competitive in the other sports they entered. This overall sports excellence was recognized in 1996 when the Atlanta Olympic Committee (headed by former Bulldog football star Billy Payne) scheduled a number of events in Athens. Probably the most dramatic event that ever occurred in Sanford Stadium was the U.S. women's championship victory over China in soccer, which greatly stimulated this "foreign" sport locally. Even most traditional fans eventually conceded that removing the old hedges to widen the playing field had been worth it, especially after new hedges restored the original football field. The university handled its Olympic assignment smoothly, showing the world via television that it had finally come of age.
Actually, the old school might well be called Atlanta Suburban University now, as it increasingly reflects the reality of a rapidly-changing state. The old roots running into rural and small town Georgia have weakened but not broken; the old school has simply changed with the times as it got bigger and better.
Surely Abraham Baldwin and Josiah Meigs and Moses Waddell and Andrew Lipscomb and the others who kept the 19th century school afloat, and Walter B. Hill and James Crenshaw Barrow and Aderhold and Davison and the others who forged the 20th century colossus would join with Stanford and Knapp and Adams of today to celebrate the dramatic odyssey of one of the nation's pioneer institutions of higher education. Latin phrases and slogans would no longer do; few would understand. Rebel yells have largely faded into the past too. But, who knows; they might close ranks, link arms and send up a mighty shout: "Go Dawgs!"
Dr. Nash Boney, UGA history professor emeritus, is the author of 10 books, including the re-issued "A Pictorial History of the University of Georgia." A native Virginian, he continues to live in Athens by choice and currently works at the UGA Visitors' Center. He serves on the history panel of the Bicentennial.
Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Sunday, December 2, 2001.
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