National Football Foundation

For 40 years, Vince Dooley has had an enduring impact on the University of Georgia, Southeastern Conference and collegiate athletics across the country.

Born into an athletic family in Mobile, Alabama, Dooley accepted a football scholarship to Auburn where he was an all-star football and basketball player. After receiving his Bachelors Degree in 1954 and Masters in 1963, he accepted his first coaching job as an assistant with the Tigers - being promoted to head coach at the end of the 1963 season. Following one season at Auburn, Dooley took the helm at Georgia and found a permanent home. In 25 seasons, he won 201 games, six SEC titles and a national championship in 1980. For his legendary career, Dooley was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994.

In 1979, Dooley accepted the dual role as head coach and director of athletics for the Bulldogs. During his tenure Georgia athletics has seen unprecedented success. Under his watch, Georgia teams have won 18 national championships, including an amazing four in the 1998-99 academic year. Georgia teams have also won 74 SEC team championships and numerous individual national titles in both men's and women's sports.

In 1985, Dooley was also instrumental in fostering the pledge which has resulted in $2 million being contributed by the Athletic Association to the University - the principal being used for non-athletic scholarships and the interest used in the recruitment of top students and other non-athletic programs. These funds also provided private matching money, which made possible the construction of the chemistry building expansion and the Performing and Visual Arts Center. And as a part of the University's Third Century Campaign, he also initiated the Vincent J. Dooley Library Endowment Fund, which was created with Coach Dooley's personal gift of $100,000 to the University library.
In 2001, Dooley was named the Division I-A Southeast Region Athletics Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and award sponsor Continental Airlines.

His community service and charity work is extensive and includes work with the Heart Fund, Multiple Sclerosis, Juvenile Diabetes, Boy Scouts, the homeless, and he is currently serving on the advisory board of the Salvation Army. He has served 29 years as the long-standing chairman of the Georgia Easter Seals Society and in 1987 was named National Volunteer of the Year for his service. A loyal supporter of The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame for years, Dooley served a five-year term as a member of its Division I-A Honors Court.