If Georgia’s 1980 national championship team had one true leader, it would have been linebacker Frank Ros. A native of Spain, Ros signed with the Bulldogs in 1977 out of Eastside High School in Greenville, South Carolina. From 1978 through 1980, he totaled 182 tackles, including 100 as Georgia’s team captain in 1980, and five sacks. It was said Ros epitomized “so many players on [the 1980] team: not that physically gifted, not that celebrated, but remarkably competitive.”
Ros carried over his leadership skills from the gridiron to his professional career as a long-time businessman and esteemed member of the community.
UGASports caught up with Ros from his home in Kennesaw, Georgia.
UGASports: Frank, when you were young, why did you move from your native Spain to Greenville?
Ros: “My father was pursuing his medical degree in Spain until he was jailed by the Fascist (Francisco Franco) dictatorship. He, the brother of my Godfather, and their friend were publishing an uncensored newsletter for students back when censorship was mandated by Franco. The other two men were executed, whereas my father, because he was only 17 at the time, was beaten and jailed for about two years. When my father got out, he wasn’t allowed to pursue a medical degree, so he got a degree in mechanical engineering. A company hired him, and when they sold machines to Burlington Industries in North Carolina, my dad was sent to the U.S. to teach the Americans how to operate the machines. After being in the United States for about a year, he told his boss he either wanted to return to Spain or have his family moved here. So, in November of 1965, we came over on a ship through New York and settled in Greenville, where the U.S. headquarters of my dad’s engineering company was located. He eventually became CEO of that company.”
UGASports: How did you get interested in American football?
Ros: “Coming from Spain, about the only sport I was accustomed to was soccer, and I watched cycling and bullfighting on TV. When I was in seventh grade, we moved to a new neighborhood and I was approached by a boy, Ben Cornett, who was one year older than me and the same age as one of my two older brothers, Ed. Ben asked me to go out for the local midget football team. I decided to do so and got all the equipment I needed from an old friend. From then on, I really built a passion for the game—just got into it. I discovered that football was something which brought me a lot of satisfaction. That’s how I got started in the sport. By the time they were seniors in 1975, Ben was our high school’s (Eastside) starting quarterback and my brother was a tight end and defensive end. As a junior that year, I played linebacker and offensive guard. Ironically, Ben ended up playing tight end at South Carolina, where he and I played head on against one another in college a few times.”
UGASports: Did you just say you played on the offensive line in high school?
Ros: “I didn’t play linebacker at Eastside until my junior year. As a sophomore [in 1975], I actually started at cornerback and offensive tackle (Ros was named the team’s best defensive back). Following my senior year, it was a huge honor to be named to the South Carolina team for the Shrine Bowl (Ros was the only player from Eastside, and one of just three from the entire county, to be named to the team). We had won just two games that year, and there weren’t a lot of eyes on the Eastside team. So, it was a huge honor for me. I played offensive guard in the Shrine Bowl.”
UGASports: Tell us about your recruitment.
Ros: “Well, when I was a junior, a lot of teams were coming to our games because of Ben [Cornett]—and that’s when I started to get noticed and received college letters. My two older brothers attended South Carolina. Ben had signed there, and I was a fan of the Gamecocks. So, I would have gone blindly to South Carolina. However, I quit hearing from the Gamecocks’ assistant coach who was recruiting me. The offensive coordinator at Eastside, Billy Griffith, had played quarterback at Georgia and he started talking to Georgia about me. Early in my senior year, we were playing Riverside and [Georgia assistant coach] Jim Pyburn came to watch me play. On the first play of the game, with Riverside having the ball around its own 10-yard line, I hit the opposing ballcarrier on a toss sweep and nearly knocked him into his own end zone. From then on, Georgia was recruiting me. I also liked East Carolina because of its head coach at the time, Pat Dye, and they had won a few Southern Conference championships in the previous several years. But they wanted me to play offensive guard, and the rumor was that Coach Dye wasn’t going to be at East Carolina very long (he would be hired away by Wyoming in 1980). Right after the Shrine Bowl, Frank Inman (Georgia’s lead recruiter) came to my hotel room in Charlotte and offered me a scholarship. I knew that if I went to Georgia, I’d play linebacker, and I would be competing against the very best. At the time, Georgia was preparing to play against Pittsburgh in the Sugar Bowl for a chance to win a national championship. So, I wound up signing a football grant-in-aid with Georgia.”
UGASports: You arrived at Georgia, where you primarily played on special teams on the varsity and Sam linebacker on the junior varsity team as a freshman. As a sophomore you were the Bulldogs’ backup Sam linebacker. You then began your junior year of 1979 injured. When did it turn around for you—when did things start to click for you, so to speak, on the field at Georgia?
Ros: “After being moved to the Mike linebacker position for the 1979 season, I, as you said, got injured. I tore my knee’s MCL a couple weeks before the season opener during a scrimmage at Sanford Stadium. Instead of having surgery, I decided to rehab it and try to return during the season. I missed the first three games of the season before returning for the fourth game at Ole Miss but played on just special teams. We were playing LSU the next week, and the Tigers were highly ranked and favored in Athens for what was celebrated as Sanford Stadium’s 50th anniversary. During the week of practice, all I remember is Coach [Vince] Dooley yelling at some point, ‘Put Ros in there! Let’s see if he can do anything!’ We laugh about it now, but, at the time, I thought that was kind of a backhanded compliment (laughing). Anyway, I go flying in there and practiced, and wound up having a good week of practice. I started against LSU, and we wound up upsetting them [21-14]. (Ros totaled nine tackles against the Tigers). I started from then on except the last game [of 1979] I missed with a separated shoulder. I was 16-2 as a starter during my career at Georgia.”
UGASports: Before the 1980 national title season is discussed, we have to ask you about the infamous “pig” incident entering the championship campaign: You and four other senior leaders—Nat Hudson, Chris Welton, Hugh Nall, and Scott Woerner—were the ringleaders of a pig getting stolen for the TEAM’s spring practice-ending freshman initiation. The party/barbeque—the “Seagraves tradition”—dated back for decades. Still, the five of you were heavily disciplined, including each being temporarily taken off scholarship.
Ros: “Yeah, the guy who was receiving the blame for the stolen pig was the person who let us use his truck to procure the pig, and the freshmen used to drive the pig around and dump its carcass at Brumby Hall in front of kissing coeds. So, the five of us stepped up and claimed responsibility because it wasn’t right for the owner of the truck to be the one accused. But, you know, a lot of players stepped up. One of our punishments was to reimburse UGA’s agricultural department for the cost of the pig. Back then, very few players had money. Still, a lot of guys stepped forward and donated a buck here, a buck there—whatever they could afford to help out. In that sense, our team became more unified. Also, Coach Russell (then-defensive coordinator Erk Russell) really understood how to unify a team—and could do so a variety of different ways. He approached some of us after the incident and stated, ‘I understand, we killed a pig.’ He didn’t say, ‘y’all,’ he said, ‘we.’ That was classic Coach Russell. In addition, back then, hardly anyone on the football team stayed in Athens for the summer. Usually, we’d go home and work during the summer to try to save up money for the school year. Well, part of our punishment for the pig was we (the five players) had to stay in university housing that summer and work for free for the school, painting fences, planting grass, and work like that. We also had to take classes that summer and attend workouts with Coach [John] Kasay and [George] Mrvos (then UGA’s strength and conditioning coaches). That was an opportunity for us to jell even more. These are just a few examples of how the pig incident actually made that 1980 team more unified.”
UGASports: Besides being unified, what other characteristics did the 1980 team possess enabling it to win a national championship?
Ros: “A lot of things have to happen in order for a team to win a national championship, including being lucky. Of course, I think you create a big portion of that luck by your discipline and how hard you work. Things fell into place for us that year. We happened to be in need of a tailback with breakaway speed. Well, we got it by signing the No. 1 running back in the country in Herschel Walker. Besides Herschel, we also happened to sign a lot of talented athletes—some really athletic guys—who wound up contributing as true freshmen in ’80. On the other hand, we had a huge senior class of about 24 guys. And essentially all 24 of us had been through adversity—but we all pushed through. Most of us had played on the scout team. And, for those who have ever played on a scout team, they know it’s no fun and a tough way to earn your stripes. That senior class wasn’t the most talented. I think, 11 of us had a shot at the NFL, but only two or three ended up playing in the league the next year. But we were extremely hard workers and a smart group of guys. Because we had great senior leadership, it elevated everyone’s performance to a higher level.”
UGASports: You were part of several key plays during the 1980 season: you forced a game-deciding fumble with Nate Taylor at Tennessee, you tipped the game-clinching interception by teammate Jeff Hipp against Clemson, and you caused a critical second-quarter fumble by Notre Dame fullback Jim Sweeney in the 1981 Sugar Bowl, to name just a few. Is there a play which stands out in your mind from that season?
Ros: “Yes, the long kickoff against Notre Dame, or what we call the longest onside kick in the history of football. That play epitomized the commitment by every player on that team. (After Georgia had tied the Fighting Irish, 3-3, late in the first quarter of the 1981 Sugar Bowl, the Bulldogs’ ensuing kickoff was erroneously not fielded by Notre Dame’s two return men. Instead, the ball bounced inside the five-yard line, whereby Georgia’s Steve Kelly and his brother, Bob, converged on the ball, giving the Bulldogs possession at the opposing one-yard line. Two plays later, the Bulldogs scored the go-ahead touchdown in an eventual 17-10 victory.) For that play to even occur, it required a total commitment by two guys (the Kelly brothers) who had been starters (Bob at cornerback in 1978, Steve at tailback in 1979)—but no longer were starters. Yet, the Kelly brothers fully embraced their role of leading by example and were totally committed to giving 100 percent. And if either of them is a millisecond late—Steve with the initial contact with the return man and ball, and Bob with the recovery—that play never happens. And there’s a chance we don’t win that game, and, therefore, not the national championship.”
UGASports: What’s your feedback regarding Coach Dooley, especially your relationship with him over the years?
Ros: “I think Coach Dooley was probably one of the first head football coaches who served his position more like a CEO. He believed in hiring good people around him and let them do their job. And that's how it worked. The assistant coaches did what they were supposed to do, while the head coach set the expectations and was the leader. When he was head coach, the players had a healthy dose of fear for Coach Dooley. That was just the dynamic back then. When I got cut by the Denver Broncos (in late July of 1981, Ros, a free agent with Denver, was waived by the Broncos late in training camp), I was very fortunate Coach Dooley asked me to come back to be a graduate assistant. At that point, I started to develop a stronger relationship with him because it was no longer a player-coach relationship, but an assistant coach-to-head coach relationship. I’ve learned a lot from Coach Dooley—things I’ve tried to pass down to my children. I have nothing but respect for the man and his leadership abilities. Perhaps, more than anything, Coach Dooley was smart enough to understand that you should avoid making emotional decisions. It's human nature to make snap, emotional decisions. But Coach Dooley will tell you that you're better off sleeping on the decision to get the emotion out of it—and then making an unemotional decision the next day based on the facts.”
UGASports: And you were obviously close with your defensive coordinator, Erk Russell…
Ros: “Coach Russell was a unique individual who had the ability to connect with all people. He would've been a great Chief Marketing Officer for a Fortune 500 Company. He could see things others could not—and could turn those things into positives. I think Coach Russell’s greatest asset besides his ability to see things and create rallying points was the way he handled the players. Fourth teamers liked him as much as the first teamers. And that is very rare because players are usually not happy if they aren’t starting—they think it's the coach's fault. Also, Coach Russell never criticized you as a person. He wouldn’t call you names, rather, he would address the action that needed to be corrected and then end it with ‘I know you can do it…’ Now, when a coach says that to you—‘I know you can do it’—that shows the kind of confidence they have in you, and you’ll do anything for that coach.”
UGASports: As you mentioned earlier, you were cut by the Broncos followed by serving as a graduate assistant under Coach Dooley. What did you do from there?
Ros: “I helped my dad start a wine importing business. In fact, if it wasn’t for my father asking me to help start a business, I probably would have stayed in coaching for the rest of my life. After selling the business, I worked in scientific sales, and became the Southeast sales manager. I was hired away by Decon Laboratories to be V.P. of Sales & Marketing. In 1995, I went to work for The Coca-Cola Company in their Latin Affairs department. Seven years ago, I retired form Coca-Cola as V.P. of Hispanic Strategies.”
UGASports: Before retiring, it seemed like whenever an important position with UGA became open—like the University’s athletic director position—your name was seemingly always mentioned as a possible candidate. Did you ever consider working for UGA?
Ros: “The couple of times I was approached, I was working for Coca-Cola, and it would have been really difficult for me to leave Coke. I had already made my mind up that I was going to retire when I was 55 years old—and, from there, really try to enjoy life. My dad passed away at 59 years old from ALS and you don’t know what life has for you. So, I decided that while I’m on this earth, I’m going to try to enjoy what life I have. So, yes, I was approached on multiple occasions. Timing is a big part of life and, for each of those different occasions, the timing was not right. But I was very honored to be considered.”
UGASports: Tell us about your immediate family.
Ros: “My wife, Jan Floyd Ros, was Miss Auburn in 1980. I didn’t know her back then [in 1980] but met her through [then-assistant coach] Ray Goff when we were coaching. Our oldest son, Frank VI, is 33 years old, works for a financial services company, married with no children and lives in Roswell. Our youngest son, Bryce, signed with Georgia [in 2008] and played tight end for one year before he was injured and couldn’t play anymore. He also works in the financial services industry and is not married.”
UGASports: Finally, please detail your experience at Georgia’s national championship parade when the 1980 senior class—all but two or three of the 24 seniors—hoisted the Bulldogs’ 2021 national championship flag at Sanford Stadium.
Ros: “We (the ’80 seniors) were honored UGA asked us to be part of the celebration. When I discussed with the seniors what UGA had in mind, we agreed it would be a great way to welcome the 2021 team into the club. In fact, people were saying that the ’80 team ‘passed the torch to the 2021 team.’ And we looked at it as it’s more like we’re welcoming the 2021 team into the [national championship] club. It was definitely a great move by the athletic department to incorporate the 1980 team into the 2021 team’s celebration. Winning a national championship is a really difficult thing to do. It takes a lot of things coming together, a lot of commitment, and the ball has to bounce your way some. I’m honored to have been part of the Georgia 1980 National Championship TEAM—and honored to be part of the Bulldogs celebrating a national title 41 years later.”
