OPINION: UGA Should’ve Retired a 5th Football Jersey

By Patrick Garbin--Twitter @PatrickGarbin

Unless it’s fully warranted, I'm not a big fan of retiring jersey numbers. I personally feel a particular player should have been the best of the very best during his time in order for a college program or professional organization to retire his number. Still, after being reminded that Dave McMahon and I will be posting a bi-weekly article beginning this month leading up to the start of the season—a fun feature highlighting the greatest players in Georgia history—coupled with the fact I received yesterday from the National Football Foundation the ballot to vote for this year’s College Football Hall of Fame class, I thought of one of the greatest to don the Red and Black of all time—the first UGA player inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (along with Frank Sinkwich in 1954)—and whose jersey Georgia should have retired when it had the chance.

Since the jersey retirement of Sinkwich (No. 21), Charley Trippi (No. 62), curiously Theron Sapp (No. 40, based primarily on a single drought-breaking performance against Georgia Tech in 1957), and Herschel Walker (No. 34), the Bulldogs have upheld a stance of no longer retiring jerseys. Instead, Georgia inducts possible worthy candidates into its Circle of Honor. However, there is a jersey from long ago that was wrongly omitted from joining the program's elite—and beyond its Circle of Honor—even though its wearer remains likely the most valuable player ever to the Georgia program: halfback Bob McWhorter’s No. xx.

McWhorter, who played during a time (1910-1913) when jersey numbers were not issued, was given by a sportswriter a “value to Georgia” of one which "cannot be fully expressed in mere words or even figures." Still, at least figures wise, I'm going to make an attempt at it.

McWhorter should be the school's single-game record holder for the most touchdowns scored (7)—and the second-most (6) and the fourth-most (5)—and the most touchdowns scored in a career (61) if the school considered statistics prior to the 1940s as official. For his career, crossing the opposition's goal line in nearly every conceivable way offensively, defensively, and returning kicks, McWhorter’s 61 scores resulted in 34 games (he was also regarded as the team's best passer, and threw for a number of touchdowns). Herschel Walker, Georgia's official touchdown record-holder, scored four fewer touchdowns playing in two additional games. As far as the percentage of their teams’ touchdowns they scored during their careers, McWhorter and Walker are nearly dead even:

Besides scoring records, McWhorter would undoubtedly also hold school rushing marks if sufficient documentation was available. For instance, in the 1913 season opener against Alabama Presbyterian, it was reported he had six rushes of 50 yards or more. Besides likely gaining more like 400, if not 500 yards, what makes McWhorter's individual 300-yard rushing performance—what would be the only one in the history of UGA football—even more astonishing is that it was achieved with him playing in only two quarters of the game.

To help further understand Bob McWhorter's value, you first have to be somewhat aware of the state of UGA football prior to his arrival. From 1899 through 1909, the Red and Black won only about one-third of their games (26 of 76). As horrifying, during the same 11-season span, they averaged just 7.2 points per game. However, when UGA hired the Gordon Institute's Alex Cunningham in 1910, and the head coach brought with him from Barnesville to Athens his star halfback, McWhorter, just like that, the struggling football program instantly turned into one of the more prominent teams in the South.

With McWhorter lining up at right halfback from 1910 through 1913, Georgia achieved a remarkable 25-6-3 combined record while averaging 24.2 points per game. In 1914, with McWhorter having departed, the Red and Black relapsed, recording just a 3-5-1 mark while being shutout in four of nine games.

The ultimate iron man, McWhorter played the entire 60 minutes of most of his games at Georgia. This included the 1912 season opener against Chattanooga when he scored three touchdowns despite suffering from a heavy cold and—get this—malaria! Including the '13 Alabama Presbyterian game, McWhorter was taken out on occasion during Red and Black blowout victories; however, only once in four seasons was he relieved during a game because of injury (Alabama, 1912).

To cap a brilliant career, McWhorter was named first-team All-American in 1913 by Parke H. Davis, selecting for The New York Herald. In an era when Southern football and its players were hardly recognized by the mainstream media, the recognition was much more of an accomplishment than simply becoming Georgia's first All-American. Consider the following: McWhorter was only the third first-team All-American ever selected from a Southern school and, of the 54 players in 1913 named first, second, or third-team All-American by recognized selectors, remarkably, 53—all but McWhorter—played for schools in the Northeast or Midwest. In 1913, McWhorter was also selected first-team all-conference for the fourth consecutive season—the only Georgia player to accomplish such a feat—back in a time when only 11 players were picked to the squad and more than 20 schools were part of the Red and Black's "conference" (the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association).

Nearly signing a contract out of college to play professional baseball before spurning pro sports to attend law school at the University of Virginia, McWhorter eventually made his way back to Athens. In the Classic City, he entered business, taught at UGA's Law School, and later served as the city's mayor. In 1960, McWhorter passed away at 68 years of age on what was called "one of Athens' saddest days."

So, how could’ve and should’ve Georgia retired Bob McWhorter's football jersey number when he didn’t actually wear a number?

There are plenty examples of retired jerseys in sports where the retiree didn't actually wear his retired number. Examples include number "85" for Gussie Busch of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball club, which retired that particular number since the former owner was 85 years old when his retirement ceremony was held. Also, the NBA's New York Knicks have retired "613" for Red Holzman because that's the number of games he won as a head coach. And, several jerseys have been retired honoring athletes who predated uniform numbers, but were given the equivalent of a retired-number ceremony.

The Bulldogs retired the No. 21 jersey for their first Heisman winner, No. 62 for the school's greatest athlete, No. 34 for its all-time most outstanding player, and even No. 40 for an individual performance during about an eight-minute span of time in the third quarter of the '57 Tech game. Accordingly, Georgia should've also retired the football jersey of the most valuable player in the program's history.

As far as an actual Bob McWhorter-worn jersey that could have been displayed during a retirement ceremony, I assume that particular piece of uniform would’ve been rather difficult to locate. However, as far as what numbered jersey could’ve been retired in his honor, number "100" would’ve been perfect—perfect, that is, three years ago in 2014—signifying how many years since the completion of a brilliant Georgia football career, and how long it actually took to recognize someone who should have been honored so much longer before.

UGA’s Circle of Honor is obviously quite an honor; however, Bob McWhorter also belongs amongst the best of the very best of Georgia football. Alas, in the “Circle” he’ll likely always remain, never to join the elite group where he belongs. Yet, to UGA, I say, as it’s said, it’s never too late… And, there’s no time like the present.