FOOTBALL
Former University of Georgia football stars Charley Whittemore and David Greene have been named to the Georgia-Florida game Hall of Fame according to an announcement Friday by the City of Jacksonville Sports & Entertainment Office.
These inductees will be recognized at the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony on Friday, October 26, 2012, during the festivities surrounding the long-standing football rivalry between UGA and UF. The ceremony celebrates the talents of the players and the inductees are showcased in the Hall of Fame, located in Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, designed to give fans an opportunity to view the exhibit and pay tribute to these athletes.
The University of Florida inductees are Doug Dickey and John L. Williams.
Whittemore currently serves as UGA’s Assistant Athletic Director in charge of facilities. A native of Douglasville, he was an All-State halfback at Douglass County High School and led his team to the AA state championship. He was an All-SEC selection as a sophomore in 1968, honorable mention All-SEC in 1969 and 1970 and was named to the All-South team in 1970. While leading the Dawgs in receiving for three years, he also set school records for most receptions in a career with 114 and most career receiving yards with a 1,680.
Whittemore set a freshman record in 1967, catching 12 passes for 306 yards, and led his run-oriented team in receiving in 1968 with 40 catches for 608 yards as the Dawgs won the Southeastern Conference championship.
The following season in 1970, Whittemore’s 46 receptions and 10 catches against Kentucky set Georgia single season and school records. He finished his career with 11 touchdowns, and was named permanent offensive captain after the 1970 season. Whittemore was also president of the Georgia chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
After a brief stint as a free agent with the New Orleans Saints, Whittemore began his coaching career at Memphis State in 1972 as a wide receivers coach under Fred Pancoast, who served as Georgia offensive coordinator during the 1970 and 1971 seasons. Whittemore followed Pancoast to Vanderbilt in 1975, then returned to Georgia in 1978 and was the receivers coach for 13 years before joining the UGA Athletic Association administrative staff in 1991.
Greene is currently a Client Executive with Seacrest Partners, a privately held insurance brokerage and consulting firm serving a wide range of clients with complex property-casualty, employee benefit and personal insurance needs. He started 52 consecutive games over four seasons (an NCAA record), led the Dawgs to a 42-10 record during that time, four straight bowl games, three straight national top six finishes, two SEC Eastern Division titles (2002 and ’03) and the 2002 SEC championship. In 2004, Greene became the winningest Division 1-A quarterback in NCAA history with 42 career victories breaking the old mark of 39 by Tennessee’s Peyton Manning. During that time he also led the Dawgs to a remarkable 15-2 record when playing on the opponents’ home field.
When he left Georgia he was the owner of numerous passing records including SEC marks for Career Passing Yards (11,528), Career Total Offense (11,270), Most Consecutive Passes Without an Interception (214 breaking his own old mark of 176) and Ratio of Attempts/Interceptions in a Career (1:45.0l, 32 in 1,440). He also set numerous Georgia career records including Passing Yards (11,528), Total Offense (11,270), Pass Attempts (1,440), TD Passes (72), Pass Efficiency Rating (138.3), and Lowest Interception Percentage (2.22%, 32 in 1,440).
As a senior, in addition to his passing records, Greene was named a semi-finalist for the Maxwell Award which goes annually to the nation’s top player, a finalist for the Johnny Unitas Award which goes to the nation’s top QB, and a finalist the Bobby Bowden Award, which recognizes the Division I-A football player who epitomizes the student-athlete and who conducts himself as a faith model in the community, in the classroom and on the field.
He was named All-SEC second team and was also selected a recipient of the National Scholar-Athlete Award ($18,000 scholarship) from the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. He was named National Player of the Week by The Sporting News, ESPN Radio, and The Walter Camp Foundation for his performance in the victory over LSU (10×19, 172 yards and school record five TD passes).
During his career he was one of only 11 Division 1-A players named to the 2003 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) National Good Works Team for commitment to community service. He was also named the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2002 after leading Georgia to a 13-1 record, SEC Championship, Sugar Bowl victory, and number three final national ranking.
Following his senior season he was elected as the permanent 2004 Team Captain and was drafted in the third round by the Seattle Seahawks in the 2005 NFL draft.