Georgia football continues to give back to the community

Georgia football continues to give and make the Bulldog Nation proud.

While we all love the Georgia Bulldogs for various reasons, I think we all agree that one thing we are extremely proud of is the team and program’s giving spirit.

Despite all the buzz surrounding the players’ ability to now make money off of their name, image, and likeness, the Bulldogs still continue to selflessly give back to the community. Over the last two weeks, the Dawgs for Pups initiative that was started by the players last year visited 13 elementary schools in Clarke County, reading and talking about the importance of education.

But, the Dawgs aren’t done. They are giving back once again on Monday, participating in the Bulldogs Battling Breast Cancer 17th annual charity golf tournament at the Georgia Club in Statham.

Started in 2005, the BBBC was founded by Jay and Teresa Abbott along with their son Chris. Chris Abbott was a walk-on offensive lineman at UGA when his mother was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer and given a 40 percent survival rate.

During this time, then-head coach Mark Richt and the entire UGA football team rallied around and supported Chris, becoming like “a second family to him,” according to Dwight Standridge a board member for BBBC.

Eighteen months later after many rounds of treatment, Teresa Abbott was declared cancer-free. After receiving this wonderful news, the Abbotts wanted to give back and help other women have access to early detection and resources for treatment so they contacted Coach Richt about creating a charity golf tournament the following summer in partnership with the football program to raise money for St. Mary’s Hospital and the newly created Teresa’s Hope Fund.

Richt loved the idea and agreed to have members of the football team participate in the tournament, with each participating player assigned to play with a team of donors.

While it was only supposed to be a one-time event, the golf tournament was extremely popular and a huge success. Richt agreed to continue the event and made it one of the yearly community service events the players could sign up for if they chose.

It quickly became the BBBC’s biggest fundraising event of the year, attracting the attention of former players and UGA alumni. One such alumnus, Dwight Standridge, felt an immediate connection to the event. While Standridge was a freshman at UGA in 1987, his mom passed away from ovarian cancer. Standridge attended the second BBBC Charity Golf Tournament and, after finding out that all of the money they raised went to St. Mary’s Hospital where his mom had been treated, knew he needed to get involved.

After talking with the Abbotts, Standridge not only became involved but became a board member and a key part of the foundation for the past 14 years. Honoring his mother’s memory by helping others, Standridge remarked that his mother “was a wonderful person. She was always looking to help others and had an internal light that had so many positive impacts on my life and others around her. She’d be proud of all we’ve done to help others in need.”

According to Standridge, the golf tournament continued to be a success each year, but when Kirby Smart was named the new head coach at UGA, the organization became worried that he might not want to continue the partnership and that they would have to cancel the tournament.

However, the BBBC and fans would soon realize how much Kirby Smart cared about people and giving back to the community. According to Standridge, when asked about the tournament, Kirby replied that the BBBC should continue the tournament as if there wasn’t a coaching change and that the football team would be there to support them each July.

And they have been. Standridge says a few former players and multiple current players attend the event each year and that the players are awesome — “to give up their time while being so busy is great to see. They are always very polite— quick to pose for pictures and sign autographs and to see them interact with our supporters, well that’s the Georgia Way.”

Because of the combination of the players sacrificing their time and the hard work of the BBBC, so far the golf tournament has helped the charity raise just over $1.1 million dollars to date. Every dollar raised is donated to Teresa’s Hope in Athens, helping the community and women in need by providing free mammograms, buying new equipment, and educating women on the importance of early detection.

Although the BBBC also has partnered with UGA Hockey, the UGA Spike Squad, and the UGA Paint Line for the past three years in October to recognize Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the charity golf tournament with the football team continues to be their biggest and most important fundraiser.

While current players were unable to attend last year due to Covid-19, former players stepped up to fill the empty slots. Even with a global pandemic, BBBC was still able to raise $100,000, which speaks volumes about their sponsors, partners, and supporters.

But, this year excitement is high for the golf tournament on the 12th as current players will once again fill most of the slots and golf with donors. At least two former players will also be in attendance — Aaron Murray and Jake Fromm —  and will be golfing alongside donors and current players to raise money for the BBBC and Teresa’s Hope.

Standridge said that Jay Abbott has often remarked that the BBBC is very lucky to have the partnership and support of Coach Smart and the UGA football team. There are “a lot of breast cancer organizations and charities. But we are the only one fortunate enough to partner with the Georgia Bulldogs.” And isn’t that why we love Georgia? Because we’re proud of the Dawgs and what they stand for.

For more information or to make a donation to this local cause, you can do so here. 

All quotes in this article were obtained directly in person by the author unless otherwise noted.