Photo: Former Olympics chief and UGA alumnus Billy Payne. Photo by Rick O'Quinn.

By Larry B. Dendy

Former Olympics chief William Porter "Billy" Payne and UGA President Charles Knapp will deliver graduation speeches when the university holds its 194th Commencement exercises June 14.

Payne will speak at the undergraduate Commencement ceremony at 9 a.m. in Sanford Stadium, or in Stegeman Coliseum in case of bad weather. He will also receive an honorary doctor of laws degree.

Knapp will speak at Commencement for graduate students at 2 p.m. in Stegeman Coliseum. His speech will be one of his last public ceremonies before he leaves UGA on July 1 after 10 years to become president of the Aspen Institute.

Payne, who was chiefly responsible for bringing the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games to Atlanta, holds bachelor's and law degrees from UGA and was a star football player. He will be the 71st recipient of the honorary doctor of laws degree--the highest recognition UGA can bestow except for an earned doctorate.

It was Payne who in 1987 first proposed that Atlanta try to win the right to host the 1996 Olympics. Despite early widespread skepticism, he quit a real estate law practice and worked as a volunteer organizing and heading the planning committee that submitted the winning bid.

Top Olympic administrator
When Atlanta was chosen as host city, Payne was named president and chief executive officer of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, becoming the first person both to lead an Olympic bid effort and then to continue as top administrator for the Games.

Under Payne's leadership, Atlanta staged the largest Olympics in history, with more athletes and more spectators than any previous Games.

The university hosted three Olympic events--finals of men's and women's soccer, preliminaries and finals of rhythmic gymnastics, and preliminaries of men's and women's volleyball.

More than half a million people attended the UGA events, and the 76,481 fans in Sanford Stadium for the women's gold-medal soccer match was the largest number of people ever to attend a women's sports event.

When the Olympic torch relay passed through Athens, Payne carried the torch through Sanford Stadium and later participated in the dedication of an Olympic commemorative sculpture at Stegeman Coliseum.

This month Payne began a new career as a vice chairman of NationsBank, with responsibility for representing the bank in international forums.

The Knapp decade
Knapp, who became president in 1987, has led UGA through a decade of growth marked by advances in the areas of teaching, research and service, increases in student quality, and major additions to UGA's physical plant.

During his tenure, research expenditures have risen from $124 million to $209 million, making UGA the 32nd-largest research institution in the country. He has strengthened teaching by encouraging senior faculty to teach undergraduate classes and by enriching training programs and awards to improve teaching performance.

Scholastic Assessment Test scores of entering freshmen have risen by more than 90 points, and Knapp played a key role in helping Gov. Zell Miller start the HOPE scholarship program, which this year provided scholarships to 97 percent of UGA's freshmen.

Building boom on campus
Since his first year as president, more than $384 million in capital construction has either been completed or is in progress. Major projects include the new East Campus, site of the Performing and Visual Arts Complex and the Ramsey Student Center for Physical Activities.

Knapp holds a bachelor's degree from Iowa State University and master's and doctoral degrees in economics from the University University of Wisconsin. Before coming to UGA, he was executive vice president of Tulane University, and served in senior positions in the U.S. labor department during the Carter administration.

He currently serves as chair of the board of directors of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges and is a member of the Presidents' Commission of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Payne: Lifelong relationship with UGA
Payne has a lifelong relationship with the university dating from his birth in Athens while his father was a UGA student and football player. Payne made All-SEC and All-America teams as a receiver and defensive end on UGA's 1966, 1967 and 1968 teams and won an NCAA post-graduate fellowship, which he used to attend UGA's law school after earning his bachelor's degree in political science in 1969.

He received his law degree in 1973 and joined an Atlanta law firm where he practiced real estate law before resigning to pursue the Olympics.

He continues to support UGA as a managing trustee of the University of Georgia Foundation, a member of the board of directors of the Athletic Association and a member of the Presidents Club.

Last month, the National Collegiate Athletic Association gave Payne the Theodore Roosevelt Award, its most prestigious honor. Since the Olympics, he's also received awards from the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change, the Atlanta Area Boy Scouts and the Atlanta Urban League. Georgia Trend magazine chose him Georgian of the Year for 1996.

History of honorary degrees
The University of Georgia presents honorary degrees to recognize outstanding service and notable achievements in such areas as scholarship, the creative arts, research, public service or business and industry.

UGA awarded its first honorary degrees at its first Commencement in 1804. Since then, 319 honorary doctoral, master's and bachelor's degrees have been conferred. Only honorary doctorates have been presented since 1899.

The practice of awarding honorary degrees faded when Georgia's public colleges were organized under the state University System in 1932. In 1995, the regents authorized system institutions to award up to two honorary degrees per year.

Last year UGA presented former Atlanta mayor and congressman Andrew Young with the first honorary doctor of laws degree it had conferred since 1938.