Athens, Ga. – A pictorial
exhibit of UGA football by photojournalist Wingate Downs, “1980 Championship
Year Revisited,” is on display at the University of Georgia Center for Continuing
Education Conference Center through September 30. The exhibit is free and open
to the public in the Georgia
Center’s Hill Atrium, located
at 1197 S. Lumpkin Street.
The exhibit
profiles UGA’s 1980 National Championship football team. The collection tells
the story of that successful football season and the players who made it
possible. Downs captured the excitement of this legendary year of UGA football
including Herschel Walker’s first day of practice, Walker’s touchdown at the Sugar Bowl and fans
watching home games from the railroad tracks.
Downs
is an Athens
resident and a graduate of UGA’s Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass
Communication. He has earned 40 state and national awards for his news and
advertising photography throughout his career, including a prestigious Instant
Citation from the Associated Press. Downs’
photography has been published in Life,
Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, People, Glory! Glory! Georgia’s 1980 Championship Season: The Inside Story
by Lewis Grizzard and Loran Smith and Dooley's Dawgs: 25 Years of Winning Football
at the University of Georgia, by Smith and Vince Dooley. Downs has
also served as a local newspaper and event photographer.
The Georgia Center, celebrating its 50th Anniversary
in 2007, is a unit of the University
of Georgia’s Office of
the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach. The Center provides
innovative lifelong learning opportunities through its continuing education
programs. On UGA’s campus, the Georgia
Center includes a
full-service hotel with 200 rooms and suites, restaurants, banquet areas,
conference rooms, auditoriums, a fitness center and a computer lab — all under
one roof. For more information, see www.georgiacenter.uga.edu.
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