Buck Belue, QB of 1980 Georgia national champions, to ‘call the Dawgs’ before kickoff

ATHENS – Buck Belue, quarterback of Georgia’s 1980 national championship team, is going to call the Dogs at Sanford Stadium before Saturday’s game.

A sports-talk radio star for most of the 41 years since the Bulldogs last won a national championship, Belue was among several dozen members of the 1980 team to return to Athens on Friday night for a dinner in the West End recruiting lounge at Sanford Stadium. Georgia coach Kirby Smart, star tailback Herschel Walker and coach Vince Dooley were among the speakers.

Belue, who hosts “The Buck Belue Show” on Mondays through Fridays on the radio station The Fan, said he was as excited about calling the dogs Saturday as anything he has done in a while. That is the UGA pregame tradition, originally handled by a male cheerleader, in which an invited guest uses a microphone to lead one side of the stadium to yell “Georgia” and the other side in “Bulldogs.” After three or four repetitions of that, then leads the “Gooooooooooo, Dawgs, sic ‘em cheer.

“Yeah, they even sent me an instructional video right after I agreed to do it,” Belue said with a laugh. “I’ve been practicing.”

Belue was a junior quarterback from Valdosta when he helped lead the Bulldogs to a 12-0 season and a national championship win over Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.

Belue and all the 1980 Bulldogs desperately want Georgia to win another national championship.

“And I think we will very soon under Kirby Smart,” he said.