ATHENS — Claude Felton wasn’t at the Georgia-Clemson game Saturday. That wouldn’t be a big deal if it weren’t Claude Felton.
The Bulldogs’ longtime sports information director retired earlier this year. Before that, Felton attended every Georgia football game home and away from 1979-2023.
Except for one. A few years ago, Felton missed a Georgia home game against Samford when his niece got married in upstate New York.
Still, that’s 565 games in all.
So, the Georgia-Clemson game proved at least two things: One, the Bulldogs should be very, very good again this year; and, two, they can, in fact, conduct a football game without Felton’s involvement.
Instead, Felton watched Georgia’s 34-3 victory over the Tigers from the comfort of his living room in Watkinsville. It took a little getting used to.
“Well, it certainly was a different perspective,” Felton said this week. “The things that I missed were being around the staff and the coaches and the players and the media and kind of being in the middle of everything. But at the same time, there definitely were things I did not miss, like making sure everything went like it was supposed to, coaches and players being where they were supposed to be. And watching on TV, the refrigerator is pretty close by and so is the restroom. So, yeah, it was different.”
It will be different Saturday, too. Felton will be at Sanford Stadium for the Bulldogs’ home opener against Tennessee Tech, but not necessarily of his own free will.
Felton and his family will be recognized in pregame ceremonies on Dooley Field for his 45 years of service to the University of Georgia. He also will be honored into perpetuity with the official dedication of the “Claude Felton Press Level” in the new press box that has been built in Sanford Stadium.
A five-level tower was added to the southwest corner of the stadium as part of the just-completed $63 million renovation. Part of that project was converting the Dan Magill Press Box that had occupied the south-side club level since the 1960s into a premium-seating area for high-level donors called “The 1929 Club.” The media members who had worked in that area for more than five decades – including sportswriters and radio and television reporters – had to be relocated.
Starting Saturday, they will occupy the top two levels of new additions. Felton’s level is on 400 and Dan Magill Press Level will be on Level 500.
Credit: UGAAA
Credit: UGAAA
“Coach Magill and Claude combined to serve this university for nearly a century,” Georgia Athletic Director Josh Brooks said. “We are pleased to honor their remarkable accomplishments with the naming of the 400 and 500 levels of the new press box.”
Magill, who preceded Felton as sports information director and was known as the “greatest Bulldog ever,” died in 2014 at the age of 93. But Felton, 75, is very much alive and well. So well, in fact, that he easily still could be doing his old job.
That’s why Felton originally intended not to be around for Georgia’s 2024 opener, and maybe not the next two or three home games either. Why?
“I wanted the staff that has taken over all those duties to be able to do it without me looking over their shoulder,” Felton said. “I’ll obviously be there Saturday, but I’m planning on laying low for a while.”
Felton left behind perhaps one of the more skilled and seasoned staffs in the history of sports communications. The dozens of hats that Felton wore for years have been dutifully divided among that group. Overseen by executive associate athletic director Steven Drummond, Leland Barrow now is the primary football contact, with Christopher Lakos providing assistance. But the entire staff, including Tray Littlefield, Mike Mobley, Karra Gentry, Sean Stevenson, Jake Stanley, Julia Maenius and John Frierson, assists with football, along with a small army of graduate and student assistants.
Insiders say it takes that many individuals to do what Felton once did mostly by himself back in the day.
Another thing that will be different about Saturday is that Felton likely won’t get to Sanford Stadium six hours before kickoff, as he did for the past 45 years. He might even take a little time to tailgate beforehand.
There is one other little curiosity that Felton is eager to satisfy.
“I’ve always wondered what the campus looks like during a game,” Felton said. “I’d love to just walk around while the game’s being played just to see what’s going on out there. Are there some tailgaters still out there? Do some people stay at the tailgate and watch the game on TVs under their tents? Do people pack up and go home?”
Yes to all of the above, Claude. There’s another world on game days outside that press box that now will bear your name.
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