University of Georgia Athletics
Circle Of Honor Ceremonies Set For This Weekend
September 12, 2007 | Football
Zambiasi, Smith and Spivey will be honored at an induction banquet Friday evening at the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall, where they will be permanently enshrined in the Circle of Honor exhibit. They also will be recognized at the Georgia-Western Carolina football game on Saturday.
The all-sports recognition program is designed to recognize and pay tribute to extraordinary student-athletes and coaches who by their performance and conduct have brought honor to the university and themselves, and who by their actions have contributed to the tradition of the Georgia Bulldogs. The criteria also stipulate that each recipient has earned his or her academic degree.
After becoming a Bulldog in 1974, Zambiasi earned a starting spot as a sophomore, posting 148 tackles and helping the Bulldogs to a 9-3 record and berth in the Cotton Bowl. He followed with 144 more tackles as a junior, leading a Bulldog defense that allowed only 10.7 points per game and helped earn the SEC championship and Sugar Bowl bid. During the season, he was named the UPI national player of the week for his performance in Georgia’s 21-0 shutout of Alabama. His play earned him All-America and All-SEC honors. Zambiasi added 177 tackles in his senior season, earning All-SEC and All-America honors for a second time. Zambiasi was named Georgia’s most outstanding defensive player in both 1975 and 1976. He set the Georgia record with 467 total career tackles, a mark that has stood for 30 years. Zambiasi went on to have an 11-year, Hall of Fame career in the Canadian Football League.
An offensive guard, Smith’s play on the field produced an All-America career that ended in 1971 with an 11-1 record and Gator Bowl victory over North Carolina. His senior season was highlighted by selection to 12 All-America first teams. He also was named a consensus All-SEC player, earned an invitation to the Senior Bowl post-season all-star game, was selected as the winner of the Jacobs Blocking Award as the SEC’s outstanding blocker, and was elected by his teammates as the 1971 Bulldog team captain. He was a first-round draft pick of New Orleans, where he would play before closing his career with Atlanta. In 1995, he was inducted into the State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. Smith passed away in January 2004 at the age of 54.
Spivey tallied 12 First-Team All-America awards, four individual NCAA national championships, four individual SEC titles and three All-SEC honors. She was the second Georgia gymnast and just the fifth in college history to record a perfect 10.0, and she finished her Gym Dog career with 27 perfect scores. In 1991, Spivey became the first Georgia freshman ever to win the NCAA all-around title with a then-NCAA record of 39.525 as well as the first to earn All-America honors on all four events. She tied for the NCAA vault title and won the floor championship in the same meet. She was named the SEC’s Freshman of the Year and was presented with the Honda Sports Award. Spivey scored her first of four SEC individual titles during her sophomore campaign, winning the vault and floor exercise events. The Gym Dogs captured the national title during Spivey’s junior season of 1993. That team is still considered the greatest college team of all-time, with a perfect record of 32-0. In 1994, Spivey won her second NCAA individual floor exercise title with the only 10.0 scored at that year’s NCAAs. She was named the SEC's Gymnast of the Year.
