University of Georgia Athletics
A View From The Top: Bulldogs Direct Major Championships
September 08, 2011 | Football
Sept. 8, 2011
By Loran Smith
Not long after it was announced that William Porter Payne would become chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club, we got the good news that Gordon Smith would become executive director of the United States Tennis Association--two Bulldogs heading up two of the biggest and most influential sports organizations in the world.
Billy runs the Masters in Augusta and Gordon directs the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadow--premier and prestigious events. Both are native Georgians (Billy from Atlanta and Gordon from Rome), and they are also law graduates of the University of Georgia, where they excelled in sports. Billy made All-SEC in football, and Gordon was a four-year standout in tennis ('72-'75). Gordon was SEC doubles champion in 1975, played on teams that swept the SEC titles from 1971 through 1975 (captain his senior year), and was inducted into the Intercollegiate Hall of Fame in May 2010. Gordon is executive director and chief operating officer of the United States Tennis Association.
While I don't get to Flushing Meadow in September when football is in full swing, I have not missed a Masters since 1960. In 2010, I was in the group honored for covering the Masters for more than 40 years, and it was a high moment in my life to be given a handsome plaque, made from a tree from the grounds of the Augusta National, by my friend Billy Payne. Other than family, some memories are treasured more than others. This one will always be special.
Working at Georgia for these many years, my life has been enriched by knowing the athletes who have perpetuated a winning tradition and have contributed to Georgia's heritage. I got to know Billy's father, Porter Payne, captain of the 1949 Bulldog football team, when he was an SEC official, and I enjoyed a warm friendship with him and his wife, Mary.
When Billy signed to play for the Bulldogs, we were invited to the signing party, which took place in the Bulldog room of Bill Bradshaw, who had played at Georgia and was a member of the university's athletic board. Billy had been a star quarterback at Dykes High School, but he was good at everything and was about as well-rounded as they come. To his parents, it was as important that he make an "A" as it was to score a touchdown.
At Georgia, it was the same. He wasn't the most talented player, but no scholarship athlete was more focused and dedicated. Billy started out on offense but wound up playing defensive end and was named All-SEC.
Following graduation, law school was next on his agenda. Subsequently, he enjoyed success in the practice of law in Atlanta, during which time he got the idea that Atlanta should host the 1996 Olympics. In what was, perhaps, the biggest upset in history of bidding for the Olympics, Billy's leadership, tenacity, and indefatigable work habit led to the winning bid and Atlanta's hosting of the Olympic Games. His biggest supporter along the way was his wife, Martha.
One of the ideas he had was for golf to become an Olympic sport. His goal was to have the competition played at the Augusta National Golf Club. Ultimately, that could not be achieved, but Billy's presentation to then Chairman Jack Stephens was so impressive that Stephens later invited him to join the club.
While there obviously are some rich men who hold membership in the Augusta National, it is not exactly a rich man's club. Billy is not rich, except in experience and achievement, and when you suggest that he is the ultimate overachiever, he counters such appraisal by noting that it was more a case of being "under-talented."
However, nobody could say that he was without leadership skills and remarkable instincts, a man with vision and a penchant for finding a way to achieve his goals, regardless of the challenge.
When he arrived at the University of Georgia in 1965 with impressive high school credentials, he quickly realized that he did not possess the talent of players like Jake Scott and Bill Stanfill, who made All-America. He knew he had to work harder, even in practice, and underscore due diligence for success. All-star recognition seemed to come easily for Scott and Stanfill. The best Payne could do was make All-SEC, but he has a life-after-football resume that is second-to-none.
The important thing to him was that he won two SEC championship rings. "They are in my personal safe," he said recently, "and I take them out occasionally and look at them with appreciation. They are treasured keepsakes."
While making all conference was not a goal when he enrolled at Georgia, he does take satisfaction in that honor since his father, Porter, earned All-SEC honors when he played for Wallace Butts in the late forties. It was Porter who provided the inspiration for Billy to achieve, by "stressing effort." It was admonitions like, "Did you do the best that you could do? Did you leave anything on the field?" Billy knew that he could never give the wrong answer to either of those questions.
With that motivation, success began to become linked with Billy's name, which is becoming one of the household varieties in the world of golf, as he supervises the playing of the Masters each spring. No detail is too small for his attention. He is always thinking. The Masters traditions are important to him, but he wants improvement across the board. If anything is unsightly, get rid of it. If there is a better way to do something, then give it serious consideration.
No discussion with him can take place without a reference to his masterminding the plan that brought the 1996 Olympics to Atlanta. He won't say that divine intervention was involved, but there was a church-related incident that spawned his impressive goal. He had headed up a fund drive for a building program for his church. On the day of the dedication, he was riding home afterwards and exclaimed to his wife, Martha, "Did you see the look on everybody's face? Did you see how wonderful they seemed to feel at what we had done?" Then he said, "We've got to find something else that will make people happy."
A couple of days later, he came home and said to Martha. "We're going to bring the '96 Olympics to Atlanta." Not once did he believe the goal would not be achieved. Billy Payne has a way of developing ideas and making people believe.
The Masters has always been recognized as the best when it comes to staging a major golf tournament. How do you make the best better? All you have to do is make Billy Payne the chairman.