University of Georgia Athletics
‘Everything We Did Was A First’
February 12, 2021 | Softball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Alleen Hawkins was a veteran softball coach in 1997, already with nearly 20 years and more than 350 wins under her belt. But her season opener on Feb. 15, 1997, was different, and she was nervous, anxious, eager and about a thousand other things.
"If you want to know the truth, I wanted to throw up," Hawkins said with a laugh.
Twenty-five years ago, the Georgia softball program took the field for the first time. After an 18-month build-up that began with the hiring of Hawkins, who had first started coaching in 1977, at Chesapeake (Md.) College and later led Furman for 12 years before coming to Athens, the Bulldogs played a doubleheader against Mercer.
The Bulldogs weren't yet playing at their beautiful Jack Turner Stadium, that would come a few years down the road. Georgia's first two seasons were spent playing at the intramural fields. That's where they were for their debut, playing in front of a crowd of 671 fans.
"Everything we did was a first," Hawkins said. "It didn't matter what it was."
In the opener, a 5-1 victory, Jen Bell, one of seven freshmen to start the first game in program history, hit home runs in her first two collegiate at-bats. In the circle for Georgia was Rhonda Coffelt, who picked up the program's first win.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Jamie Rausch, a junior that followed Hawkins to Georgia from Furman and one of two upperclassmen on the roster, doubled in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 2-1 victory.
Regardless of the result on the field, though that certainly did make it that much better, getting to and through opening day was in itself a victory.
"It was certainly just a wonderful, wonderful experience and day, and the culmination of two years working not just within our staff on recruiting but working with facilities, working with the athletic department to get that inaugural season going," Hawkins said. "I mean it was a lot of hard work on a lot of people's parts, especially my grounds crew, they were top notch. Working with everybody, as far as strength and conditioning, the athletic trainers — it was really a culmination of a lot of A-plus-plus effort to get that first day going.
"But it was very nerve-wracking. I'm not kidding, I really did want to throw up."
Georgia went on to win its first seven games of the season and was 12-2 after 14, but the young Bulldogs struggled the rest of the season against tougher competition, as expected, and finished their inaugural season with a 25-33 record. Georgia won eight games in its final at-bat but also lost 10 in its opponent's final at-bat.
Following the 2000 season, after four seasons at Georgia, having worked so hard to get the program up and running, Hawkins decided to step away from coaching and be a stay-at-home mom. That was the plan, at least. But Erskine College, in Due West, S.C., needed a coach, and she's been leading the Flying Fleet ever since.
On Thursday, Lu Harris-Champer will begin her 21st season as Georgia's head coach, when the Bulldogs start their 25th season in program history with a doubleheader against South Alabama in the 14th Annual Red & Black Showcase at Jack Turner Stadium.
Harris-Champer, who has 925 wins at Georgia and 1,134 in her career, began her coaching career with two seasons at Nicholls State and then went to Southern Miss, which was restarting its program. When she came to Georgia two years later, she knew what Hawkins and everyone that created the Bulldog program had put into getting it up and running.
"I feel like Alleen did a really good job, her and her staff, and I just feel very grateful and blessed to have been able to continue on what she started. I know that she worked really hard to bring in really quality student-athletes. It was a blessing to be able to come into a situation that already had such a strong foundation."
From the many, many months of work it took just to get to that opening day, to all the ups and downs they experienced together, it was a special and rewarding start to a program. And what everyone involved built has paved the way for what's come since, with four Women's College World Series appearances and three SEC titles.
All these years after that opening day for Georgia softball, Hawkins is still coaching and her players from that team are old enough to have college-aged children of their own. Hawkins said she remains in touch with a lot of the players from that first team, interacting via Facebook and getting cards and letters.
"It is very heartwarming," she said, "for me to know what it meant to all the girls to be a part of that inaugural team."
Hawkins left Georgia more than 20 years ago, but she still remembers fondly her time here and all the people that helped make that first season possible.
"We were so fortunate with the people that we had at UGA, I really didn't have to worry that everything was going to be done and done correctly," she said. "Of course, we tweaked things as we went through the years to make it really a great experience for our girls, which is really what it's all about, servicing our student-athletes. We were able to do that from academic support through strength and conditioning, the gameday experience, the athletic trainers — we were able to give our girls a great experience, and it is a blessing for me."
Staff Writer
Alleen Hawkins was a veteran softball coach in 1997, already with nearly 20 years and more than 350 wins under her belt. But her season opener on Feb. 15, 1997, was different, and she was nervous, anxious, eager and about a thousand other things.
"If you want to know the truth, I wanted to throw up," Hawkins said with a laugh.
Twenty-five years ago, the Georgia softball program took the field for the first time. After an 18-month build-up that began with the hiring of Hawkins, who had first started coaching in 1977, at Chesapeake (Md.) College and later led Furman for 12 years before coming to Athens, the Bulldogs played a doubleheader against Mercer.
The Bulldogs weren't yet playing at their beautiful Jack Turner Stadium, that would come a few years down the road. Georgia's first two seasons were spent playing at the intramural fields. That's where they were for their debut, playing in front of a crowd of 671 fans.
"Everything we did was a first," Hawkins said. "It didn't matter what it was."
In the opener, a 5-1 victory, Jen Bell, one of seven freshmen to start the first game in program history, hit home runs in her first two collegiate at-bats. In the circle for Georgia was Rhonda Coffelt, who picked up the program's first win.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Jamie Rausch, a junior that followed Hawkins to Georgia from Furman and one of two upperclassmen on the roster, doubled in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 2-1 victory.
Regardless of the result on the field, though that certainly did make it that much better, getting to and through opening day was in itself a victory.
"It was certainly just a wonderful, wonderful experience and day, and the culmination of two years working not just within our staff on recruiting but working with facilities, working with the athletic department to get that inaugural season going," Hawkins said. "I mean it was a lot of hard work on a lot of people's parts, especially my grounds crew, they were top notch. Working with everybody, as far as strength and conditioning, the athletic trainers — it was really a culmination of a lot of A-plus-plus effort to get that first day going.
"But it was very nerve-wracking. I'm not kidding, I really did want to throw up."
Georgia went on to win its first seven games of the season and was 12-2 after 14, but the young Bulldogs struggled the rest of the season against tougher competition, as expected, and finished their inaugural season with a 25-33 record. Georgia won eight games in its final at-bat but also lost 10 in its opponent's final at-bat.
Following the 2000 season, after four seasons at Georgia, having worked so hard to get the program up and running, Hawkins decided to step away from coaching and be a stay-at-home mom. That was the plan, at least. But Erskine College, in Due West, S.C., needed a coach, and she's been leading the Flying Fleet ever since.
On Thursday, Lu Harris-Champer will begin her 21st season as Georgia's head coach, when the Bulldogs start their 25th season in program history with a doubleheader against South Alabama in the 14th Annual Red & Black Showcase at Jack Turner Stadium.
Harris-Champer, who has 925 wins at Georgia and 1,134 in her career, began her coaching career with two seasons at Nicholls State and then went to Southern Miss, which was restarting its program. When she came to Georgia two years later, she knew what Hawkins and everyone that created the Bulldog program had put into getting it up and running.
"I feel like Alleen did a really good job, her and her staff, and I just feel very grateful and blessed to have been able to continue on what she started. I know that she worked really hard to bring in really quality student-athletes. It was a blessing to be able to come into a situation that already had such a strong foundation."
From the many, many months of work it took just to get to that opening day, to all the ups and downs they experienced together, it was a special and rewarding start to a program. And what everyone involved built has paved the way for what's come since, with four Women's College World Series appearances and three SEC titles.
All these years after that opening day for Georgia softball, Hawkins is still coaching and her players from that team are old enough to have college-aged children of their own. Hawkins said she remains in touch with a lot of the players from that first team, interacting via Facebook and getting cards and letters.
"It is very heartwarming," she said, "for me to know what it meant to all the girls to be a part of that inaugural team."
Hawkins left Georgia more than 20 years ago, but she still remembers fondly her time here and all the people that helped make that first season possible.
"We were so fortunate with the people that we had at UGA, I really didn't have to worry that everything was going to be done and done correctly," she said. "Of course, we tweaked things as we went through the years to make it really a great experience for our girls, which is really what it's all about, servicing our student-athletes. We were able to do that from academic support through strength and conditioning, the gameday experience, the athletic trainers — we were able to give our girls a great experience, and it is a blessing for me."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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