University of Georgia Athletics
Williams Experienced It All With UGA
December 02, 2024 | Baseball, General, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
In a lifetime spent in and around Athens and Georgia athletics, Dave Williams has seen and done a bit of everything. Now, after 42 years working in the UGA athletic department, Williams, who was a young batboy at Georgia baseball games in the 1960s and later led Foley Field in singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in the 2000s, has retired.
Prior to the Georgia football game against Georgia Tech last Friday night, Williams, a former Georgia scout and JV team quarterback and most recently the Associate Director of Event and Facility Operations, was recognized on the field for his decades of service to the athletic department and UGA.
"Well, it's bittersweet," he said of wrapping up his long career at the end of November. "I think I'm physically probably ready [laughs], but I'll miss so much of it, though. Talk about a labor of love. ... It's been quite a ride."
Williams' father, Nate, played baseball and basketball for Georgia in the early 1950s. An Athens native, Williams said he first recalls going to football games with his parents in 1967 when he was 7 years old — and he thinks he's missed two home games in all the years since.
"I missed one because of a wedding and I missed one because I had bronchitis — that was a Tech game, I remember that, probably about 20 years ago," he said.
A good all-around athlete growing up, Williams was the quarterback on Clarke Central High School's 1977 state championship-winning football team, playing for legendary coach Billy Henderson, a standout Georgia football and baseball player in the late '40s.
After graduating from Georgia in 1982, Williams started working for the Georgia Bulldog Club.
"I was fresh out of school, 21 or 22 years old, and I was like a kid in a candy store. ... I think when I started, the staff was so small that we had our picture in every football program — there was one row sitting down and one row standing up, and that was everybody," he said.
Williams shared an office in Stegeman Coliseum with the two people who have known more about the Bulldogs than anyone, Dan Magill and Loran Smith.
"I didn't talk a lot, but I listened and learned so much from them," he said with a laugh. "I knew both of them just from growing up because my dad was friends with them."
In his time with the Bulldog Club, Williams worked on the football game programs and was a production assistant for Vince Dooley's television show. He later was the assistant ticket manager for more than a decade, followed by stints on campus as the Director of Public Relations for the College of Pharmacy and as Assistant Director of UGA Alumni Relations.
In his job helping run Georgia events and facility operations, Williams said the event he was most proud of was when the baseball team hosted its first NCAA Regional and Super Regional in 2001.
"I had no files to go back and look at to see how we did it before or to see who we contacted about this or that. We were just kind of thrown into the deep end of the pool and it ended up being really good," he said.
Starting around 2000, Williams became part of the gameday festivities at Foley Field by singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch.
"Dave volunteered to do it and it became a tradition for a while," said Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Communications Christopher Lakos, who has worked with baseball for more than 30 years.
Matt Brachowski, Georgia's Senior Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations, has been with the athletic department for more than 25 years and worked with Williams on many projects.
"Dave has always been someone our staff can turn to — not just for his positive demeanor and ability to make you laugh, but for his historical local knowledge of Athens and the University, as well," Brachowski said.
Williams may now be retired, but he'll still be around and working from time to time. Along with trying to get his golf game back in shape and doing some volunteer work locally, he said he will continue to help out at home football games and other big events here and there in the years to come.
"I'll still have my foot in the water, so to speak, just not every day like it's been the last 42 years," he said.
Staff Writer
In a lifetime spent in and around Athens and Georgia athletics, Dave Williams has seen and done a bit of everything. Now, after 42 years working in the UGA athletic department, Williams, who was a young batboy at Georgia baseball games in the 1960s and later led Foley Field in singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in the 2000s, has retired.
Prior to the Georgia football game against Georgia Tech last Friday night, Williams, a former Georgia scout and JV team quarterback and most recently the Associate Director of Event and Facility Operations, was recognized on the field for his decades of service to the athletic department and UGA.
"Well, it's bittersweet," he said of wrapping up his long career at the end of November. "I think I'm physically probably ready [laughs], but I'll miss so much of it, though. Talk about a labor of love. ... It's been quite a ride."
Williams' father, Nate, played baseball and basketball for Georgia in the early 1950s. An Athens native, Williams said he first recalls going to football games with his parents in 1967 when he was 7 years old — and he thinks he's missed two home games in all the years since.
"I missed one because of a wedding and I missed one because I had bronchitis — that was a Tech game, I remember that, probably about 20 years ago," he said.
A good all-around athlete growing up, Williams was the quarterback on Clarke Central High School's 1977 state championship-winning football team, playing for legendary coach Billy Henderson, a standout Georgia football and baseball player in the late '40s.
After graduating from Georgia in 1982, Williams started working for the Georgia Bulldog Club.
"I was fresh out of school, 21 or 22 years old, and I was like a kid in a candy store. ... I think when I started, the staff was so small that we had our picture in every football program — there was one row sitting down and one row standing up, and that was everybody," he said.
Williams shared an office in Stegeman Coliseum with the two people who have known more about the Bulldogs than anyone, Dan Magill and Loran Smith.
"I didn't talk a lot, but I listened and learned so much from them," he said with a laugh. "I knew both of them just from growing up because my dad was friends with them."
In his time with the Bulldog Club, Williams worked on the football game programs and was a production assistant for Vince Dooley's television show. He later was the assistant ticket manager for more than a decade, followed by stints on campus as the Director of Public Relations for the College of Pharmacy and as Assistant Director of UGA Alumni Relations.
In his job helping run Georgia events and facility operations, Williams said the event he was most proud of was when the baseball team hosted its first NCAA Regional and Super Regional in 2001.
"I had no files to go back and look at to see how we did it before or to see who we contacted about this or that. We were just kind of thrown into the deep end of the pool and it ended up being really good," he said.
Starting around 2000, Williams became part of the gameday festivities at Foley Field by singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch.
"Dave volunteered to do it and it became a tradition for a while," said Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Communications Christopher Lakos, who has worked with baseball for more than 30 years.
Matt Brachowski, Georgia's Senior Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations, has been with the athletic department for more than 25 years and worked with Williams on many projects.
"Dave has always been someone our staff can turn to — not just for his positive demeanor and ability to make you laugh, but for his historical local knowledge of Athens and the University, as well," Brachowski said.
Williams may now be retired, but he'll still be around and working from time to time. Along with trying to get his golf game back in shape and doing some volunteer work locally, he said he will continue to help out at home football games and other big events here and there in the years to come.
"I'll still have my foot in the water, so to speak, just not every day like it's been the last 42 years," he said.
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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