University of Georgia Athletics
1980 “Track People” Shirt Returned 44 Years Later
September 03, 2024 | Football, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Seated at a crowded table inside the Savannah Room at the Georgia Center last Thursday were a pair of former Georgia football players. Both were walk-ons when they arrived in Athens less than a decade apart, though one wound up as a defensive starter on the 1980 national championship team and has been with the athletic department ever since.
It was that 1980 season, an Erk Russell letter, and a thrown t-shirt — one that was caught and saved for more than 40 years — that brought Ty Milner and Robert Miles together last week.
Karlene Lawrence, who worked in Georgia's Sports Communications office for many years, arranged the gathering. As it turned out, while Milner was there to surprise Miles with the return of the shirt, Miles had his own surprise to share with Milner.
Before we get to last week's reunion, let's return to 1980.
On Nov. 30, 1980, the Bulldogs beat Georgia Tech, 38-20, to wrap up an undefeated regular season. That game also marked the end of an era for some Georgia fans, those sometimes called "Track People." For years, some fans opted for the free view of the games (and unchecked party) available from the railroad tracks across the street from the East end of Sanford Stadium.
That end of the stadium was closed off after 1980 during a Sanford Stadium expansion, but before that happened, a few thousand fans turned out for the Tech game to enjoy one final chance to watch from the tracks (and, surely, enjoy more than a few farewell toasts).
Long before that final game, Russell, the legendary defensive coordinator and assistant head coach, had let the Bulldogs know how much he appreciated what he called, in a July 7, 1980, letter to the players, "THE RAILROAD TRACK CROWD." Miles, a senior on the 1980 team, had received that letter during the summer. Milner, who graduated in 1975, had acquired a copy of it and brought it to last week's lunch.
Russell wrote that the fans who enjoyed the games from the railroad tracks were "my people" because they loved "the 'Dogs almost as much as I do." He added: "Oh, I know they do some crazy things - like turn over our opponent's busses sometimes and now and then they throw one another down the bank and into the street below. But they stamp out Kudzu and they pull for us to win and that ain't bad."
Later, Russell wrote that if the Bulldogs can't get seriously fired up after hearing "the cheers of THE RAILROAD TRACK CROWD" each time the players got off the bus for a home game, "something important is missing beneath the Georgia jersey you wear." Russell also wrote that a fitting way to say farewell to those fans would be for the 1980 team to be "the best Georgia Team ever. Think about it!"
As a final tribute to those diehard fans, Russell had the idea of having players sign t-shirts and throw them to the fans after the Bulldogs arrived for the Tech game. And so that's what they did. And that's how Milner got his hands on a shirt that had Miles' signature on the back. On the front, somewhat obscured by a big brown stain caused by who knows what — perhaps a spilled bourbon cocktail — reads "FAREWELL TRACKS, THE DAWGS" written with a Sharpie along with the date and "SEC CHAMPS 1980."
"All I remember is we were supposed to autograph the shirt and throw it up to the 'Track People,'" Miles said.
Milner, the Logistics Manager with Blackstock's, a storage systems company in Winder, Ga., arrived at Georgia in 1970 and later earned a degree in Risk Management. He also walked on to the football team as an offensive lineman under position coach Mike Castronis.
"Milner, you couldn't break an egg with that block," Milner recalled Castronis saying.
Planted on the railroad tracks for that final home game in 1980, Milner caught the shirt that Miles had signed. He kept it, along with a railroad cleat he grabbed that day, and held on to both items for four decades.
"When I got it," Milner said of the shirt, "I swore that I wasn't going to wash it because all of the ink would come out. I thought, I'm just going to save it."
Earlier this year, he saw the shirt and ultimately decided that it was time to return it to Miles. He later saw Lawrence at a party and asked if she knew Miles, and of course she did.
"I said to her, I think I have something that belongs to him," Milner said, adding that he thought if he tried to get in touch with Miles directly, "he'll think I'm out of my mind."
Lawrence set up last week's lunch, and the two former Bulldogs met and shared stories. When Milner brought up the letter Russell sent, Miles started talking about the t-shirts, not knowing that the one he signed was folded in a bag near his feet.
Milner definitely caught the shirt that Miles signed, but did he catch the shirt that Miles threw?
The surprise Miles had for Milner was who actually threw that shirt. In Miles' memory, it was freshman sensation Herschel Walker who threw Miles' shirt.
While it has been more than 40 years, Miles remembers that day well. "It's embedded in me," he said. And he remembers swiping the shirt Walker was holding and handing the star running back his to throw.
"I wanted to throw Herschel's up into the crowd, and maybe somebody would want the shirt that he was throwing, thinking they were getting his," Miles said with a laugh.
Regardless of who threw it, Milner wound up with Miles' shirt. And the two former Bulldogs, long after either put on a Georgia helmet or threw or caught a t-shirt on Nov. 29, 1980, shared stories, laughs and forged their own connection over a lunch neither will soon forget.
Staff Writer
Seated at a crowded table inside the Savannah Room at the Georgia Center last Thursday were a pair of former Georgia football players. Both were walk-ons when they arrived in Athens less than a decade apart, though one wound up as a defensive starter on the 1980 national championship team and has been with the athletic department ever since.
It was that 1980 season, an Erk Russell letter, and a thrown t-shirt — one that was caught and saved for more than 40 years — that brought Ty Milner and Robert Miles together last week.
Karlene Lawrence, who worked in Georgia's Sports Communications office for many years, arranged the gathering. As it turned out, while Milner was there to surprise Miles with the return of the shirt, Miles had his own surprise to share with Milner.
Before we get to last week's reunion, let's return to 1980.
On Nov. 30, 1980, the Bulldogs beat Georgia Tech, 38-20, to wrap up an undefeated regular season. That game also marked the end of an era for some Georgia fans, those sometimes called "Track People." For years, some fans opted for the free view of the games (and unchecked party) available from the railroad tracks across the street from the East end of Sanford Stadium.
That end of the stadium was closed off after 1980 during a Sanford Stadium expansion, but before that happened, a few thousand fans turned out for the Tech game to enjoy one final chance to watch from the tracks (and, surely, enjoy more than a few farewell toasts).
Long before that final game, Russell, the legendary defensive coordinator and assistant head coach, had let the Bulldogs know how much he appreciated what he called, in a July 7, 1980, letter to the players, "THE RAILROAD TRACK CROWD." Miles, a senior on the 1980 team, had received that letter during the summer. Milner, who graduated in 1975, had acquired a copy of it and brought it to last week's lunch.
Russell wrote that the fans who enjoyed the games from the railroad tracks were "my people" because they loved "the 'Dogs almost as much as I do." He added: "Oh, I know they do some crazy things - like turn over our opponent's busses sometimes and now and then they throw one another down the bank and into the street below. But they stamp out Kudzu and they pull for us to win and that ain't bad."
Later, Russell wrote that if the Bulldogs can't get seriously fired up after hearing "the cheers of THE RAILROAD TRACK CROWD" each time the players got off the bus for a home game, "something important is missing beneath the Georgia jersey you wear." Russell also wrote that a fitting way to say farewell to those fans would be for the 1980 team to be "the best Georgia Team ever. Think about it!"
As a final tribute to those diehard fans, Russell had the idea of having players sign t-shirts and throw them to the fans after the Bulldogs arrived for the Tech game. And so that's what they did. And that's how Milner got his hands on a shirt that had Miles' signature on the back. On the front, somewhat obscured by a big brown stain caused by who knows what — perhaps a spilled bourbon cocktail — reads "FAREWELL TRACKS, THE DAWGS" written with a Sharpie along with the date and "SEC CHAMPS 1980."
"All I remember is we were supposed to autograph the shirt and throw it up to the 'Track People,'" Miles said.
Milner, the Logistics Manager with Blackstock's, a storage systems company in Winder, Ga., arrived at Georgia in 1970 and later earned a degree in Risk Management. He also walked on to the football team as an offensive lineman under position coach Mike Castronis.
"Milner, you couldn't break an egg with that block," Milner recalled Castronis saying.
Planted on the railroad tracks for that final home game in 1980, Milner caught the shirt that Miles had signed. He kept it, along with a railroad cleat he grabbed that day, and held on to both items for four decades.
"When I got it," Milner said of the shirt, "I swore that I wasn't going to wash it because all of the ink would come out. I thought, I'm just going to save it."
Earlier this year, he saw the shirt and ultimately decided that it was time to return it to Miles. He later saw Lawrence at a party and asked if she knew Miles, and of course she did.
"I said to her, I think I have something that belongs to him," Milner said, adding that he thought if he tried to get in touch with Miles directly, "he'll think I'm out of my mind."
Lawrence set up last week's lunch, and the two former Bulldogs met and shared stories. When Milner brought up the letter Russell sent, Miles started talking about the t-shirts, not knowing that the one he signed was folded in a bag near his feet.
Milner definitely caught the shirt that Miles signed, but did he catch the shirt that Miles threw?
The surprise Miles had for Milner was who actually threw that shirt. In Miles' memory, it was freshman sensation Herschel Walker who threw Miles' shirt.
While it has been more than 40 years, Miles remembers that day well. "It's embedded in me," he said. And he remembers swiping the shirt Walker was holding and handing the star running back his to throw.
"I wanted to throw Herschel's up into the crowd, and maybe somebody would want the shirt that he was throwing, thinking they were getting his," Miles said with a laugh.
Regardless of who threw it, Milner wound up with Miles' shirt. And the two former Bulldogs, long after either put on a Georgia helmet or threw or caught a t-shirt on Nov. 29, 1980, shared stories, laughs and forged their own connection over a lunch neither will soon forget.
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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