GEORGIA VERSUS ALABAMA Not since the Chicago White Sox threw the 1919 World Series has there been a sports story as shocking as this one. This is the story of one fixed game of . Before the played the University of Alabama last September 22, , athletic director of Georgia, gave Paul (Bear) Bryant, head coach of Alabama, Georgia's plays, defensive patterns, all the significant secrets Georgia's football team possessed. The corrupt here were not professional ballplayers gone wrong, as in the 1919 Black Sox scandal. The corrupt were not disrepu- table gamblers, as in the scandals continually afflicting college basketball. The corrupt were two men—Butts and Bryant—employed to educate and to guide young men. How prevalent is the fixing of college foot- ball games? How often do teachers sell out their pupils? We don't know—yet. For now THE we can only be appalled. — THE EDITORS STORY OF A COLLEGE FOOTBALL FIX

A SHOCKING REPORT

OF HOW WALLY BUTTS AND

"BEAR" BRYANT RIGGED

A GAME LAST FALL

By FRANK GRAHAM JR. 80 On their knees, Alabama cheerleaders plead for touchdown. Team scored five. n Friday morning, September 14, still sat at his desk, stunned, and a little attack built around a sensational sopho- O 1962, an insurance salesman in At- bit frightened. more quarterback named Joe Namath. lanta, Georgia, named George Burnett Suddenly he heard an operator's voice: The Georgia team was composed chiefly picked up his .telephone and dialed the "Have you completed your call, sir?" of unsensational sophomores. number of a local public-relations firm. Burnett started. "Yes, operator. By the Various betting lines showed Alabama The number was Jackson 5-3536. The line way, can you give me the number I was favored by from 14 to 17 points. If a man was busy, but Burnett kept trying. On the connected with?" were to bet on Alabama he would want to fourth or fifth attempt he had just dialed The operator supplied him with a num- be pretty sure that his team could win by the final number when he heard what he ber in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, which he more than 17 points, a very uncertain later described as "a series of harsh elec- later identified as that of the University of wager when two major colleges are open- tronic sounds," then the voice of a tele- Alabama. The extension was that of the ing the season together and supposedly phone operator said: athletic department. Burnett then dialed have no reliable line on the other's "Coach Bryant is out on the field, but Jackson 5-3536—the number he originally strengths and weaknesses. he'll come to the phone. Do you want to wanted. This time the call went through Bryant, before the game, certainly did hold, Coach Butts, or shall we call you normally, and he reached a close friend not talk to the press like a man who was back?" and former business associate named playing with a stacked deck. And then a man's voice: "I'll hold, Milton Flack. "The only chance we've got against operator." "Is Wally Butts in your office now, Georgia is by scratching and battling for Like most males over the age of four in Milt?" Burnett asked. our life," he said, managing to keep a , George Burnett is a football fan. "Well, he's in the back office—making straight face. "Put that down so you can He realized that he had been hooked by a phone call, I think. Here he comes now." look at it next week and see how right accident into a long-distance circuit and "Don't mention that I asked about it is." that he was about to overhear a conversa- him," Burnett said hurriedly. "I'll talk to The game itself would have been en- tion between two of the colossi of South- you later." joyed most by a man who gets kicks from ern football. Paul (Bear) Bryant is the Through some curious electronic con- attending executions. Coach Bryant (he head coach and athletic director of the fusion, George Burnett, calling his friend neglected to wear a black hood) snapped Wally Butts, former athletic di- University of Alabama, and Wallace Milt Flack, had hooked into the call every trap. The first time Rakestraw rector of Georgia : He gave away "Wally" Butts was for 22 years the head Wally Butts was making from a rear office passed, Alabama intercepted. Then Ala- Georgia plays, defense patterns. coach of the University of Georgia and, in Flack's suite. He was the third man, bama quickly scored on a 52-yard pass at the time of this conversation, the uni- the odd man. But he was not out. play of its own. The Georgia players, versity's athletic director. Burnett ("I was their moves analyzed and forecast like curious, naturally") kept the phone to Putting the pieces together those of rats in a maze, took a frightful his ear. Through this almost incredible physical beating. coincidence he was to make the most im- In the next few hours Burnett tried to "The Georgia backfield never got out of portant interception in modern foot- piece together what he knew of Georgia its backfield," one spectator said after- ball history. football. Butts, a native of Milledgeville, ward. And reporter Jesse Outlar wrote in After a brief wait Burnett heard the op- Georgia, had joined the university coach- Atlanta's Sunday Journal the following erator say that Coach Bryant was on the ing staff as an assistant in 1938. A year day: "Every time Rakestraw got the ball phone and ready to speak to Coach Butts. later he was named head coach. For 20 he was surrounded by Alabama's All- "Hello, Bear," Butts said. years he was one of the most popular and American center Lee Roy Jordan and his "Hello, Wally. Do you have anything successful coaches in the South. Then eager playmates." for me?" prominent University of Georgia alumni Georgia made only 37 yards rushing, As Burnett listened, Butts began to give abruptly soured on him, and on January completed only 7 of 19 passes for 79 Bryant detailed information about the 6, 1961, he was replaced by a young as- yards, and made its deepest penetration plays and formations Georgia would use sistant coach named . (to Alabama's 41-yard line) on the next to in its opening game eight days later. Butts, filed away in the position of Geor- the last play of the game. Georgia could Georgia's opponent was to be Alabama. gia's athletic director (which he had held do nothing right, and Alabama nothing Butts outlined Georgia's offensive plays along with his coaching job for some wrong. The final score was 35-0, the most for Bryant and told him how Georgia years), was outspokenly bitter about his lopsided score between the two teams planned to defend against Alabama's at- removal from the field. since 1923. tack. Butts mentioned both players and Burnett knew, too, that Butts recently It was a bitter defeat for Georgia's plays by name. Occasionally Bryant asked had been involved in a disastrous specula- promising young team. The 38-year-old Butts about specific offensive or defensive tion in Florida orange groves. Butts had Johnny Griffith, who was beginning his maneuvers, and Butts either answered in lost over $70,000 because, as someone put second season as head coach, was stunned. detail or said, "I don't know about that. it, "you couldn't grow cactus on that Asked about the game by reporter Jim Head coach Paul ( Bear ) Bryant I'll have to find out." land." One of his partners in the deal was Minter, he said: "1 figured Alabama was of Alabama. He took plays for his "One question Bryant asked," Burnett also an associate of Milt Flack at a pub- about three touchdowns better than we defending national champions. recalled later, "was 'How about quick lic-relations firm called Communications were. So that leaves about fifteen points kicks?' And Butts said, 'Don't worry International, the office Burnett had been we can explain only by saying we didn't about quick kicks. They don't have any- trying to call when he hooked into the play any football." one who can do it.' Butts-Bryant conversation. Quarterback Rakestraw came even "Butts also said that Rakestraw [Geor- That afternoon Burnett told Flack closer to the truth. "They were just so gia quarterback Larry Rakestraw] tipped what he had overheard. Both of them, quick and mobile," he told Minter. "They off what he was going to do by the way he though only slightly acquainted with the seemed to know every play we were going held his feet. If one foot was behind the high-spirited, gregarious Butts, liked him, to run." other it meant he would drop back to and they decided to forget the whole Later other members of the Georgia pass. If they were together it meant he was thing. Burnett went home in the evening squad expressed their misgivings to Fur- setting himself to spin and hand off. And and stuffed his notes away in a bureau man Bisher, sports editor of the Atlanta another thing he told Bryant was that drawer. He felt a great sense of relief. The Journal. "The Alabama players taunted Woodward [Brigham Woodward, a de- matter, as far as he was concerned, was us," end Mickey Babb told him. "'You fensive back] committed himself fast on closed. can't run Eighty-eight Pop [a key Georgia pass defense." Eight days later, on September 22, the play] on us,' they'd yell. They knew just As the conversation ended, Bryant Georgia team traveled to Birmingham to what we were going to run, and just what asked Butts if he would be at home on play Alabama before a crowd of 54.000 we called it." Sunday. Butts answered that he would. people at Legion Field. Alabama hardly And Sam Richwine, the squad's trainer, "Fine," Bryant said. "I'll call you there needed any "inside" information to han- told Bisher: "They played just like they Sunday." dle the outmanned Bulldogs. Bryant, one knew what we were going to do. And it Listening to this amazing conversation, of the country's most efficient and most seemed to me a lot like things were when Burnett began to make notes on a scratch ruthless coaches—he likes his players to they played us in 1961 too." (Alabama pad he kept on his desk. Some of the be mean, and once wrote that football walloped Georgia in 1961 by a score of names were strange to him—tackle Ray games are won by "outmeaning" the other 32-6.) Rissmiller's name he jotted down as team—had built a powerhouse that was in Only one man in the Georgia camp did "Ricemiller," and end Mickey Babb's as the middle of a 26-game winning streak. not despair that day. Asked by reporter "Baer" —and some of the jargon stranger Alabama was the defending national still, but he recorded all that he heard. champion, combining a fast-charging and George Burnett of Atlanta: He When the two men had hung up Burnett savage-tackling defense with an effective overheard critical long-distance call. THE FOOTBALL FIX

John Logue about Georgia's disappoint- ahead but to try to keep his name out of ing performance, ex-coach Wally Butts it. Powerful men in Georgia might be of- nodded wisely and set him straight. "Po- fended if Wally Butts was hurt, and tential is the word for what I saw," he Burnett did not want to jeopardize his said. "Unlimited potential." own career just when things were begin- The whole matter weighed heavily on ning to break nicely for him. George Burnett. He began to wonder if he But like so many others, Burnett found had done the right thing when he had put that there is no such thing as a little in- the notes aside and kept his mouth shut. volvement. Griffith pressed to meet him, Now 41 years old, he was still struggling and nervously Burnett agreed. In the mid- to support his large family. Among his dle of January he met with Edwards and five children were a couple of boys who Griffith in the Georgia coach's room at played football. "How would I feel," Bur- Atlanta's Biltmore Hotel. Simultaneously nett asked himself, "if my boys were going a general meeting of the Southeastern out on the field to have their heads banged Conference coaches was taking place at in by a stronger team, and then I discov- the Biltmore. ered they'd been sold out?" He began to The Georgia-Alabama game had been wake up at night and lie there in the dark, forgotten by most of the coaches and thinking about it. athletic officials present. A popular topic In one sense Burnett knew it would be of conversation was a late-season game easiest to keep the notes in the drawer. between Alabama and , in While every citizen is encouraged to re- which Bryant's long winning streak had port a crime to authorities, the penalties been broken. against the man who talks are often more Alabama, a five-point favorite, had severe than those against the culprit. Bur- trailed 7-6 with only a little more than a nett wasn't worried about physical re- minute to play. Then Alabama made a taliation. But there might be social and first down on the Georgia Tech 14-yard economic ones. Football is almost a re- line. Since Bryant had a competent field- ligion in the South; the big-name coaches goal kicker, the classic strategy would there are minor deities. have been to pound away at the middle of Solemnly Wally Butts leads a Georgia football team in locker-room prayer. Butts no longer had his old-time stature, Tech's line, keeping the ball between the but many people were still intensely loyal goalposts and, on third or fourth down, to him (and he was a director of the small order a field-goal try. (Alabama had de- Atlanta insurance agency where Burnett feated Georgia Tech on a last-minute field worked). was a national fig- goal in 1961.) Instead, Bryant's quarter- ure who had made impressive records at back passed on first down. The pass was Texas A&M and Kentucky, and had intercepted, and Georgia Tech held the more recently transformed Alabama from ball during the game's waning seconds, pushovers to national champions. thus scoring last season's greatest upset. Burnett, protective toward his family, During the January conference at the fearful of challenging deities, was troubled Biltmore, Bryant was frequently kidded by a drive to do what was right. But what about that first-down pass. was right? To talk? To create furore, per- Away from the bars and the crowds, in haps even national scandal? Or should he Griffith's room the talk was only of remain silent, ignoring wrong? That was Georgia-Alabama. Griffith listened grimly a safe course, but one that might sit to Burnett's story, then read his notes. heavily on his conscience for all the rest Suddenly he looked up. of his days. "I didn't believe you until just this min- Living in his private misery, he thought ute," he told Burnett. "But here's some- about his past. Burnett himself had thing in your notes that you couldn't played high-school football in San An- possibly have dreamed up . . . this thing tonio, Texas, where he was born. During about our pass patterns. I took this over World War II he bedame a group navi- from Wally Butts when I became coach, gator aboard a Martin B-26. On January and I gave it a different name. Nobody 14,1945, when his plane was shot down uses the old name for this pattern but one over Saint-Vith, Belgium, he was the only man. Wally Butts." survivor. He lost part of his left hand, and spent the rest of the war in a German Suspicions confirmed prison camp. Articulate and personable, he was now the division manager of the Griffith finished reading the notes, then insurance agency. asked Burnett if he could keep them. On January 4 of this year he sat in his Burnett nodded. office with Bob Edwards, a longtime "We knew somebody'd given our plays friend who was also an employee of the to Alabama," Griffith told him, "and agency. Burnett knew that Edwards had maybe to a couple of other teams we played football with Johnny Griffith at played too. But we had no idea it was South Georgia, a junior college. Wally Butts. You know, during the first "You know, Bob," Burnett said, after half of the Alabama game my players they had talked business for a while, kept coming to the sidelines and saying, "there's something that's been eating me `Coach, we been sold out. Their line- up for a long while. I was going to tell you backers are hollering out our plays while about it at the time, and then I decided to we're still calling the signals.' " keep quiet. But I think you should know Griffith has since spoken of his feelings this, being a friend of Johnny Griffith." when he had finished reading Burnett's After Edwards heard the story of the notes, and Burnett and Edwards had left. phone call, he asked if he could report it "I don't think I moved for an hour— to Griffith. Burnett, still reluctant to get thinking what I should do. Then I realized seriously involved, told Edwards to go I didn't have any choice." Griffith went to university officials, told Downcast coach Griffith slouches near them what he knew and said that he bench as Georgia team is slaughtered. would resign if Butts was permitted to Head coach Johnny Griffith of Georgia's beaten Bulldogs: "I never had a chance."

remain in his job. On January 28 a report with a report that he had been arrested reached the newspapers that Butts had two years before for writing bad checks resigned. At first it was denied by Butts and that he was still on probation when and the university. A few days later it was he overheard the conversation between confirmed with the additional news—that Butts and Bryant. Butts would remain as athletic director "Is there anything else in your past until June 1 so that he could qualify for you're trying to cover up?" the regents certain pension benefits. Rumors flooded official demanded. Atlanta. One of the wildest was that Butts Burnett was frightened and angry. "I was mysteriously and suddenly ill and had didn't realize that I was on trial," he said. entered the state hospital at Athens. This He went on to say that he had nothing to was quickly scotched when Georgia Uni- hide, that he had given university officials versity officials maintained that Butts permission to look into his background, merely went for the physical checkup re- and that he had taken a lie-detector test, quired for his pension records. Shortly signed an affidavit that his testimony was afterward he was seen in Atlanta at a true and permitted his statements to be Georgia Tech basketball game. recorded on tape. His notes had been But if Butts was seen publicly, events taken from him and placed by Barwick in involving him remained closely guarded the safety-deposit vault of an Atlanta secrets. Burnett was asked to come to the bank. Atlanta office of M. Cook Barwick, an "I was arrested on a bad-check charge," attorney representing the University of Burnett admitted. "I was way behind on Georgia. There he met Dr. 0. C. Ader- my bills and two of the checks I wrote— hold, the university president. Burnett's one was for twenty-five dollars and the story was carefully checked. He then other for twenty dollars—bounced. I was agreed to take a lie-detector test, which fined one hundred dollars and put on pro- was administered by polygraph expert bation for a year. I think that anybody Sidney McMain, in the Atlanta Federal who is fair will find I got into trouble be- building. Burnett passed the test to every- cause I've always had trouble handling body's satisfaction. my financial affairs and not because I acted with criminal intent." Phone-company check Burnett was shaken by this meeting. He felt that he had been candid with the uni- Next an official of the Southern Bell versity but that he had also angered many Telephone Company checked and found friends of Wally Butts. He signed a paper that a call had been made from the office at the officials' request which gave the of Communications International to the university permission to have his war rec- University of Alabama extension noted ords opened and examined. He cared by Burnett on his scratch pad. This infor- about his reputation. He was proud to mation corroborated Burnett's statement have been a navigator. that the call had been made at about "Doctor Aderhold was always very 10:25 in the morning and had lasted 15 or kind to me at those meetings," Burnett 16 minutes. said later, "but I didn't like the attitude of "I jotted down the time when the call some of the others. I began to feel that was completed," Burnett said. "It was I'd be hurt when and if these people 10:40. This is an old navigator's habit, I decided to make this mess public. That's guess. For instance, I know that I was when I went to my lawyer, and we agreed shot down over Saint-Vith at exactly that I should tell my story to The Saturday 10:21, because when the bombardier Evening Post." called 'Bombs away!' I looked at my Now the net closed on Wally Butts. On watch and wrote down the time. A few February 23 the University of Georgia's seconds later we got hit." athletic board met hastily in Atlanta and University officials still nursed reserva- confronted Butts with Bumett's testi- tions about Burnett's story because of the mony. Challenged, Butts refused to take a fantastic coincidence that had enabled lie-detector test. The next day's news- him to overhear Butts's call. Then, during papers reported that he had submitted his one of the many conferences he attended resignation, effective immediately, "for in attorney Barwick's office in the purely personal and business purposes." Rhodes-Haverty Building, a second co- "I still think I'm able to coach a little," incidence, equally odd, cleared the air. Butts told a reporter that day, "and I feel Barwick placed a call to Doctor Aderhold I can help a pro team." at the university. Suddenly, Barwick and The chances are that Wally Butts will Aderhold found themselves somehow never help any football team again. Bear braided into a four-way conversation with Bryant may well follow him into ob- two unknown female voices. The two men livion—a special hell for that grim extro- burst into nervous laughter. Burnett's vert—for in a very real sense he betrayed story gained a little more credence. the boys he was pledged to lead. The in- February 21 was a painful day for vestigation by university and South- George Burnett. He was summoned once eastern Conference officials is continuing; more to Barwick's office, because Bernie motion pictures of other games are being Moore, the commissioner of the South- scrutinized; where it will end no one so eastern Conference, "wanted to ask some far can say. But careers will be ruined, questions." On Burnett's arrival he found that is sure. A great sport will be perma- not only Moore but Doctor Aderhold, nently damaged. For many people the two members of the university's board of bloom must pass forever from college regents, and another man identified as football. , a friend of Wally Butts. "I never had a chance, did I?" Coach From the start, Burnett sensed a mood Johnny Griffith said bitterly to a friend of hostility in the air. The ball was carried the other day. "I never had a chance." by one of the members of the Georgia When a fixer works against you, that's Butts and Bryant meet as friends, exchange warm greetings before the board of regents, who confronted Burnett the way he likes it. THE END Georgia-Alabama game at Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama, in 1960.

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