Barbara Dooley was adamant.
Nope, her husband, Vince, was not going to Honduras this year and neither was she.
No way.
She had seen how physically taxing previous HAVE (Honduras Agalta Valley Education) Foundation mission trips were on her 82-year-old husband, who was going on his third trip. She knew he would be out there with the younger guys hauling wheelbarrows of dirt. And although the former head coach of the University of Georgia football team is probably in better shape than many his age, "he's not a young chicken anymore," she said. "Well, hell, I didn't want a dead body coming back to me."
And for her, “black-and-white TV is camping.”
Why, she wanted to know, would her husband go all the way to Honduras to help poor people when there were plenty right here in Georgia who needed a hand?
Each year, the Atlanta-based HAVE Foundation invites people to go to a remote area in Honduras for mission work, although it is not church-affiliated. The team, called the Wilderness Team, was put together about 16 years ago by public relations executive Bob Hope, and it includes friends and members of the business community.
For a week, they stay at a ranch, operated by Christian-based HOI (Honduras Outreach), which aids the schools, surrounding villages and several clinics. Groups, including HAVE, work in villages putting in chimneys and cement floors, digging latrines and working with residents.
The previous year, however, one of the projects included building a soccer field that would bear Dooley’s name — something that meant a lot to him.
He also wanted to share with his wife what he had experienced in the Agalta Valley, where most of the valley’s 50,000 residents are poor and lack even the basic necessities like running water and electricity.
“I think they found the formula here to help people with education, health and economic development,” said Vince Dooley, as he gazed across the ranch’s green acreage waiting for the Honduran president’s helicopter to land. “I’m just glad to be a part of it. It’s a small part, but a part.”
“To be perfectly honest with you, I can’t ever remember Vincent telling me not to do something or to do something as much as a hardhead as I am,” said Barbara Dooley, 75, an author and speaker. “So, one night we’re sitting at dinner and he said to me, ‘Barbara, I really want you to go.’ Well, that did it.”
He also reminded her that it would be their 55th anniversary, the previous two they had missed being together because he was in Honduras. He teased her that they would be going to a beautiful resort called paradise.
The Dooleys were among 60 or so people who recently went to the far-flung Agalta Valley, located a grueling seven-hour drive though steep mountains — sometimes on unpaved roads — from the capital, Tegucigalpa. The trip was made with private security in tow. While the group has never had any problems, Hope said the area is considered “their version of the wild West,” so better safe than sorry.
This trip was particularly significant because Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and first lady Ana Garcia de Hernandez were scheduled to attend the dedication of the soccer field named after Dooley. The trip also included the 5 billionth shipment of medicines to underdeveloped nations by Georgia-based MAP International, a global Christian health organization that works with people living in poverty to develop healthier communities.
Not long ago, Dooley was just another gringo there to help. In soccer country, no one really knew much — if anything — about American football or a place called the University of Georgia. They later learned that this guy who came to help was someone big — one of the most revered college football coaches in the United States.
Last year, the Honduran president visited Atlanta, where he met Dooley at an event. Hope, who introduced them, told Hernandez that the coach was “probably the most popular person in the state of Georgia.” He mentioned that there was talk of having a stadium named after Dooley but that “we’re going to beat them to that” in Honduras.
Hernandez said if that happened, he might come by. He had his assistant pencil it in his calendar.
Now, here they both were in a remote area of Honduras, where Barbara Dooley was on a ranch, though nice, sharing a dormlike room with seven other women.
There were no televisions or wine.
At the dedication, Dooley sat side by side with the president.
Vince Dooley is “part of the icing on the cake,” Hope said. “He makes it special.” This year, the trip also included former Chicago Bears and Marist School player Patrick Mannelly. “That combination just makes it electric.”
For the Dooleys, though, it was life-changing.
He’s modest about having a soccer stadium so far from home named after him. “It’s really about the people here. Just to come here and see the children in their uniforms … it’s so rewarding.”
The Dooleys fit in well with the group, said C. David Moody, CEO of Moody Construction Co., who nicknamed Barbara Dooley “coachette.”
He first met Vince Dooley in 2013 on a similar trip, and the two shared a room with other men. “What impressed me on our first trip was how he got up at 5 a.m. and exercised and worked hard with everyone making concrete. He was just one of the fellas.”
He was equally impressed with the coach’s wife, who was also a hard worker. The two are “just really down-to-earth people that have been blessed with a interesting journey of life,” Moody said. “They allow their faith to shine in their actions.”
Will they be back next year? For sure, the Dooleys said. Once back in Georgia, they decided to sponsor a child and can’t wait to return and meet 14-year-old Miguel.
“I felt so good with myself after I got home,” said Barbara Dooley, who worked on art projects with schoolchildren and sewed, while her husband hauled dirt. “I actually did something for somebody else for a change, and they let you know how much it means to them. It was really a blessing.”
