Buck Godfrey to be inducted into Atlanta Hall of Fame

A list of Buck Godfrey’s accomplishments seems to speak for itself.

The Southwest DeKalb football coach boasts 24 playoff appearances in 27 years, which includes 13 region championships and one state title.

“You can’t mention DeKalb without Buck Godfrey,” said Chris Ward, former player and current Georgia State assistant coach. “He made people proud to go to Southwest.”

With 250 wins, Godfrey ranks among the top 10 in winning percentage in the state’s high school history and stands alone as the winningest coach in DeKalb County.

Now he will have the honor of forever standing in the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame.

Godfrey will be enshrined at the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday alongside three other 2010 inductees: former Braves pitcher Tom Glavine, Hall of Fame golfer Larry Nelson and Georgia State football coach Bill Curry.

The four will round out a group of 35 individuals in the Hall of Fame, which began in 2005. The Hall of Fame has no current permanent location, but may become a traveling exhibit in the future.

Of the 35 members, there is just one high school coach. And while his accolades may speak for themselves, it’s when Godfrey brags of his accomplishments that volumes are spoken about the man.

“We’ve got more scholarships than wins,” he said. “My vision is to save all children. I know I can’t do it, but I can save a few.”

Under Godfrey, 258 athletes have received college scholarships, and 193 Panthers have earned their college degrees.

“When I came in, we didn’t have the top athletes,” he said. “But soon I realized, shoot, we can do this. We brought in a new system. The rest is history.”

That history includes replacing a wishbone formation for the Wing-T and transforming a program of obscurity into one of success.

For 27 years, the team has averaged 9.2 wins per season, which places it among the 25 winningest programs in the state.

"I wanted to leave no doubt once I left my workplace," he said. "I didn’t have a specific vision for football, but I knew we could win."

But luxury had no place in Godfrey’s system. During some three-a-day practices, Ward recalled heading out to nearby woods to practice hitting.

Trees became the targets of choice.

“Southwest DeKalb, we didn’t have a lot of money,” he said. “We didn’t have a whole lot of equipment. We had to improvise.”

Southwest also needed teachers. Godfrey was a natural candidate and taught for almost two decades before retiring in 2005.

Upon arriving at Southwest, Godfrey already had published two books of poetry. "Moods of a Black Man" explored the frustrations associated with segregation and integration while "Songs For My Father" was dedicated to his dad. After retiring, Godfrey published "The Team Nobody Would Play," a recollection of the struggles of an all-black youth baseball All-Star team on which he played in 1955.

In his first year coaching and teaching, Godfrey was rewarded with having his classroom burned and his car keys stolen. But he said losses of material possessions or losses on the field haven’t been his greatest struggles.

“The difficulties were seeing kids come through who were so crippled by bad parenting, worse environments,” he said.

“I’ve had a couple of little girls get pregnant on me -- that hurts. A couple of boys in prison -- that hurt. You see the potential. You think you got the blueprint, but you can’t reach them.”

Still, almost three decades of success has reached hordes of young men who still consider themselves Godfrey’s disciples.

Some remained in football, like UAB assistant coach Steve Davenport. Others, like former NFL guard Cosey Coleman, returned to school to further their education.

“We listened to everything he said,” Ward said. “He told me to jump, I jumped sky high.”