ATHENS — The Georgia Bulldogs always have been well-represented in the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, but no better than they will be Saturday.
Three Bulldogs will be inducted during ceremonies at the City Auditorium in Macon on Saturday, one of them posthumously. Headlining the list is former UGA football coach Mark Richt. Also going in Saturday are tennis star Al Parker and longtime baseball coach Steve Webber. Webber, who led the Bulldogs to the 1990 College World Series championship, died in November.
Richt’s induction continues what has been an eventful past few months for the Bulldogs’ 15-year coach and that will continue in 2023. In December, Richt was inducted into the Peach Bowl Hall of Fame on the eve of Georgia winning its College Football Playoff semifinal game against Ohio State. Earlier this month, it was announced that he was elected to the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame. That ceremony will take place in December.
Richt was informed of his national selection Jan. 9, the day that Georgia played TCU for the national championship in Los Angeles. The Bulldogs won 65-7 to secure their second consecutive title.
“I came home from a morning workout and my wife says, ‘You need to open this box that just came in the mail,’” Richt shared on an ESPN radio show a few days later. “I opened it up, and there’s a football in there saying what’s up and a note that said, ‘You’re one of the less than 1% of 5.6 million people that have played or coached the game to be inducted, so welcome to the club.’ So we hugged and cried and laughed and had a great moment.”
Richt called winning his first SEC title at UGA in 2002 (Georgia’s first in 20 years) his favorite moment with the Bulldogs. He also coached two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks at Florida State, where he helped the Seminoles win two national championships.
At Georgia, Richt compiled a record of 145-51 (.740) as head coach from 2001-15 and was named SEC coach of the year in 2002 and 2005. He led the Bulldogs to two SEC championships (2002 and 2005), played for three others, played in bowl games in all 15 seasons (10-5) and recorded eight top-10 finishes.
Richt, 63, is retired and living in Athens.
Parker came to UGA in 1988 as one of the more accomplished junior tennis players in history, with a record 25 titles. While playing No. 1 singles for the Bulldogs, he won a pair of individual championships, as well as 10 other singles and doubles titles. An All-American on the court all four years, he managed a 4.0 GPA and was named the 1991 Academic All-American of the Year.
Webber spent 16 seasons at the helm of the program and remains the coach with the most wins in Georgia baseball history. The Bulldogs became the first SEC team to capture the CWS title in 1990. He was named SEC coach of the year in 1987 and earned national coach of the year in 1990. Webber won 500 games with the Bulldogs (with 403 losses and one tie) before resigning at the end of the 1996 season. He spent the balance of his career working as a pitching coach and scout for several professional organizations, including the New York Yankees, San Diego Padres and Houston Astros.
Other inductees in the Class of 2023 include Jackie Bradford, Buck Godfrey, Andruw Jones, Shawn Jones, Stan Kasten and Ron Reed. Also being inducted posthumously this year are longtime Georgia Southern baseball coach Jack Stallings, Georgia Tech standout Demaryius Thomas and Georgia Military College football coach Bert Williams.
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