Richard Appleby is famous in Georgia football lore for his end-around pass to Gene Washington to beat Florida 10-7 in the Gator Bowl in 1975. But there is much more to his story than that one play. He visits with host Blake Giles to talk about his memories. The African-American community was excited in 1970 when Georgia recruited its first black athletes in football, including Appleby and two other Clarke Central teammates, Horace King and Clarence Pope, along with Chuck Kennebrew and Larry West. He was reluctant to go to Georgia, because Vince Dooley emphasized the running game, rather than the passing attack. Richard was a receiver. But his mother convinced him that he needed to be among the first who opened the door for more blacks to come to Georgia. Before he was recruited, Richard’s knowledge of UGA and its sports was limited to Squab Jones, the “water boy.” He sold soft drinks at the stadium, and he watched, but he did not consider himself a fan of the Bulldogs. Like many young blacks, he cheered for the other black athletes that played against Georgia, like Paul Gipson at Houston and Jerry Levias at SMU. Originally, he considered going to a HBCU. Breaking the color barrier at Clarke Central proved more problematic. There were two, separate worlds then. He remembered Andy Johnson as an excellent basketball player. Richard’s first touchdown pass at Georgia was thrown by Johnson. The two became good friends, and his death greatly saddened Richard. At Georgia, Richard roomed with Steve Taylor, a Washington, D.C., native. The interaction between blacks and whites at Georgia had some rough moments. Some white teammates kept him from getting arrested for stealing a car, when he was just warming it up for someone else. His position coach, John Kasay, pushed him to become better and better. The two also became great friends. It did not take long to discover that Vince Dooley was in charge. He credits Coach Dooley with the successful integration of the blacks into the team. Coach Dooley taught him how to “look a man in the eye.” The first five were united by spiritual leadership, intelligence and non-violence. Larry West was the real spiritual leader. He had to redshirt when he had a detached retina during practice. He found the Georgia fans very receptive to their contribution to the team. Blake and Richard agree that the officials robbed Georgia at Tuscaloosa in 1973. Later he and Gene Washington roomed together and became great friends. Gene could run the 100-yard dash in 9.4 seconds. Coach Dooley had been impressed with Richard throwing the football in practice, which set up the game-winning play in 1975. That led to some nice $100 handshakes. Before Herschel Walker, there was Sylvester Boler, who could have been a star. Richard discovered Herschel by watching his high school films. Richard is retired and lives in Hawaii.

Link to documentary on the first five at Georgia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9EOpZ56E_k