View source for Wally Butts

{{Short description|American football player and coach (1905–1973)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = Wally Butts
| image = Wally Butts 1963.jpg
| image_upright = 0.6
| caption = Butts, circa 1942
| alt = 
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|2|7|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Milledgeville, Georgia]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1973|12|17|1905|2|7|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Athens, Georgia]], U.S.
| alma_mater = 
| player_years1 = 1925–1927
| player_team1 = [[Mercer Bears football|Mercer]]
| player_positions = [[End (gridiron football)|End]]
| coach_years1 = 1929–1931
| coach_team1 = Madison A&M (GA)
| coach_years2 = 1932–1934
| coach_team2 = [[Georgia Military Bulldogs football|Georgia Military]]
| coach_years3 = 1935–1937
| coach_team3 = [[Louisville Male High School|Louisville MS (KY)]]
| coach_years4 = 1938
| coach_team4 = [[Georgia Bulldogs football|Georgia]] (assistant)
| coach_years5 = 1939–1960
| coach_team5 = Georgia
| admin_years1 = 1948–1963
| admin_team1 = [[Georgia Bulldogs|Georgia]]
| overall_record = 140–86–9 (college)
| bowl_record = 5–2–1
| tournament_record = 
| championships = 1 [[College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS|national]] (1942)<br />4 [[Southeastern Conference|SEC]] (1942, 1946, 1948, 1959)
| awards = 3× [[Southeastern Conference football individual awards#Coach of the Year|SEC Coach of the Year]] (1942, 1946, 1959)<br />[[Florida–Georgia football rivalry#Florida–Georgia Hall of Fame|Florida–Georgia Hall of Fame]]
| coaching_records = 
| CFBHOF_year = 1997
| CFBHOF_id = 1721
}}
'''James Wallace Butts Jr.''' (February 7, 1905 – December 17, 1973) was an American [[college football]] player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head coach at the [[University of Georgia]] from 1939 to 1960, compiling a record of 140–86–9. His [[Georgia Bulldogs football]] teams won a [[College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS|national championship]] in 1942 and four [[Southeastern Conference]] titles (1942, 1946, 1948, 1959). Butts was also the [[athletic director]] at Georgia from 1939 to 1963. He was inducted posthumously into the [[College Football Hall of Fame]] as a coach in 1997.

==Playing career==
Butts was a 1929 graduate of [[Mercer University]] where he played [[college football]] under coach [[Bernie Moore]],<ref name=Thilenius>{{cite book |last1=Thilenius |first1=Ed |last2=Koger |first2=Jim |title=No Ifs, No Ands, a Lot of Butts: Twenty-one Years of Georgia Football |year=1960 |publisher=Foote & Davies Company |location=[[Atlanta, Georgia]] |lccn=60015266 |page=8}}</ref> as well as baseball and basketball. He was an alumnus of [[Pi Kappa Phi]] fraternity.

==Coaching career==
Butts never failed to turn out an undefeated championship team at the three high schools he coached before arriving at the University of Georgia in 1938. He coached at Madison (Ga.) A&M from 1928–31; Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, 1932–34; and Male High in Louisville, 1935–37. Butts lost only ten games in ten years of high school coaching. Butts came to the [[University of Georgia]] as an assistant to [[Joel Hunt]] in 1938. Hunt left after a 5–4–1 season to take over at the [[University of Wyoming]] and Butts was elevated to the position of head coach, which he held for 22 seasons through 1960.

Butts' assistants in his first year as head coach were [[Bill Hartman]], [[Howell Hollis]], Quinton Lumpkin, [[Jules V. Sikes]], [[Forrest Towns]], and [[Jennings B. Whitworth]]. During his tenure as head coach, Georgia won its first consensus [[NCAA Division I FBS national football championship|national championship]] in 1942 and claimed another national title in 1946.<ref name=champion>[http://www.georgiadogs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=46724&SPID=3571&DB_OEM_ID=8800&ATCLID=526158 Georgia Football National Championships]</ref> [[Ralph Jordan]], future head football coach at [[Auburn University]], joined the Georgia coaching staff in October 1946 as an assistant line coach. Butts was a proponent of the passing game in an era of "three yards and a cloud of dust". He developed innovative, intricate pass routes that were studied by other coaches. He was often called "the little round man" as he was five feet, six inches tall and had a squat body.

Butts coached 1942 [[Heisman Trophy]] winner [[Frank Sinkwich]] and 1946 [[Maxwell Award]] winner [[Charley Trippi]]. The [[1942 Georgia Bulldogs football team|1942 Georgia team]] won the [[1943 Rose Bowl|Rose Bowl]] over [[UCLA Bruins football|UCLA]], finished #2 in the [[AP Poll]], and was named a national championship by a number of selectors. Butts' teams also won four [[Southeastern Conference]] championships (1942, 1946, 1948 and 1959).<ref name=winners>[http://www.georgiadogs.com/attachments1/1426.pdf?SPSID=46724&SPID=3571&DB_OEM_ID=8800 All-Time Winningest Division I-A Teams]</ref> As head coach, Butts posted a 140–86–9 record (.615 winning percentage), including a [[bowl game|bowl]] record of 5–2–1.<ref>[https://www.ncaa.org/library/records/football/football_records_book/2006/2006_d1_football_records_book.pdf Official 2006 NCAA Divisions I-A and II-A Football Records Book] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061222165412/http://www.ncaa.org/library/records/football/football_records_book/2006/2006_d1_football_records_book.pdf |date=2006-12-22 }}, page 331</ref>  [[Johnny Griffith (coach)|Johnny Griffith]], a former player and assistant coach to Butts, succeeded him as head coach from 1961–63.

==Later life and honors==
{{See also|Bear Bryant#Defamation suit}}

Butts resigned as UGA's head football coach in December 1960. He remained as [[athletic director]] until February 1963, when he resigned after a scandal erupted over a magazine article alleging corrupt practices, which Butts stridently denied.

In 1963, Butts filed a [[slander and libel|libel]] [[lawsuit]] against ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'' after it ran "The Story of a College Football Fix" in its March 23, 1963, issue alleging that he and [[Alabama Crimson Tide football|Alabama]] head coach [[Bear Bryant]] had conspired to fix an upcoming Georgia-Alabama game. The University of Georgia and Georgia Attorney General Eugene Cook conducted separate investigations. ''[[Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts]]'', as it ultimately became when it reached the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]], was a landmark case that expanded the definition of "public figures" in libel cases. The court ruled in his favor in 1967, and ''The Saturday Evening Post'' was ordered to pay $3.06 million to the Butts family in damages, the largest settlement awarded at its time in history.

This settlement was seen as a contributing factor among many others in the demise of the venerable ''Saturday Evening Post'' six years later.<ref name="NYTButtsObit">{{cite news |title=Wally Butts, Ex-Georgia Coach, Dies; Won Large Libel Suit Coached Noted Players |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=46 |date=December 18, 1973 }}</ref> Both Butts and Bryant had sued for $10 million each. Bryant settled for $300,000. In 1986, Professor James Kirby of the [[University of Tennessee]] School of Law published ''Fumble: Bear Bryant, Wally Butts and the Great College Football Scandal'', which argued that the courts had made the wrong decision. Kirby had been the Southeastern Conference's official observer at the trial.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}

Butts was inducted into the [[Georgia Sports Hall of Fame]] in 1966 and posthumously into the [[College Football Hall of Fame]] in 1997.<ref>{{College Football HoF|id=1721}}</ref> Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall, athletic administration offices and sports museum at the University of Georgia, was built in honor of Butts and his predecessor as coach, Harry Mehre.

After ending his football career, Butts established a credit insurance business in Athens and Atlanta, where he became very successful. Butts died of a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] after returning from a walk in 1973.<ref name=SandS>{{cite news |title=Wally Butts; Dropped by university, mentor was not forgotten by Bulldog fans |work=European Stars and Stripes |page=21 |date=December 21, 1973 }}</ref> He was buried in [[Oconee Hill Cemetery]] in [[Athens, Georgia]].<ref name=NYTButtsObit />

==Family==
Butts was the son of James Wallace Butts Sr. (July 9, 1881 – January 2, 1959) and wife Annie (1881 – ?). Wally married Winifred Faye Taylor (July 12, 1907 – June 27, 1990) on February 19, 1929. They had three daughters, Faye, Jean and Nancy. Butts had numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. Many members of the Butts family have gone on to support the University of Georgia in his honor.

==Head coaching record==
===College===
{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = both }}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[Georgia Bulldogs football|Georgia Bulldogs]]
 | conf      = [[Southeastern Conference]]
 | startyear = 1939
 | endyear   = 1960
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1939 college football season|1939]]
 | name         = [[1939 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 5–6
 | conference   = 1–3
 | confstanding = 8th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1940 college football season|1940]]
 | name         = [[1940 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 5–4–1
 | conference   = 2–3–1
 | confstanding = 7th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1941 college football season|1941]]
 | name         = [[1941 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 9–1–1
 | conference   = 3–1–1
 | confstanding = 4th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     = [[1942 Orange Bowl|Orange]]
 | bowloutcome  = W
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     = 14
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = national
 | year         = [[1942 college football season|1942]]
 | name         = [[1942 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 11–1
 | conference   = 5–1
 | confstanding = 1st
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     = [[1943 Rose Bowl|Rose]]
 | bowloutcome  = W
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     = 2
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1943 college football season|1943]]
 | name         = [[1943 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 6–4
 | conference   = 0–3
 | confstanding = 4th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1944 college football season|1944]]
 | name         = [[1944 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 7–3
 | conference   = 4–2
 | confstanding = T–3rd
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1945 college football season|1945]]
 | name         = [[1945 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 9–2
 | conference   = 4–2
 | confstanding = 4th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     = [[1946 Oil Bowl|Oil]]
 | bowloutcome  = W
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     = 18
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = conference
 | year         = [[1946 college football season|1946]]
 | name         = [[1946 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 11–0
 | conference   = 5–0
 | confstanding = T–1st
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     = [[1947 Sugar Bowl|Sugar]]
 | bowloutcome  = W
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     = 3
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1947 college football season|1947]]
 | name         = [[1947 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 7–4–1
 | conference   = 3–3
 | confstanding = T–4th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     = [[1948 Gator Bowl|Gator]]
 | bowloutcome  = T
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = conference
 | year         = [[1948 college football season|1948]]
 | name         = [[1948 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 9–2
 | conference   = 6–0
 | confstanding = 1st
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     = [[1949 Orange Bowl|Orange]]
 | bowloutcome  = L
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     = 8
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1949 college football season|1949]]
 | name         = [[1949 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 4–6–1
 | conference   = 1–4–1
 | confstanding = T–10th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1950 college football season|1950]]
 | name         = [[1950 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 6–3–3
 | conference   = 3–2–1
 | confstanding = 6th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     = [[Presidential Cup Bowl|Presidential Cup]]
 | bowloutcome  = L
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1951 college football season|1951]]
 | name         = [[1951 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 5–5
 | conference   = 2–4
 | confstanding = T–9th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1952 college football season|1952]]
 | name         = [[1952 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 7–4
 | conference   = 4–3
 | confstanding = 5th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1953 college football season|1953]]
 | name         = [[1953 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 3–8
 | conference   = 1–5
 | confstanding = T–10th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1954 college football season|1954]]
 | name         = [[1954 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 6–3–1
 | conference   = 3–2–1
 | confstanding = 5th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1955 college football season|1955]]
 | name         = [[1955 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 4–6
 | conference   = 2–5
 | confstanding = 11th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1956 college football season|1956]]
 | name         = [[1956 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 3–6–1
 | conference   = 1–6
 | confstanding = 12th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1957 college football season|1957]]
 | name         = [[1957 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 3–7
 | conference   = 3–4
 | confstanding = 9th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1958 college football season|1958]]
 | name         = [[1958 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 4–6
 | conference   = 2–4
 | confstanding = 10th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = conference
 | year         = [[1959 college football season|1959]]
 | name         = [[1959 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 10–1
 | conference   = 7–0
 | confstanding = 1st
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     = [[1960 Orange Bowl|Orange]]
 | bowloutcome  = W
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      = 5
 | ranking2     = 5
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1960 college football season|1960]]
 | name         = [[1960 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]]
 | overall      = 6–4
 | conference   = 4–3
 | confstanding = 6th
 | bowl         =
 | bowlname     =
 | bowloutcome  =
 | bcsbowl      =
 | ranking      =
 | ranking2     =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 |name       = Georgia
 |overall    = 140–86–9
 |confrecord = 66–60–5
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
 | overall  = 140–86–9
 | bowls    = no
 | poll     = two
 | polltype =
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Linn |first=Gardner | year=2002 | url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/ArticlePrintable.jsp?id=h-729 | title=Wally Butts (1905–1973) | encyclopedia=The New Georgia Encyclopedia | access-date=March 22, 2006}}
* {{cite book |last1=Thilenius |first1=Ed |last2=Koger |first2=Jim |title=No Ifs, No Ands, a Lot of Butts: Twenty-one Years of Georgia Football |year=1960 |publisher=Foote & Davies Company |location=[[Atlanta, Georgia]] |lccn=60015266}}
* James Kirby, ''[https://www.amazon.com/Fumble-Bryant-College-Football-Scandal/dp/0151341435 Fumble: Bear Bryant, Wally Butts and the Great College Football Scandal]'' (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1986).
* Albert Figone, ''[http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/52dka7ht9780252037283.html Cheating the Spread: Gamblers, Point Shaver, and Game Fixers in College Football and Basketball]'' (University of Illinois Press, 2012).

==External links==
* {{College Football HoF|1721}}
* {{Find a Grave|13036285}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Butts, Wally}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:American football ends]]
[[Category:Georgia Bulldogs athletic directors]]
[[Category:Georgia Bulldogs football coaches]]
[[Category:Georgia Military Bulldogs football coaches]]
[[Category:Mercer Bears football players]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Football Coaches Association]]
[[Category:High school football coaches in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:High school football coaches in Kentucky]]
[[Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Milledgeville, Georgia]]
[[Category:Coaches of American football from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Burials at Oconee Hill Cemetery]]