continued from page his business ….

continued from page

his business savvy got the attention of the Bronfman family, who owned the brand.

Leebern expanded Georgia Crown into Alabama and Tennessee. He developed satellite distribution centers across the Peach state. As the company grew, he hired former teammates and Bulldog football players as salesmen. He has always had a deep and abiding commitment to the University of Georgia, serving on the UGA athletic board and was a long-time appointee of the Board of Regents.

Lettermen from 1957-59 teams will tell you the thing that all players on all teams consider the ultimate import—that Don Leebern was a good teammate. If you really knew him, you are likely to recall a time when he befriended you and your family. He was very generous to his friends.

There was an incident on campus that helps define the Don Leebern we all knew and appreciated.

Sanford Drive runs down the middle of campus and is now closed to automobile traffic. In the late fifties, however, it was an active thoroughfare. One day, a blind student was crossing the street in front of the old Commerce- Journalism Building.

A jerk of a student easing down Sanford Drive suddenly sat down on his horn, causing the blind student to panic as he frantically tried to find solid and safe ground with his white cane.

Leebern went over to the driver’s side of the car, opened the door and gave the driver a “knuckle sandwich.” As the driver slumped over the steering wheel unconscious, ‘ole No. 77 unceremoniously headed off to class.

That is one of the many images Don Leebern’s former teammates and old friends have of this “Damm Good Dawg,”