Loran - Smith
Loran
Every year at this time, I usually hark back to the Tech game of 1957 when Theron Sapp and Georgia enjoyed an unf orgettable moment that caused the chapel bell to ring well past midnight.
On that Nov. 30th afternoon, the “Macon Mauler,” as he was sometimes called, scored from one yard out to end an eight-game winning streak by the Yellow Jackets. It also started a four-year win streak for the Bulldogs.
It was a tough hard-fought contest with Sapp recovering a fumble to set up the touchdown that made him one of the most beloved players ever to wear the Red & Black.
The Theron Sapp story has so many vignettes that make him especial. In the summer of 1955 while practicing for the Georgia High School All-Star game, he suffered a broken bone in his neck. That kept him out of the summer classic and caused him to wear a body cast for over a year.
Through it all, he planned to return to football—even though a doctor told him, “If you were my son, I would not let you play.” Thundering Theron smiled but respectfully said: “Well, I am not your son, and I am going to play.”
He proceeded to play for three years with the Bulldogs (56-57-58) and then eight years in the National Football League with the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Along the way, he experienced constant injury adversity—broken pelvis, broken leg, broken left and right hands, broken fingers on each of his hands, and sprains ad nauseum, but he stayed in the lineup. This brings about the question-statement: Has anybody wanted to play football more than this man?
He was a member of the 1960 Eagles team that won the NFL championship over Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers, 17-13.
He left the NFL with a champion- continued from page
ship ring and a decent retirement for his sundown years, but he needed a job.
With some of his savings from playing pro football and an enterprising banker, he bought three Maryland Fried Chicken franchises in Augusta. He did everything: purchasing, taking inventory, frying chicken, greeting customers and efficiently managing the entire operation. When the day was over, he took a bank bag with cash and receipts home with him, sleeping with triple locks on his bedroom door until he could get to the bank the next morning.
He and his late wife, Kay, who could have been Doris Day‘s double (she once won a “Doris Day Look Alike,” contest) settled down on 40 acres in nearby Evans and raised their two girls ( Jan and Molly) and two boys (Theron Jr. and Wade).
Kay was into horses and that acreage allowed barns and stables to accommodate her outdoor passion which also confirmed that Theron was not the only athlete in the family. Kay was also an artist and her home was tastefully decorated with her art, mostly featuring her family.
Now 89, the Drought Breaker lives a quiet life with his kids checking on him as he enjoys walks on his property with his dogs and keeps up with his two favorite teams, the Bulldogs and the Eagles.
He will be inducted into the State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in February. “I’m looking forward to going back to my hometown for this nice honor,” he said when he learned that he had been elected by the Hall’s honors court, earlier this fall. His doting family will be there to help celebrate his election.
Through the years, I have often crossed paths with the “Drought Breaker.” I got to know many of his Eagle teammates like Sonny Jurgensen, Tommy McDonald, Chuck Bednarik, and Billy Ray Barnes.
When I was stationed at Groton, Conn. with the U. S. Coast Guard, there were many weekends when I would spend Friday and Saturday nights in the City and then take a train early Sunday morning from Penn Station to 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, which was a 15-minute walk to Franklin Field, where the Eagles played their games.
The Drought Breaker would leave a game ticket for me at Will Call. It was a very good seat and I always sat with his girlfriend— same seat, but not always the same girl.
My favorite memory of the Drought Breaker, however, will always be his scoring one of the memorable touchdowns in Georgia history.
