Subject: Greatest headline in the history of sports journalism . . .


Happy Dicks was a linebacker and Billy Payne an End at UGA in the mid 60's, which will make this article about the journalist from Georgia, Lewis Grizzard, much more enjoyable and it is a true story. This was written by one of his college buddies – catfish.



Greatest headline in the history of sports journalism . . .



On the eve of the UGA/South Carolina game 41 years ago, I was hanging out with three of my fraternity brothers (the Hound, Tex, and Bake), drinking a few cold PBRs at the old Callaway Gardens Apartment on the Atlanta Highway. We were discussing the up coming game against the Gamecocks and lamenting the fact that we were going in with several key players out with injuries, including our starting DE, Billy Payne and his roommate, MLB, Happy Dicks.

About 10:00, another fraternity brother, Lewis Grizzard, came in after he got off work. Our buddy was inactive at the time because he had gotten married over the summer to his high school sweetheart, Nancy. In addition to taking a full load at the university, he was working two jobs to help pay for (as he called it) 'this expensive habit'. A talented young man, he was writing two columns daily - one in the morning for the Athens Banner Herald and one in the afternoon for the Athens Daily News.

Lewis walked in, went straight to the refrigerator, got a beer, plopped down in a chair, pushed his glasses back up his nose and announced, 'Gentlemen, with any luck at all, tomorrow morning you'll witness journalistic history. I have submitted my column and if it gets by my editor - and there's a good chance of that happening, since he 'took drunk' earlier this evening - you'll enjoy the greatest headline in the history of sports journalism.'

He refused to tell us what it was, and to be honest with you, we all forgot about it. As Lewis went home to his lovely, young bride, the four of us went back over to the fraternity house to get a head start on the weekend.

The next morning, as usual, I went straight for the Sports Section. As I pulled it out, I could do nothing but smile, because our buddy had pulled it off. To this day, Vince Dooley calls it his most memorable column ever - all because of the headline, which read:

DOGS TO PLAY COCKS WITH DICKS OUT

There's no doubt about it, it was 'the greatest headline in the history of sports journalism'.

Several years ago the local paper ran an article wherein the highschool cheerleaders were seeking donations for the high school athletics department. Long story short;the headline read,"Cheerleaders seek athletic supporters".

Bill Cosby told the story about the college team, who lost their star running back, Peters.
First headline, which was rejected by the dean, was, "Team to play without Peters". It was changed to, "Team to play with Peters out".
On an album in or around 1964.