Take a lap, Jack Bauerle. A Damn Good Dawg, indeed
Take a lap, Jack Bauerle. The championships. The Olympians. The career.
It’s all well-deserved. But the resume doesn’t tell the full story.
Jack Bauerle isn’t from Georgia. If you meet him, are from the south, and hear his accent, you realize that right away. You know it’s from up north somewhere. If you have more of a trained ‘Yankee’ ear, you know it’s closer to Philadelphia.
Glenside, Pennsylvania, to be exact.
That didn’t keep Bauerle from adopting the red and black during his lifetime. As a matter of fact, he’s more Georgia than Philly now.
Jack Bauerle began his Georgia swimming career as an athlete 50 years ago
I imagine living in Pennsylvania sticks with you.
Again, if you’ve heard Jack Bauerle say one sentence, you know it hasn’t left the man.
But living more than half of your life as a Georgia Bulldog sticks with you, too. And Bauerle’s carried that distinction since his collegiate swimming career began in Athens in 1971.
I think they had a swimming pool on campus back then. Maybe it was Lake Herrick. Wherever Bauerle swam, he did a pretty good job. All he did was set UGA records in the 200-yard butterfly, 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyle.
He was already the women’s head swim coach by 1978. He became the men’s head coach under Vince Dooley‘s leadership as Athletics Director.
And ever since then (as long as I’ve been alive and known him anyway) it’s difficult to think of many better ambassadors and appreciators of Athens, Georgia, than Jack Bauerle.
Locals will see him around town. Or maybe at Hartsfield-Jackson on the way to see a recruit. I’ve seen him in both places, and he’s always full of life. Always kind. Always happy to be a Dawg, while possessing a specific look in his eye that says ‘I am a tough son of a gun, and a competitor.’
Like the accent, if you’ve seen that look, you know.
He understood his role in the Georgia Bulldogs universe
I say this with all due respect. Jack Bauerle understood his role, and his team’s role, in the Georgia Bulldogs landscape.
That isn’t to say he’s willing to play second fiddle to anyone. But he cheers for all of the sports – even the ones that have greater attendance – without carrying the slightest hint of a chip on his shoulder.
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He loves the Dawgs, man. And it’s as simple as that. He is a Georgia Bulldog personified. He shares a birthday with Matthew Stafford, and swam for the Dawgs while Matthew’s father, John, was a graduate assistant for the swim team.
Jack Bauerle isn’t just a Philly guy who came to Athens and enjoyed it and stuck around. He is one of the best to ever do it, and he was loyal to the greatest university in the greatest college town in the universe until his decision to enjoy retirement.
He’s earned it, and he deserves to take a lap.
His blood runs red and black. And if you’ve seen him work, you know.
Does your blood run Red and Black?
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