Jackie Robinson is considered one of the most important baseball players in the history of the major leagues. He, along with the man who signed him, Branch Rickey, changed baseball forever by finally smashing the color barrier.
Everybody knows about Jackie Robinson, but many people probably don’t know about his older brother, Mack. A sprinter in track, Mack Robinson was a teammate of the also very famous Jessie Owens. When Owens dominated the track in Berlin in front of the master race leader Adolph Hitler. When Owens won the 200 meters at the 1936 Olympics, Mack Robinson came in second winning a silver medal. Robinson broke the Olympic record for the 200 meters, but still finished behind the
streaking Owens.
The Robinson brothers grew up in the small south Georgia town of Cairo. Located near the border of Florida and only about 35 miles from the Florida capital city of Tallahassee, the city of Cairo only has just over 9,000 residents.
But, for a small town, it has produced a lot of athletes. Besides the Robinson brothers, major league baseball players Willie Harris and Ernest Riles.
In my sport, defensive tackle David Ponder went to Florida State and is the father of quarterback Christian Ponder who also played for the Seminoles and was a first round draft pick by the Minnesota Vikings. Safety J.J. Wilcox went to Georgia Southern and both Wilcox and David Ponder were with the Dallas Cowboys briefly. Punter Bobby Walden might be a familiar name. He went to Georgia and then punted in the NFL for 17 seasons.
All of these guys are from tiny Cairo, Georgia. But, as they say on the really bad commercials, but wait, there’s more.
Bill Stanfill was also a native of Cairo where he was a three sport star.
In football, Stanfill was a three year starter. As a senior, he was named the Georgia AA lineman of the year as he helped his team go far in the playoffs.
The Cairo High School basketball team won state during his senior season in 1965. He was also a big star in track and field winning the state championship in the shot put and the discus 3 years in a row.
Deciding on Georgia, Stanfill was a member of the Bulldog recruiting class of 1965.
Stanfill made an immediate impact with the Bulldogs at defensive tackle. After sitting out as a freshman, the sophomore moved right into the starting lineup. The Bulldogs steamrolled people in 1966 and ended with an 10-1 record. They were unbeaten in conference play, however, they lost to Miami by a single point and that allowed the unbeaten Alabama Crimson Tide to gain the Sugar Bowl berth. One of the biggest challenges was in state rival Georgia Tech, who was ranked 5th. But, the Bulldogs beat them, 23-14.
Georgia got to play in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas where they beat a surprising 10th ranked SMU, 24-9.
Bill Stanfill was a beast at defensive tackle earning All SEC honors as a sophomore.
1967 was not the best of years for the Bulldogs after starting the season ranked 7th. They beat Mississippi State, Clemson and South Carolina before losing to Ole Miss in Jackson, Mississippi. They destroyed VMI and Kentucky before losing by one point each to Houston and rival Florida. A once so promising of a season had then evaporated into a 5-3 record.
They did finish strong against bitter rivals Auburn and Georgia Tech with big wins. However, they lost in the Liberty Bowl against a strong North Carolina State to finish a somewhat disappointing season at 7-4.
Again, Stanfill was an All SEC defensive tackle.
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The Bulldogs started off the 1968 season unranked. Not much was expected out of them and they opened their season against 9th ranked Tennessee. The game ended in a 17-17 tie.
Georgia beat Clemson and then was back in the rankings with a 2-0-1 record.
They barely survived South Carolina, but pulled through with a 21-20 win. What made the Bulldogs’ season was their next game which was a decisive 21-7 win over the legendary Archie Manning and Ole Miss. The huge win moved them to 3-0-1 on the season and they found themselves ranked #10 in the polls. Impressive wins over Vanderbilt and Kentucky moved them to the 7th spot.
But, then, they ran into those pesky Houston Cougars and the game ended up a 10-10 tie. Houston had a really good team in those years and a lot of teams didn’t want to play them.
Now 9th ranked Georgia beat the Gators of Florida 51-0. Florida was not even a bad team that season, but Georgia just hammered them unmercifully.
Georgia was then the 5th rated team in the country and they beat 12th ranked Auburn next, 17-3. The Bulldogs climbed to #4 and then obliterated their rivals the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech, 47-8.
The Bulldogs won the SEC championship and earned the berth in the Sugar Bowl against the 2nd
place team of the SWC, #9 Arkansas.
The future SEC members came in and beat Georgia, 2-16.
Stanfill finished with All SEC recognition for the third straight season, but this time he was also a consensus All American. He also won the much coveted Outland Trophy for the nation’s best interior lineman.
With his college playing days over, the Miami Dolphins selected Stanfill with their first round pick which was 11th overall in the draft.
At Miami, he was moved to defensive end because he was a little light for tackle at that level. He was every bit as effective at defensive end as he had been at tackle.
For the Dolphins, he played next to good friend Manny Fernandez for years and the Dolphins finished unbeaten in 1972 which is still the NFL’s only unbeaten team.
Stanfill was one of the leaders in quarterback sacks throughout his NFL career, but had to hang it up after 8 seasons because of injuries.
Stanfill was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame, but he’s not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame even though some think he belongs. However, playing only 8 seasons may have hurt him
Sadly, the great Bill Stanfill passed away in 2016 at the young age of 69.