Valdosta native, 1980 UGA quarterback writes book about life as an athlete

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - On Tuesday, WALB’s Jim Wallace was joined by Buck Belue, a Valdosta native and quarterback of the 1980 National Champion Georgia Bulldogs.

Buck has also written a new book about his times as an athlete in Valdosta and the University of Georgia.

“Tell us about “Inside the Hedges,” Jim said.

“Well, this has been a life journey for the most part. We started this when I was in college. Dad gave me a daily planner. He was one of those daily planner guys. So he was trying to get me started. I would come in at the end of the day and a lot of days just jot down some notes on what went on, mainly with the football and baseball programs. And so as I wrapped up my playing career, I thought well I enjoy writing and I was thinking maybe I could do something with this. And maybe put together a book. I always enjoyed writing in school and really enjoyed that. And so as time went along I thought this is a project I would like to take on. So we’ve been working on it for about 30 years right now. Write it, rewrite it, put it down. Come back, grab it again. Rewrite it again. Finally, my wonderful wife Kelley, said ‘can I get this project done?’ And so we went to work on it a little over a year ago, trying to get things wrapped up. Little did we know, Georgia would win the 2021 National Championship. So I’ve had some friends and teammates say, Belue, you idiot. You can’t sell that thing. Everybody wants to talk about the 21 title now. Had some other teammates say this is a great time for you to come out with it, with the interest level so high. So I guess it’s going to fall somewhere in between,” Belue said.

“Well, I know a lot of people will be interested, especially folks in Valdosta because you talk about growing up in Valdosta as well,” Wallace said.

“I did and that was one of the motivations for me, as I had been asked so much about Valdosta High football through the years. And people were so curious about how Valdosta was able to win all those football games. It was a real source of pride for me to go back. Explain what the secret sauce was, and brag on a lot of the coaches and teammates and players that never really got the credit that they deserve through the years. And then that extended over to Georgia too. My days at Georgia where everybody has heard about Herschel and Lindsey and Buck. You know a lot of these players just never got the credit they deserve. So this is a real feel-good part of writing the book. Getting it out there is to brag on all these people that played such a huge role in winning football games, winning that championship in 1980,” said Belue.

“I know a lot of people are looking forward to reading about the Wildcats and the Bulldogs and your life. How can they get a copy?”

“InsideTheHedges.com,” Belue replied.

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