Dr. Teddy Kavakos Remembers Lyons Football

Few people had a longer view of Bulldog football than Dr. Teddy Kavakos. In a recorded interview, he shared memories stretching from the years surrounding World War II through later generations of football in Lyons.

What follows is an edited summary of that conversation. It is not intended as a complete history of the football program. Rather, these are Dr. Kavakos’ recollections of the coaches, players, games and moments that remained with him through the years.

Dr. Kavakos recalled the 1945 Lyons team coached by Coach Edge, who spent only two years at Lyons. At the time, Lyons competed in the First Congressional District along with schools that included Jesup and Statesboro.

Lyons faced Statesboro at a neutral site in Swainsboro for the district championship and came away with the victory. Dr. Kavakos was away in military service at the time, but remembered the championship as an important early achievement for the program.

Football was discontinued for a period after the war. When the program resumed around 1947 or 1948 under Elton Wall, rebuilding was difficult. Lyons endured a 27-game losing streak.

Dr. Kavakos remembered how hungry the community had become for something to celebrate. When the Bulldogs finally scored a touchdown against Reidsville, the crowd reacted as though something much bigger had happened.

They had something to cheer about again.

The arrival of Coach Red Bulloch marked another chapter in the rebuilding of Lyons football.

Dr. Kavakos remembered that Bulloch lived in an apartment in the Kavakos family home while coaching in Lyons. He particularly remembered Dan Thompson and described him as one of the finest running backs and quarterbacks Lyons ever produced, putting him in the company of Fez Robinson.

The 1953 Bulldogs won their first nine games before meeting Glennville for the district championship. Their perfect season ended with a loss in the closing minutes.

Dr. Kavakos remembered the numbers: Lyons scored 307 points that season while allowing only 39.

He also remembered keeping track of the team’s accomplishments with little banners displayed in the drugstore window.

Those are the sorts of details that seldom make it into record books, but remain part of a community’s memory of its team.

After Red Bulloch left Lyons, Bob Edwards became head coach, and Dr. Kavakos remembered the Bulldogs continuing to enjoy successful seasons.

Bill Schofield arrived for the 1962 season, beginning an era that produced several stories Dr. Kavakos never forgot.

One came in 1963, when Jimmy Alexander kicked a 45-yard field goal to defeat Hawkinsville.

Another became memorable for an entirely different reason.

Playing at Metter, Rusty Randall recovered a fumble in midair around the 20-yard line and took off.

Coach Schofield was yelling:

“Go, Rusty, go, Rusty!”

And Rusty went.

Eighty yards.

There was just one problem.

He was running toward the wrong goal line.

Dr. Kavakos recalled that Coach Schofield was already preparing to send in the player who kicked extra points before realizing what had happened. Rusty’s run had resulted in six points for the other team.

The story became even better afterward. Dr. Kavakos recalled that Rusty received a telegram from the Georgia Tech player remembered for a similar wrong-way run in the Rose Bowl, telling Rusty that he understood how it felt.

Decades later, it was still one of the stories Teddy loved to tell.

Dr. Kavakos’ memories did not end when Lyons High School did.

He recalled Jackie Jones taking over after Bill Schofield and remembered the 1976 state championship team, including Timmy Vaughn and the group of players who brought another championship to Lyons.

He also remembered a later era under Mark Stroud when the Bulldogs defeated archrival Vidalia seven consecutive times.

These later memories reflect the same connection between the old Lyons Bulldogs and the generations that followed them that remains important to this website today.

One of Dr. Kavakos’ favorite stories concerned the old Lyons football field and a young coach who would eventually become one of the most recognizable names in college football.

Dr. Kavakos placed the story in 1958. Bobby Bowden was coaching in Douglas and had two Lyons players, Billy Benham and Harry Brown, playing for him.

Bowden contacted the Lyons Booster Club about bringing a game against Presbyterian to the Lyons field.

The Booster Club agreed to make the arrangements and guaranteed him $750.

And so, long before Bobby Bowden became famous nationally, one of his teams came to play football in Lyons.

Dr. Kavakos’ recollections span championships and losing streaks, famous coaches and hometown players, great plays and at least one play that went spectacularly in the wrong direction.

But taken together, they tell another story as well.

Football in Lyons was never only about wins and losses. It was coaches rebuilding programs, players becoming hometown heroes, banners appearing in drugstore windows, Booster Club members bringing a college football game to town, and fans finding reasons to cheer even during difficult seasons.

Those are the memories that statistics alone cannot preserve.

And those are the memories we are fortunate Dr. Teddy Kavakos took the time to share.

This article is an edited summary of a recorded interview with Dr. Teddy Kavakos. The events and details are presented as he remembered them.