No. 239 - Poor Man’s Game Notes XIV: UGA vs. Arkansas, 9/19/26

I’m coming to you from the backyard of President Eisenhower’s house in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I just took a photo of the pin flag at his personal putting green, which may be the coolest one in all of golf – five white stars stitched on red polyester.

I’ve been in meetings all week in D.C. and loving it. D.C. is my kind of town, but the drifter in me can only be contained for so long, so I played hooky. I explored Gettysburg, wandered around Eisenhower’s farm, and even made a pilgrimage to Mount Vernon.

All this time around generals got me thinking about our Dawgs.

If ever there was a multi-star general in the annals of Georgia football, it’s Kirby. By the age of 46, our coach had captured his first national championship, while Ike, at the same age, was a relatively obscure Army major working under MacArthur in the Philippines.

Kirby had merely started his meteoric ascent when most men of his age were living out Thoreau’s warning – the mass of men live lives of quiet desperation – which, south of the Mason-Dixon line, looks more like an $85,000 truck with a gleaming bass boat in tow.

By 47, Kirby had two national championships – two stars, if you will – while Ike was still a major. But this is where Eisenhower starts closing the gap. He got his first star at 50 and, in less than seventeen months, had four.

Kirby is 51 years old this season, so if we’re going to continue this admittedly ridiculous comparison, he needs another national championship to earn his third star.

Is it beyond the realm of insanity to say he may grab another couple of natties? He’s done it before.

Here’s to Kirby having a general’s flag on his own putting green someday – and, in true Ike fashion, a green jacket in the closet.

Give ’em hell, Kirby!

*Composed, Edited, and Published in Gettysburg, PA at President Eisenhower’s House