Hines Ward and Jeff Saturday to deliver game ball; Vince Dooley and sons of Bill Dooley to assist with coin toss
ATLANTA (August 31, 2016) – In keeping with its tradition of recognizing team celebrities prior to the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, officials today released that Hines Ward and Jeff Saturday will be the honorees for Saturday’s Kia Game Ball Delivery at the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game between (18) Georgia and (22) North Carolina.
Ward and Saturday will ride together in a KIA Sportage – provided by KIA Motors, the official vehicle of the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game – to midfield just prior to the coin flip where they will present the officiating crew with a pair of game balls from the two teams.
At midfield, they will be joined by the coaching legend Vince Dooley and his nephews, Ashton and Sean, sons of the late Bill Dooley. Bill was set to join his brother Vince as the two most famously coached at North Carolina and Georgia, respectively, but tragically passed away earlier this month at the age of 82. A moment of silence will be held to honor the other coaching legend as his elder brother and sons participate in the honorary coin toss.
A dynamic all-around offensive weapon for Georgia, Hines Ward will deliver the game ball for the Bulldogs. Ward played quarterback for the Bulldogs in the 1995 Peach Bowl and was inducted into the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Hall of Fame last year. A wide receiver for most of his Georgia Bulldog career, Ward’s 149 career receptions for 1,965 yards place him second in team history. He also played tailback and totaled 3,870 all-purpose yards, second only to Herschel Walker in Bulldogs history. After his four years in Athens, Ward was a third-round selection of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1998 NFL Draft and would play all 14 years of his career in the Steel City. A four-time Pro-Bowl selection and two-time Super Bowl Champion, Hines won the MVP of Super Bowl XL.
An Atlanta native and former All-ACC center for North Carolina, Jeff Saturday will deliver the game ball for the Tar Heels. A four-year letter winner under Head Coach Mack Brown, Saturday was twice named team captain. After originally being signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent, Saturday landed with the Indianapolis Colts, where he spent the next 13 years of his career. He would go on to be named to six Pro Bowls and was twice named to the Associated Press NFL All-Pro First Team. Saturday is a Super Bowl champion, winning Super Bowl XLI with the Colts.
This year’s Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game is the first time Georgia and North Carolina have met since the 1971 Gator Bowl when Vince Dooley’s Bulldogs defeated Bill’s Tar Heels 7-3.
Vince Dooley was the head coach at the University of Georgia for 25 years, compiling a record of 201-77-10. He won six SEC titles and the 1980 national championship. A former assistant for his brother Vince at Georgia, Bill Dooley won three ACC titles, including the school’s first outright championship in 1971 with North Carolina. He coached at the school from 1967-77, left as the winningest coach in Tar Heels history and is tied for second on the school’s all-time wins list with 69. He went on to coach at Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
The Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game between (18) Georgia and (22) North Carolina will be played Saturday, September 3 at 5:30 p.m. ET at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN.
For more information, visit www.Chick-fil-AKickoffGame.com.
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About the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game
Created in 2008 by Peach Bowl, Inc., the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game is a bowl-style, neutral-site game featuring two elite football programs and has been nationally televised on the first Saturday of the college football season since its inception. The game has hosted teams with national rankings of No. 1, No. 2, 5 (twice), 6, 7, 9, 14, 16, 18 (twice), 19, 24 (twice) and 25 (twice). The Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game boasts an average attendance of 66,869, has been watched on television by 43.9 million viewers, and has distributed $44.7 million in total team payouts. For more information, visit CHICK-FIL-AKICKOFFGAME.COM.
About Kia Motors
Kia Motors America’s (KMA) all-new 2016 Sorento CUV has received the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) 5-star overall safety rating. Built in the U.S. at Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia (KMMG), Sorento is KMA’s best-selling CUV, having sold more than 100,000 units each of the past five years, and offers a long list of standard safety features and an expertly engineered body structure.