By Donald Heath

Savannah Morning News

STATESBORO, Ga. - The door is open. The lights are on, and Mike Sewak hears footsteps in the lobby of the Dan J. Parrish Football Center.

On this night, like many nights, Georgia Southern's first-year coach is working late. He turns off the video recorder and leans out of his office.

Five strangers are pointing to GSU football trophies.

"Can I help you?" Sewak asks. "No thanks, just looking around," says one of the onlookers.

Somehow, in 20 years since restarting the football in 1982, Georgia Southern's program remains for the people and by the people. The 'Boro is filled with builders, and no one is about to stop them from moments of admiration.

No matter what the hour.

"People don't feel threatened by our program," Sewak said. "It's not like they think, 'We can't do this, we can't do that.' This is their business. It's like let's come in here and enjoy Georgia Southern football."

For 20 years, community support has been a trademark at Georgia Southern.

For 20 years, fans have felt welcomed. For 20 years, the bond among players, coaches and fans has been unyielding.

"This is our football team," says Ronnie Hodges, a construction worker who once made time to come to nearly every Eagle football practice.

Hodges still can be found tailgating in the Paulson Stadium parking lot six hours before every home game. He's never missed a home game. He has his tent set up Friday afternoons. His truck pulls a grill that could cook a cow.

"A lot of people take (football) to heart. It's tradition here in the South," GSU slotback Kevin Davis. "Georgia Southern's fans are really into football. It's like a big old family. They cherish football."

Football isn't cherished everywhere.

"I didn't see it happen in Hawaii or Ohio," Sewak said. "I saw a lot of people go to the beaches in Hawaii. Even guys who were there to see the program. On Monday they'd call up and say, 'Hey, I wanted to come over and visit with you, but time didn't permit.'

"Georgia Southern is special. How many times do people drive by blowing their horn at you during practice? There are eight to 10 guys that blow their horn practically every day. They think they're doing their part to jack you up."

It didn't take first-year offensive coordinator Mitch Ware long to understand he was becoming part of something unique.

After two weeks of practice, Ware had a favorable opinion of his new surroundings.

"People around here take ownership of the team and they care about the team, and to me that's refreshing, that's exciting," he said. "I know this program is important to a lot of people."

Southern's football history began like many schools in this area. In 1924, the Georgia Normal School kicked off with the Parris Island Marines.

Seventeen years later, Pearl Harbor was bombed and the country's entrance into World War II turned attention away from intercollegiate athletics.

Southern's football program remained dormant for 41 years.

But in 1981, a visionary school president named Dale Lick, an eager and aggressive athletic director named Bucky Wagner and a football coach looking for a new challenge named Erk Russell combined forces to nurture the embryo of an idea long overdue.

And the townfolks collectively rolled up their sleeves and followed.

"It was a grass-roots program," said Nate Hirsch, who has done the radio play-by-play for Georgia Southern football since 1983. "To see something started from its infancy meant a lot for the people here. Football was that big a deal."

"Could the same thing have happened in North Georgia? Could the people of a place like Helen done the same thing? We don't know," Russell said.

"But we do know what the people of South Georgia did. It's been documented hundreds of times."

Russell's role in Georgia Southern's football rebirth has also been documented hundreds of times. Now 20 years later, he looks over the practice field and almost seems amazed.

"We used to have a blocking sled out here," he said. "I got it for $50 from a high school in Atlanta. We had no way of getting it here. But Cy Waters had a truck and went and picked it up.

"See those towers. Some one in the community donated their time to build them. That concrete you're standing on. Some one in the community poured it. I can go on and on.

"We asked a lot of this community. When I came here I wasn't a very good asker. But after a while, I became a pretty good beggar."

Georgia Southern had its share of big-time contributors. Allen Paulson donated $1 million to the construction of a stadium. Savannahian M.C. Anderson gave more than a million in labor. Former state senator Glenn Bryant gave the land. Morris and Anne Lupton built the fieldhouse.

Georgia Southern also had its share of $2 contributors.

"We welcomed anything anyone could spare," Russell said.

Twenty years later, the Ronnie Hodges of Statesboro are still coming out to Georgia Southern practices. They're still in the stands to watch their team. Last season, the Eagles set an attendance record, averaging 18,660 fans in a stadium that holds 18,000.

And if the light is on, they'll wander into the Dan J. Parrish Football Center.

They know they share in the six Division I-AA national championship banners that fly over Paulson Stadium.

"Who else has the opportunity to support such a great football program," Hodges said. "That's the way we look at it. It's in our blood. We enjoy it."

For 20 years, he hasn't been alone. Has time gone by so quickly since Southern lined up against Central Florida for its first game of the 1982 season?

"That might be the fastest 20 years I've ever spent," said Russell, now 76. "When you're a baby, time crawls and when you're my age, time flies.

"You know what the frog says? Time's fun when you're having flies."

Twenty to remember

1. 12/21/85 - GSC 44, Furman 42 - The Eagles rallied from a 22-point third-quarter deficit to win their first I-AA national championship.

2. 12/16/89 - GSC 37, Stephen F. Austin 34 - A Paulson Stadium-record crowd of 25,725 witnessed the Eagles culminate a perfect season in Erk Russell's last game as coach.

3. 9/21/89 - GSC 26, Middle Tennessee St. 0 - Hurricane Hugo threatened South Georgia, but the Eagles were the ones getting a blowout in a game televised nationally by ESPN.

4. 9/19/84 - GSC 48, Liberty Baptist 11 - The Eagles christened Paulson Stadium with their most lopsided victory of the season.

5. 12/15/90 - GSU 36, Nevada 13 - After starting the season with a 1-3 record, the Eagles culminated an incredible turnaround with their fourth I-AA national championship.

6. 12/13/86 - GSC 48, Nevada-Reno 38 - The Eagles traveled to Reno, Nev., and stunned the previously unbeaten 17th-ranked team in the nation in the I-AA semifinals.

7. 12/18/99 - GSU 59, Youngstown St. 24 - The Eagles scored four touchdowns in less than nine minutes of the second quarter en route to a win over the Penguins.

8. 10/8/88 - Florida St. 28, GSC 10 - The Eagles threw a scare into the fifth-ranked Seminoles, leading in the fourth quarter before falling.

9. 10/7/89 - GSC 35, Savannah St. 14 - Football fans of the Coastal Empire were treated to outstanding performances from both teams before the Eagles pulled away in the second half.

10. 11/25/95 - GSU 24, Troy St. 21 - In a rare role as underdogs, the visiting Eagles surprised the undefeated Trojans in the first round of the playoffs.

11. 11/28/87 - GSC 31, Maine 28 - The Eagles overcame an 18-point halftime deficit to win in overtime in the first round of the playoffs.

12. 12/16/00 - GSU 27, Montana 25 - The Eagles won their unprecedented sixth national championship by outscraping the Grizzlies.

13. 9/1/84 - GSC 14, Florida A&M 0 - People said they were crazy to step up to I-AA competition, but the Eagles proved to be ready against the highly regarded Rattlers.

14. 12/20/86 - GSC 48, Arkansas St. 21 - The Eagles remained undefeated in Tacoma, Wash., and claimed their second national title by racking up 603 yards against I-AA's top-rated defense.

15. 12/1/90 - GSU 28, Idaho 27 - The ghosts of Paulson Stadium haunted the Vandals, who lost a fumble at the Eagles' 23-yard line in the final 2:27.

16. 12/7/85 - GSC 28, Middle Tennessee St. 21 - The Eagles avenged a 25-point regular-season loss to the Blue Raiders to upset I-AA's No. 1 team in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

17. 9/18/99 - Oregon St. 48, GSU 41 - The Eagles migrated across the country to give the Beavers a tussle before falling short.

18. 10/24/98 - GSU 51, The Citadel 34 - Trailing by 17 points with five minutes left in the third quarter, the Eagles scored 41 points in less than 20 minutes to shock Bulldog fans in Charleston, S.C.

19. 9/2/00 - Georgia 29, GSU 7 - The then-largest crowd ever to attend a collegiate football game in the state of Georgia, 86,520, saw the Eagles fall short to the Bulldogs in the season opener.

20. 12/4/99 - GSU 38, Massachusetts 21 - The Eagles eliminated the Minutemen in the quarterfinals of the playoffs, getting revenge for a loss to UMass in the 1998 title game.

Twenty to Remember