Georgia gives Billy Payne his due

ATHENS (TNS) — Chapter 5 of the Billy Payne life story has so far comprised some victory laps and a lot of fishing.

Since stepping down last summer as chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters after 11 years at the helm, the 70-year-old Payne is largely retired — al though he remains the executive chairman of the real estate company, Centennial Investments, that he owns with his son.

“Other than that I’ve promised (my wife) Martha that I will not make any major steps or dives for awhile,” Payne said Monday. “So I’m in that promised slow period where I’m thinking about what I want to do. So far the only thing I’ve accelerated is fishing, which is my favorite of all sports. But there’ll be something. She knows it and I know it, so we’ll wait and see.”

William Porter Payne, however, keeps popping up places to take a bow for his career achievements. The former all-conference football player at Georgia was recognized in Sanford Stadium before the South Carolina football game last fall and again during the spring G-Day game. He received the William D. Richardson award for outstanding contributions to golf at the Golf Writers Association of America banquet before the Masters.

On Monday, the man who already has a statue of himself in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park had his name permanently attached along with his father’s to the new indoor practice facility at their alma mater.

The William Porter Payne and Porter Otis Payne Indoor Athletic Facility — which opened in February 2017 — was dedicated in a private ceremony Monday evening in Athens. Invited guests for the event included his successor at Augusta National, Fred Ridley, six-time Masters winner Jack Nicklaus and CBS’ voice of the Masters, Jim Nantz, as the official emcee. The naming is the culmination of a long-standing vision that was realized with the help of $10 million in gifts donated by friends of Billy and Porter Payne.

“It’s special because it’s a permanent association with my father that everybody will see and be aware of,” Payne said of his father, who was only a 19-year-old sophomore at Georgia when Billy was born and who passed away in 1982 at only 53. “It’s also reflective of the generosity of a lot of friends, so many of them had zero connection to the University of Georgia. I’m particularly grateful we welcome them as Georgia Bulldogs.”

The building he’s permanently associated with was inconceivable when he was playing football. The closest thing to an indoor practice facility when Payne was at Georgia was occasional walk-throughs in Stegeman Coliseum despite what Dooley recalls as 176 leaks in the roof spilling into 176 buckets around the arena.

“Never even imagined there would be an indoor practice facility,” Payne said. “I remember Stegeman (Coliseum) was very new and on rainy days we would go in there and mess around on the basketball court. Nothing other than staying out of the rain, really. Never even remotely thought you could practice football in an indoor arena.”

His junior year, however, Payne and the Bulldogs played Houston in the recently opened Astrodome in 1967 and lost, 15-14.

“Our first experience in an indoor football stadium and unfortunately we got beat by an inferior team, I think because we were all looking around and just couldn’t believe what technology had done,” Payne said. “Facilities have come a long way and I’m glad to see that University of Georgia is staying at the top.”

“The University of Georgia community as well as people across the state owe Billy Payne an enduring debt of gratitude for his vision and service,” said Jere Morehead, UGA’s president.