Posted: July 9, 2008, 5 a.m. EDT
Uga VI, the University of Georgia Bulldog who passed away late last month, was laid to rest in a granite and marble mausoleum outside the university’s Sanford Stadium in Athens last week.
The dog’s body was flown to the campus from Savannah with his owners in the university’s plane. Uga’s body entered Sanford Stadium inside his kennel on the back of a golf cart. “The Battle Hymn of the Bulldog Nation,” which is played before Georgia football games, accompanied the procession.
Pallbearers Charles Seiler, his main handler, and Waldo Terrell, UGA’s chief groundskeeper, removed the kennel and placed it at the foot of the mausoleum, which holds five of his predecessors. Seiler placed Uga’s jersey and collar over the kennel.
“There are probably some who think it odd to pay this much attention to an animal, a puppy, a dog,” said UGA president Michael Adams to the assembled crowd. “But we recognize Uga VI in a way that is very special to the University of Georgia. I would suggest to you that Uga is a very powerful symbol, symbolism of the tenacity and strength of the university. I personally think this dog has exemplified that strength and tenacity very well.”
The Rev. Claude McBride, a Baptist minister and former football team chaplain, offered words of gratitude and a prayer, which he ended with, “Sic ‘em, Uga. Woof, woof! Amen.”