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Famous father was a Bulldog pioneer
Son recalls Cy Grant, star of 1933 Georgia-Florida game
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Georgia Bulldog fans and Florida Gator fans make their annual pilgrimage to Jacksonville, Fla., today to partake in what is often known as "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party."

But Jeff Grant of Clarkesville, a man who has deeper roots with the annual Georgia-Florida game than most, will be lucky to see a play or two on TV.

"I have to go to a wedding," Grant said. "I will be fighting to find a place to watch it."

Grant is the son of Georgia legend Cy Grant. To read about Cy Grant, a Georgia fan would have to go back before Herschel Walker, before Vince Dooley, before Charley Trippi and even before Wally Butts.

Cy Grant played halfback from 1932-34. He was the key player in Georgia's 14-0 win over Florida in 1933, the first game at which Jacksonville became the rivalry's permanent home.

Grant not only scored the game's two touchdowns - one on a run, one on a pass reception - he kicked the two extra points and punted for an average of 45 yards.

"That was the way they played back then," Jeff Grant said. "You couldn't believe all the stuff he did (at Georgia)."

The Nov. 5, 1933, sports section of The Atlanta Constitution told the story of Cy Grant's accomplishments at Fairfield Stadium with the headline "CY GRANT RUNS WILD TO BEAT GATOR ELEVEN."

"Georgia's conquering band of red raiders swooped down from the hills of Athens and with two lightning strokes added the Florida peninsula to their rapidly growing list of territorial quests today," read the story by Jimmy Jones.

"Before a record crowd of 21,000 persons here in Fairfield stadium, the onward marching Bulldogs defeated the University of Florida 14 to 0 to compile their sixth straight victory for the 1933 season," the story continued.

"Two crimson streaks in the forms of Homer Key and Cy Grant flashed across the field in the first and third periods for the two Georgia touchdowns. Grant scored them both, one on a pass from Key, and his trusty toe added the two extra points from placement which gave the Bulldogs all the scores they needed to settle once and for all any existing doubt about the power of the Florida team to stop their march."

Cy Grant did more than beat the Gators to earn a spot in Georgia's record books. He was the Bulldogs' first All-Southeastern Conference player in football and baseball. The SEC was formed in 1933.

Before the era of Trippi and Frank Sinkwich, Cy Grant was considered one of Georgia's 11 best football players in school history.

But when asked about his accomplishments, the Georgia standout was restrained.

"He would just say, ‘Yep, I did that,'" Jeff Grant said. "He felt his legs had talked for him. ... He was a very quiet man, but he was very proud of what he did at Georgia."

As proud of his father's accomplishments as Jeff Grant is, he has still only been to one Georgia-Florida game.

The Clarkesville native spent his college years at South Carolina, and he says that is where his loyalties were.

"It was just another football game, as far as I was concerned," he said.

He learned just how wrong he was in October 2005 when his father was being inducted into the Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame in Jacksonville before the annual matchup between the Bulldogs and Gators.

"I didn't realize what went on down there," he said. "Everybody is partying hard. I said ‘My god, what have I been missing?'"

With starting quarterback D.J. Shockley out with a knee injury, the Bulldogs lost to Florida 14-10 in Jeff Grant's first live game between the two teams.

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