Word: burnette
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Only Memory. Testimony from both sides drew a picture of a magazine that had rushed headlong into print with a story only superficially checked. By the Post's own admission, the story's validty rested almost entirely on notes taken by Atlanta Insurance Salesman George Burnett, who said he had accidentally eavesdropped on a pre-game telephone conversation in which Georgia's Butts seemed to be spilling Georgia football secrets to Paul ("Bear") Bryant, head coach at the University of Alabama. But when the Post sent Freelance Reporter Frank Graham Jr. down to Atlanta, the salesman could...
...both Writer Graham and the Post, Burnett's memory seemed more than enough to go on. Neither bothered to go over the story with Wally Butts or Bear Bryant-on the grounds that they would only deny it. Nor did anyone consult Burnett's sometime business partner, John Carmichael, who said he knew all about the intercepted phone call and had seen the notes. No one at the Post deemed it necessary to study moving pictures of the Georgia-Alabama game -which might have supported, or cast serious doubt on the suspicion that the game had been fixed...
Certain Skepticism. In court the accuracy of parts of the Post article was repeatedly challenged, not only by witnesses for Butts, but also by witnesses for the defense-including Burnett. Georgia Trainer Sam Richwine and Georgia End Mickey Babb joined others who disclaimed direct quotations attributed to them in the story. Writer Graham's astonishing excuse was that re-creating quotes is a "common practice in journalism." Carmichael testified that the Burnett notes produced in court were not the same ones that his former associate had shown...
Schroder handed the witness some of Burnett's notes. The very first entry referred to "Bear" Bryant. "Butts never called me Bear," said Bear scornfully."He always called me Paul." As for the notation that Butts had reported Georgia to be "a well-disciplined ball club," Bryant was equally scornful. "If that was said, I think I would be the one that would be saying it." What about Coach Griffith's claims that Burnett's notes contained Georgia's two basic offensive formations, the "slot" and the "pro set"? asked Schroder. Movies of the game, Bryant...
...Bryant many times, he said. "In fact, I've talked football with every coach I've ever been around." But Butts insisted that he had never given Bryant any dope on Georgia football strategy; he had never given any coach any information before a game, he said. Burnett's notes, said Butts, were rife with error. To show why he would never have called the Georgia squad "well-disciplined," Coach Butts treated the jury to a chalk-talk explaining how lack of discipline cost Georgia at least three touchdowns as it lost to Alabama...