Georgia officials pay final tribute to Uga VI
Athens This was a funeral, complete with real tears.
Uga VI, the University of Georgia's beloved bulldog mascot who passed away Friday, was treated to every dignity in death afforded the most respected of human beings.
The body of the dog, whose registered name was Uga V's Whatchagot Loran, was flown to Athens from Savannah along with his master's family in the university plane. It entered Sanford Stadium from the northeast corner and was carried inside his famous kennel on the back of a golf cart across the field. His entry was accompanied by the song, "The Battle Hymn of the Bulldog Nation," which is played before Georgia football games.
Pallbearers Charles Seiler, his main handler, and Waldo Terrell, UGA's chief groundskeeper, removed the kennel and placed it at the foot of a granite and marble mausoleum where Uga's five predecessors are buried. Charles Seiler draped Uga's jersey and collar over the kennel.
Dignitaries included UGA president Michael Adams, who made opening remarks, members of the UGA athletics board, athletics department employees and friends of the Seiler family.
"There are probably some who think it odd to pay this much attention to an animal, a puppy, a dog," Adams told the gathering of two dozen or so. "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, Uga VI, particularly. ... I personally think this dog has exemplified that strength and tenacity very well.
The Rev. Claude McBride of Athens, a Baptist preacher and former football team chaplain, presided. He offered words of gratitude and appreciation to the Seiler family and a long prayer, which he ended with, "Sic 'em, Uga. Woof, woof! Amen."
Owner Frank "Sonny" Seiler did not speak during the ceremony but addressed a dozen or so reporters afterward.
"His record speaks for itself," Seiler said of UGA's winningest mascot. "He was the biggest by far. None of his wardrobe would fit even when he was a puppy. We had to make all new clothes. And he had a great big heart, which finally played out."
The university flew the Seiler family and the body of Uga VI to Athens from Savannah on the school plane around lunchtime Monday. Cecelia Seiler, whose puppy started the current line of mascots in 1956, did not attend.
"She was too distraught," Sonny Seiler said.
Also in attendance was UGA resident historian Dan Magill. It was Magill, 88, who first designated the Seiler's dog as the new mascot.
"We had an old brindle bulldog before that and he died," Magill, clad in a Georgia red sport coat, said. "Coach [Wally] Butts told me to find another one. Sonny was working in the ticket office at the time and his wife happened to have a bulldog puppy, the grandson of our Rose Bowl dog [in 1942]. I went and saw it and thought it looked like a fine dog. I called Coach Butts and told him to come see. He said he didn't have time but the grandson of the Rose Bowl mascot should do just fine. And that's how it started."
Numerous flower arrangements, mostly of roses and white and red carnations, adorned the memorial plot in the southwest corner of the stadium. Included was one from "Tusk," the razorback mascot from the University of Arkansas.
Loran Smith, the executive secretary of the Georgia Bulldog Clubs of America and the person for whom Uga VI was named, said he received several phone calls on Uga's behalf.
"One was from Johnny Rauch Jr., whose father, the former Georgia great by the same name, passed a way just a week or so ago," Smith said, "He said, 'Tell the Seilers, daddy will walk Uga every day in heaven."
but UGA VI the University of Georgia's bulldog mascot passed away last night. 
