Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Atlanta insurance salesman George Burnett found himself at the center of a football scandal when he overheard a phone conversation between University of Georgia athletic director Wally Butts and University of Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. Butts seemed to be giving Bryant play formations that would help Alabama defeat Georgia 35-0 in the 1962 season opener. When Burnett's story was published several months later in The Saturday Evening Post, Butts and Bryant sued for libel. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court in an historic 5-4 decision--Butts v. Curtis Publishing expanded the legal definition of "public figures." Referencing more than 3,000 pages of letters, depositions and trial transcripts, the author reveals new information about this scandal and its resulting trial.