Paul Holmes, who grew up on Atlanta’s north side, arrived on the UGA campus in the late ’50s, a fraternity boy in Payne Hall—the homebase of the football cabal. He was fit for both venues.

Payne Hall was not exactly an “animal house.” It wasn’t a den of iniquity, but it wasn’t a haunt of sophistication and intellectual behavior. After all, it was the athletic dorm in its day, which meant that informality was forever the theme. It was loud, noisy and quiet time usually prevailed in the early morning hours when the rest of the world was readying for its day, and the Payne residents were sleeping in.

There were some serious types, those who had the confirmation of a degree on their respective minds and those who were disciplined and oriented toward favorable resumes that would help them find their way in life. Paul was motivated to help the Bulldogs win games, but he also was a serious student.

A tall, handsome and friendly sort of guy whose laugh could be heard a country mile when he was stimulated into convivial outbursts which were often, Paul was upbeat and gregarious, given to good times and bringing about joyful occasions.

He was an outstanding lineman at Northside High under Wayman Creel, who became the winningest high school coach in Georgia. Creel underscored the principles of teaching with a calm and measured style that complemented his hardnosed practices which led to constant winning—both games and championships.

In Paul’s senior year, Northside won the state AAA championship, and it was assistant coach Cleve Clark who had played end for Wallace Butts in Athens who became Paul’s booster. Clark kept touting Paul’s potential to the Georgia coaches. Paul will forever be grateful that they listened to his benefactor’s preachment.

Paul enrolled in Athens in 1958, playing for the freshmen team, coached by Quinton Lumpkin. It was a good time to be affiliated with Georgia. The ’50s were not good to Coach Butts, but a reversal of fortunes was taking place. In November 1957, the Bulldogs defeated Georgia Tech on Grant Field to end an eight-year losing streak. Paul was at Grant Field to witness that drought breaking game, a memorable point of pride for Bulldog aficionados across the state.

That was good news for Paul who had plans to matriculate in Athens and study for a degree in business. That journey got underway in the fall of 1958 with Paul playing on the freshman team and enjoying the overall campus environment. He enjoyed the social life and the activities of the Greek system, pledging SAE fraternity with both of his sons John and Sam and three grandsons following in senior’s footsteps. Paul became a patron of the downtown Varsity, Uppy’s, Allen’s, Charlie Williams Pinecrest Lodge, and shopped at Dick Ferguson’s Men’s Store, owned by his fraternity brother.

In 1959, he moved up to the varsity football team, a very good year which led to the Southeastern Conference championship and a trip to the Orange Bowl where the Bulldogs, led by another fraternity brother, Fran Tarkenton, defeated Missouri 14-0 in Miami.

All the while, Paul made friends with damn near the entire student body, which would bode well for the future that awaited him. He became friends with matriculates from Rabun Gap to Attapulgus; from Tallapoosa to Tybee Light.

The most important introduction and affiliation came about when he became friends with a pretty coed from Farrow, an unincorporated community in Jasper County which is 14 miles Northeast of Monticello. Even back then, she was a buttoned-up coed whose serious inclinations were good for Paul, like studying at the library on their dates and giving the highest priority to graduation.

Getting to know people around the state would benefit him significantly when he became state director of the ASCA (Agricultural, Stabilization and Conservation Service). Anyone familiar with Paul’s upbringing would not have forecasted him with being compatible with life down on the farm, but that is how it worked out.

He enjoyed driving a tractor and a pickup truck, becoming accustomed to planting and harvesting, a down to earth, hail fellow well met. Following graduation, he spent time with the Dallas Cowboys briefly and then he and Susan settled in South Carolina—first at Columbia and subsequently in Charleston when he was employed by Shell Oil Co.

They came home to Jasper Co. in 1965 where Paul took over the family farm and ran the dairy, which benefited from Paul’s business expertise and connections. He ran for county commissioner, the first Republican to get elected since Reconstruction. His friendship with Bo Callaway, a prominent Republican in the state, led to his appointment as the Director of the ASCS, which had him traveling the state. He mixed well with farmers and agri-business folk across Georgia with his Bulldog legacy endearing him to those from all walks of life wherever he went.

In 1978, he joined several friends, led by Butch Houston of Nashville, in forming “Life of the South Insurance Co.” and serving as Vice Chairman until sale of the company in 2007.

Susan looked after the family when he was away and found time to become the first woman mayor of Monticello, following that up with a stint in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Susan spent 12 years in the legislature, and while Paul had no official title, he was her chauffeur and confidante, one of the most popular and active couples engaged in the business of the state.

If they didn’t find their way to the seats of Georgia’s 159 counties, they knew the movers and shakers from each county.

Those friendships have helped him with coping with the loss of Susan who died in May, leaving a void with the Holmes family and at the state house and throughout Georgia.

He enjoys the small-town lifestyle of Monticello where he is a daily fixture at the “Morning Grind,” where the local railbirds gather for coffee and breakfast. You will find Paul holding court there if you drop in. Visitors are welcome. When he isn’t at the “Morning Grind,” or visiting with his sons, John and Sam, and grandchildren and great grandchildren, he will be working out at the local gym, appropriately named, “Bulldog Gym.”

He is a proud “Damn Good Dawg,” who is one of the best-known loyalists in the state, one who could have written the book on the benefits that come from being a “people person.”