For years in the Athens-Clarke community, the name Poss conjured up images of beer, barbecue, and Brunswick stew—and the colorful proprietor who not only oversaw the production of “Poss Famous Foods,” but who also might be seen dishing out hash at a catered event.
He was hands-on when it came to good food and good service. With his down-home style, he often provided entertainment with his engaging personality and his colorful storytelling.
His father began the company, but it was the son, Robert E. Poss Jr., who expanded the business into regional sales and developed a popular catering service. For years, he was the concessionaire for Georgia football and basketball games and built “Poss’ Lakeview,” which became a banquet and catering venue.
He was jovially inclined to self-deprecation, such as, “If you eat my product, you will think about me all night.” He laughed loudest when the joke was on him.
Eventually, his son, Bobby Poss, came along and followed in his dad’s footsteps as a player at Athens High and later the University of Georgia. The senior Poss was a journeyman player, but the court jester of the team. He was popular with his teammates.
Line coach J. B. Whitworth was given to telling the team before a road game, “We are going to take 40 players and Poss,” who took the quip good naturedly. He loved Georgia and also loved being part of the team.
He often said, if there was a poker game, he would join the table only if Frank Sinkwich pulled up a chair. He knew Coach Butts was not going to discipline Sinkwich for being a participant in a card game.
With time running out in the Rose Bowl, Jan. 1, 1943, Poss ran on the field, passing the referee who was the timekeeper. Poss shouted to the ref as he sprinted to the huddle, “Don’t fire that pistol, I’m going to play in the Rose Bowl.”
Bobby, the son of the colorful R.E. Poss, Jr., lettered in 1969-70-71 as a snapping specialist for Vince Dooley. He often carried on a conversation with defensive linemen who would fall victim to Bobby’s conversational chicanery. His antics either distracted them, reducing them to inconsequential inaction on a play, or caused them to jump offsides, bringing about a penalty that frequently resulted in a first down for the Bulldogs.
Like his dad, he was the court jester of his teams. Bobby, who passed away last weekend, was always a good teammate and enjoyed good food and good times at the Poss home on Riverhill Drive in the Beachwood section of Athens.
Many kids who needed a job often found opportunities at one of the Posses’ venues. Like father, like son, they always found ways to extend a helping hand to enterprising students. They worked in the best environment, where there were plenty of laughs.
After R. E. Poss liquidated the company, he owned significant real estate holdings and retired from the food business. Bobby grew up in the family food production and catering activities and worked his last years with Northeast Sales Distributing Co., now under the direction of Frank Sinkwich III. With Miller Lite Beer a staple of the business, Bobby, in his down-home vernacular, would say, “If it ain’t Lite, it ain’t right.”
For years he provided a “warm-up” for the Athens Touchdown Club, in his red coat with championship hashmarks on his sleeve—a reminder that he carried on the Poss tradition of down-home cooking, accenting everything with a colorful comment and a good story that often brought about uproarious laughter.
His best friend, Arthur Steedman, buddies since grade school, has been privy to more escapades, practical jokes, and pranks that defy belief. “There will ever be another one like Bobby, and when you tell stories about him, people say, ‘That can’t be true; that’s got to be fiction.’”
However, it was their deep and abiding love of the Bulldogs that best identified them—both father and son—as Damn Good Dawgs.
