Name: John Bateman

Family: Wife: Jill

Hometown: Albany, Georgia

Current Town: Watkinsville, Georgia

What Years at UGA: 1986-92

School/Degree: Terry, Marketing; Graduate School, Sports Management

Profession: College Athletics Administration

Accolades: Manager on 1990 SEC Champions men’s basketball team; Five(5) time World Champion showing Tennessee Walking Horses (1983, 1985×2, 19867 and 1987)

What life lessons did you learn while at UGA? 

Being a basketball manager taught me so much including establishing priorities, open lines of communication, organization and adjusting to what comes your way each day. Importance of doing whatever it takes to get the job done!……Also, if you put mustard on anything, remember to put Ketchup on top of because Georgia is always on top of the school in Atlanta.

What professor did you most admire? 

Jere Morehead – Legal Studies 270 in Caldwell Hall during Winter Quarter 1990. He made learning FUN and easy to engage with.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? 

Marrying Jill and paying off our house just last week!

Which historical figure do you most identify with? 

Ronald Reagan – I’ve always appreciated and valued his optimistic approach on many things in life and his desire/ability to relate to everyday people.

Who are your heroes in real life? 

My parents.

Quote to live by: 

“I don’t want to hear about the storms you encountered. Just want to know did you reach port.”          – Hugh Durham instilled this in us from Day 1!

What is your idea of perfect happiness? 

Sharing March Madness, The Masters and MLB Opening Day/Week with friends. Not a better time of the year!

What is your most marked characteristic? 

Dependable. 

What do you most value in your friends? 

Can always count on them, positive mindset and fun to be around.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? 

I’ve been very fortunate and have had a very good life, but would have been a little extra fun to have been a 5 Points kid growing up! What a life to be able to walk up to (now ride scooters) to Add Drug everyday and put the lunch on your “account” and also being able to walk to all the UGA sports.

Who are your favorite writers? 

I’ll go with one(1) fiction John Grisham and one(1) sportswriter Furman Bisher – very passionate in what they wrote about.

Fave social media?

@‌ugabasketball – keep up with the Dawgs, @‌braves – gotta be able to know the Magic Number and all the call ups, @‌the_hammyshow – no one better with story telling than Hammy, @‌poormansgamenotes – just a DGD, @‌jeffdantzlertv – wealth of Bulldog and sports knowledge!