The Chancellor, Dr. W. E. Boggs, and the Board of Trustees hired alumnus Dr. Charles Herty as a chemistry professor, but they also gave him the responsibility of forming a football team.

By this time, Dr. Herty had been named head of the Department of Physical Culture, which involved primarily the supervision of the football and baseball programs.

On October 23, 1893, an Atlanta newspaper published an article by alumnus Harry Hodgson what would have to be called the manifesto for the University of Georgia football program.

The person who presided over the birth and early growth of the football program was Dr. William Ellison Boggs, DD, LLD, and Chancellor of the University of Georgia from 1889 to 1899.

Dr. Boggs was appointed Chancellor after a career as a Presbyterian minister and a professor of ecclesiastical history, metaphysics, and law.

The son of a Presbyterian minister and missionary, he grew up in India, Attala (MS), Lowndesville, Winnsboro, and Columbia, SC.

Dr. Boggs claimed that his grandfather served under General Thomas Sumter, the original Gamecock.

The coach, athletic director, and the chancellor all left after the 1898-1899 school year, but the foundation for a national program was set.