Dick Bestwick (August 18, 1930 – January 4, 2018) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach, scout, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

from 1976 to 1981, compiling a record of 16–49–1. A native of Grove City, Pennsylvania, he played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

, graduating from the school in 1952. Bestwick received his Masters in Education from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

. Prior to his tenure at Virginia, Bestwick spent 1954 to 1962 as a high school football coach at three different schools including his alma mater, Grove City High School, and 1967 to 1975 as an assistant coach at

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

. Bestwick was hired as the head football coach at

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

in 1971 after the 1970 plane crash that took the lives of most of the university's football team and coaching staff. He left the position after two days on the job and returned to Georgia Tech.

Scouting and administrative career

After his time at Virginia he became a national scout for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) from 1982 to 1983, assistant

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

from 1983 to 1985 and the executive director of the

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially re ...

from 1985 to 1986. He served as the assistant athletic director at

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

from 1986 to 1988, athletic director at the University of South Carolina in 1988, returned to Georgia as associate athletic director in 1990, and finally retiring as a senior associate athletic director in 2000.Peach Bowl Hall of Fame
He was the father of three children, with five grandchildren.

Honors and awards

Bestiwck was inducted into the

Hall of Fame in 2002. The Dick Bestwick Award for the male athlete graduating with the highest GPA at the University of Georgia was named in his honor.

Death

Bestwick died on January 4, 2018, in

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

after suffering from transverse myelitis.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bestwick, Dick 1930 births 2018 deaths Dallas Cowboys scouts Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football coaches Georgia Bulldogs North Carolina Tar Heels football players South Carolina Gamecocks athletic directors University of Missouri staff College football bowl executives Penn State College of Education alumni People from Grove City, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania