Erik Visits an American Grave, Part 1,680
By This is the grave of Craig “Sky” Hertwig.
Born in 1952 in Columbus, Georgia, Craig Hertwig, as he preferred to be known, became in fact known as Sky. That’s because he was super tall 6’8″. Being a big kid in Georgia in the 1960s meant playing football and Hertwig got the call from the University of Georgia to come play with them, after playing high school ball in Macon. He had an awesome 1974, his senior year. He was not only first-team SEC, he was first-team All America. Given his height and college dominance, the Detroit Lions drafted him in the 4th round of the 1975 draft. He wasn’t much in the NFL though. He played three years for the Lions before he was released. The Buffalo Bills picked him up for the 1978 season and that was it for his career after he didn’t get into a game that season. Overall, he played 37 games in the NFL, starting 23 of them.
Hertwig went back to Athens after football and did was a lot of old sports stars too–he opened a bar and became a local legend. In fact, he ran a series of bars, including the Nowhere Bar, for 32 years, becoming something of an Athens institution. He became a touring golfer as well, often winning money in low-level tournaments. Of course he became a huge booster for UGA sports, and not only football, but their usually bad men’s basketball teams as well.
Hertwig died of a blood clot in 2012. He was 60 years old.
Sky Hertwig is buried in Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia.
Now, you might be wondering why the grave series is covering such an obscure offensive lineman. Well, first, we are going to go on a short run of offensive lineman graves. Second, football is almost here!!!!! I can’t wait to make this blog even more about football than most years! Third, this cemetery has an entire recently cleared section dedicated just to UGA athletes, which probably means almost all football players. Given the history of Georgia football and the almost ridiculous obsession southern fans have of their college football teams, this could lead to some fun graves over the years, stopping by whenever I am in Athens to see if there’s any more Bulldogs to chat about.
If you would like this series to visit other people drafted in the 1975 NFL Draft, you can donate to cover the required expenses here. Walter Payton, drafted 4th by the Bears out of Jackson State and who turned into one of the top 5 all time greatest running backs, is in Columbia, Mississippi. Gary “Big Hands” Johnson, drafted 8th by the San Diego Chargers out of Grambling State and who had a very strong career as a defensive tackle, is in Red Chute, Louisiana. Previous posts in this series are archived here and here.