It’s hard to say if Gunner Stockton was destined to become an elite QB. But one thing is certain: Dawg loyalty always ran thick in his blood. With more than two generations of UGA fandom in his family, that loyalty was passed down to him like a family heirloom.
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While recent UGA fans remember Kirby Smart’s peak national championship years, many old-school fans still hold the 1980s dominance by UGA football in a monumental place in their heart, as Brandon Adams recalled on Dawg Nation Daily, via X.
Gunner Stockton’s grandfather, Lawrence Stockton, was one of those fans who witnessed the greatness of the Vince Dooley era from the stands. He didn’t know he would become a part of UGA folklore.
Georgia was at its pinnacle of dominance just as it entered the 1980s. They had a generational Heisman-winning running back in Herschel Walker. That helped the Bulldogs win a national title and three consecutive SEC titles. But Auburn under Pat Dye soon started knocking on UGA’s door.
From 1983 through 1989, the Tigers won four SEC titles, and against that backdrop, the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry grew more tense each year. So much so that Georgia’s win in 1986 and the subsequent storming of the field led to Lawrence Stockton’s arrest.
Georgia entered the 1986 game against Auburn with slender margins. A win would not guarantee them the SEC title, but an Auburn win would give the Tigers a substantial opportunity to claim it. “Slim chances” was an understatement for what fans expected from that game.
The team was coming off injuries to its tailbacks, Tim Worley and Keith Henderson. Their starting QB was also out, which forced the Dawgs to use Wayne Johnson.
Johnson hadn’t started a game since the second game of the 1985 season and had seen limited snaps in 1986. Georgia had everything going against them, and yet, when the game ended, the score read 20-16 in the Bulldogs’ favor.
Georgia fans poured onto the field in numbers as soon as the game ended, celebrating their team’s win at Auburn. Stadium workers immediately responded by spraying water from powerful hoses and cannons toward the visiting fans.
The water hit supporters on the field and others still standing in the seats. Gunner Stockton’s grandfather was in the stands, watching as Auburn staff sprayed water at fans in the bleachers.
Upset by what he saw, he went over to confront stadium officials and Auburn police about the decision to also soak elderly spectators who had stayed in their seats.
Rather than turn off the hoses, Auburn police arrested Lawrence Stockton after he protested their use. In total, 38 people were arrested that day for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and trespass.
“My late husband was like, ‘I’m going to go down there and tell them not to spray the stands,” Gunner’s grandmother, Suzanne Frederickson, told ESPN’s Mark Schlabach. “He was a force of nature. He thought he could save the world. There wasn’t any stopping him. He got away from me.”
Tensions were already high when Georgia and Auburn met in 1986, largely because of what had happened a year earlier. Auburn won in Athens in 1985, and its fans rushed onto the field at Sanford Stadium.
Some tore into Georgia’s famous privet hedges, ripping out sections of the shrubs that had long been part of the stadium’s identity. The damage to Georgia’s hedges in 1985 had not been forgotten.
When Georgia fans took the field in 1986, they tore up the turf and damaged the large AU logo at midfield, turning the celebration into payback for what Auburn supporters had done in Athens. Auburn had already prepared for that outcome.
“The Georgia fans shouldn’t have been out there,” former Auburn coach Pat Dye told reporters after the game. “If that’s the only way to get them off the field, fine.”
Lawrence, however, said he was not part of that payback. As he later recalled to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a policeman said to him bluntly: “I’ve had about enough of you; I can take it. You come with me.”
Frederickson immediately went to find where the jail was. Traffic was slow that day, and the jail was filled with so many UGA fans.
“There wasn’t any getting him out,” Frederickson recalled.
Lawrence was later released on a $58 bond and was offered a plea deal. He only had to sign a form forgoing civil action against the City. As adamant and fierce as he was, he refused outright and decided to take his chances in front of a judge.
“Daddy always had a Don Quixote aspect to him. At the time, it’s like, ‘What’s Daddy done now?'” Gunner’s uncle, Allyn Stockton, recalled. “I wish I could say it was uncharacteristic of him, but you see that picture and you kind of understand him a little better.”
When Lawrence finally appeared before the judge, he got a surprise. When the judge asked for charges against Gunner’s grandfather, the officials simply said, “We didn’t charge him with anything,” as Frederickson recalled.
In truth, Stockton’s arrest, like those of many others, was just a crowd-control measure to remove them from the stadium. Lawrence remained a loyal Georgia fan throughout his life. In 2010, he attended the Bulldogs’ game against Florida, which Georgia lost 34-31 in overtime.
After the game, he suffered a fatal heart attack in the parking lot of EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville. His widow, Suzanne Frederickson, later recalled that he was still talking about the game just before he collapsed.
He had even mentioned Todd Grantham, Georgia’s defensive coordinator at the time. That was typical of Lawrence, whose loyalty to the Bulldogs never faded. His passion for Georgia also remains part of the family story.
Gunner didn’t learn the story until two years back. Since then, he has played a little more fiercely against Auburn. He helped UGA with a 20-10 win last year against the Tigers.
“He loved the Dogs, and it was just kind of cool to share that memory with him,” Gunner said.
This year, too, as Georgia hosts Auburn on October 17, that family history will probably be running through his mind.