A memorial service for Pat “Doc” Spurgeon will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in the chapel of Joiner-Anderson Funeral Home.
Spurgeon, a beloved English literature professor at Georgia Southern and a football scout and coach for the Eagles and other teams, passed away June 23. He was 93.
“A number of people have called Dr. Pat Spurgeon a ‘Renaissance Man,’” said long-time friend Joe McGlamery. “Pat seemed to fit the definition because he excelled in so many areas, as an English scholar and professor, as a football coach of exceptional achievement, as a poet, as a painter, a gardener, as a competitor, an intellect and a loyal friend.”
Born in Indiana in 1929, he was raised in eastern Tennessee. Spurgeon graduated from Emory & Henry College in Virginia. He went on to earn a Master of Arts and Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee and arrived in Statesboro as a professor of English for Georgia Southern College in 1963.
In 1981, Erk Russell hired Spurgeon from the faculty to coach kickers and handle scouting of upcoming opponents. At the time, Russell told the Statesboro Herald, “We’re probably the only college with a Ph.D. in English on its football coaching staff.”
He retired from coaching college football after the 2010, but continued working part-time with several high school programs, including Marist in Atlanta. Spurgeon is in the athletic halls of fame for Georgia Southern, Emery & Henry and Marist.
In 2018, former Georgia Southern head football coach Chad Lunsford talked Spurgeon into coaching the team’s kickers again. Lunsford said he began to meet with Spurgeon weekly to talk about football and life and they spoke regularly on the phone.
“I made my mind up right then I wanted to be like Doc Spurgeon and share with others and help them to reach their full potential,” Lunsford said.
Spurgeon is survived by his wife of 74 years, Ann Spurgeon, his sons, O’Dyer (Mary) and Kevin (Barbara), his grandchildren, Kathleen, Rick, Russell, Anna, and Bri.
He was preceded in death by his parents Dallas and Vivian Spurgeon, his sister Jalna Larkey, and his daughter, Anna Kathleen.
Memorial donations may be made to the North Tattnall Middle School Football Program, PO Box 369, Reidsville, Georgia 30453.
Joiner-Anderson Funeral Home is located at 502 Miller St. Extension in Statesboro.