How Charlie Condon is set to supplant former Athens high school star, two-sport UGA athlete
Charlie Condon’s home run barrage this past season became must-watch viewing for those who follow college baseball.
An interested observer tuned in at least 20 times from across the country in Arizona to watch records fall.
Before he built a life as an attorney in the Phoenix area, Jeff Pyburn was a dual-sport athlete with Georgia football as starting quarterback and as a centerfielder for the Bulldogs baseball team.
The Athens native and Cedar Shoals graduate, and son of a longtime Vince Dooley assistant coach, holds the distinction of going higher in the MLB draft than any player in Georgia history.
At least for a few more more days when Condon Sunday is expected to top the player who went No. 5 overall in the 1980 draft to San Diego.
Condon is projected to be a top draft pick, with many putting him at No. 1 overall.
“The guy is a heck of a player, does amazing stuff,” Pyburn said of a player that set a record in the BBCOR-bat era with 37 homers and led the nation with a .433 average. “I’d be honored to be surpassed by him.”
Georgia has had 11 first round draft picks including two pitchers who went No. 6 overall: Derek Lilliquist to Atlanta in 1987 and Emerson Hancock to Seattle in 2020.
Pyburn’s father, Jim, was an All-American at Auburn in football and led the SEC in batting average. He played three years with the Orioles and later became a Georgia football defensive assistant from 1964-79.
Jeff grew up on the east side of Athens and became a Parade All-American as a running quarterback at Cedar. Alabama and Bear Bryant “recruited the heck out of me.”
Pyburn wanted to play two sports but heard that would be hard to do there, but knew he could at Georgia because he saw Andy Johnson do it.
Pyburn started at quarterback for Georgia in 1977 and 1978 when he threw for a combined 1,190 passing yards with 8 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. A player that defensive lineman Robert Goodwin says now “was probably the best athlete on the football team,” was third on the team in rushing as a sophomore with 348 yards and 4 touchdowns.
“We didn’t throw the ball,” Pyburn said. “When we started, we were a veer option team. Heck, if we threw the ball 10 or 12 times a game that was a lot.”
Pyburn, now 66, started the first three games of 1979 before he sustained a separated shoulder and a quarterback named Buck Belue took over.
“I think I had four knee surgeries by the time I left Georgia,” Pyburn said.
Pyburn returned and led the Bulldogs to a 16-3 victory over Georgia Tech in his final game. Belue went on to help lead Georgia to the national championship in 1980.
Pyburn was a career .345 hitter at Georgia with 33 homers, 128 RBI and 32 stolen bases including a team-leading 14 in 1979. He hit .400 in 1980 with 15 homers including 3 grand slams and an SEC-leading 54 runs scored and 66 RBI.
“He checked all the boxes,” said Belue, who also played outfield and led Georgia in 1979 with .373 average with 13 homers and 45 RBI and was a sixth round pick of the Expos in 1982. “He could hit for power, he could run, played a really impressive outfield and was a good guy, a good teammate.”
Pyburn learned after a baseball game at Georgia Tech that he had been drafted by Buffalo in the fifth round of the NFL draft as a defensive back after he ran an impressive 40 time at the NFL combine.
“I think the thing that goes overlooked is you’ve got to be determined to be able to do that,” Belue said of playing two sports. “You’re competing year-round, you’re training year-round. That was not easy. You had some people that were trying to discourage you along the way, too. You had some of that.”
Pyburn played three minor league seasons in the Padres system reaching AAA in Honolulu.
“Buffalo had gotten some guys hurt and made me an offer at the time that I couldn’t refuse,” he said. “Bad mistake, but I left baseball to go play football and I had a career ending (knee) injury there.”
Pyburn had bought a house in Arizona to live in the offseason and the three-time football Academic All-SEC selection who earned an NCAA postgraduate scholarship went to law school at Arizona State.
“Turning my attention to getting a law degree at that time was a good thing and kept me busy,” he said.
He works in civil litigation and has practiced law now for 38 years.
“Nobody worked as hard as that guy,” Goodwin, a retired teacher and coach living in Winterville, said of his college roommate. “He worked his fanny off the whole time. He did everything he could to get better. …What would have been amazing to see if he had never had those knee injuries even at Georgia, oh my goodness, there’s no telling what he would have done.”
Pyburn’s playing career ended decades ago. Condon’s is just getting going.
Said Pyburn: “He’s a stud.”