Georgia football coach Kirby Smart had what he called a “special guest,” Monday for his weekly press conference.

It was Mark Richt who used to stand behind the podium in the old Butts-Mehre football team meeting room where Smart was as Bulldogs football coach.

Smart and Richt are joining together to promote a benefit bowling tournament.

It will raise money to fight Parkinson’s Disease which Richt announced in 2021 that he is battling.

Richt brought his granddaughter, Jadyn, with him and she stood by the side of the coach going into the College Football Hall of Fame later this year.

Richt said the bowling event will also raise funds to fight Crohn’s Disease which he said Jadyn was diagnosed with when she was born in 2015.

Richt congratulated Smart on a “great, hard-fought victory at Auburn. I know how hard it is to go to Auburn and beat them guys,” he said.

“Amen,” Smart responded.

Richt mentioned Smart’s 85-16 record as Georiga coach with two national titles.

“They’re putting me in the Hall of Fame here in December,” Richt said. “You’re already in, they just haven’t announced it yet.”

Richt announced the “Chick-Fil-A Dawg Bowl 2023,” a VIP bowling tournament on Oct. 18 during the Bulldogs’ bye week. The event will be held at about 6:30 p.m. at Showtime Bowling in Athens.

Every lane—32 in all–will have a “celebrity” Georgia football player.

The event already has had more than $500,000 pledged, Richt said. The goal is between $750,000 and $1 million. The money will go to the University of Georgia’s  Isakson Center for Neurological Disease Research which specializes in Parkinson’s research and the connection to gut inflammation diseases like Crohn’s Disease.

“My grandfather had Parkinson’s and I can remember as a child him going through that experience,” Smart said. “It’s touched everybody’s life in some shape or form.”

Richt’s wife, Katharyn, was on hand and displayed a wrestling-style belt to be awarded at the event for the five members of the winning team.

“Do my players get any of those?” Smart asked.

“Yeah, the five teammates get one of those belts including one of your players,” Richt said. “Back in my day they’d have gotten thrown in the NCAA jail.”

“Very true,” Smart said.

“Believe me, they’d have a two game suspension for being honest and fessing up to it,” said Richt who had star players Todd Gurley and A.J. Green sit out games for breaking NCAA rules for selling a bowl jersey and autographed memorabilia. “If I had to go back and do it again it would be lie and deny. Prove it. Prove it two years after your eligibility is up. Anyway, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to digress.”