LUMBERTON — When Tim and Dee Worley married in 2010, they had to lay down some ground rules.
“We’re a serious college football family,” said Tim, a Lumberton native and former standout running back at the University of Georgia.
Dee was also a star athlete in college, making her mark as an All-American gymnast at the University of Alabama.
The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide have met twice on the gridiron since the Worleys tied the knot. Alabama won both games, including the SEC Championship in 2012.
“We laid down the rules of no talking before the game and no gloating after the game,” Tim said. “We pretty much stick by those rules.”
The rules will be put to the test on Monday when Alabama and Georgia meet in Atlanta to battle for college football’s national championship.
Tim will be traveling to Indianapolis for the week on the day of the title game. Dee will be at home.
“I think God is actually protecting us from each other,” Tim said with a laugh. “We wanted to be at the game, but we’re not going to be able to make it.”
Even so, when the two are together at home during a game, Dee refuses to call it a house divided.
“When we first got married, I said we were not a house divided, we were a house double-blessed,” she said.
So she had some license plates made for each of their cars, bearing the logos of each school with the phrase, “A House Double-Blessed.”
“We’re people of faith in Jesus. We believe in the power of what you say,” Dee said.
“We don’t want anything negative over our marriage. A lot of people think it’s a joke, but you’d be surprised how many people get in rip-roaring fights over football. We don’t speak division in our home. That’s really what it’s all about.”
Tim and Dee began dating 30 years ago, when he was a junior at the Georgia. They eventually broke up, but the fire was reignited in 2010.
They now operate Worley Global Enterprises, which specializes in marketing, business consulting and motivational speaking.
The two guessed that they have received about 50 calls and texts since Monday, when Georgia won a thriller over Oklahoma and Alabama dominated Clemson in the semifinals of the college football playoff.
The roots run deep on both sides.
“We have two flags out in front (of the house) — one Georgia and one Alabama,” Tim said.
Tim’s ‘Tailback U’
Tim can’t help but think about his time in Athens when he watches the latest bunch of Bulldogs between the hedges.
After a dominant prep career at Lumberton High School, Tim chose to attend Georgia, where from 1985-88 he developed into one of the program’s greatest running backs.
This season, Georgia has a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in seniors Nick Chubb and Sony Michel.
“To see Sony Michel and Nick Chubb and (freshman D’Andre) Swift, those guys are unbelievable,” Tim said. “And I’m excited about what we have coming in next year. We are Tailback U for a reason.”
The Bulldogs will welcome a pair of highly-touted running backs to campus in 2018, including Scotland’s Zamir White — the top-ranked tailback in the nation.
“It does remind me of some of the guys that I shared the backfield with — (Rodney) Hampton, (Alphonso) Ellis — and even the guys that came afterward — (Garrison) Hearst, (Terrell) Davis,” Tim said.
“Between ‘85 and ‘89, we had guys that were so dominant that we had to split the carries. That tradition has continued.”
Tim made a splash from the moment he stepped on campus, leading the Bulldogs with 10 touchdowns as a freshman and ranking second on the team with 627 yards. After blowing out his knee four games into his sophomore season and dealing with academic issues, Worley missed two years and returned with a vengeance in 1988.
He finished his final year with 1,216 rushing yards en route to earning the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Year by United Press International. He was a consensus first-team All-American.
In three seasons with the Bulldogs, Worley rushed for 2,038 yards and 27 touchdowns on 353 attempts. He was chosen No. 7 overall in the 1989 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers and was inducted into the Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame in 2007.
He also paved the way for future in-state running backs such as White, Millbrook’s Keith Marshall and Tarboro’s Todd Gurley.
Now, his alma mater aims to win its first national title since 1980.
“It would mean the world,” he said. “I’m older; I’m a 51-year-old man. I sit back and I really enjoy things now. Just to know that I was once a part of, and am still a part of Georgia, is something that can never be taken away.
“It means the world to me, but I’m also happy for the university, for all of the fans and for all of the players and the coaches. It ain’t over yet. We have to bring this thing home to Athens.”
Dee and Bear
At a young age, Dee was faced with a choice that would determine the course of the rest of her life.
“As soon as we moved to Alabama from Michigan when I was a little kid, it was like, ‘You have to pick. Are you crimson and white or are you orange and blue?’ she said.
For Dee, it wasn’t hard choosing between Auburn and Alabama.
“I said I’m going to pick the team that wins all of the time. By age 7 I had my roots established.”
She also remembers the influence of Bear Bryant, who won six national championships during his 25-year tenure as head coach of the Crimson Tide.
“I grew up in Alabama and actually lived in Tuscaloosa from ages 10 to 13. That was when Coach (Bear) Bryant was coaching his last couple of years,” she said. “He was just engraved in the fabric of my childhood from a very early age. Before I even moved to Tuscaloosa, he was a part of my life.”
At the age of 13, Dee was named the first elite gymnast in the state of Alabama. When colleges came calling, she narrowed her list to two schools.
“For me, it was between Alabama and Georgia when it was time for me to decide what school I was going to on a gymnastics scholarship,” she said.
Bryant, the man known for his trademark black and white houndstooth hat and deep voice, was a deciding factor.
“Alabama won, first of all, because I promised Coach Bryant when I was 13 that I would go to school there. And you do not break that promise.”
Dee also wanted to make history, and she did, becoming the first black woman to sign an athletic scholarship with the Crimson Tide.
“That was my opportunity. My coach in college, Sarah Patterson, was hired by Bryant when he was the athletics director,” Dee said. “She had a strong relationship with him.”
Almost immediately after enrolling at Alabama, she became the cream of the collegiate crop on the uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise and vault.
During her gymnastics career from 1989-93, Dee became a 17-time All-American, a four-time champion and a nine-time regional champion. As a senior in 1993, she set an NCAA record with perfect 10’s in five consecutive meets.
Over the course of her career at Alabama, she was named the SEC Female Athlete of the Year, SEC Freshman of the Year and NCAA Gymnast of the Year.
When she wasn’t dominating on the mat, Dee was fond of watching a certain running back from Lumberton play for an SEC rival.
“I was Tim’s biggest cheerleader when he was playing there,” she said. “There was just something about seeing him in those silver britches, running between the hedges and trucking folk every Saturday. It was awesome.”
Still, there’s no question about her allegiance to the Crimson Tide.
“The whole house is crimson,” she said.
Like the years under Bryant, Alabama is in the middle of a dynasty. Under Nick Saban, the Crimson Tide has won four national titles — in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015.
If Saban wins this year’s national championship, he’ll tie Bryant for the most all-time with six.
Despite the success, Dee is adamant that Alabama fans aren’t “prima donnas.”
“We’re not used to it. It’s a brand new season every year and we’re starting from zero,” she said. “Yes, this will be the 17th (national) championship. But it’ll be like it’s the first one. We’re seasoned but we’re not callous about this because it’s brand new.”
After last year’s last-second loss to Clemson in the national championship, and a slew of injuries throughout this season, this title would be sweeter.
“I’ve never seen that level of adversity on this high of a platform of competition. I think this team has overcome the kind of adversity that is at the heart of what the Alabama program is about,” she said.
Mutual respect
Though he proudly displays the oval “G” on his apparel, Tim’s seen his share of Alabama clothing the last several years thanks to his wife.
“When I go to Tuscaloosa, I wear a Bama cap or Bama gear,” he said.
But he doesn’t have to pay for the Crimson Tide apparel.
“He buys me all of my Alabama stuff and I buy him all of his Georgia stuff,” Dee said with a laugh.
“I wear Tim’s jersey when we go to Georgia games. It’s fun. I’m incorrigible. I just have so much respect for Georgia. I have a lot of respect for that institution. I love (former Georgia) Coach (Vince) Dooley. My roots run deep with them, too.”
When they’re watching games together, keeping their rules in mind, Dee is “always on the move.”
“She can sit down and watch a Georgia game with me but when Bama is on she’s walking all through the house,” Tim said. “Sometimes I have to go looking for her.”
Often listening to Eli Gold, the radio voice of Alabama football, Dee also follows a few Twitter feeds to keep her updated when she’s out and about.
“I have to move. It’s just way too much pressure for me.”
On Monday, she can do so without Tim there to distract her.
Tim made it a point to remind Dee that he predicted Georgia’s class of 2017 would secure a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Dee backed him up, but left him with some final words.
“Roll Tide.”
