Smith: Bailey's book recalls simple life as islander

When I first ventured into the state of Florida and learned about Sanibel Island, I didn't know much about its history, but was aware early on that people had an enduring passion to visit and retire there.

Then I got to know Sam Bailey, a loyal Bulldog if there ever was one, and discovered that he was a Sanibel native. Initially, I wasn't aware how intimate and remote the island was in its early days before the coming off the causeway from the mainland.

After reading Sam's new book, "A Sanibel Son Looks Back," I became aware that Bailey's family were pioneer settlers on the island.

Sam grew up farming and doing the things islanders do - fishing, crabbing, shrimping and trapping raccoons and skinning them and selling their pelts to Sears Roebuck for 50 cents.

Generally speaking, it was the typical life of the times - simply making do. Islanders, like rural country boys, learn to live off the land and survive by instinct and adaptable creativity.

Bailey was hardened physically by the chores and work ethic imposed by his father, one of the early settlers on the island. Toiling long hours in the sun made Bailey lean and leathery tough - just right for the rigors of football.

By the time he was a teenager, he developed a serious interest in sports, but to participate in organized leagues, he had to travel by boat to the mainland and enroll at Ft. Myers High School. He found places to board during the week, returning to Sanibel to work on the weekends.

Bailey wanted a college education and felt that the best opportunity for him would be via a football scholarship. He started out at Hampden-Sydney, but was later given a tryout at Georgia by coach Wallace Butts, who subsequently offered Bailey a scholarship during the war years.

After his eligibility ended, Bailey played pro football for three seasons and then returned to Sanibel to work out arrangements to keep the family business, Bailey's General Store, operating. At Butts' invitation, he returned to Athens to get his degree a few years later.

"I'd never gotten that degree without coach Butts' help, so you can understand why I admired and loved him so much. He was like a father to me," Bailey said a few years ago.

Bailey's book, which he dedicated to his family and former Georgia quarterback John Rauch, traces his life on Sanibel - where, for years, he ran Bailey's General Store, which was established in 1899 - into athletics, including time spent coaching and serving as athletic director at the University of Tampa.

In the book, you learn about Bailey going to class in

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