Full Name:  Tifton Lamar Goza
     Born:  July 5, 1927, Tucker, Ga.
     Died:  April 30, 2024, Lilburn, Ga.
   School:  Tucker High School in Atlanta, Georgia

Year  No  Pos     Hgt  Wgt  Cl  Ltr  Hometown
1949  28  QB      5-11 175  Sr       Tucker, GA                  

Tifton Lamar "Tip" Goza was born July 6, 1927 on the Goza home-place on Evans Rd. in DeKalb Co., GA. He died peacefully at home in Lilburn, GA on April 30, 2024. He was the son of George Madison Goza and Annie Mae Tollison Goza, both of Tucker, GA.

He is survived by a son and daughter-in-law; a daughter, and son-in-law; seven grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Betty Ruth Cain Goza, brother, Armond (Fat) Goza, sister, Catherine Goza Lewis and first grandchild, Daniel Madison Goza.

In 1945, Tip married Betty Ruth Cain. Over the next 62 years they displayed a great example and set a very high bar for marriage and family. Their children and grandchildren will attest that family was their first love and overriding priority. There has never been a truer or more moving picture of love than the way he cared for Betty in the last years of her life. After her death in 2007 he continued to honor her by continuing all the family traditions.

Tip excelled in all sports at Tucker High School, and went on to play football at the colleges West Georgia and Florida State. In between his military service in WW2 as well as Korea, he managed to become certified to teach and coach, and began a 34 year career that took him around Georgia to Ringgold, Lithonia, Avondale, and DeKalb College.

While he primarily coached Football and Baseball, Coach Goza led teams to several state championships in a number of other sports at both the High School and Junior College level.

As good a coach as he was, his greatest accomplishments can be realized in the lives of the thousands of men that he impacted in a positive way. Many of these men have continued to honor and show caring concern for him as they have had opportunity to do so throughout his life.

His best memories of coaching came from his days at Avondale High School. He loved telling stories about his old players, and never forgot or failed to appreciate the great school programs and supportive community that he led and participated in. For Tip and Betty these were truly the golden years, and he was always very grateful for them.

After his retirement in 1984 he and Betty Ruth pursued numerous hobbies, chief among them was raising bluebirds and planting prolific gardens. He built thousands of bluebird boxes and gave them away to numerous schools and nursing homes. Another great retirement joy for him was teaching driver's education for 17 years.

Season Statistics
Defense
         |       Tackles        |   Sacks  |    Fumble    |     Pass Defense    | Blkd |   PAT Attempts  |        |         |    |
Year  GP |  ua   a Tot  tfl-yds |   no-yds | ff fr-yds-td | int-yds-td qbh brup | kick |   kick  rsh rcv |   fg   | saf dxp | td | pts
---------|----------------------|----------|--------------|---------------------|------|-----------------|--------|---------|----|----
1949   3 |   0   0   0  0.0-  0 |  0.0-  0 |  0  0-  0- 0 |   1-  0- 0   0   0  |   0  |   0- 0   0   0  |  0- 0  |   0   0 |  0 |   0
---------|----------------------|----------|--------------|---------------------|------|-----------------|--------|---------|----|----
Tot    3 |   0   0   0  0.0-  0 |  0.0-  0 |  0  0-  0- 0 |   1-  0- 0   0   0  |   0  |   0- 0   0   0  |  0- 0  |   0   0 |  0 |   0

Offense/Kick and Punt Returns
         |       Rushing        |      Receiving       |         Passing          |     Kick Returns      |     Punt Returns      |  all
Year  GP |  no  yds  avg td lg  |  no  yds  avg td lg  | cmp- att-int  yds td lg  |  no  yds  avg td  lg  |  no  yds  avg td  lg  | purp
---------|----------------------|----------------------|--------------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----
1949   3 |   0    0  0.0  0     |   0    0  0.0  0     |   0-  0 - 0     0  0     |   0    0  0.0  0      |   0    0  0.0  0      |    0
---------|----------------------|----------------------|--------------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----
Tot    3 |   0    0  0.0  0     |   0    0  0.0  0     |   0-   0- 0     0  0     |   0    0  0.0  0      |   0    0  0.0  0      |    0

Game Participation
                            |      Starts
1949                        | GP  Off  Def
----------------------------|--------------
Oct  1 Whiting Field        |  1           
Nov 12 Millsaps College     |  1           
Nov 26 Troy State           |  1           
----------------------------|--------------
Tot                         |  3   0    0

----------------------------|--------------
Career Tot                  |  3   0    0

Game Statistics