Vince Dooley, Georgia’s former longtime football coach and athletic director, will be the featured guest speaker at the Hillgrove Foundation’s third annual Performing for the Dream benefit Feb. 22 at the school.

The philanthropic arm of the school, the foundation is dedicated to raising funds to support the school’s students in academics, arts and athletics. Visitors are invited to spend the evening with Dooley and enjoy feature performances from Hillgrove’s fine arts department starting at 7 p.m.

“We set up the foundation to provide opportunities for our performing arts students and to generate money to get our visitors stands at the football field,” Hillgrove principal Robert Shaw said. “We’re in our third year of the event, and the past two fundraisers raised between $3,000 to $5,000 each time.”

This will be the first time the foundation has used a featured guest speaker as part of the benefit. Performing arts students provided all of the evening’s entertainment the previous two times.

“We held the first one at the Strand Theatre, and the second was at the school to defer cost and give more money to the students,” Shaw said. “We’re really excited to have coach Dooley as a part of the program this year. He is a major support of education and seemed like a natural choice for our group.”

Dooley spent 25 years as Georgia’s football coach, winning 201 games from 1964-88, including a national championship in 1988. He served as the school’s athletic director from 1979-2004.

In recent years, Dooley has served as a consultant for Kennesaw State’s football exploratory committee.

“One of our business teachers, Bill Wilkins, came up with the idea to ask coach Dooley and see if he’d be willing to help us out,” Shaw said. “Angelena Adams, another one of our business teachers, was able to get in contact with him. She sent him an email and he replied back that he’d love to come and help us out.”

General admission tickets for the benefit are $20 and can be purchased at the door or by visiting the foundation’s website at www.hillgrovefoundation.org.

Also available are a limited number of $50 VIP tickets, which include a hour-long meet-and-greet session with Dooley, as well as a light meal, starting at 6:30 p.m. Those tickets can be reserved at the school or by call (678) 331-3961.

“We’re really excited about the VIP tickets,” Shaw said. “Longtime Georgia Bulldogs fans will have an opportunity to talk with coach Dooley and pick his brain about football.

“It should be a great event.”