The Saturday Evening Post featured an article entitled “The Story of a College Football Fix,” characterized in the subtitle as “A Shocking Report of How Wally Butts and Bear Bryant Rigged a Game Last Fall.” Butts was athletic director of the University of Georgia, and Bryant was head coach of the University of Alabama. The article was based on a claim by one George Burnett that he had accidentally overheard a long-distance telephone conversation between Butts and Bryant in the course of which Butts divulged information on plays Georgia would use in the upcoming game against Alabama. The writer assigned to the story by the Post was not a football expert, did not interview either Butts or Bryant, and did not personally see the notes Burnett had made of the telephone conversation.

Butts admitted that he had a long-distance telephone conversation with Bryant but denied that any advance information on prospective football plays was given. Has Butts been defamed by the Post? Why or why not?