Editor's note: It was pointed out to me Thursday that there is another gym in Pembroke with a name on it. That name is Robert Bowers, the legendary Bryan County High School coach who passed in 2005. Which was just before I got here. Still, I should've done my homework. Bowers clearly belongs in a Bryan County Hall of Fame.
Read on.
Me and Mike Brown, our ageless wonder of a sports correspondent, tend to agree on a lot of things.
We really agree on this: It’s way past time for a Bryan County Sports Hall of Fame. A brick and mortar place, or places, where these folks can be enshrined.
But first things first. The first step is to put the idea out there and keep it out there. Then, we’ll need folks to sit down and figure out who can do the legwork and come up with criteria for candidates to be inducted into the Hall and all the other stuff that goes with it. And after that, if it gets enough traction, where it’ll go, because location is likely to be the biggest challenge given the distance between North Bryan and South Bryan.
Do you put it in Pembroke where the county seat is? Should it go in Richmond Hill, where most of the people are right now? Or somewhere in between, like Ellabell or Black Creek? One solution might be to put two identical Halls in the county - one at Hendrix Park and the other at Henderson Park or over on Timber Trail.
As for categories, the notion me and Mike had was to have room for coaches and players and one for recreation folks who had impacts on kids lives here and there.
Maybe have a category for supporters, those who did a lot for sports through donations or as officials or, like the late Ken Wynn or my former competitor, the late-Jamie Parker, who deserve enshrinement as media.
As for who I’d nominate for an inaugural class, I’d limit myself to those I’ve covered or who were active during my time as a hack sportswriter many moons ago. That means retired coaches like Jimmy Hires and Mike Butler and Johnnie Miller and Albert Lodge and Kim Covington, because I don’t go back further than that and current coaches are still coaching and their time in the hall is down the road. Some are already in Halls of Fames here and there, so one more won’t hurt.
Oh, I’d also nominate Fred Covington, who helped found the Bryan County High School program back in the 1980s.
And Mike Foxworth, one of two folks so far who has his name on a gym in Pembroke. The other is Robert Bowers, who also should be in the Hall of Fame. He, of course, was before my time.
As for players, I’d start with three. Tiffany Howard, Nick Fitzgerald and Shaquille Walker.
Howard remains the best high school athlete I ever saw. She had an unmatched will to win. There were always bigger, faster and stronger athletes, but none were as dominant in a single sport as she was in several, from cross country and basketball to softball. Her ability and drive earned her a scholarship to Auburn, where she put an exclamation point on a good career with a catch that made ESPN’s top 10 plays.
Fitzgerald, on the other hand, was a top prospect at quarterback with all the physical tools who went on to deliver on them at Mississippi State, where he made his mark in the school and Southeastern Conference record books. One prep moment stands out for me, for some reason. It was against a Savannah school and might’ve been a scrimmage, but I remember the 6-foot-5 Fitzgerald throwing an interception and then hunting down the poor kid who picked him off and delivering a thumping blow I could hear 75 yards away. He, too, was a competitor.
Walker, an engaging, thoughtful kid, was a middle distance star at RHHS under the very fine coach Levi Sybert, who is one of those people I’m talking about when I say their time in a Hall of Fame is down the road, or should be. What Sybert has done for track and cross country here has been astounding.
Anyhow, Walker won back-to-back state titles in the 800 for RHHS, then went on to star at Brigham Young and was one of top middle distance runners in the U.S. until his retirement a few years ago.
There are others deserving, I’m sure, which is why my two cents are worth only that.
There are people like Linda Sun, whose work with kids in tennis has quietly made a difference for a long time. Or retired coaches like Steve Kollman, who built RHHS into a girls’ soccer powerhouse in this part of the state. There’s wrestling, still a young sport here, and so on. And people I’ve probably overlooked or forgotten because I tend to forget things.
That’s why for this to work it’ll need to be a team effort, from identifying those individuals who deserve a place in a Hall to finding a place for the Hall. What’s more, it won’t happen without some folks to who can make it a reality, and make it a reality without getting politics and egos involved.
Hopefully, with the support of folks like Mike Brown, it’ll get some impetus and turn into something real.
None of the greats are getting any younger.