This past weekend in Savannah, the Georgia Athletic Directors Association inducted eight members into its inaugural Hall of Fame class. The ceremony took place during the Association’s annual conference at the Hilton DeSoto in downtown Savannah.
This class was chosen by the GADA Board of Directors and includes some of the
most influential and accomplished athletic directors in the history of the state. Members of the inaugural class received an award made of crystal and will eventually be recognized in a Hall of Fame location. The facility that will house the Hall of Fame has not yet been chosen.
In the future, Hall of Fame classes will be chosen on a yearly basis by the board after
nominations by the over 200 members of the GADA. The ceremony will continue to take place
at the annual conference in Savannah.
The driving force behind the establishment of the GADA Hall of Fame is out-going
Association President Carter Wilson. The Decatur High School athletic director wanted a
Hall of Fame as a way to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of Georgia high
school athletic directors.
The inaugural Hall of Fame members are Max Bass, Corky Kell, Bob Ward, Dexter Wood, John Hill, Lucia Norwood, Petty Ezell, and Melvin Crook. Each member was given a chance to address the crowd.
SPEAKERS TOUCH ON IMPORTANT ISSUES …
All of the speeches were heart-felt and included quite a bit of wisdom and knowledge acquired over the years, but one of the common themes throughout all of them was the importance of relationships with young people. Many of the inductees mentioned that winning was secondary to the development of relationships with the athletes. Working with and seeing the development of young people was clearly the most rewarding part of coaching for all of the speakers.
One of the speakers mentioned how he had counted 178 of his former players that had gone into the coaching profession while others spoke of the facilities that had been built under their watch. Bob Ward from Westminster was proud to announce a $29 million building that will house a pool, weight room, basketball court, and trophy room for Wildcat athletics.
Dexter Wood, who coached at Marietta and Buford among other schools, spoke about something he learned while playing under Bear Bryant at Alabama. Wood said that Bryant said that if someone could live without coaching, then they shouldn’t get into it. Clearly, Wood couldn’t live without it, as his teams played for five state titles and won three. Wood’s squads also hold the state record for most consecutive wins with 47.
Lucia Norwood, Executive Director of the GADA, mentioned how proud she was of the current state of the Title IX rule, which allows gender equity in athletics. Norwood was instrumental in getting the rule adopted throughout the state of Georgia.
Ralph Swearngin, current Executive Director of the GHSA, spoke in honor of the inductees. Swearngin proudly announced how the GHSA is currently covering the catastrophic insurance premiums for all Georgia schools. Such a commitment is proof of how generous the GHSA is in trying to help education in this state.
Another welcomed guest speaker was Brian Willman of Regions Bank. The Regions Director’s Cup recognizes athletic departments in all classifications that have excelled as a whole and shown superior performance. The GADA has presented this award annually since 1999-2000. The schools that win awards are presented with a trophy and banner, both of which are provided by Regions.
AWARD WINNERS …
The Regional Athletic Director of the Year awards were then given out for each region of each classification in the state. There were a total of 40 athletic directors who were presented with the award this year.
The state AD of the year and ADs of the year for each classification were also recognized. Rusty Hudson of The Westminster School was given the award for the state while Kris Palmerton of Pace Academy won for Class A, Calvin Scandrett of Lamar County won for Class 2A, Dennis Stromie of West Forsyth won for Class 3A, Brian Moore of Apalachee won for Class 4A and Mark Whitley of Parkview won for Class 5A.
The Distinguished Service Award was presented to Carter Wilson of Decatur. Wilson is currently the outgoing GADA President and will be succeeded by Jeff Beggs of The St. Francis Schools.
Other award winners included Mike Carswell, who won the Citation Award, Lynne Malloy, who won the NIAAA Award of Merit, and Joe Sanfilippo who was given the Frank Kovaleski Professional Development Award.
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