Quality class joins Macon Sports Hall
Their past accomplishments already revered and fondness through the years, the athletic prowess of nine individuals officially became linked with the best of Macon’s athletes of Thursday night at the Monument Room of the Macon Coliseum as the newest class of the Macon Sports Hall of Fame was inducted.
Coming from varied sports and representing the recent and further distant past, the inductees and those accepting on their behalf reflected fondly on not only their careers, but those who helped them get there along the way.
“As we come to the podium, I don’t think it’s really hard to figure out how we got here. I think we get here because of our experiences, and I think we get here because of the people that were around us,” said Mercer deputy athletics director Sybil Blalock, one of those inducted on Thursday. “I’ve been very blessed along the way to have some great people around me, people who came along at the right time.”
Blalock was joined in the 2016 Hall of Fame class by Julius Adams. Jeff Battcher, Dick Frame, Wayne Johnson, Mike McCollum, Don Robinson, Le Kevin Smith and Sharone Wright.
Adams starred at Ballard Hudson before playing collegiately at Texas Southern before playing 16 years with the New England Patriots, including in their 1986 Super Bowl appearance. Battcher was a two-sport standout at Stratford before going on to play at Utah where he played both football and baseball.
Frame ran track at Georgia Tech, a career highlighted by beating Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon in an SEC meet. He has been a part of the FPD track & field program since 1979, coaching more than 20 state hurdle champions and 20 runner-ups.
Johnson, nicknamed “Buffalo,” was team captain of the 1964 Willingham team coached by Billy Henderson that went 8-1-1. He went on to be a three-year letter winner at Florida State as an offensive lineman.
“Then, there was the greatest motivator I have ever known, Billy Henderson,” Johnson said. “He could get you so fired up, even if you were going to be in a winky-dink contest. He would get before you and get you worked up. His eyes would get big, his hands moving, and he would slobber on the first two rows, he got so fired up. He was a great motivator.”
McCollum, the first quarterback at Southwest after the merger of Willingham and Ballard Hudson, went on to become a golf professional and also qualified for the PGA National Golf Club championships in 1982 and 1983. Robinson was part of a Lanier football program that went 28-5-1 during a three-year span, including an unbeaten 1969 regular season.
Smith starred on the gridiron for Stratford before going on to play for Nebraska and later with the New England Patriots. Wright, an all-state performer at Southwest, continued his career at Clemson, leading the ACC in blocked shots in 1992-93 and again in 1993-94. He was the sixth overall selection in the 1994 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, the highest selection by any Clemson player.
Former Stratford football head football coach Rodney Collins and Macon Sports Hall of Fame member accepted on Smith’s behalf.
“You made a great choice when you nominated Le Kevin,” Collins said. “He’ll certainly make you proud. ... I’m proud to say that Le Kevin is one of ours, and always will be.”
This story was originally published May 5, 2016 at 10:12 PM with the headline "Quality class joins Macon Sports Hall."