Petty among Georgians who left state
Baylor pass-happy quarterback Bryce Petty is in the conversation for this year’s Heisman Trophy, and if he should win the famed statue, he would become the fifth native Georgian to claim the award.
Previous Georgia-born winners include South Carolina’s George Rogers, Georgia’s Herschel Walker, Florida State’s Charlie Ward and Auburn’s Cam Newton.
Even though Petty grew up in Midlothian, Texas, he was born in Thomaston in 1991. His father, Todd, was a job superintendent at that time for Reddick Construction Company and stayed in Thomaston until 1994, when the family moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, and then later on to the Lone Star State.
Petty, who was the Big 12 offensive player of the year in 2013, suffered a couple of cracked vertebra in his back in the Bears’ season-opening win over SMU and missed the second half of that game, as well as Baylor’s 70-6 win over Northwestern State. He was back in action last Friday, throwing for 416 yards and four touchdowns in three quarters of work in a 63-21 win at Buffalo.
There are quite a few other famous sports stars who are native to the state but left at a young age and gained fame elsewhere. The most notable is Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was born in Cairo before his family took off for California when he was just a year old. He played collegiately at UCLA, where he became the school’s first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, football and track and field.
Jim Brown, considered by many to be the greatest football player ever, was born in St. Simons before moving on to Manhasset, New York, when he was 8. Brown played college football at Syracuse before spending 9 years in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns. He was a four-time league MVP and eight-time rushing champion. At Syracuse, in addition to football, he played basketball and lacrosse and ran track, and was an All-American in both football and lacrosse for the Orange.
Terry Gene Bollea was born in Augusta. That name probably is not familiar to you, but his wrestling name should be: Hulk Hogan. His family moved to Tampa, Florida, when he was just a year and a half old. He is a 12-time world champion, six for the WWF/WWE and six times as a WCW world heavyweight champion.
Golfer Jerry Pate, winner of the 1976 U.S. Open at the Atlanta Athletic Club, was born in Macon.
From what I understand, his father worked with the Coca-Cola Company here before moving to Pensacola, Florida. Pate was a PGA rookie of the year and co-player of the year on the PGA tour in 1976. He finished his PGA career with eight wins.
Boxer Larry Holmes was born in Cuthbert, but at age 5 he moved to Easton, Pennsylvania, where he grew up and got the nickname the “Easton Assassin.”
He won his first 48 professional bouts before losing to Michael Spinks in 1985, leaving him one short of tying Rocky Marciano’s career record of 49-0. He claimed the world heavyweight championship from 1978-85. He finished his career with a 69-6 record, which included 20 successful title defenses.
Another boxer, Sidney Walker, better known as Beau Jack, was a lightweight who was a two-time world champion, was born in Waynesboro, but moved to Massachusetts to begin his boxing career.
Trainer and manager Cus D’Amato, who worked with both Floyd Patterson and Mike Tyson, called him the greatest lightweight ever.
Beau Jack’s career record was 88-24-5 with 43 wins by knockout.
Bucky Dent, who hit the famous home run for the New York Yankees in a playoff game to keep the Boston Red Sox out of the World Series in 1978, was born in Savannah and grew up in Sylvania before moving to Florida during his high school years.
Dent, who was a three-time all star during his major league career, hit .417 in the 1978 World Series, earning MVP honors as the Yankees beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2.
There are others I am sure, but these are the most notable.
Contact Bobby Pope at bobbypope428@gmail.com
This story was originally published September 15, 2014 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Petty among Georgians who left state ."