By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com 

When it’s time to accept praise for a career, it’s time to hand out praise to parents.

More than 600 were on hand to celebrate the induction of the Class of 2025 into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame on a night when several of the 10 new members went back to the impacts of parents.

          More than 600 were on hand to celebrate the induction of the Class of 2025 into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame on a night when several of the 10 new members had praise for Mom.

          If not for $25, Terance Mathis wouldn’t have been on that stage.

          Back in his first days of football, Mathis was at running back, and faced his first exposure to the Oklahoma drill, a physical one-on-one battle.

          He got popped, and he got popped again.

          “Oh my God, I did not know that they tackled that hard,” recalled the former Atlanta Falcon receiver now head coach at Morehouse College. “Mmm mmm.”

          He began reconsidering his choices, and didn’t go to the next few practices, but left the house in uniform like he had. He waited until practice was likely over, dove on some grass to get his uniform dirty, and bounced into the house each day telling his Mom how great he’d done.

          “She said, ‘Boy, you ain’t been to practice in two days. Coach called me and asked me what’s wrong with you,’” Mathis related. “She said, ‘We paid this money for you to play, you’re gonna go play.’ It was only $25.

          “If it wasn’t for those $25, I wouldn’t be right here today.”

          The Hall expanded the class to 10 members this year, adding to the night’s length and to the attendance.

          The weekend began with a golf tournament at The Brickyard on Friday, followed that night by the jacket ceremony, a private event at the Hall during which each new inductee, in a fill theater, received the official hall jacket.

          The new members joined old members on Saturday afternoon for 90 minutes of autographs and pictures at the hall before commencing for the event of the weekend.

          UGA was represented by Courtney Kupets-Carter (gymnastics) and Jeff Wallace (tennis). Pitching coach Leo Mazzone, pitcher Tim Hudson of Columbus, and outfielder Marquis Grissom became the latest Atlanta Braves to join.

          Dennis Scott was a shooting ace at Georgia Tech in the late 1980s as the Yellow Jackets went to four straight NCAA Tournaments, him taking ACC player of the year honors once.

          Bob Rathbun has been a voice for the Atlanta Hawks play-by-play man for the Atlanta Hawks for nearly three decades, adding Atlanta Dream for several years during a career spanning several networks and sports and more decades.

          This year’s Legends Class is Augusta-born boxer Vernon Forrest and two-sport athlete Bunky Henry of Valdosta. The Legends Class was created for athletes who likely would have been Hall of Fame candidates before their premature deaths.

          The larger class – 10 as opposed to eight - was one of the reasons the 69th ceremony was one of the longest, not finishing up until after 10 p.m. (See each inductees’ speech)

          Mothers and wives drew plenty of praise, inspiring some emotion, as with former Atlanta pitcher Tim Hudson, whose composure collapsed for a moment by simply saying, “My family.

“I love you guys. It takes a special wife to put up with a baseball player’s crazy schedule. I thank the Lord that he put Kim in my life. She was my tutor at Auburn, so she’s the smart one of the group.”

          Central Georgia had two connections. Baseball coach Terry Holder grew up in Cochran, and actually played in a state championship basketball game in the Auditorium for the old Cochran High Royals, throwing out a “Go Royals” at some former teammates on hand.

          Theron Sapp was born in Dublin and grew up in Macon, becoming a star football player at Lanier before moving to Georgia, where he’ll forever hold legendary status as “The Droughtbreaker.”

          He recovered a fumble at midfield, and then his one-yard touchdown run on fourth and goal in 1957 gave Georgia a 7-0 win over Georgia Tech and broke an eight-game losing streak to the Yellow Jackets.

          Sapp was on hand, along with four children and nine of his 11 grandchildren, but his daughter Jan spoke on his behalf.

          “When we told Dad he had been chosen for the Georgia Sports Hall of fame, he said, and I quote, ‘Hall of fame? I’m too young to be in the hall of fame.’”

          She recalled how he fractured three vertebrae in an all-star game while at Lanier, and how Georgia head coach Wally Butts said he’d still have a scholarship with the Bulldogs whether he played for them or not.

          A doctor told Sapp that if he were his son, there’d be no football.

          “I told my doctor, with all due respect, I’m not your son, and I will play again,’” Jan related, in her father’s words. “So here I am today at this fantastic event. Too young to be in the Hall of Fame, but I’ll take it.

          “I still tell people today, no one has gotten more miles out of a one-yard touchdown run than I got in that touchdown run against Tech.”

          The weekend left an impact as well.

          “This has been an unbelievable event for me,” said former Braves outfielder Marquis Grissom, holding his thumb and index finger an inch or two apart. “Right up there with the World Series, and being from Atlanta, winning the World Series in Atlanta. This is that special.”

          Former Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone, after sharing some mighty entertaining stories from his career rocking in the Atlanta dugout next to Bobby Cox, was dazzled.

          “The state of Georgia is the state where all of my childhood dreams came true,” said theWest Virginia native who grew up in Maryland. “From the time I was nine years old until now.

          “This is a tremendous honor. I can’t believe it. I didn’t know what to expect. This is a first-class operation. I see the recipients of (induction), and I don’t feel I’m as good as they are. I also know that I had the fortune of being with the greatest pitchers in the history of baseball, and they went to the post when it was their turn.”

          FanFest afforded Mathis reminders of the past, and present.

          “I sat next to Brian Jordan today at the (FanFest) and I felt like a kid in a candy store, looking at all the cards and pictures” Mathis said. “I felt young all over again.

          “Until I stood up. I said, ‘Ohhh, my knees and back.’”

          The ceremony is always a combination of thanks, emotion, and funny.

          Grissom combined two in one tale, earning one of the biggest laughs of the night when talking about how he learned of the importance of family over baseball.

          Often, Grissom would come home from work at the stadium and play some ball with his son D’Monte. Grissom had a particularly bad game one day, and was in no mood for anything or anybody.

          “He wanted to play and I didn’t want to play,” Grissom said. “The next day, I cried like a baby, because that game is not important more than my family. That stuck with me for the rest of my baseball career, kind of changed my life and my career.

          “We play baseball as a sport, but that family value is the key. I want to thank him today.”

          And then …

          “I used to drag him around in this basket, around the house in this basket real fast, and he loved that,” Grissom said. “One time, he hit his head on the wall.”

          Grissom paused, starting to giggle as he looked toward D’Monte.

          “He ain’t been right since.”