A Peach of a Leader
If there were a Hall of Fame for promoting a city into prominence in the sports world, Gary Stokan would be a charter member. The president and CEO of Peach Bowl, Inc. – who will retire at the end of…
Author: Loran Smith
A Gentleman and a Scholar
The term student-athlete is far different today than yesteryear, when a scholarship that paid for your education was something extraordinary. High school kids today still are the beneficiaries of the grant-in-aid system that went into effect in 1956. However, attitudes…
A Family Tradition: A Georgia Sports Family
The work and leadership of high school coaches, along with that of various youth league coaches across the country, has been invaluable to American communities and families for years. There have been issues, mistakes and shortcomings, but for the most…
Georgia’s Homegrown Heroes
I have long been curious about Georgia’s 159 counties, stopping to read historical markers when I travel and researching famous folk who put their hometown on the map. Recently when I drove…
A (Farm) League of His Own
In baseball, that fickle game in which there is no crying but endless statistics that will never give way to abridgement, spending time down on the farm is bad news. The farm is where the Big Leaguers go when they…
The Legendary Fran Tarkenton
One of the most accomplished quarterbacks in the history of the National Football League long ago transitioned adroitly from the locker room to the corporate boardroom. In fact, with a mind as agile as his body was in competition, former…
Leading By Example
President Joe Biden hosts an event for the 2021 World Series Champion Atlanta Braves, Monday, September 26, 2022, in the East Room of the White House. Anthopoulos is eighth from the left, next to Max Fried.…
Humility Despite Success
Already, in the space of eight years, Kirby Smart has established himself as one of the outstanding football coaches in history of the state of Georgia. The highlights that doting alumni fawn over, and the high marks dished out by…
A Champion in Every Respect
The baseball box score reflects individual and team performance. What it doesn’t reflect, however, is the athlete’s character or his habits and interests when he is not playing ball. As we are painfully aware, many get hooked on drugs; others…
Sports Desk: A Tradition of Tales
There is a certain wry humor that has been a staple of locker room commentary dating back ages – maybe even to the first Olympic games in 1896. Even without locker rooms, it would be safe to suggest that some…
Sports Desk: My Ty Cobb Experience
In the spring of 1961, I was pursuing a journalism degree at the University of Georgia and writing about sports for the Athens Banner Herald – too busy to let a little thing like a passing grade in Spanish spoil…
Sports Desk: Remembering Vince Dooley
In the first week of September, Vince Dooley, the former University of Georgia (UGA) coach and athletic director, turned 90, a milestone for this Mobile, Ala., waterfront-born kid who was not just the most beloved coach in Georgia but also…
Sports Desk: Reluctant Heroes
On Sept. 9, 1965, Macon native Bobby Hendley, playing for the Chicago Cubs, pitched a one-hit game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With a performance like that, you would think he’d have won the game. But the sad tale about…
Sports Desk: Deeply Rooted Victory
The business of winning championships can bring either a drought or an embarrassment of riches. There are some schools that have never won a single national title and then there are Alabama and Notre Dame, which claim a dozen or…
Sports Desk: Love of the Games
If you watch almost any network, you’ll notice the talented women sideline reporters covering just about any sport. Emily Gagnon, a sports anchor and reporter for CBS 46 in Atlanta, thinks such an assignment would be nice, but she appreciates…
Sports Desk: Getting it Done
Atlanta is the football capital of the world! Who says so? Gary Stokan, president and CEO of Peach Bowl Inc., for one. Stokan is a Pittsburgh native who played basketball at North Carolina State University – not the sort of…
Sports Desk: Full of Grace
One of Georgia’s newest residents is among the most famous sports personalities in the country: A man who has a resumé brimming with accolades, accomplishments and records (and four Super Bowl rings), not to mention membership in both the College…
Sports Desk: Master Competitor
Stewart Cink, who grew up in Florence, Ala., has traveled the world, beginning with his college years on the Georgia Tech golf team in the early 1990s. His countless collegiate and professional trophies reflect both success and personal fulfillment. “To…
Sports Desk: Sports Heritage
In 1999, an outstanding sports museum opened in Macon – the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. The venue, the largest state sports museum in the country, celebrates athletic achievements and features more than 3,000 artifacts. Among the 14,000-square-feet of exhibits,…
Sports Desk: The Right Stuff
The life of Alpharetta native Maria Taylor, one of the nation’s leading sports analysts and a dual-sport athlete, has flowed seamlessly as a river, with few troubled waters. That brings pause as one considers where we might find her at…
Sports Desk: The Lead Dawg
For the past 64 years when the University of Georgia (UGA) football team has taken the field, the lead Dawg has been its nationally acclaimed mascot, Uga, an all-white male English bulldog. The current Uga, Roman numeral X, is in…
Sports Desk: Herschel No. 1
With college football celebrating its 150th anniversary, recollections brought about another round of Herschel Walker praising and a reliving of his remarkable career. The lightning-fast running back called the “Wrightsville Wonder” set multiple records during his tenure at University of…
Sports Desk: A Nice Guy Wins
Whenever a Braves game is finished, I am always interested in what the manager has to say. Brian Snitker, the highly regarded incumbent, will offer up positive appraisals of his players. He will defend them as if they had grown…
Sports Desk: Life After Football
The money a football player can earn in the National Football League (NFL) today is head turning if not mind-boggling. That often depends, of course, on the position one plays. Quarterbacks make the most, most of the time. What about…
Sports Desk: Thanks, Furman
While in Northern Ireland at the golfing sanctuary that is Royal Portrush Golf Club, which hosted the playing of the 148th British Open championship in July, I thought of the late Furman Bisher, who passed away in 2012. He was…
Sports Desk: Georgia Masters
Following Super Bowl LIII, the chill of winter is just right for determining the collegiate basketball champion, but there is nothing like the coming of spring and the playing of the Masters Tournament. That golf championship reminds us of the…
Sports Desk: Valuable Lessons
Former Sen. Sam Nunn learned a lot about leadership as part of a winning high-school basketball team in Perry.
Sports Desk: Broadcast Dynasty
A member of the Caray family – Harry, Skip and Chip – has been in the Major League Baseball broadcast booth for more than 70 years.
Sports Desk: Grad Made Good
Dr. Leah Brown-Acker was a showcase student athlete and is now a showcase alumnus.
Sports Desk: Tennis Titan
Gordon Smith came from a small Georgia town to run the biggest and most impactful tennis tournament in the world.
Sports Desk: A Lifetime of Achievement
From the 1996 Olympics to Augusta National, Billy Payne has spent his life boosting Georgia.
Sports Desk: King of Hearts
The late UGA and Georgia Southern football coach Erk Russell was a person of goodwill and humor.
Sports Desk: Fly Fishing Fulfillment
Fishing in Georgia is one of the simplest pleasures.
Sports Desk: An Exceptional Leader
It takes a lot of commas to organize the highlights of Atlanta Braves Vice Chair and former President John Schuerholz’s career.
Sports Desk: The Thrill of the Hunt
There is nothing like quail hunting in South Georgia in the late fall and early winter months.
Sports Desk: Whoa, Nellie!
Roopville’s Keith Jackson traveled the world as a sportscaster and is a gentleman and friend to all those he meets.
Sports Desk: An Unforgettable Legend
As the first African-America pitcher in MLB’s American League, the legendary Leroy “Satchel” Paige attracted record crowds wherever he went.
Sports Desk: A Sportswriter In Earnest
Retired journalist Jim Minter was tough when necessary, but he preferred stories about bird dogs, cane pole fishermen and those who lived off their acreage and made do.
Sports Desk: Georgia's Bobby Jones
This month’s Open championship brings thoughts of the gentlemanly golfing legend and Grand Slam winner.
Sports Desk: Masters Memories
The heart-thumping birdies and the costly bogies, the come-from-behind finishes, the history and the traditions bring us back to the Masters year after year with the keenest anticipation.
Sports Desk: Something In The Water
Cedartown boasts more Georgia Sports Hall of Famers per square mile than any town in the state.
Sports Desk: More Than A Coach
It’s been 50 years since Vince Dooley coached his first season at UGA, but he has always been more than a football coach.
Sports Desk: Becoming A Sportswriter
It’s been a long and eventful journey from a farm in Middle Georgia to a career covering sports and sports heroes. And it’s still fun.
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