Features

To get into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, it is, in my opinion, not so much what you accomplished on the athletics field as it is who you know and what committee clique will support you.

Unless you read The Fayette Neighbor, or attended the World Masters Games in Melbourne, Australia last October, you never would know that Bill and Jeanne Daprano won four gold medals between them.

This month marks the 30th anniversary of Atlanta's Ronald Mark Blomb erg's debut as baseball's first designated hitter. The date was April 6, 1973, the season opener for the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The place: Boston's historic Fenway Park. And the park was packed, despite a bone-chilling temperature of 30 degrees.

Of all the greats who have come out of Georgia, the one the Atlanta Touchdown Club picked for its inaugural Legends of the Game honor was George Bernard Maloof. And the TD Club could not have made a better choice.

He grew up in poverty. He never knew his father. He was raised by his mother and grandmother, both of whom were on welfare. Knee and ankle injuries almost ruined his football career. A drug and alcohol problem almost ruined his life.