Athletic Hall of Fame in works for Tift Co.

TIFTON, GA (WALB) - The list of athletic greats from Tift County could go for days.

Gene Brodie, Johnny Lipsey, Clay Shiver, and Nanci Bowen are just a few, and soon all may be honored in one place.

Tift County High School athletic director Rusty Smith is leading a charge to create an athletic hall of fame.

Smith notes that other communities, such as Valdosta, honor many of the communities' sports heroes, and feels Tifton could do the same.

"I felt like it was time, and it is," says Smith.

Smith's idea would be to honor the Hall of Famers on a wall in the high school's Performing Arts Center.

Though located on school grounds, the Hall would not be run or funded by the school system.

He says it would give the community a chance to learn about many of the athletes and coaches that helped build the athletic culture in Tifton.

"This generation doesn't know about the generations of the 1930s, 40s, 50s and so on," says Smith. "It's just time that we have something like that for the folks of Tifton to be recognized and see what pride we take in athletics."

The Hall would not be for Tift County High greats only, Smith says, but for any athlete or coach with Tift County ties.

He believes it would honor not just the inductees, but the pride the Tifton community takes in their sports.

"It would let them know how many student-athletes we have in this county and what they do for this county and the excitement they bring for basketball games, swim meets, wrestling meets, football games," he says. "It just means so much for this community."

Smith hopes the Hall's first class could be inducted in 2014.

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