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Midweek Edition-December 30-31,2020
8A | FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS | ForsythNews.com
Former Braves pitcher, Hall of
Famer Phil Niekro remembered
for his heart for children
FCN regional staff file photo
Former Atlanta Brave and Major League Baseball Hall of
Fame member Phil Niekro at the site of an empty lot at
Alberta Banks Park in Flowery Branch that has since
become a Field of Dreams allowing children with special
needs to play baseball.
FCN regional staff file photo
Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro hands out a
prize to Alex Laidlaw and other winners of the Phil Niekro
Golf Classic at the Chateau Elan Golf Club in Braselton.
Niekro started the tournament in 1996 along with
EdmondsonTelford Center for Children staff and supporters.
By Megan Reed
FCN regional staff
Baseball Hall of Famer Phil
Niekro, who pitched well into
his 40s with a knuckleball that
baffled big league hitters for
more than two decades, mostly
with the Atlanta Braves, has
died after a long fight with can
cer, the team announced
Sunday. He was 81.
The Braves said Niekro died
Saturday night in his sleep. He
lived in Flowery Branch, where
a main thoroughfare bears his
name.
The Phil Niekro Golf Classic,
which began in 1996, supports
the Edmondson-Telford Child
Advocacy Center. The center is
responsible for forensic medi
cal exams and interviews of
child victims and works with
law enforcement and the judi
cial system in abuse cases. Phil
Niekro Field at Alberta Banks
Park, designed for athletes with
disabilities, opened in 2008.
Heather Hayes, executive
director of the Edmondson
Telford Child Advocacy Center,
said Niekro had a “real heart
for children.”
“He was actively involved
with the work that we did,”
Hayes said. “He never hesitated
to ask how our caseload was
going, what was going on in
the realm of child abuse in our
community, what else could he
do.”
Hayes said he has left a last
ing impact on the center
through his involvement.
“His personality was very fun
— fun-loving, always joking,
always pranking, always had a
funny thing to say or a funny
story,” she said. “It was just a
joy. ... His whole family is a
joy to know and to work with. I
really can’t even describe his
footprint that he’ll leave on the
center, the memories he’ll
impart on everyone who knew
him.”
Flowery Branch Mayor Mike
Miller said he looked up to
Niekro as a child, then enjoyed
getting to know him later in
life.
“I always tried to throw the
knuckleball in the backyard
when me and my brother were
throwing the baseball as a kid,
and so it was kind of surreal to
grow up and actually get to
know him and call him a
friend,” Miller said.
Miller said when he visited
the National Baseball Hall of
Fame in summer 2019, Niekro
called him, while he was look
ing at Niekro’s plaque.
“That’s one of the coolest
moments of my life,” he said.
Niekro made everyone feel
welcome, Miller said.
“He made you feel special. It
didn’t matter who you were.
You felt like you had known
him all your life,” Miller said.
“He wanted everybody to
always have a good time. He
was always the dominant per
sonality in the room, and if you
were around Phil and you
didn’t laugh, you didn’t have a
heartbeat.”
Miller said Niekro was
always willing to help with
community charity events,
including contributing auto
graphed memorabilia for the
city’s Shop with a Cop pro
gram, which pairs law enforce
ment with local families to help
with holiday gifts.
“Anytime anyone with the
city of Flowery Branch ever
asked him to help with some
thing, it was always, ‘What
more can I do?”’ Miller said.
“Not just Flowery Branch,
the greater Atlanta community
and the baseball community,
have lost a legend.”
Niekro won 318 games over
his 24-year career, which ended
in 1987 at age 48 after he made
one final start with the Braves.
Known for a pitch that befud
dled hitters and catchers —
heck, Niekro didn’t even know
where it was going — he was a
five-time All-Star who had
three 20-win seasons with
Atlanta.
Niekro also pitched for the
New York Yankees, Cleveland
Indians and Toronto Blue Jays
late in his career.
“We are heartbroken on the
passing of our treasured
friend,” the Braves said in a
statement. “Knucksie was
woven into the Braves fabric,
first in Milwaukee and then in
Atlanta. Phil baffled batters on
the field and later was always
the first to join in our commu
nity activities. It was during
those community and fan activ
ities where he would communi
cate with fans as if they were
long lost friends.”
A statue of Niekro delivering
his trademark pitch is located
outside of Truist Park, the
Braves’ stadium.
Niekro didn’t make it to the
big leagues until 1964, when he
pitched 10 games in relief for
the then-Milwaukee Braves. He
made only one start over his
first three years in the big
leagues but finally blossomed
as a starter in 1967 — the
Braves’ second year in Atlanta
— when he went 11-9 and led
the National Feague with a
1.87 ERA.
With a fluttering knuckleball
that required catchers to wear
an oversized mitt, Niekro went
23-13 as the Braves won the
first NF West title in 1969.
He also had 20-win seasons
in 1974 and 1979, despite
pitching for a team that fell on
hard times after its appearance
in the inaugural NF
Championship Series, where
the Braves were swept in three
games by New York’s Amazin’
Mets.
Niekro also led the league in
losses four straight seasons,
losing 20 games in both 1977
and ‘79.
He finished with a career
record of 318-274 and a 3.35
ERA. Niekro was inducted into
the Baseball Hall of Fame in
1997.
His younger brother, Joe,
also had a long baseball career
with an arsenal that included
the knuckleball. He won 221
games over 22 years in the big
leagues, making the Niekros
baseball’s winningest set of sib
lings, with a total of 539 victo
ries, just ahead of Gaylord and
Jim Perry.
Joe Niekro died in 2006 at
age 61.
The Associated Press con
tributed to this article.
Legalized gambling debate renewed
By Dave Williams
Capitol Beat News Service
Advocates for bringing legalized gam
bling to Georgia will be back under the
Gold Dome next month, pitching the
financial benefits of casinos, horse racing
and sports betting together and separately.
But a betting man might give legisla
tion authorizing online sports betting in
the Peach State the best odds to advance.
“It’s the easiest one to pass,” said
Georgia Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah,
chairman of the House Economic
Development & Tourism Committee. “It
clearly does not require a constitutional
amendment. ... It’s just a matter of us
giving the [Georgia] Fottery Commission
direction and authority they already
have.”
Efforts going back the better part of a
decade to legalize casino gambling and
pari-mutuel betting on horse racing in
Georgia have been unable to muster the
two-thirds majorities in the state House
and Senate required to approve constitu
tional amendments and put them on the
statewide ballot.
Supporters say sports betting, on the
other hand, would only require simple
majorities to get through the two legisla
tive chambers because it could be accom
plished simply by amending the law that
created the Georgia Fottery during the
1990s.
Sports betting also enjoys the advantag
es of being a relative newcomer to the
debate, having been taken up in the
General Assembly for the first time during
this year’s session. Fawmakers haven’t
had time to grow tired of talking about it.
Sports betting has the backing of
Atlanta’s four professional sports teams
— the Braves, Falcons, Hawks and
Atlanta United — which formed a coali
tion last winter to lobby on the legisla
tion’s behalf.
The teams are counting on sports bet
ting as a way to generate more fan inter
est, particularly at a time when they have
had to shorten seasons and limit atten
dance because of COVID-19.
“Increasingly, the cellphone is the pri
mary means of entertainment for younger
fans,” said Billy Finville, spokesman for
the Georgia Professional Sports Alliance.
“[The teams] have to engage them or
they’ll go elsewhere.”
Some new ammunition the sports alli
ance will bring to the 2021 debate is the
revenue numbers sports betting is generat
ing in the nearly two dozen states where
it’s legal.
In Tennessee, online sports betting pro
duced $131.4 million in wagering last
month — an average of more than $4 mil
lion per day — after legislation legalizing
sports betting took effect Nov. 1.
In 2019, the first full year of sports bet
ting in New Jersey generated $4.55 billion
in wagering, with more than $3.8 billion
bet online.
Fegislation backed by the sports alli
ance to be introduced into the General
Assembly this winter will call for dedicat
ing 20% of the proceeds from sports bet
ting in Georgia to the HOPE Scholarships
program.
The lottery-funded HOPE program cov
ered the full tuition costs of eligible
Georgia high-school students until 2011,
when then-Gov. Nathan Deal pushed a cut
in benefits through the General Assembly
to keep the program solvent amid rising
student enrollment and the increasing
costs of tuition.
“We’ve got the COAM [Coin-Operated
Amusement] Machines and the lottery
drawings producing more than $4 billion
[a year] in revenue, and it’s not able to
completely fund the HOPE scholarship
anymore,” said state Sen. Brandon Beach,
R-Alpharetta, who has been the legisla
ture’s leading champion of horse racing.
“We’re going to have to find different rev
enue sources.”
Other lawmakers are advocating other
uses for the state’s share of legalized gam
bling proceeds.
Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, chair
man of the House Regulated Industries
Committee said he’d like to put the reve
nue generated by casinos in Georgia
toward “the No.-l hole in the [state] bud
get: health care.”
House Democrats have expressed an
interest in setting aside a portion of the
state’s share of gambling proceeds for
low-income families that can’t afford to
cover the funding gap the 2011 cuts to the
HOPE Scholarship opened up in the pro
gram, or for a new scholarship program to
help young Georgians pay off their stu
dent loans.
Besides the financial argument, support
ers of legalized gambling also argue that
illegal gambling is generating billions of
dollars in Georgia without the state seeing
any benefit.
“All we’re going to do is capture the
tax,” Stephens said.
“It’s time to bring it out of the darkness
and into the light,” Finville added.
The 2021 version of the legalized gam
bling debate should kick off early.
Backers of all three options — sports bet
ting, casinos and horse racing — say they
plan to pre-file legislation during the first
week of January. The 2021 session
begins Jan. 11.
HUMANE SOCIETY
OF FORSYTH COUNTY
a NO KILL shelter
Meet Petunia!
Hello, my name
is Petunia! I am a
37-pound American
Staffordshire mix. I
am roughly 2-years-
old. My kennel staff
describes me as very
sweet and loving. I
have beautiful amber
eyes and big ears that look like satellite
dishes! I don’t show much interest in toys,
but I love food and absorb all of the love
and attention I can get. My ideal home
would be a loving family and a backyard
to patrol my domain. Currently, I am
up for adoption. If you are interested
in meeting me, fill out an application
and schedule an appointment with the
Humane Society of Forsyth County,
Tuesday through Sunday, between noon
to 5 p.m. With all my love, Petunia!
Meet Cole! Hi, my name
is Cole, and I am a Great
Pyrenees mix. I am
mostly brown with specs
of black and white on
my stomach and paws. I
am 7-months-old, and I
weigh around 50-pounds.
I am a large puppy and
will need obedience train
ing. I am nervous at first, but once I get to know
you, I am sweet, loving and playful. I enjoy
playing with tennis balls, ropes and sticks. I
also love playing with the kennel staff that takes
care of them. My ideal home would be with a
family that gets me a lot of attention and have
a fur-sibling to help work out my energy. I am
currently up for adoption. If you are interested
in learning more about me, put in an application
online or call the Humane Society of Forsyth
County at 770-887-6480 for more information
on me, Tuesday through Sunday. Love, Cole!
Hello my
name is
Thumbelina,
I am a
3-month-old
domestic
medium grey
haired kitten.
My foster
descibes me
as a little ball of pure energy! I love climbing
on anything I can and I’m quite agile. I will
also play fetch sometimes! I’m extremely
sociable and love cuddling up on your lap
for a nap. Also, I absolutely LOVE chin
scratches and playing chase with other cats.
If you are interested in learning more about
me, put in an application online or call
the Humane Society of Forsyth County at
770-887-6480 for more information on me,
Tuesday through Sunday. I look forward
to meeting you! All my love and cuddles,
Thumbelina.
Meet Licorice! Hello
hoomans! My name
is Licorice and I am a
7.5-month-old black
domestic shorthair.
I weigh about
7-pounds. I am a very
talkative, affectionate
and super sweet guy. I am the first to greet
anyone who comes in the room. I will rub
my whole body back and forth on the shelves
with excitement when new people come in to
visit me. I get along great with other cats too.
I am also very playful and love to chase toys
around on the floor - one of my favorite are
the shiny crinkle balls because they make lots
of noise and I sometimes carry them around
in my mouth. I am litterbox trained as well.
Currently, I am up for adoption. If you are
interested in learning more about me, put
in an application online or call the Humane
Society of Forsyth County at 770-887-6480
for more information on me, Tuesday
through Sunday. I look forward to meeting
you! All my love, Licorice.
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Humane Society of Forsyth County
4440 Keith Bridge Road, Cumming, GA 30041 • Phone: 770-887-6480 • E-mail: rescue@forsythpets.org
The shelter is open to the public: Tue.-Fri. from noon to 6:00 p.m., Sat 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. & Sun 10:00
a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Visit www.forsythpets.org for information on offsite adoptions and other events.