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Sports W mi- ,4 | -;&s* \ \ M L* t > •> A Jr *s;? '■’; 1 *■! It it U- r: ■: -' />.&. j-. ■ ;:;-:L;ilA: ..*««j|, : Hp-Ty ?;| sMHWj| fPI Home Journal Photo by Alline Kent ON THE DOTTED LINE Dante Holmes (seated, center) signs on the dotted line while family and friends watch. With Holmes are his parents, Malissa and Holmes signs football scholarship with Middle Georgia College By ALLINE KENT Home Jouwuu. Sro«Tg Dante Holmes Joined an elite group last week as he signed a letter of intent to play football at Middle Georgia College in Cochran. Holmes is the third foot ball player to go on to the college level during Head Coach George Collins four years at Perry High. Collins said Holmes' transition from a high school player to a college player began almost a year ago. “During the fall," Collins said, “we sent some film over to Middle Georgia ' 0 ~~ "W® aur© tie .duauMpnemsf Jfitmmg£\' jEMfBtBBS&mk * <* -I ■ K K|' ™ i -* Home Hournal Photo by Alline Kent EIGHTH GRADE COUNTY CHAMPIONS Members of the 1999 Perry Middle School Eighth Grade champion baseball team include [front, from left) Courtney Cook, Brad Woodard, Batt Denton, Chad Van Horn, Matt Hurt, Ricky Grisenthwaite, Donte Williams, Kaliah McCoy, Reviewing the Collins years at the During May, I had the oppor tunity to talk a little about University of Georgia football with Doug Barnett, the local operator of Chic-fil-A. area stores. Bell South Mobility and WPGA-TV, 58 ABC had "teamed up for a promotion to give away a Chevrolet Tracker. Radio station WPGA-FM, G 100.9, provided radio support for the promotion, and aired daily remote broad casts from the various Chic-fil-A and Bell South locations. It was during these remotes at Doug’s store in Perry that we had the opportunity to talk a little football, one of Doug's favorite topics, whether itis University of Georgia or Perry High School. We focused on the teams of the mid 70s, on which Perry coach George Collins played. We taxed our memories and came up with some of the outstanding players on those teams with Collins, the 1975, 76 and 77 teams. George made the team and let tered as a sophomore in 1975 on a team that went 9-3 for the year including wins over Georgia’s three arch rivals. Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech. Elijah Davis. Standing (from left) are Coach Mack Ivory, Phil Smith, and coach es George Collins, Carl Dixon and Max Vickers. College. Dante is an extremely talented football player, actually the best player we had on our 98 team." Holmes also had to par ticipate in a tryout and per formed very well, according to Collins. Holmes will be playing for Head Coach Randy Pippin, at Middle Georgia College, who just finished his first season at Middle Georgia with a 11-1 record. Pippin previously coached at junior colleges in Tennessee and Texas. In 1994 he took Trinity Valley Community College to the Phil □ark Home Journal Sports The Bulldogs’ regular season losses in 1975 came to Pittsburgh in the season opener and Ole Miss in the fifth game of the season, a 28-13 loss that cost the Bulldogs the Southeastern Conference cham pionship. Arkansas beat Georgia 31-10 in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s day 1976 to end the ’Dogs season at 9-3. There were some great players on that 1975 team, as Doug and I recalled as we chatted. Tight end Richard Appleby was one of them. Appleby was the leading receiver on a team that didn't throw the ball much, catching 13 tosses for 221 yards. But Appleby is in the Georgia record books in another capacity. His 80-yard touchdown pass to Gene Washington that year is still one NJCAA National Championship. “Our staff saw Dante play in Perry and that’s when we first got interested in him, “ said Pippin. “He did very well at try outs and we knew that we wanted to bring him to training camp," Pippin added. “I am very proud for him. This is a good opportunity for Dante and also for us, since we will be close enough to see him play,” said Coach Collins. “This is a stepping stone for Dante.” (back) TJ Hutchens, Joel Weekley, Rus Crum, Blake Bohannon, Kyle McCarty, Mewis Johnson, Kirk Piaster, Chris Frye and Coach John Warlick. Missing is Lucas Flournoy. Page 6A Wed.. June 9, 1999 of the longest in Bulldogs’ histo ry! (EDITOR'S NOTE: Don't Jorget Appleby’s fabulous end-around run against Florida at the Gator Bowl to win that game. The run was one of the most spectacular this editor has ever witnessed in person. -JJ) Dicky Clark was another out standing player on that ’75 team. Clark was an academic All-SEC performer at defensive end, and had a 71-yard touchdown return of an intercepted pass against Mississippi State. A junior, Clark helped Georgia to the SEC cham pionship the following year. A pair of quarterbacks split the playing time, Ray Goff and Matt Robinson. Goff was the running quarterback, Robinson the pass er. They were backed up in the backfield by some outstanding running backs. Glynn Harrison was a senior who led the team in rushing with 894 yards. Harrison was not the only star behind the two quarterbacks. Kevin McLee was a sophomore who went on to an outstanding career. The fullback was Maconite A 1 Pollard, a rugged runner who was better known for Panther basketball team celebrates successes of 1998-99 By ALLINE KENT successful basketball team met one final time last week for their annual ban quet before the graduating seniors head off on their separate ways. The team had four senior starters, all of whom will be attending college on an athletic scholarship. Two will be playing football, Dontarrious Thomas at Auburn University and Dante Holmes at Middle Georgia College while the other two Dannorris Harvey and Johnny Watkins will be continuing their basketball careers. Harvey has signed with Middle Georgia and Watkins with Snead State. Harvey was selected as Best offensive player for the season based on his points and his rebounds. “His value to our team spoke for itself," said head coach Carl Thomas who hosted the banquet at his home. Thomas and his staff selected Holmes for the Coaches Award. Thomas said that this was based on Holmes’ leadership on the team and also the sacri fices he made to help run the team. Perry’s Hustler Award went to Watkins for his ability to “fire up both the crowd and the team." "Johnny can initiate things,” said Thomas. Houston Home Journal “When Johnny played well, the team played well." The Panther award was given to Dontarrious '"homas. Thomas was the second leading scorer and rebounder on the team. 1 M Uttm I .' j ' i - hM MM, — Urn * * * 1 Home Journal Photo by Alline Kent LEADERS Perry High basketball coach Carl Thomas (seated) visits with 1998-99 team leaders Dannorris Harvey and Donte Holmes, captains of the 1998-99 team. Middle School Panthers get county baseball title trophy By ALLINE KENT Home Journal Sports Perry r Middle School received their Eighth grade County Championship Baseball Trophy last week just a few days before school let out for the sum mer. The Panthers finished the season with a 10-2 record. During the season, the Panthers as a team, typical ly hit in the high 300 s and mid 400 s. Panthers who batted above .300 for the season include Mark Johnson (.333); Kyle McCarty (.372); Matt Hunt (405); TJ Hutchens (.333); Brad Woodard (.333); Matt Durden (.300) and Blake Bohanan (.333). Power hitter Chad Van Horn led the Panthers with an incredible batting aver age of .485. University of Georgia his pulverizing blocks. Washington was a junior wide receiver in 1975 who played four years of varsity football at Georgia. Washington, famous for catching that touchdown pass from the tight end Appleby, was more important as the Bulldogs’ kickoff return specialist. He led the team in average yards per return for all four of his varsity years. The offensive line was out standing. Senior Steve Wilson, another Maconite, played with a group of juniors including center Ken Helms, guard Joel Parrish and tackle Mike Wilson. Collins, a sophomore, was learning from some veiy outstanding players, a unit that also included senior Randy Johnson, an All-SEC and All American guard.. The defense had some stars, too. Beside Clark at defensive end, there was Ben Zambiasi, a ferocious linebacker who led the Bulldogs with 148 total tackles. Another linebacker, Jim Griffith had 84 primary tackles (first hits) to lead the team in that category. And there was Ronnie Swoopes, a sophomore defensive end who went on to become one of Georgia's outstanding pass Perry's Boy’s Basketball team won the 4AA region in 1999 and 1998. It was the first time in 25 years that a Perry basketball team had won back-to-back region championships. Pitching was a major strength for the. team this season and* gave the Panthers the edge they needed in many situations. During the year, Russ Crum went 4-1 and had 2 one hitters and 1 no-hitter. Chris Frye went undefeated in the season while Matt Hunt helped to lock up the championship with his two pitching wins over Rumble. The only other Panther to pitch this season was Dante Williams, who won the first game he ever pitched in his life. The county champi onship, although well deserved by the players, was not a surprise to those who followed the team. Coach John Warlick said all season he thought the group of young men had the drive and talent to take Perry Middle all the way this year. rushers. Bobby Thompson was a sophomore cornerback who led the team with four interceptions. When it came to the next fall. Georgia was well again beating Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech, going 10-2 overall, winning the SEC championship before losing 27-3 to Pittsburgh in the Sugar Bowl. Many of the 1975 players were back, and newcomers like Matt Braswell of Americus, Steve Dennis, Mack Guest and Johnny Henderson of Macon joined the team, along with future stars like Willie McClendon, Ulysses Norris. Gordon Terry and Jeff Pyburn. Johnson was Georgia’s only All-American in 1975, but the 1976 team, the conference champions. produced four, including tackle Mike “Moonpie" Wilson, guard Joel “Cowboy" Parrish, linebacker Ben Zambiasi and kicker Allan Leavitt. Collins jdined the list in 1977, his senior season, before he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals. I appreciate Doug Barnett tak ing the time to mention a few of those great players on the Georgia teams of the mid 70s. It brought back a lot of memories.