Macon Sports Hall of Fame adds eight new members, honors local high school scholar-athletes

The hall also honored scholar-athletes from every Bibb County high school:

ACE, Katelyn Taylor and Kaylun Palmer
Central, Tiona Braswell and Walter Hawthorne
Central Fellowship, Raven Glover and Ethan Queen
Covenant, Lauren Mixon and Damien Statham
FPD, Reese Lefholz and Andrew Correah
Howard, Perry Holliday and Davis Guest
Mount de Sales, Emma Carter and Nic Sartin
Northeast, Oniya Threatt and Demarcus Griffin
Rutland, Jenny Pyon and Jonathan Blanks
Southwest, Stantagious Alford and Darren Harden
Stratford, Claudia Pope and Ben Baxley
Tattnall, Grace Hiller and Camden Ford
Westside, Allayia McAfee and Kowacie Reeves Jr.
Windsor, Marissa Arrington and Tucker Thomas

          From the old days of Lanier, Southwest’s powerhouse boys basketball team, and track at Northeast to the Macon and Atlanta Braves, and baseball at Mount de Sales, Stratford, and Tattnall, and assorted locations and sports in between, the Macon Sports Hall of Fame added eight members Tuesday night in a ceremony at the Macon Coliseum.

          One inductee couldn’t make it, but wasn’t too far away adding to his resume. Tattnall and head baseball coach Joey Hiller spent Tuesday evening trying to get in their GHSA Class A Private playoff games with Savannah Country Day.

          A smaller-than-usual crowd observing distancing standards gathered in the Coliseum’s Monument Room for the ceremony that was also streamed live on Facebook (note: some audio issues).

          The inductees graduated from Northeast (track and basketball standout Cynthia Cornelius Booker, late 1970s, early 1980s), Southwest (basketball star Michael Hunt, late 1970s), Lanier (multi-sport ace Tommy Seward), Mount de Sales (do-it-all Robert Slocum), and Stratford (Joey Hiller, after transferring from Central), and Tattnall (multi-sporter Brannen Veal).

          Randy Stephens has been a longtime tennis instructor and administrator, and Jeff Treadway played at Middle Georgia (Junior) College and with the Atlanta Braves, then managed the Macon Braves before eventually embarking on a career at Stratford coaching baseball and softball.

          The first Bobby Pope Service to Sports Award went to Jim Tessmer, who in more than three decades in town worked in the front office for  the Macon Braves and Macon Pirates, and has been in Mercer’s athletics department since 2006, and he is currently the athletics department’s events coordinator.