A night of family, emotion, humor, and poignance for inductees into the Macon Sports Hall of Fame (with scholar-athletes)
Photo/videos: Michael A. Lough/The Central Georgia Sports Report
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Eric Manuel makes it back to his hometown about once a year, so being around family and some friends is fairly routine.
But this was different.
Standing in front of a microphone in front of more family and friends he hadnât seen in a good while as well as familiar faces heâd known for decades was an adjustment.
âIâm trying to hold it together,â he said only seconds into his speech. âIâm going to get it.â
Manuel was one of 10 inductees to the Macon Sports Hall of Fame celebrated Tuesday night in the Monument Room of the Macon Coliseum.
The moment got to him quickly, and more than once, including when thanking his parents, who died in 2019 and 2020.
Manuelâs career was a notable one, from going to Kentucky to leaving after a well-publicized academic and testing issue to winning two NAIA national titles at Oklahoma City University. He had to rely on his mother and the Bible, quoting John 16:33.
âI have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and (tribulations). But take heart, because I have overcome the world.â I use that, because when I was at Kentucky ⊠I was pretty much âthe heck with basketball.â I just thought everything was over. But then, my mom would always have a conversation.â
Which led him back to the court, and championships, and playing in Europe.
âWhen things are hard in life,â he said, âyou just have to push forward.â
He was joined by another former basketball standout in Macon who played in the SEC, Central grad Marcus Grant. Manuel played for the legendary Don âDuckâ Richardson, Grant for the mighty successful Randy Brown.
Grant was prepared for a career in the SEC.
âWhen you go to college, those college coaches, they chew you up and spit you out,â said Grant, who still looked like he was capable of some baseline-to-baseline ball. âFortunately for me, I had been chewed out. I was already used to it.â
Both came from afar for the ceremony, Manuel from Oklahoma City and Grant from Starkville, Miss., where he has spent a chunk of his life after graduating from Central, playing and then coaching at Mississippi State, and now working for an MSU-connected name-image-likeness initiative.
The state championship Northeast girls track team of 1979 made its presence known 46 years ago, and several members made their presence known vocally Tuesday night as the team honored by the hall.
Legendary coach Alvin Copeland was all smiles in the middle of so many former athletes, as well as watching longtime protégé and assistant Randy Crawford be inducted.
More than 400 friends, family, and fans packed the Monument Room, the festivities starting with the annual honoring of a female and male scholar-athlete from all 14 Bibb County high schools.
Hezekiah Jackson was honored for his decades of work with the Bibb County school system, currently as the athletics facilities supervisor, with the Bobby Pope Service to Sports Award.
Then came the speeches, which ranged from efficient to lengthy, with some emotion, humor, and poignance sprinkled throughout.
Hall of Famer Janet Allman Battcher spoke for her deceased brother Marty, who was her hero growing up as a standout at Lanier.
She was 13 when she had to ride with the family to an out-of-town football game her brother was playing in.
The Lanier team stopped after the game to eat at a steakhouse. But this was the 1960s, and little was simple.
âMarty would not leave the school bus because the restaurant would not let Isaac Jackson, a Black player, in to eat,â she said, referencing the legendary running back. âHe stayed on the bus, and our parents came out with food for them.
âIt never occurred to me at that time how selfless that was, until several years later.â
Jeremy Wiggins is one of two inductees (along with shooter Kevin DeMichiel) still active in athletics. The former Northeast football standout leads the Raidersâ football team, and one of his prized pupils was on hand, Nick Woodford, as one of the long list of scholar-athletes honored.
Wigginsâ ability meant a whole lot of travel for his parents, who after roaming around Central Georgia and the state while he was competing in multiple sports at Northeast expanded the travel experience when he went to Appalachian State.
âAll the practices they took me to, my brothers, taking me down ⊠to play my years of football, all the way up to being at college,â he said. âThey traveled everywhere. I donât think they missed but two games throughout my college career and high school career.â
Johnny Crawford spent nearly two dozen years taking abuse from SEC â and other conference â football coaches as an official. Always a quick wit, he drew the biggest laugh of the night when introducing his three daughters, two with husbands alongside.
And then âŠ
âClaire, with her boyfriend,â Crawford said, looking to the table. âWhatâs your name?â
He then claimed to know the boyfriendâs name, only to jokingly offer a different name.
Crawford was on the 1975 Central team that won the GHSA Class AAA state football title, and eventually became an official. But there was a setback before he embarked on a long SEC career, showing adversity even hits the refs, part of his advice to the high schoolers on hand.
Macon Sports Hall of Fame set to induct a class covering a wide spectrum
âBe coachable, listen to people,â he said. âDonât give up, because people are going to tell you you canât do it. Doors are going to close.â
He recalled getting a letter in the mid 1990s from the SEC supervisor officials telling him thanks, but no thanks, his services as a ref for that year were not required, and probably wouldnât be.
âFour or five years later, that same supervisor hired me, and put me on my first crew,â he said. âBe passionate, be coachable, and keep trucking along, even when youâre told âno.ââ
Bibb County Scholar-Athletes