Fannin Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2014

The Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame recently inducted the class of 2014. The 2014 class consisted of 13 individuals and one team.
Wayne Black was a McCaysville, Georgia native who played basketball at Copperhill High School from 1930-1933. Black received a basketball scholarship to Tennessee Wesleyan College and was on the starting team there in 1933-34.

He would go on to play a total of 6 years of professional baseball in the New York Giants organization from 1935 through 1940. There he batted .260 for his career and was a top-flight defensive shortstop.

Carla Sisson Boutin played basketball and softball at Fannin County High School
from 1983-1986. She selected as the basketball team best offensive player as a junior and senior and was team most valuable player as a senior.

Boutin led region 7aaa in scoring in 1985-86 with a 23.7 points per game average. She was the first player in Fannin County high history to have her jersey number retired. During her career, she scored over 1300 points.

Boutin returned to Fannin to be an assistant basketball coach and head softball coach at the High School from 1991-93.

Tom Bowling played basketball at West Fannin High School 1960-64 were he was named team most valuable player as a junior and senior. Bowling averaged 18.5 points per game as a senior in 1963-64.

He would score the winning basket to defeat Rockmart in the region 3aa championship game.This helped him to be named to the region 3AA and State AA All-Tournament teams in 1963-64.

Bowling was awarded a full basketball scholarship to Georgia Tech where he earned a varsity letter for the 1967-68 season.

Steve Cheatham played football, basketball and track at West Fannin High School from 1962-1966. He earned three varsity football letters and started at halfback for the 1964 and 1965 teams.

Cheatham became the only player in West Fannin history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in one season in 1965 when he won the Region 3AA rushing title with 1,134 net yards.

He set an individual game rushing record at West Fannin by gaining 206 yards vs North Whitfield in 1965. He went on to be named to the Chattanooga Times All Tri-State First Team and to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Class AA All-State Honorable mention squad in 1965.

Freddy Cook, Jr. played golf at Fannin County High School from 1998-2002. Cook earned four varsity letters in golf during his high school career. He was the low medalist in the region 7AAA golf tournament held at the Chattahoochee Golf Club in Gainesville in 2002.

Cook became the first Fannin County High Golfer to participate in the State AAA Golf Tournament in 2002. He went on to finished in 13th place in a field of 97 golfers.

Cook won the Copper Basin Golf Club Championship at the age of 15 in 2000. He would go on to win a record 9 Club Championships between 2000 and 2010.

Gene Crawford played football and participated in track & field at West Fannin High School from 1957-1961. Crawford earned four varsity letters in football and was the starting center for three seasons.

He was elected co-captain of the 1960 West Fannin Football Team, and named to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Class AA All-State Honorable Mention Team for the 1960 season.

Crawford played two seasons of collegiate football for Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tennessee. He later coached at the high school level for 5 seasons and 2 seasons at Blue Ridge Elementary School after graduating from college. He devoted 30 years to education, including six years as Fannin County school Superintendent.

Steve J. Fry played basketball and football at West Fannin High School from 1960-64. He earned 4 varsity letters in basketball and was a starter for three seasons, and was awarded the sportsmanship trophy as a junior and senior.

Fry averaged 17 points per game as a senior helping his team win the Region 3AA Championship. Fry went on to score more than 1200 points during his high school career.

Fry played college basketball as a freshman at the University of Georgia and was awarded a full scholarship at Lagrange College where he played for three seasons.

Rene Godfrey earned a total of 14 varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball and track and field at West Fannin High School from 1957-1961 and was a 3-year starter in football and basketball from 1958-1961.

Godfrey won the broad jump event at the region 3aa meet in 1959 and1960, and was named to the Atlanta Constitution statewide football prep Honor Roll 3 times and was named as the Back of the Week by the Copper City Advance 5 times.

Clyde Henry was a legendary basketball coach in Fannin County during the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Coach Henry’s daughter Jean Henry played for him at Fannin County High School in Morganton from 1945-1948. Those three teams advanced to the state finals twice and won over 75 games.

His granddaughter Becky Hamilton played for him at McCaysville Elementary School where his girls’ teams won 9 county championships and his boys teams won 5 titles.

Ashley Herendon played basketball, softball and track and field at Fannin County High School from 1994-1998. She competed in the track and field meet all 4 years at Fannin County winning the shot put event 2 times and the discus throw 2 times.

Herendon was a basketball starting player all 4 years and was the first Fannin player to be named First-Team All-State. She scored 1398 points during her basketball career, and was selected to play in the prestigious Tennessee vs Georgia Basketball All-Star Game in 1998.

During her softball career at Fannin, Herendon was named All-State in that sport and was honored by the school by having her jersey number retired.

Lynn Phillips played basketball at West Fannin High School from 1965-69. Phillips named most improved player as a junior and most valuable player as a senior, leading the team in rebounding and scoring as senior, with 17 rebounds and 22.7 points per game.

Phillips set a single game scoring record with 41 points vs Chattooga County in 1968-69 helping to be selected to the class AA Georgia All-State Second Team.

Phillips went on to be awarded a full basketball scholarship to the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. There Phillips was voted most valuable freshman in 1969-70 leading the team in scoring and rebounding.

Travis Summers is the all time winningest wrestler in Fannin County High School History with 151 wins over a 3 year period. Summers was a member of the wrestling team at the high school from 1998-2002.

He won three consecutive state championships, in the 112 pound class as a sophomore, 125 pounds as a junior and 135 pounds as a senior.

Summers was a Team Georgia Wrestling selection in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and named to the Georgia All-Classification Wrestling Team in 2001 and 2002.

Jim Woodall played football, basketball, baseball and ran track at West Fannin High school from 1957-1961. He was a starting halfback and an all-around outstanding football player especially known for his fierce blocking ability.

He was a member of the 440-yard relay team that won the 3AA
Championship in 1960. Woodall would go on as a football walk-on candidate at Tennessee Tech in 1962.

1992-93 Fannin County High School Girls Basketball Team
This team finished the season with an overall record of 27 wins and 4 losses. They defeated Gainesville High School to win the Sub-Region and Region 8AA Championships.

They defeated Gainesville High School for the fourth time in five meetings to win the State Class AA Championship, the first State Championship ever won by a team from Fannin County.
Members of this great team were:
Melissa Clore Annis, Jennifer Cooley, Renee Pelfrey Davis, Tina Davis Dockery, Leslie Jabaley Johnson, Angela McDaris Jones, Amy Green Mason, April Pack, Suzianne Green Pass, Melissa Holler Patton, Melissa Pierce, Julie Mealer Seabolt, Angie Taylor, Tonya Walker Taylor, Katie Collins Taylor, Shannon Dillinger York

The 1992-93 team was coached by two members of the Fannin County Hall of Fame, Assistant Coach Carla Sisson Boutin and Head Coach of this team was Johnny Farmer.