2744 and more Fantastic, Fascinating, Freaky, Famed, Favorite, Foremost, Fateful, Fabulous, Forgotten, Funny, & Phenomenal FEATS & FACTS ABOUT THE FINE FOLKS OF DUBLIN AND LAURENS COUNTY, GEORGIA By: Scott B. Thompson, Sr. @ 2021 THIS IS A COMPILATION OF THE OUTSTANDING ACTS OF NATIVE, SHORT TERM, AND LONG TERM RESIDENTS OF DUBLIN AND LAURENS COUNTY, GEORGIA. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS COMPENDIUM, ONLY ACTS OF STATEWIDE, SOUTHEASTERN, NATIONAL, AND WORLD ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE LISTED. VOLUME 2 WILL CONTAIN MORE FEATS ON A LOCAL LEVEL. THERE ARE HUNDREDS, PERHAPS THOUSANDS MORE ACTS WHILE NOTEWORTHY, DO NOT MEET THE CRITERIA SET OUT ABOVE. IF YOU HAVE MORE EXAMPLES OF FANTASTIC FEATS, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT SCOTTBTHOMPSONSR@YAHOO.COM THE LIST WILL BE POSTED ON THE INTERNET AND WILL BE UPDATED ON A REGULAR BASIS.

 115. Rev. Albert Outler, who lived in Dublin briefly with his father, Rev. John M. Outler, Sr.   of the First Methodist Church, is recognized as one of the greatest Methodist theologians 

116. Lt. Commander Frank Hill, of Dublin, was appointed by President Truman to rebuild and reorganize the Philippine Navy after the end of World War II as a member of Philippine Governor General Frank Murphy's staff.  Hill, a PT-boat commander during the war, was the recipient of the Presidential Unit Citation.

117. Jack Miller, an assistant coach on the State Champion 1959 Dublin Irish team, was awarded the Nike Award for community service and longevity in coaching Georgia High School Football by the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association in 2017.  Miller coached 33 years as a head coach .  A coach of many sports, Miller’s teams won more than 700 games in his long career which included stints in Vidalia, Groves, Clarkston, Headland, Rockdale County, East Hall, Southwest Dekalb, Shamrock, and lastly, Savannah Christian (118.) 

119. Henry C. Tharpe, owner and manager of the popular hardware store Lovett & Tharpe, was elected as the national president of the National Farm Equipment Wholesalers Association in 1958.

120. Janet Jackson, of East Laurens High School, served as State President of the Future Homemakers of American in 1986.

121. Howard Brown, while serving in the U.S. Navy, witnessed the first explosion of a Hydrogen  Bomb at Eniwetok Island on November 1, 1952 during Operation Ivy.  Brown was later commended for saving many lives during a typhoon.

122. Louis H. Parker, who engaged in the dairy business for more than a half century, was named president of the Georgia Guernsey Breeders Association in 1956.

123. Paul Baker, Sr., a successful beer wholesaler in Laurens County, was elected as President of the Georgia Beer Wholesalers Association in 1959.

124. Dr. U.S. Johnson was elected president of the Georgia State Association of Physicians and Pharmacists in 1948.  It was the first time in the history of the association that small city physician  had been selected to lead the organization, composed of African-American physicians and pharmacists.

    125. W.V. Ward of Laurens County was elected President of the Georgia Fox Hunters Association in 1940.  Ward hosted more than a dozen state and national fox hunting championships in Dublin from the 1930s to the 1950s.

126. Travis Love, a former Dublin High teacher and coach starred in the cult cable television show, “The Walking Dead.”  Love played the role of a Vetos gang member in Season 1.  A graduate of South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, SC where he played football, a former public school teacher, counselor and football coach, winning a State Championship in 2006 at Dublin High. Travis is the younger brother of Arther Lee Love Jr., former tight end for the New England Patriots (Superbowl XXXVI).  Love first appeared as Shumpert in 2012 episode and as Bowman in 2012 and 2013 (127.)  Love has appeared in more than a dozen movies, tv shows, and shorts and was still active in the business in 2021. 

128. Dublin place kicker, Brian Labella, was named the place kicker for the Georgia All Classification team in 1990.  That same year, Labella was named as the place kicker for the All Classification South team (129.)   He served as a backup place kicker at Georgia Southern (129A.) 

130. Roy J. Chappell, of Laurens County, leading agricultural equipment dealer and farmer, was chosen as the President of the Georgia Farm Equipment Dealers Association in 1980.

131. Tony Edmond, an East Laurens High School Future Farmers Club student, became the first African American President of the Georgia Future Farmers of American Club with his election in 1984.

132. Emmett Black, Sr., owner and founder of Dublin’s legendary “Black’s Seed Store, was named President of the Georgia Seedmen’s Association in 1968.

133. Velma Warren, who once worked as a share cropper in the Cook place in Montrose married in 1953 to James Brown, the King of Soul.

134. The Dublin Negro League Team won the Southern Championship in August 1914 by defeating the team from Birmingham, Alabama taking the series four games to three.  Under the leadership of manager C.I. Jackson, the Dublin team went 27-6 for the seasons.  The players were Kellam, c.f., Smith, c., Salem, 3b., Harris, p., Davis, 2b., Price, p., 1b., Smith, lf., Hall, rf., and Hicks, substitute.  Regrettably, no first names were published.   

135. Ira M. Stanley, of Laurens County, was a co-founder of the Dallas Daily Times Herald in Dallas, Texas in 1894. The newspaper was published for the next sixty years and an additional 37 years under a shortened title.  Brother of 233, 782, 783 and 911.

136. W.L. Joiner, of Laurens County, served as the Chief Clerk, Deputy Director, and Director of the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicles from the early 1930s through the early 1950s. In 1935, Joiner presented President Franklin D. Roosevelt a special Georgia license plate marked simply “R.”  In 1934. Joiner, who designed newer and better ways of keeping track  of license plates,  was elected Vice-President of the National Motor Vehicle Administration. (137)

138. Dublin’s John L. Peters, who served as the Augusta Director of the Works Progress Administration, was promoted to the position of Director of Public Works Reserve of Georgia in 1941.  

139. The Rev. Opal Glenn Rife, who served the Dublin Church of the Nazarene in 1927, was one of the first female Nazarene ministers in Georgia.

140. Hay farmer, Jeff Bacon of Laurens County, was selected by Farm Bureau for the best hay grown in the Southeast United States in 2019. 

141.    Four Laurens County sailors, Hubert Wilkes, Jack Thigpen, E.W. Harville, and Marvin Way and were serving aboard the U.S.S. Yorktown when it was sunk during the pivotal Battle of Midway, which turned the course of World War II in favor of the U.S. Navy over the Japanese in the Pacific

142 Dublin’s Douglas Williams was the first African-American student to enroll at Brewton Parker College in Ailey/Mt. Vernon, Ga.     

143. Mel Lattany, a former school teacher in Dublin in the late 1980s and early 1990s was the fastest man in the world in 1984, running the 100-meter dash in a time of 9.96 seconds, 0.01 a second below the world record.   He was only the second human being ever to be timed below 10 seconds in the 100-meter dash.  (144)  Lattany was a six-time All-American in track at the University of Georgia, (145)  a member of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic teams, an eight-time S.E.C. champion (146) and one-time world record holder in the 300 meter dash, (147) 100 meter Junior dash, (148)  and the Sprint Medley Relay.  (149)