12744 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.

 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. 

 

202. Former Dublin High Students Bill McLees, Bo-J Claxton, Ricky Anderson, Whitey Price, and Scott Thompson,  Sr., at the ages of 17 drove to Atlanta to watch a game of baseball.  McLees, who followed the batting performance of Atlanta’s Hank Aaron after the 1973, predicted that Aaron would break Babe Ruth’s all time home run record on April 8, 1974.  In the bottom of the fourth inning, Hank Aaron slammed an Al Downing fastball over the left field fence to set the all time record for home runs making McLee’s prediction come true.  Aaron’s career record of 755 is still considered by baseball purists as most legitimate home runs due to the mostly proven allegations that Barry Bonds hit many of his 762 home runs because of the human growth hormones. Long time Braves fans, June Moore and Frank Seaton, Jr. were in the stands that night as well. 

203. Tony Guyton, of the Dublin High School Irish football team, was elected Captain of South Carolina football team in his senior year of 1985.  Guy was selected as a All South Independent defensive lineman in 1985. (204)

204. Chris Smith, of Dublin, played for the Mercer Bears basketball team from 2009-2013.  Helped the Irish to capture the 2009 AA State Championship.

205. Carol Porter, of Dublin and former wife of Dubose Porter - a candidate for the Democratic nomination of Governor, became the first female in Georgia to win a major party’s nomination.  Porter, a Democrat, finished a respectable second in an election dominated by Republican voters.  

206. Thomas McCall served as Surveyor General of Georgia from 1786- to 1795 when he was just  years of age.  McCall served as an Assistant Surveyor General may have been the youngest Surveyor General [at the age of 21] in the history of the United States. (208)  McCall, who moved to Laurens County, Georgia circa 1815, became interested in wine making.  During the 1820s and before his death in the 1830s, McCall published articles around the nation about his craft. Today, McCall is considered the “Father of modern winemaking in America.”   (209)

210. Dr. Nelson Carswell, a Dublin pediatrician, played in every Heritage Golf Pro-Am Tournament from 1969 to 2018 for a total of 50 appearances, most likely a record for amateur golfers in the United States.  Dr. Carswell has played with and against many PGA golfing legends, including Arnold Palmer.

211. Jordon Towns, a native of Dublin and a Wheeler County baseball star,  pitched for the University of West Georgia in 2007.  Towns pitched in the minor leagues for the Orem Owlz, Cedar Rapids Kernels, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, and the Florence Freedom from 2007-2009.  Towns was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 25th round of the 2007 MLB draft. 

212. Jerome Pullen, who was an educator and Dublin policeman, was on duty with the New York Police Department on the morning of September 11, 2001.

213 . Tal Prince, a Dublin car dealer,  was killed in a 1971 Daytona 500 Qualifying race (then an official NASCAR race) making him the first driver killed at Daytona in a Grand National Race.

 

214. Young John Anderson, of Dublin, was chosen as the 1852 Valedictorian of the University of Georgia.  During the Civil War, Anderson served as Chief Quartermaster of the famed Cobb’s Legion. (215)

216. Charles Robinson, Jr., of Dublin, was the first African-American to become certified by American College of Healthcare Administrators and was selected as Georgia’s Health Care Administrator of the year in 1977.   (217)

218. Earl O’Neal  -   Dublin’s football coach in 1958, led Waycross High School to back to back state championships in 1960 and 1961 (219.)  Long term educator and state representative.  Played football for Florida State in the early 1950s (220.)

221. Rufus “Red” Tindol was elected as Georgia’s Small Businessman of the Year in 1985, President of the Georgia Small Businessmen Association, (222)  and inducted into the National Pest Control Hall of Fame in 2000. (223) President of Georgia Pest Association in 1950. (224A)

224. Karen Lord Rutter, a former Laurens Countian,  was named as one of the top twenty teachers in the nation by U.S. Today in 2000 and was a two time Georgia Teacher of the Year in 2000 and 2004.  (225)   Karen was President of the Georgia Future Homemakers in 1974 (226.)

226. Birch Johnson, a native of Dublin is a first call trombonist in New York, an Emmy Award nominee for his music on the “Guiding Light” (227) and a member of the “Blues Brothers” band. (228)   

229. Laslo O. Mosley, a native of the Orianna Community of Eastern Laurens County, was a popular writer for tha Atlanta Constitution (230) and radio personality at WSB in the 1920s (231) and was one of Atlanta’s most successful hoteliers in the first half of the 20th Century. (232)

233. Henrietta Stanley Dull, a native of Laurens County,  was a long term editor of the Home Economics section of the Atlanta Constitution and the editor of “Southern Cooking,” known for generations as the “Bible of Southern Cooking. (234) Sister of 135, 782, 783, and 911. 

235. George Washington Perry, of Laurens County, caught the largest large mouth bass in the documented history of the world on June 2, 1932 in Telfair County, Georgia.  The record setting fish was weighed in at 22 pounds and four ounces, several hours after being caught.  

236. Laurens Countian General David Blackshear, a teenage veteran of the Revolutionary War, was chosen as a Presidential Elector in 1800 committed to Thomas Jefferson. Blackshear returned to Electoral College in 1828, this time committed to another presidential icon, Andrew Jackson. (237).  During the War of 1812 and the first Indian Wars, General Blackshear was a commanding general of the Georgia Militia (238)  and was a premier builder of at least a dozen military roads of South Georgia, including the “Blackshear Road.” (239)  Lake Blackshear in Cordele, Georgia, (240) and the City of Blackshear in Pierce, Georgia, are named in General Blackshear's honor. (241) State Senator Blackshear cast the deciding ballot in favor of fellow Laurens Countian George M. Troup as the last Georgia governor elected by the Legislature of Georgia. (242) 

 

243. Dr. James Moore, of Dublin, graduated from West Point Military Academy with the Class of 1829, which included classmates Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston.