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.

 244. Dallas Allen, a star footballer for the Dublin Irish football team, was an outstanding Morehouse College athlete and a member of  the 1978 NCAA Division III championship team in the 440 relays (245) and an All-American in track (246).  Played in several exhibition games with the Atlanta Falcons. (247)  As coach of Atlanta’s Westlake High School, Allen was honored as having coached the most active NFL football players through the the 2005 season, including NCAA and Nfl star Cam Newton.  (248)

249. Temporary resident of Dublin, Eddie Smart, played basketball for the University of Georgia in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

250. Dublin’s Jerome Bullock served as the Marshal of the District of Columbia in the late 1970s.  Bullock was appointed by fellow Georgian, President Jimmy Carter.  Marshall Bullock once had to transport James Earl Ray, the man who killed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by walking in front of him as a human shield. 

253. Dublin car dealer, Jim Hammock, served as a member of the Georgia Public Service Commission from 1980-1987.  Hammock made the arrangements to bring one of the greatest Southern rock bands, Wet Willie, to play at the 1972 DHS prom.  (254)  He was appointed to state boards by three Governors including George Busbee (Georgia Department of Human Resources), Zell Miller (Industry, Trade and Tourism), and Sonny Perdue (Economic Development).  (255)  Serving as Vice Chair of the Human Resources Board and Chair of the Cost Effectiveness Committee, one of his contributions to the people of the state of Georgia was to propose and help pass the provision that all Medicaid recipients receive generic drugs unless otherwise specified by a physician (256).  During his tenure, he served as Vice Chairman of the Commission. (257)

258. Dublin businessman and county commissioner, Billy Lovett, served on the Georgia Public Service Commission from 1979 to1990, giving Laurens County two seats on the five-person statewide commission.

259. Laurens County’s Sgt. Dewey Johnson, was killed in action during the ill-fated attack to rescue the Iranian hostages in April 1980.  Buried in a special section of Arlington National Cemetery.

260. Dublin’ Jack Tarver, was the socially progressive General Manager of the Atlanta Constitution and Atlanta Journal.  Tarver also served as President of the Federal Reserve Board of Atlanta. (261)  President of Cox Enterprises in 1969 and Chairman of the Board in 1976. (262)  Tarver served as chairman and director of Theaters Service Co. (263) . He was also a director of Southern Bell, American Motors, and Maccabees Mutual Insurance Co.(264).  He was a member of the state Board of Education from 1942-43 (265) and served as a Trustee of Mercer University (266) . In 1979, he was awarded the humanitarian of the year award by the Institute for Human Relations.(267)

268. Dublin’s Vincent Mahoney was a top Hollywood reporter in the 1930s.  He was killed in a Southeast Asia plane crash, which killed many traveling journalists in 1949. 

269. Former Dublin newspaperman, Ernest Rogers was a reporter and columnist for the Atlanta Journal.  Known as “The Mayor of Peachtree Street,” Rogers wrote some 6,000 columns for the Atlanta Journal over his 12-year career making him one of the most read columinist in Georgia history. (270) Rogers, who worked another job as a top WSB radio personality (271), is the only person in the history of the state is be a member of both the Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame (1972) (272)  and the Georgia Broadcasters Hall of Fame. (273.)  (1988). (274.) 

 

275. Dublin’s Nella Braddy Henney was a widely published author and editor, who wrote a biography of British journalist Rudyard Kipling.  Henney was the first writer to write a biography of Anne Sullivan, who gained world-wide fame as the “Teacher” of Helen Keller. (276).  Henney became close personal friends of Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller, the latter of which visited her at her old family home in Dublin during a stop at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Dublin in 1945. (277.)

L-R - NELLA BRADDY HENNEY, HELEN KELLER, POLLY THOMSON

P.S. FOR MY DESCENDANTS:  HELEN KELLER AND MY GRANDFATHER IRVING SCOTT, WERE SOMEWHAT DISTANT 6TH COUSINS.  THEY WERE BOTH 1ST COUSINS, FIVE TIMES REMOVED WITH MARTHA WASHINGTON.