27744 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.

 421. Curtis Beall, of Dublin and Brewton, played college basketball at Middle Georgia College and Duke University.  Beall was elected as the Most Outstanding Senior at UGA. (422) Until his death, Beall was known as the oldest surviving male cheerleader at UGA.  

423. Capt. John Barnett, of Dublin, was the youngest executive officer in the United States Army in World War II.  Barnett was appointed to the position at the age of 21. 

424. Major Herndon M. Cummings was a bomber pilot in the famed air group, the Tuskegee Airman.  Cummings and more than 100 officers were arrested at Freeman Field, Indiania in one of the first major civil rights incidents in the U.S. Army’s history.  (425)  Cummings and the other Tuskegee Airman were award the Congressional Gold Medal (426)  and were the invited to attend and sit on the platform with President Barrack Obama during his first inauguration.(427) 

428. A member of the 38th Mechanized Calvary Recon Squad, PFC Wesley Hodges,  was among the first Americans  to enter Paris on August 25, 1944.   Hodges served in Korea, where he was captured as a Prisoner of War.    

429. Seaman James T. Sutton survived the sinking  of the “U.S.S.  Frederick C. Davis, the last ship lost by the American Navy in the Atlantic Theater of Operations in World War II. 

430. Dublin resident, Edward Towns, was cited for his meritorious service to the submarine  forces of the United States.

431. Col. Marion Rogers, of Laurens County, Georgia was the Squadron Commander of the 99th Fighter Squadron, known as the “Red Tails” of the Tuskegee Airmen. During the space age, Col. Rogers served as one of the directors of the Apollo progam.  (432) Rogers was one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen.

433. Dublin wide receiver Robbie Hahn set several records in receiving at Furman University and in the Southern Conference.  Hahn was named to the All Southern Conference team (434)  and was an honorable mention for the All-American team of 1966.  (435) Hahn set 13 Furman and 3 Southern Conference records in 1967.

436. Chan Beasley, the 1967 AA Back of the Year, earned an honorable mention for an High School All-American team. (437) Beasley played for the South All Classification All Star team in 1968. (437A.) 

438. Bill Brown was a Dublin High golfer who played for the University of Georgia and in 1991 was the Southern Amateur Champion.  (439) Brown won the Georgia Amateur Golf Championship in 2006.  (440) 

 441. Former DHS basketball player, Sally Smalley Bell, was awarded the Naismith Award as the Women’s Official of the Year.  In the next decade, Bell was touted as one of the top women’s basketball officials in the world, (442) being selected to officiate NCAA Final Four games, (443)  Olympic Basketball, (444)  and Women’s NBA games. (445) Elected to  the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.  (446) 

447. Tim Knight, was selected by the The National Taxidermy Association as the Best

all-around Taxidermist in 1993.  

448. Travis Smith, a former West Laurens footballer, ended his career as the holder of many receiving records at Presbyterian College and the South Atlantic Conference (449)  and was a member of the 2000 (450)  and 2001 (451) All American team. 

452. Admiral J.W. Goodwin, formerly of Dublin, was named as the commander of America’s newest aircraft Admiral carrier, the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan.   After seeing the massive ship to completion and taking her through her first sea trials, Goodwin was promoted to Rear Admiral in 2003 (453) and was named Deputy Director for Plans and Policy for the U.S. European Command.(454)  In 2007, Rear Admiral Goodwin was named to command the Naval Air Force Atlantic.   (455)