FOR THE FIRST TIME - NUMBER 1 - Dublin & Laurens County, Georgia

 FOR THE FIRST TIME.  

Chapter 1

Here begins a new series of firsts.  They are snippets of Laurens County natives, residents, long and short term, who have been the first in the state, the country, and the world to do some things first.  Keep in mind that no one ever knows who was the first. What will hopefully follow in the years to follow will become the definitive record for all time. Please correct me if I'm wrong or left someone out of this fantastic and impressive list,  

In the early summer of 2017, former West Laurens baseball and wrestling star, Dustin

Fowler, matched a feat that no one person in the history of the American Leaguel had ever  accomplished.  Fowler took absolutely not a scintilla of joy in tying a record held by Archibald Moonlight Graham in the National League.  Fowler, while starting in right field for the New York Yankees against the White Sox in Chicago, ran fast and far to his left to catch a dying fly ball.  Fowler, flying high after standing in the footsteps of other Yankee right fielders, Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson, Roger Maris, Dave Winfield, Tommy Henrich, and Hank Bauer, tore his knee up and missed the rest of the season.  

    The Yankees traded Fowler to the Oakland Athletics, where Fowler enjoyed two decent seasons at the major league and minor league levels in 2018 and 2019, eventually ridding himself of the dubious record which Graham still holds to himself.  Fowler had shared with Graham the distinction of the being the only non pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball to play in a game and never get an at bat.   Now comes the weird parts -  both Graham and Fowler were Southerners - Graham, a native of North Carolina, and Fowler, a native of Laurens County, Georgia.  Both men were known for their good speed.  Both men played right field. And, both men played for New York teams -  Graham for the New York Giants and Fowler for the New York Yankees.  Both men played their first games in Chicago.  Moonlight Graham was made famous in the movie Field of Dreams, who made his debut in Chicago. Oh, by the way, Fowler tore his knee on June 29, 2017 and Graham played in his only game way back in 1905 on, you guessed it, June 29. 

Cassie Yates, lived in Dublin during her childhood and attended Dublin City Schools.  During her four decade career in Hollywood, Cassie appeared in several top Hollywood movies and in many of  most popular shows of the 1970s and 1980s.   Cassie played the role of “Barbara Scott” in the first Perry Mason television movie, “Perry Mason Returns.” Yates portrayed the first female district attorney to lose to the legendary defense attorney.

In 1848, David Gornto Daniell, of Laurens County, Georgia  was sent by the

Baptist State Convention to the tiny railroad town then known as Marthasville and now known as Atlanta. He gathered 16 men and women together, raised the necessary funds  and First Baptist Church Atlanta was born.   Rev. Daniell, the first pastor of the first Baptist Church in Atlanta preached to his congregation in various locations around the fledgling city.  In June, they dedicated their first church building on the corner of Walton and Forsyth in downtown Atlanta.  The church building was nearly destroyed

Captain Bobbie E. Brown, of Laurens County, was the first Georgian to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor during World War II. Captain Bobbie E. Brown, who grew up in southern Laurens County and joined the Army at the age of fifteen was awarded eight purple hearts and two silver stars for his heroic actions in the Battle of Crucifix Hill near Aachen, Germany in the autumn of 1944. By a medal count, Brown ranks close to the medals awarded to the medal count of the war's greatest hero, Audie Murphy. 

George Walton, a native of Virginia who came to Savannah to practice law, was appointed as a delegate to the 2nd Continental Congress.  A part of his duties required him to cast his vote on a critically important matter before the Congress.  Walton voted yes.  By the way, that matter on which the future governor and senator voted yes on came up for a vote on July 2, 1776.  I think you know what they call the document where Walton signed in the first column below Button Gwinnett and Lyman Hall.  It was our the most precious document in the history of our county, The Declaration of Independence.  After the war, Walton took a seat on the bench of the Middle Circuit of the Superior Courts of Georgia, which held jurisdiction of the eastern parts of Laurens County. 

Born as Walker Smith, Jr. in neighboring Montgomery County, Smith lived in.

Dublin on South Jefferson Street in his childhood.  Smith returned to the North, where he began to take part in boxing matches.  Over his 37-year career, Smith, forever known as “Sugar Ray” Robinson, was the first boxer to win six world championships in the welterweight and middleweight divisions.   Sugar Ray Robinson was hailed by sportswriters  and even Muhammed Ali as the greatest "pound for pound" boxer in boxing history.25.

In 1922, the State of Georgia began to create Juvenile Courts.  The court was created in Laurens County in 1922 with the appointment of Dublin's  Annie Anderson, making Judge Anderson, the first female judge in Georgia’s history. 

Dublin’s Lovett Park was empty.  For nearly two seasons, the minor league teams

were gone to another league.  Officials of the Cincinnati Reds contacted park owner, W. Herschel Lovett, of Dublin to lease the park for one of many mini training camps and try out centers around the country in 1960.  Hundreds of hopefuls showed up to live their dreams.  Long time scout, Eddie Libatore, was there at least to find a few minor league players who could be trained to play in the majors.  As the workouts progressed, there was one young man who traveled a long way for his first professional tryout and mini-camp  just to be seen by his hometown team. Libatore was attracted to the prospect, but had some lingering doubts. He wrote in his report, “ I hit him a lot of ground balls. His glove looked as if it had been made by Bethlehem Steel.” But there were the intangibles that made this baseball man offer Edward a contract.   Edward quickly rose the ladder to the major leagues.  During the 1962, he became a hot young star with the Macon Peaches before beginning his major league career in 1962.  Edward Peter, better known as Pete Rose, went on to become one top two hitters in major league history.  It was his missteps as a manager which led to his banning from the Baseball of Fame, a sure honor for a professional career which began right here in Dublin, Georgia.