Mornin’ y’all,
Can you believe it is June? Summer is on our doorstep, and with that, amidst outdoor fun and concerts on the square, comes a new class of inductees into the Forsyth-Monroe Sports Hall of Fame. I’m very excited about this year’s recognized athletes—there are some truly special folks on the list. To tell us all about it, Ms. Gilda invited Monroe County Public Information Officer, Richard Dumas, to chat with her on the latest episode of Monroe Today!
Mr. Richard has the honor of bein’ Monroe County’s very first Public Information Officer (PIO), but that’s a relatively recent role for him. Mr. Richard started as a general assignment reporter back in 2010 for the local paper, the Monroe County Reporter. He became the news and sports editor the very next year, and did that for nine years before startin’ with the county in 2020, just three weeks before the pandemic. As Mr. Richard says, “They put me to good use quick!”
Even as the county’s PIO, covering public relations for all sorts of projects, like the $20+ million Juliette water project a few years’ back, Mr. Richard remains known for his contributions to local sports. If you’re an avid listener of Monroe Today, you probably know Mr. Richard is a host himself of the series, coverin’ the topic of sports once a month on Majic 100 FM. He is also Chairman of the Forsyth-Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame, an organization he has been a part of since its very beginnin’.
The Origins of Forsyth-Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame
Back in 2015, Mr. Richard had the opportunity to be a part of a special committee bringing a travelin’ Smithsonian exhibit right here to the City of Forsyth. The committee included then-Main Street Manager Loraine Khoury, local business owner Bonnie Barker, Monroe County Historical Society’s Ralph Bass, and several others. The Smithsonian exhibit “Hometown Teams” was a showcase of national and local sports memorabilia, and the city received a grant to host it. The catch? Forsyth had to create its own local sports exhibit to pair with it!
Meanwhile Mr. Jim Harden, who at the time was on the Macon Sports Hall of Fame board—and had been for a long time—approached several folks in the Monroe County sports community about developin’ a local sports hall of fame. Monroe County was Mr. Jim’s home county, and he had been wantin’ to bring something like this to his home for awhile. He approached local sports enthusiasts like Bobby Melton, Tom Perry, Nolen Howard, Belle Howard, Penny Pitts, and of course, as the paper’s sports editor, Richard Dumas! It was by then 2016, and Mr. Richard and the Smithsonian committee were in the midst of workin’ on their exhibit. Mr. Richard told Mr. Jim that if they were goin’ to have a sports hall of fame in Monroe County, the best time to do that would be as part of the openin’ day festivities of this “Hometown Teams” sports exhibit.
Fast forward to the summer of 2017—the Smithsonian exhibit was here! Set up in the Conley Building at the Monroe County History Museum, this acclaimed exhibition spent six weeks in Forsyth before travelin’ on to the next host location on its nationwide tour. Also that June, the launch of the first annual Forsyth-Monroe Sports Hall of Fame banquet was held inductin’ the inaugural class of recognized athletes. While the Smithsonian’s “Hometown Teams” exhibit moved on, the Sports Hall of Fame has become a lastin’ legacy!
The Forsyth-Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame Finds a Permanent Home
After its initial exhibition in the Stone Depot (or Conley Building), the Sports Hall of Fame has lived in a few temporary locations. In fact, for three years the displays of inductees hung on the wall at the old welcome center on Lee Street! Ms. Gilda shared, “It was always a point of interest. People would linger, and read, and talk about who was up there on the wall. It was a lot of fun, especially when people are coming back to visit family… or the inter-generational visits! People would bring them in, and say things like, ‘this is your grandmother!’ It’s very positive.”
Finally, as of February 1st of this year, the Forsyth-Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame has a permanent home at the Monroe County Recreation Department. The Rec Department opened a brand new, state-of-the-art gymnasium in December 2025, and right there in the lobby is the new “Wall of Fame,” unveiled in February as a permanent exhibit.
Ms. Gilda shared that she loves the idea that it’s right there with the gymnasium, “which means it brings in all kinds of folks.” “And it brings in the people who are already interested in sports to begin with,” agreed Mr. Richard. “That’s what made sense as opposed to when y’all had it at the CVB. It was great, but this is going to get people who are already inclined to be sportsminded.
“And being in a public location, it’s going to be open most days of the week. Even if the gym’s not open, they can just go over next door and knock on the office and ask Mr. Sparks, our director, to let them in and see it, and can do that any time of day. We didn’t want to put it in a private location because then you’re subject to whether someone’s available to let you in. This is going to be something anybody can see anytime.”
Inducting a New Class, and Hopes for the Future
Sports Hall of Fame inductees are selected by the Sports Hall of Fame Committee out of the nominations they receive from the local community. When Mr. Richard took over as Chairman of the committee in January, one of his passion projects was to try to increase the amount of publicity they had in order to get more nominations.
“We always get people questioning why is so-and-so not in the Hall of Fame?” explained Mr. Richard on Monroe Today. “Well, it’s because we can’t even begin to discuss them until we’ve received an official nomination.”
Let’s just say he was successful! Nominations this year are double what they’ve been in the past. After careful consideration, eight new inductees were selected to join the wall of 63 honored Monroe County athletes after the banquet this June:
Quentin Davis—He played football at Mary Persons back in the early ’90s, a star running back. He also played at University of Georgia.
Aimee Haygood—She was a basketball star at Monroe Academy, captain of the ’95 state championship team. She played in college as well.
Tommy Ivey—He played football at Mary Persons in the late ’60s and went on to play semi-pro football. He was a linebacker.
Calvin Scandrett—Another linebacker, he played football at Mary Persons in the early ’80s. He was on two state runner-up teams at Mary Persons, captainin’ one of them. He also has had a long distinguished career in coachin’ and as athletic director at schools around this area (Lamar County, Jackson, and some others).
Kenny Shannon—He was a track star at Mary Persons, the state 100-meter champion back in 1980, and he ran in college as well, at Middle Tennessee State.
Linda Sosebee—She’s a national shooting champion in clay shootin’, and her home turf is right here at the Meadows Gun Club. She was the US Open Champion of Shooting, the best female clay shooter in the country back in the early 2000s. (And she’s an artist, too!)
Jesse Walton, Sr.—He was a Hubbard High School sports star back in the late 40s, and went on to a long career in coachin’ and also officiatin’ at the GHSA level. He’s in his 90s now, and plans to come to the banquet!
Fred Whittemore—He was one of the best one-year athletes that’s ever come through here. He was state champion in track and field as a thrower in the discus and the shot put. He also was an all-state selection in football. He moved to Forsyth his senior year, attendin’ Mary Persons in the ’57-’58 school year, and went on to play football at Clemson.
I agree with Ms. Gilda and Mr. Richard that the variety of inductees is truly top-notch. Mr. Richard put it best—“It’s not a Mary Persons Football Hall of Fame. Like we always talk about around here, it’s a sports hall of fame for all kinds of sports.”
But there’s more diversity to be had, accordin’ to Mr. Richard. “I also want to get, and I’ve made a big point of emphasis for us this year as well, is to try to get younger people involved in it. I know I personally nominated some of the few younger people that I know that I covered at the newspaper. And when I was calling them, they were not even aware we had a Sports Hall of Fame. And that’s because they haven’t seen their peers go in yet. So I’d like to see us get some younger people in just to get fresh blood involved in the Hall of Fame.”
Now Accepting Nomination for the 2027 Class!
Nominations for the Forsyth-Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame are accepted all year—so while this June’s class has already been selected, you can still submit worthy athletes for consideration in the 2027 class! Their website is Forsyth-MonroeCountySportsHallofFame.com. You can go on there and fill out an online nomination, or you can contact one of the members of the Hall of Fame committee and they’ll get you a paper one if you wanna just e-mail ’em. Keep in mind, Mr. Richard says, “We actually have to have an official nomination from someone close to the person they’re trying to nominate, whether it’s a family member or relative or whoever.”
“Everybody’s got certain athletes that mean something to their area that somewhere else, they may not even have ever heard of,” says Mr. Richard, “but in Forsyth, it’s a really big deal. And that’s kind of what the Hall of Fame does. It honors those people who here are a really big deal. But at the same time, it honors the community as a whole.”
Sports means so much to our community. It really goes beyond what the athletes do on the field—it’s the community comin’ together, rootin’ for the home team, celebratin’ and makin’ moments that will last a lifetime.
So if you haven’t seen the Forsyth-Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame for yourself, do visit the new gym next time you’re out at the Rec Department and check it out. Bios for existing Hall of Famers can also be found on the Sports Hall of Fame website. Send in your own nominations, and stay tuned to see the new folks up on the wall later this summer!
‘Til Next Time,
Your Storyteller