Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame welcomes eight new members
The newest group of inductees into the Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame were honored Saturday night at the Columbus Convention & Trade Center.
The “Class of 2019” includes Herbert Bremer, James C. “Jim” Fox and Sam Prophet from the pre-modern era and H.D. “Dickie” Butler, James “Jimbo” Davis, Madden Hatcher III, Jay Sparks and Bruce Stephens Sr. from the modern and current era. The “Class of 2019” is the hall of fame’s 24th class.
The CVSHF is housed in the lobby of the Columbus Civic Center. Here are synopses of the inductees:
Herbert Bremer
Bremer came to Columbus in 1936 to play catcher and first base for the Columbus Red Birds, the St. Louis Cardinals’ first farm club here. He homered in the bottom of the ninth inning to cap off a three-run rally and beat Jacksonville, 5-4, giving Columbus the South Atlantic League championship. It is considered by some to be the most famous home run in the city’s baseball history. His best season was 1937, when he was the team’s regular catcher and batted .305 with 20 home runs and a league-leading 101 RBI. His 20 home runs stood as a record for a Columbus catcher until Alan Knicely hit 33 during the 1979 season (25 as a catcher). Became a full-time resident of the city, except for his summers off playing baseball. Played parts of three seasons in the major leagues, playing 11 games with the Cardinals at the end of the 1937 season. He played all of the 1938 season with St. Louis, appearing in 50 games and batting .219. Was in nine games with the Cardinals in 1939. Following his baseball career, he was an engineer for the Central of Georgia Railway. He died at the age of 66, Nov. 28, 1979.
Jim Fox
Was obtained from Atlanta by the new South Atlantic League club in Columbus to be manager here in 1909 and managed the team for seven seasons, winning championships in 1910, 1911 and 1915. Left to manage Portsmouth in the Virginia League in 1916 but only because Columbus team officials told him they did not plan to field a SAL team that year. Continued to make his permanent residence here. Was the first South Atlantic League manager to win three pennants and remained the only one until Ben Geraghty of Jacksonville in the 1950s. His Columbus teams, called the Foxes in his honor, won 467 games and lost 364. Was secretary of the Columbus club in 1926, when the city returned to professional baseball in the Southeastern League after a nine-year absence. Lived in Columbus until he died in 1962.
Sam Prophet
Enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1927 and spent 24 of the next 30 years at Fort Benning, where he competed in a variety of sports. Despite being only 5-foot-8½-inches and 145 pounds, he quarterbacked Fort Benning football teams for 13 years and led victories over Auburn twice in one season. In 1928 when, while playing for the 29th Infantry Regimental team against the Tankers, he returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown and then drop-kicked the extra point in the last minute to win the post’s championship, 7-2. Hit .485 one baseball season while playing first base and won intramural track championships in the javelin, pole vault and mile and half-mile races. Played guard on the post’s basketball teams and competed in swimming and tennis. His career at Benning was interrupted when he was ordered to the European Theater of Operations in 1944 and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, where he was taken prisoner by the Germans. Was held as a POW for more than four months before he was liberated by Russian troops.
Dickie Butler
Was an outstanding three-sport athlete at University School for Boys and Boys High School in Atlanta and was rated one of the smartest quarterbacks the state had ever produced. Was credited with his greatest game for USB in its 20-0 victory over Columbus High at Memorial Stadium in 1925 when he ran a punt back 98 yards, ran 12 yards and caught a pass for 25 yards to account for all three of his team’s touchdowns in one of the first games played in the new Columbus stadium. Returned to Columbus as a football coach in 1945 for Columbus High, where he coached for 11 years and went 56-47-5. His CHS teams won two Bi-City championships. After suffering a heart attack earlier in the year, he resigned, Dec. 15, 1955. Later served as director of transportation for the Muscogee County School District and served three terms as president of the Georgia High School Association. The GHSA honored him in 1963 for “his outstanding and enduring contributions to high school sports in Georgia.” Was inducted into the Georgia Prep Sports Hall of Fame (later merged with the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame), Aug. 8, 1959. The Dickie Butler Trophy was instituted at Columbus High School in 1963 to be presented annually to the school’s football player with the best scholastic average. Died Nov. 10, 1963, at the age of 56.
Jimbo Davis
Performed as the Cody the Cougar mascot for Columbus State University from 1992-94 and as the FredStixx mascot for the Columbus RedStixx minor league baseball team from 1995-96. Has been CSU’s cheerleading coach since 1994, compiling 20 Peach Belt Conference championships in cheerleading and six in dance, as well as five NCAA Division II national team championships and two coed partner stunts national championships. Also serves as assistant athletics director and hall of fame coordinator and summer camps director at CSU. Six of his CSU cheerleaders have qualified for Team USA, winning gold medals in the world championships. For 20 years, he has been involved in Georgia high school cheerleading, training coaches, judging competitions, helping teams select members and helping coordinate the state championships in Columbus.
Madden Hatcher III
Won the 1976 U.S. Junior Amateur golf championship, becoming the first from Columbus to win a USGA event. Won three straight (1975-77) Columbus Country Club junior championships. Won two (1975 and 1977) Georgia Class AAA team championships with Hardaway High School and two straight (1976-77) Columbus Interscholastic Invitational individual titles. Named a 1977 High School All-American by the National High School Coaches Association. Advanced to the fourth round as the last American in the field at the 1977 British Amateur. Captained the 1980 and 1981 University of Georgia golf teams, leading the Bulldogs to the 1981 SEC championship. Won the 1980 Spirit of America Invitational at West Lake CC in Augusta. Won the 1978, 1980 and 1987 Columbus Country Club men’s championships, the 1981 Green Island Country Club men’s championships, the 2015-16 Green Island senior men’s championships and the 2015-16 Peachtree Golf Club senior championships. He works in the insurance field as senior vice president of J. Smith Lanier & Co.
Jay Sparks
As the founding head coach of the Columbus State University womens’ basketball program, he developed the Lady Cougars into an NCAA Division II power during his 1989-2008 tenure, compiling a 367-231 record, including six straight seasons of 20 or more wins and nine of his last 13. Named the Naismith Division II Coach of the Year and the Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year three times each. His CSU teams won the 1997-98 PBC title, shared the 1994-95 and 2001-03 PBC titles and won the 1999-2000 PBC tournament titles, and advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four (2000) and Elite Eight (2001). As CSU’s athletics director, he helped start five intercollegiate sports (rifle, men’s and women’s track and field, women’s golf and women’s volleyball), helped bring the first NCAA national championship to Columbus (2011 rifle championships) and 10 PBC tournaments here. After coaching for one year at Francis Marion University, he returned to Columbus as Brookstone School’s athletics director in 2015. He now chairs the school’s athletics committee and serves as head girls basketball coach.
Bruce Stephens Sr.
Stephens was an All-Bi-City football player and all-state track athlete at Central High School, where he graduated in 1974. At Columbia University, he was named Most Valuable Player of the football team in 1977. He played one season in the NFL, signing as a free agent and returning three kicks in six games for a total of 42 yards in 1978. He now resides in New Jersey, where he works in sales for Apple and owns and operates with his wife a photography and design studio called Cherished Memories Plus.
Mark Rice, 706-576-6272, @MarkRiceLE.