A year of highs, lows in sports in the Bi-City

There were incredible highs in sports in the Bi-City for 2014, such as hall of fame inductions and state championships. That was mixed with the tragedy of two athletes losing their lives.

Here are our picks for the top 10 stories for 2014.

1. Thomas' Hall of Fame induction

Former Columbus High star Frank Thomas was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in January and was enshrined in Cooperstown, N.Y., in July.

Thomas received 83.7 percent of the vote -- 75 percent was needed -- from the Baseball Writers Association of America in his first year of eligibility.

"I am so happy, so proud," said Thomas, who was the first person from Columbus to be elected to one of the major professional sports hall of fames.

Thomas' baseball days started at Peach Little League and went through Columbus High and Auburn University.

"The hall of fame sent me something that said 18,000 people had played in the majors and that only 1 percent get to the hall of fame," Thomas said. "I had to sit back and think about that, how special it made it."

Thomas finished his career with 521 home runs and a .301 batting average.

2. Central High fires Lowe

Central High decided to fire football coach Woodrow Lowe after four sea

sons, waiting until mid-May to make a change. Lowe, one of the best to ever play at Central and at the University of Alabama, compiled a 33-13 record, but the Red Devils went 6-4 and missed the playoffs in 2013.

Little more than a week later, Central introduced Jamey DuBose as its new coach. DuBose, who had won a pair of state titles at Prattville, came from Charles Henderson High, where he had not coached a game yet.

3. Auburn loses 2 athletes

Auburn lost a former football player and a current football player during the year. Former tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen was killed in an one-car wreck on June 29 outside LaGrange, Ga. Lutzenkirchen and the driver of the vehicle, who were both legally intoxicated, died.

Less than six months later, on Dec. 14, tight end/H-back Jakell Mitchell was shot and killed at Tiger Lodge apartments. That was the same apartment where two former Auburn football players were killed in 2012.

4. Tim Hudson wins World Series

Former Glenwood, CVCC and Auburn standout Tim Hudson was part of a World Series winning team for the first time in 2014. The right-hander was part of the starting rotation that led the Giants to their third World Series title in October. Hudson had signed with the Giants instead of re-signing with the Braves.

Hudson was not the only local product to find success in the major leagues, however. Russell County's Cory Rasmus was thrust into the role of emergency starter for the Los Angeles Angels. He thrived, making six starts with a 2.37 ERA.

5. Crowell, Smith go to NFL

Isaiah Crowell's roller-coaster career reached the top in 2014. The former Carver star who flamed out at Georgia after one season was not drafted out of Alabama State in the NFL draft. He quickly signed with the Browns and by mid-season, he had shown enough to become the starting running back. He finished his rookie season Sunday with 607 yards and eight touchdowns.

Meanwhile, former Hardaway standout Marcus Smith, who played for Louisville, was a first-round draft choice by the Philadelphia Eagles. Smiths has played in eight games, mostly on special teams, and made one tackle.

6. State championships

There were multiple high school state championships won by Bi-City teams.

The Kendrick girls won the second in the program's history under coach Sterling Hicks. Seniors Kahlia Lawrence and Deja Cheatham led the team to a perfect 31-0 mark.

The Glenwood girls won their second state title and first for coach Julie Humphries. The state title game was a strange one as Lee-Scott held the ball for most of the game, but Glenwood still won 15-2.

The Brookstone boys golf team won its fifth straight state title and 14th overall. The Cougars were led by James Clark, who was the individual state champion.

The Columbus girls golf team won its eighth state championship. The Lady Blue Devils were led by Amy Clark, who finished fourth overall.

7. Gerald Turner steps down

Longtime Jordan basketball coach and athletic director Gerald Turner resigned before the start of the 2014-15 school year.

Turner didn't want to be a basketball coach when the job was handed to him. But 28 years later, he had 495 wins, five region championships, four state Final Four appearances and the 2007 state championship.

8. Olympic gold medalist signs with Snakes

Two-time gold medalist Shannon Szabados signed with Columbus Cottonmouths just before the end of 2013-14 season.

Szabados led the Canadian team to gold medals at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.

When she played her first game in the Southern Professional Hockey League, she became the first female to play in the league.

She returned for the 2014-15 season and early on has been splitting time with Andrew Loewen.

9. CVCC, Kyle Carter go to World series

Coach Adam Thomas led Chattahoochee Valley Community College, which was ranked No. 1 for a large part of the season, to the junior college world series by winning the Alabama Community College Conference (Region 22) championship. It was the school's first ACCC title since 1996.

The Pirates won their opener in the world series, but then lost two straight and were eliminated.

Former Columbus High standout Kyle Carter also made it to the NJCAA World Series as a pitcher and designated hitter for Miami Dade. Carter helped Miami Dade reached the championship game before it lost to Iowa Wesleyan.

10. Changes at CSU

Resignation of Jay Sparks and hiring of Todd Reeser as CSU's athletic director.

After 25 years at Columbus State, first as the women's basketball coach, then later as the athletic director, Sparks resigned in May.

Sparks resigned to become the women's coach at Francis Marion University.

Sparks started the women's program at CSU from scratch in 1989 and built it into a perennial contender over the next 20 years. Overall, he compiled a 367-231 record and led the Lady Cougars to two Division-II Final Four appearances. He coached 21 All-Peach Belt Conference players and two All-Americans.

As athletic director, he oversaw the creation of five new sports programs.

The school hired Todd Reeser from Georgia State to take over the program.

This story was originally published December 29, 2014 at 9:58 PM with the headline "A year of highs, lows in sports in the Bi-City ."