For 25 years, Columbus scholarships honor memory of exemplary Jordan graduate
During the past quarter-century, more than 100 Jordan Vocational High School seniors in Columbus have been awarded college scholarships totaling over $100,000 in memory of a man they never met — but whose endearing qualities they exemplify.
Douglas Stanley Taylor, known as Doug, was Jordan’s class of 1967 president. Ron Richardson, the class vice president, described him as a leader, a scholar and an outstanding athlete.
“Academics was a priority,” Richardson told the Ledger-Enquirer. “He was always looking to achieve new heights, overcoming obstacles.”
Taylor received a football scholarship from Troy State University. In the 1968 NAIA playoffs, he caught three touchdown passes in the semifinals, then the Atlanta Journal-Constitution named him Co-Outstanding Player of the Game in Troy State’s national championship victory.
After graduating from Troy State with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, Taylor earned a law degree from Faulkner University. As a certified public accountant, he had a successful career with the IRS.
Taylor “used his knowledge to mentor colleagues and business associates,” Richardson said. “As a church and civic leader, his talents as a teacher and speaker were modeled and used to lead and serve. As a family member, father and friend, his loyalty, devotion and expressions of kindness were so much a part of his life.”
In June 1997, Taylor was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia. He received a bone marrow transplant in March 1998 at the University of Alabama-Birmingham Hospital. He died 76 days later from the aspiration of a blood clot. He was 48.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury posthumously recognized Taylor with the Albert Gallatin Award, its most prestigious honor for outstanding service.
Friends and family established the Douglas Stanley Taylor Scholarship Fund to help and inspire other Jordan graduates to live like Taylor, “with virtues that ensured success and made a positive difference in the quality of life for the people that he touched,” according to the fund’s brochure.
The $1,000 scholarships honor Jordan seniors who have excelled in academics, leadership, achievement and athletics — qualities Taylor embodied. Winners are expected to exhibit hard work, integrity, honesty, generosity, kindness, patience, love and faith.
Winners such as Myracle Hill, one of the recipients of the scholarship for 2025.
Success from perseverance
Hill, a multisport athlete on Jordan’s flag football, volleyball and track teams, tore the ACL in her left knee and had surgery in November of her junior year. That sidelined her for nine months.
“I was scared,” she told the Ledger-Enquirer. “I was very nervous that I wouldn’t get better in time to play football again. … I was really focused on sports, so me not having sports was kind of putting me in a bad, depressed place. It was very draining and sad.”
Her grandmother, a friend and a teacher who visited twice per week, boosted her spirit to keep up with her schoolwork and rehab her knee while she was homebound for three months after the surgery.
“They kept telling me you gotta believe and keep working because it’s gonna pay off,” she said. “… I always had friends around me to talk to at school, so it was kind of hard having to stay home.”
Myracle struggled through the loneliness and the rehab.
“There were many times I wanted to give up,” she said. “It was just a lot. It was a little painful too, but I had to just keep going, keep pushing myself.”
Adding to her burden, Myracle and her younger siblings lived with their grandmother while their single mother was incarcerated. Myracle worked at McDonald’s to help her grandmother buy groceries and pay the bills. She also helped take care of siblings and take them to school.
“I was trying to help out best I could,” she said.
When her senior year began, Myracle’s knee had recovered enough for her to return to the volleyball team, then the flag football and track teams, although she had to wear a brace.
Myracle overcame the tough times to achieve a 3.7 grade-point average — and was accepted into Clark Atlanta University, where she plans to major in business management.
Beyond this scholarship’s monetary value, being chosen for such a prestigious award helped Myracle feel validated.
“I’m very, very, very thankful that they gave me the opportunity because a lot of people wanted it and (the selection committee) thinks I deserve it,” she said. “… Even if you have all these obstacles and things going on, you can do great things.”
Graduation coach
Myracle is an example of the success stories Jordan graduation coach Amy Strickland has seen in her 33 years working at the school, where she graduated in 1979. So she appreciates the support this scholarship fund provides.
“They’ve done four or five a year for 25 years,” she told the Ledger-Enquirer. “That’s pretty amazing for that many students to have their lives touched by this one group of Doug’s family and friends. … They do it because they love their friend or their brother and to honor him, but by doing that, they’re touching all of these other lives that hopefully will pay it forward as they go along too.”
Strickland also is grateful this scholarship fund doesn’t require “a lot of red tape” for winners to receive the money.
“They are very easy to work with,” she said. “… Some people might say, ‘Oh, it’s only $1,000,’ but sometimes $1,000 is literally the difference between going to college and not.”
Grateful sister
Taylor’s sister, Linda Taylor Brubaker, graduated from Jordan in 1966 and taught sixth grade for 30 years in Gwinnett County. Now retired, she is an active volunteer with the Jordan alumni association.
“It’s wonderful that they are keeping Doug’s memory alive by helping students,” she told the Ledger-Enquirer. “That’s what Doug was about.”
As a teenager, Taylor worked at the YMCA in Columbus.
“Doug always was an advocate for children and making sure that we can give them a better education,” Brubaker said. “… That’s what the alumni have done by continuing to support this (scholarship fund) because we are putting children first.”
Brubaker especially appreciates Richardson’s support through the years.
“Ronnie would come and visit Doug when he was in the hospital at UAB,” she said. “… He and Doug started out as friends in junior high school and just continued on.”
Asked what her brother would think about these scholarships being awarded in his name, Brubaker said, “Oh, goodness. … Doug was always committed to the community, as well as children. And this is a good forum for them to give back to Jordan, but also to give back to students who are so deserving of this. … It’s a worthwhile project for them to invest in because they’re investing in the future.”
Past winners
Jamar Feggins (2013 winner) and Ky’Ongela Feggins (2014) are cousins who graduated from Jordan in successive years. Both were senior class president, both won this scholarship, and both are giving back to the community by working for nonprofit organizations in Columbus.
Ky’Ongela, 29, earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Columbus State University. She now works as the operations manager for the Family House (formerly the Ronald McDonald House) of West Georgia.
Jamar, 30, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from Savannah State University. He now works as the financial services coordinator for Goodwill Industries of the Southern Rivers.
Receiving this scholarship “meant a lot to me,” Ky’Ongela told the Ledger-Enquirer, “because it meant that people were recognizing what I was doing. Not only did it make me feel good, but it encouraged me to stay involved once I got to college. … It made me feel really great to know that my work that I’ve done over the four years (in high school) wasn’t in vain.”
Working for a nonprofit organization, Ky’Ongela understands the difficulty of sustained fundraising.
“To be able to have 25 years of this scholarship continue to live on,” she said, “I know that they’re still putting in the work, … and I’m sure everyone in the future will also continue to love what they’re doing for it.”
Seeing his cousin win this scholarship inspired Jamar to pursue the same goal.
“It just resonated with me,” he told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Jamar praised the scholarship fund donors for their continued support.
“They believe in the humanity of people, the development of the future, the betterment of the world or the community,” he said, “so I respect that. … It shows that they’re committed and understand the importance of giving back.”
Scholarship fund co-trustee
Richardson, a semi-retired physical therapist in Birmingham, is co-trustee with Brubaker for the scholarship’s fund. The selection committee members are Jordan faculty and staff, but Richardson still makes the 140-mile drive to Columbus each year to announce the winners.
“I thank the Jordan faculty and administration for allowing us to continue doing this,” he said. “… To be going on that long, it’s really amazing.”
Richardson credits the approximately 100 donors who consistently contribute to the scholarship fund.
“For the most part, it’s been former students, friends and teammates,” he said. “… What we’ve done is making a difference in people’s lives. Companies and corporations in the Muscogee County area are certainly welcome to contribute.”
How to support this scholarship
For those interested in supporting the scholarship, donations of checks payable to the Douglas Stanley Taylor Scholarship Fund can be sent to the JVHS Alumni Association, P.O. Box 1456, Columbus, GA 31902. For more information, contact Ron Richardson at rtrich4@charter.net or 205-515-0354.
This story was originally published June 24, 2025 at 1:55 PM.
