A trailblazer, literally and otherwise

Five years ago, after the Pine Mountain Trail was hit by tornadoes that swept through the area, one of the people out there picking up the pieces and repairing the damage was an 81-year-old Columbus man named Neal Wickham.

Nobody who knew him, and certainly nobody who knew the history of the Pine Mountain Trail, was surprised.

Wickham, who died Wednesday at 86 after a bout with cancer, is the principal reason the Pine Mountain Trail even exists. A businessman, environmentalist and passionate outdoors enthusiast, Wickham led — administratively and physically — the two-decade project that created the 23-mile trail from FDR Park to the GPB transmitting tower at Warm Springs.

“He had thousands of work hours over about 20 years,” recalled Jim Hall, secretary of the Pine Mountain Trail Association. “Starting in 1975 and until 1994, he led every work day.”

Retired Columbus attorney and former state lawmaker Milton Jones, a longtime friend, said Wickham “saw to it nearly single-handedly that that trail was put together.”

So impressive was Wickham’s achievement that the year after the trail’s completion, the state legislature named a portion of it in Wickham’s honor; a section of highway that runs through the park also bears his name.

But Wickham’s vision went beyond just the trail, as important as that is and always will be. Outdoor recreation was also his livelihood and, as it turned out, a big part of the city’s future. The idea of a free-flowing Chattahoochee through the natural falls and rapids of Columbus as a rafting course was an idea of his long before it became one of the city’s popular drawing cards.

“The first time it was ever talked about,” said Columbus businessman John Turner, “was by a guy working in that store [Wickham’s Outdoor World] back in the 1970s.”

That guy, of course, was Neal Wickham. Most of the nearly 35,000 rafters who rode the rapids last year don’t know that. But Wickham will be fondly and honorably remembered here.

Fredi’s last win

Fans can reasonably argue whether Fredi Gonzalez deserved to be fired as manager of the talent-gutted Atlanta Braves. (It’s arguable whether the firing can even be considered a demotion. Titanic passengers probably stood a better chance on the iceberg.)

But Gonzalez certainly departed the franchise more graciously than he was jettisoned from it.

He learned of his probably inevitable dismissal in an email confirming his flight back to Atlanta — during a road trip to Pittsburgh. As firings go, that one raises legitimate questions about the human resources skills, if not the basic competence, of the Braves team. And we’re not talking about the one on the field.

How did Gonzalez react? He bought some wine and took it to the hotel room of General Manager John Coppolella, where they ordered pizza and discussed the team’s future.

"We sat and talked it through," Gonzalez said. "There was no animosity."

His performance as manager is debatable. As a class act, not much to debate.

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 4:46 PM with the headline "A trailblazer, literally and otherwise."