Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame names 2022 class. Here’s who made the list
The Chattahoochee Valley Sports Hall of Fame has announced its 2022 class, the 26th class since its inception in 1996.
The Class of 2022 will be inducted at the Hall of Fame’s annual banquet at the Columbus Convention and Trade Center on Feb. 19.
Here are the members of the class listed alphabetically by last name, with a brief bio of each:
Walter Alston
Alston played first base for the 1939 Columbus Red Birds and helped the team win the South Atlantic League Championship.
He later served as a manager for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers for 23 years. His teams won seven National League pennants and four World Series.
Alston was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.
Cliff Blankenship
Blankenship was born April 10, 1880 and became the first Columbus product to play baseball in the major leagues.
Blankenship began his professional baseball career with Toledo of the American Association in 1903, and played for Seattle, in the Pacific Coast League, in 1904 before joining Cincinnati of the National League in 1905.
He played 37 games for Washington, in the American League, in 1907. He finished his professional playing career with Washington in 1909, playing in 39 games.
Blankenship went into management after that, wrapping up his managerial career with Greenville in the South Atlantic League in 1923.
He lived in Oakland, Calif., until his death in 1956.
Loretta Rosane Cobb
Cobb moved to Columbus from North Carolina at age 5. She made her basketball debut at Marshall Middle School, where she was one of three girls selected to play on the boys team as a starter in the seventh and eighth grades.
She attended Spencer High School, where she was selected as the first freshman on the Ledger-Enquirer All-Bi-City girls basketball team in 1978.
She transferred to Columbus High her sophomore year due to the relocation of Spencer. She earned All-Bi-City honors all four years in high school, then played for Chattahoochee Valley Community College from 1981-1983.
Off the court, she founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Walk of Faith, a nonprofit organization now in its fifth year. The organization aims to bring healthcare awareness to the community through education and resources presented annually by healthcare professionals and vendors.
Goldie Darby
Darby, a native of Columbus, competed in baseball, softball and bowling. In the span of four months, she went from never competing in regulation bowling to winning the all-events state championship in the Georgia Women’s State Bowling Championships.
She was, at one point, the No. 1 women’s bowler in Georgia and qualified for the national tournament.
Darby played four years of professional baseball, for the Pasadena Ramblers of the Metropolitan Girls Softball Conference and the California Girls’ Professional Baseball League, for which she signed her first professional contract in 1946.
Darby participated in the National Girls’ Softball Tournament in 1947, doing well enough to earn a contract with the Chicago Cardinals in 1948. She played locally following the end of her professional career.
Grady Elmore
Elmore lettered in football as a sophomore on the Andalusia High School (Alabama) state championship team in 1958. He also lettered his junior season as a quarterback, defensive back, kicker and kick returner and played basketball and baseball.
He transferred to Carroll High School following his junior season, where he starred in football, basketball and baseball. He signed a multisport scholarship with Alabama, where he played all three sports.
Elmore played in several notable games at Alabama, including the 1964 Sugar Bowl and the 1965 Orange Bowl.
In baseball, he led all Alabama pitchers with fewest hits allowed and walks given in 1965. He lettered in baseball for three seasons in Tuscaloosa.
After his playing career, Elmore coached at Jacksonville State, Huntsville High School and Hardaway High School, where he served as head football coach and athletics director for 10 years.
J.D. Evilsizer
Evilsizer lettered in cross country and track at Livingston University, then for Auburn University.
He was the first Gulf South Conference cross country champion in 1971 and walked-on at Auburn after Livingston dropped the program. At Auburn, he received numerous honors, including All-Southeastern track athlete in 1973.
Evilsizer coached cross country at Columbus State for 17 years, where he built the track and field program from scratch. He led the CSU women to their first Peach Belt Conference title in 2005 and took the men to four NCAA championships — including three straight from 2008-10.
He’s one of the most decorated coaches in CSU history, with five PBC Coach of the Year awards. He’s trained 77 All-Conference runners at CSU, 31 All-Region athletes, three All-Americans and six PBC Freshman of the Year winners.
Evilsizer was the conference’s first women’s sports coach of the year. He retired in August 2020.
Before coming to CSU, Evilsizer coached the Smiths Station High School program for 17 years and amassed 11 state team championships and numerous individual state champions. Among those individuals were six national All-America runners.
Randy Fuller
Fuller is a 1989 graduate of Spencer, where he excelled on and off the basketball court.
He played guard on the 24-0 basketball team his sophomore year and lettered in football and track and field.
Fuller was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 1994, playing six seasons in the NFL as a corner for the Broncos, Atlanta Falcons, Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks. He blocked Jim Harbaugh’s Hail Mary pass during the final seconds of the 1995 AFC Championship game between the Steelers and Colts.
He later coached cornerbacks and receivers at Tennessee State in 2008.
Fuller is a recipient of two Super Bowl rings. He resides in Houston, Texas with his wife, Gussie, and two children, Ellington and Eden.
Dorenda Weaver
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Weaver, a graduate of Central High School, played volleyball at Columbus College from 1981-83, receiving All-State and All-Tournament honors. She played softball for the college from 1981-85.
During her four-year softball career, Weaver received numerous honors, including National Home Run Leader, All-District and All-Conference honors all four years. She received Female Athlete of the Year honors twice and led the team to a 134-37 record during her playing career. While at the college, she played tennis and volleyball under Coaches O.L. Gilstrap and Mary Blackmon.
Weaver was inducted into the CSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003 and is a charter member of the CSU Tower Association, with additional memberships in the Cougar Club and Alumni Association.
She retired as executive vice president, chief accounting officer and controller at TSYS, a Global Payments company.
This story was originally published September 28, 2021 at 11:24 AM.
