The Board of Directors of the Thomaston-Upson Sports Hall of Fame has announced its Class of 2010. The class is made up of five individuals and one

team and will bring the total membership in the organization to 52 individuals and four teams. The first class was inducted into the hall in 2005.

The individuals being inducted in this year’s class are Charles Gordy, KennyJohnson, Claude Renfroe, W.L. Strickland, and Chris Teal. The team to be inducted is the 1961 R.E. Lee football team.

Charles Gordy is a 1945 graduate of R.E. Lee Institute. He began working at The Thomaston Times in 1945 and over the years served as the news editor, advertising editor, and sports editor. It was as the sports editor and photographer that he made his biggest contributions to local sports. His support of local high school and recreational programs is unmatched in this community. He retired from The Thomaston Times in 1975 but is still an avid supporter of local athletics and athletes.

KennyJohnson is a 1985 graduate of R.E. Lee Institute. He was a standout football and basketball player for the Rebels and after his senior campaign he received a football scholarship to Florida A&M University. He lettered for three years for the Rattlers as a defensive back before entering the National Football League. In 1989 Johnson joined the Minnesota Vikings where he played for one season before moving on to the New York Jets where he played for two more seasons in 1990 and 1991.

Claude Renfroe attended R.E. Lee Institute and played football for the Rebels through the 1953 season. He led Lee in rushing and scoring in 1953 and then went on to play football at Pearl River Community College in Mississippi. In 1956 he was named the Most Outstanding Player in the Mississippi Junior College Conference and was named to the Junior College All-America team. He then received a football scholarship to the Mississippi Southern which today is known as the University of Southern Mississippi. He later coached high school football in Mississippi for nine years and was inducted into the Pearl River Community College Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.

W.L. Strickland was a 1955 graduate of R.E. Lee Institute. He lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track for the Rebels. A standout quarterback on the Rebels’ football team, he was named as the Most Outstanding Back in 1953 and was chosen as Lee’s Most Valuable Player in 1954. After his senior season he played in the Georgia North-South All-Star football game. He then received a football scholarship to the University of South Carolina where he was a three year letterman in 1957, 58, and 59. In 1962 he joined the South Carolina football staff as an assistant coach.

Chris Teal is a 1987 graduate of R.E. Lee Institute. While at Lee he was a standout quarterback, punter, and kicker for tl»e Rebels’ football team. In1986 he led Lee to the Region 3AA championship and was then named to the All-Middle Georgia team by The Macon Telegraph and the AA All-State team by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He then went on to be a three-year starter at quarterback for West Georgia College where he set more than a dozen passing records and was named to the All-Gulf South Conference team in 1991 and 1992. Teal worked as an assistant football coach at Troup High School in LaGrange and Pearl River Central High School in Mississippi for a number of years before taking over as the head football coach at Poplarville, Mississippi High School in 2008. Teal was inducted into the University of West Georgia Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000.

The 1961 R.E. Lee Rebels of Coach Jim Cavan finished the season with an 11-2 record. They won the Region 4AAA championship, the AAA North Georgia championship, and finished as the AAA state runner-ups after losing to Valdosta 34-13 in the AAA state championship game played at Matthews Field. Many local followers believe that this is the team that started the tradition of winning football teams in Thomaston. Five members of this squad received some type of All-State recognition while halfback Jimmy Cavan also received All-Southern honors. Four members of the team; Cavan, Ben Daniel, Tommy Murphy, and Wayne Beeland; were chosen to play in the Georgia North-South All-Star game while Coach Cavan and his entire coaching staff were chosen to coach the North team. Thirteen members on the 1961 Lee team eventually received football scholarships to four-year colleges.

The banquet to officially induct the Class of 2010 will be held on February 27, 2010 at 6:00 pm at the Upson-Lee High School cafeteria. Cost for tickets will be $20 and they will go on sale in January.