With the possible exception of athletes who play football for the University of Alabama or women’s basketball at the University of Connecticut, being a part of an undefeated team at any level of competition is something very special. Few teams in the history of Fannin County have managed to run the gauntlet of an entire season of competition unscathed. The 1986 (1985-86 school year) Fannin County High School baseball team, however, managed to do just that. The lusty 18-0 regular season record posted by the 1986 has earned them a place in the Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2017.

The athletic program at Fannin High was in a period of transition during the 1985-86 school term. The average daily attendance at Fannin High was smack on the border between an AAA and an AA classification. The level of competition faced in the two classes is quite significant. Athletic teams at the school competed in the Class AAA division beginning with the 1978-79 year and remained at that level through the 1984-85 school term. It was an uphill struggle for the athletic teams at Fannin to be competitive at the AAA level. The football teams, for example, posted an overall record of 10-58-2 over the seven year period.

Sometime during the 1984-85 school term, the decision was made to drop from the AAA to the AA level. The powers that be decided that the 1985-86 teams, including the 1986 baseball team would not be eligible for any region crowns nor would they be allowed to participate in region tournaments during that year. The 1986 Fannin baseball team did not let that bother them, however, as they ran roughshod over every team on a schedule that included Copper Basin, Gilmer County, Pickens County, Fairmount, Rabun County, Towns County, Redbud, Lumpkin County and Union County. Most of those opponents were the same schools that had appeared on Fannin County schedules in the past.

The 1986 baseball team was characterized by sound fundamental baseball play, outstanding pitching and defense, timely hitting and a sizeable helping of good team chemistry. Brad Mitchell, the starting catcher, describes the team as “very businesslike — everyone knew their job and everyone did their job”. He continues recall that the team had a good understanding of the game and that demonstrative celebrations during competition were kept to a minimum. There was much cause for celebration during the season but Brad relates that the celebrations at away games were postponed until each player had taken their seats on the bus and after the bus had cleared the immediate area of competition. Then shortstop Kurt Warren, a slick fielder who also hit .367, would crank up his cassette player to maximum volume and play ‘Bad to the Bone’ by George Thorogood and the Destroyers. In homage to ZZ Top, another pop group of the era, the team began to refer to the 1986 season as their own version of the ‘Eliminator Tour’.

Yogi Berra is credited with saying that baseball is 50% hitting and 50% pitching — and the other half is defense. The 1986 Fannin pitching staff was led by starters righty Jeff Gray, who posted 10 victories, Chris Chastain with 5 wins and lefty Jimmy Nichols who was the winning pitcher in the remaining 3 games. Bullpen duty was primarily the responsibility of Rex Mashburn.

Defensively, the Rebels generally lined up with Howie Bruce at first base, Tim Lents at second, music aficionado Kurt Warren at short with Dennis McClure holding down the hot corner when Jeff Gray was pitching. Jeff moved over to third when he was not on the mound. Starting flycatchers were Shan Culpepper in left, Jeff Warrenfells in center and Sonny Mashburn in right. As previously reported, Brad Mitchell, who also quarterbacked the Rebel football team, was the starting catcher. Valuable backups were Joey Breeden at first, Dewayne Thomas at second, Richie Walker who saw a lot of action in the outfield, along with freshmen Cole Staton and Bryan Davis.     

Offensively the Rebels were a very balanced club boasting a team batting average of .311. Individual stats showed Sonny McFarland leading the team in hitting with a .407 average, followed closely by Jeff Gray at .382, Kurt Warren at .367, Tim Lents at .339, Jeff Warrenfells at .333 and Howie Bruce with an average of .328. The team also recorded an on base percentage of .519. Other notable offensive numbers that were school records at the time were runs scored in one season at 177, most hits at 173 and most runs scored in one inning at 11 in two different games. Jeff Gray led the team in RBIs with 25, home runs with 4, hits at 26 and 17 stolen bases. Kurt Warren led the team in runs scored with 21, Howie Bruce in doubles with 7 and Shan Culpepper and Kurt Warren led in sacrifices with 5 each.

On the defensive side, the team had 7 double plays. On the mound Jeff Gray posted an ERA of 1.29 with 72 strikeouts, Chris Chastain had an ERA of 1.58 and 62 strikeouts and Jimmy Nichols had 45 strikeouts and an unbelievable ERA of .80. Reliever Rex Mashburn struck out 7 enemy batters and had an ERA of 3.36.

The most common adjective that the players use to describe their group is ‘close-knit’. ‘Camaraderie’ is another word heard when the 1986 baseball Rebels look back on their great season.

In case you have been wondering, the Coach of the 1986 Fannin County Rebel Baseball team was David Lunsford.  Coach Lunsford gets good marks from contemporaries for his baseball knowledge and coaching methods.

The Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame is proud to tell anyone within hearing distance about the outstanding achievements of the 1986 Fannin County High Boys of Summer who did so much to make everyone in the County very proud of them and their record.

Blanche Smith Ganues has been selected as a member of the 2017 class of the Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame. She becomes the fourth member of the Fannin County High School girls basketball teams of the mid to late 1940s to be so elected. When one considers that Clyde Henry, the coach of the Fannin County girls from 1945 through 1948 is also a member of the FCSHOF, one gets an idea of just how powerful those teams were.

Blanche grew up in the Loving community in the eastern part of Fannin County. Her parents were Reverend Walter and Sadie Smith. Walter was a Baptist minister who was quite well known throughout the area for many years. At various times during his ministry he served as pastor of several country churches in Fannin County including Salem Number One, Hemptown, Friendship, Pleasant Hill, Hot House, Maple Grove and Mineral Bluff and he was in great demand to preach revivals at other churches in North Georgia and Western North Carolina.

There were seven children in the Smith family, Blanche coming along as number six. They were an active group with Blanche and one of her older sisters, Genova, exhibiting a particular interest in and talent for the game of basketball. Blanche excelled at the game and won a starting position as a guard, or defensive player under the rules of the day, on the 1945-46 team at Fannin County High in Morganton. Genova, a year older than Blanche, was a substitute on that team.

Little did the Smith sisters realize when they began basketball practice in the fall of 1945 that they were to be a part of something very special in the history of athletics in Fannin County. The 1945-46 girls team won 27 consecutive games before finally losing in the Class B State Championship game in early March of 1946.

Blanche went on to start for the Fannin County girls in each of the next two seasons. The 1946-47 team, Blanche’s junior season, saw the girls once again advance to the state title game in Macon. After dispatching Ellijay, Jasper, Cumming and Winder in District 9 competition, the Fannin girls marched on to the state tourney where they defeated Hawkinsville, Soperton and Colquitt before finally falling to a powerful team from Baxley High in the finals of the state tournament.

Even though the Fannin girls did not win the state title in 1947, however, the coaches and officials recognized the outstanding play of several of the Morganton girls by electing them to the Class B All-State team for the year. Young Blanche Smith was one of the girls so honored.

Blanche played her final season at Fannin High in 1947-48 and turned in another stellar performance. That team only lost 2 games during the entire season but, unfortunately, one of those losses game in the finals of the District Tournament, denying the girls a third consecutive trip to state competition. The three year run led by Blanche Smith and her teammates, however, is one of the most glorious periods of excellence ever experienced by any team in the history of Fannin County sports.

According to her husband Fred Ganues, Blanche was one of the young ladies on the radar of some of the amateur teams of the day including the Sports Arena Blues and the Lorelei Ladies of Atlanta. Something else happened to Blanche during the 1947-48 school year, however, that would decide her fate for the remainder of her life.

One day late in that school year, Blanche entered the L&N railroad depot in Mineral Bluff to purchase a 10 cent ticket to travel to Blue Ridge. The young agent who sold her the ticket was Fred Ganues, a 1947 graduate of Copperhill High School. Fred was a basketball standout at Copperhill and, according to all accounts, a rather popular young man with the ladies. Fred and Blanche took a shine to each other and before long Blanche Smith found herself with the new surname of Ganues. The two were married in April, 1948 and remained together for the next 60 years.

After high school, Blanche devoted her life to her home and family. She and Fred welcomed a son, Fred Jr., in 1949 and Blanche went about the business of caring for the home and young Freddy. She did, however, occasionally compete in local amateur basketball from time to time. In the late 1950s husband Fred organized an amateur team that he named the Black Knights. One season he expanded the team to include a ladies teams appropriately called the Lady Black Knights. Blanche played with that team along with several local standouts including Jackie Hartness, Mary Lou Fowler and Peggy Thompson, all of whom had played at West Fannin High School.

In the mid-1960s, with young Fred Jr. in high school and nearing adulthood, Blanche decided to apply for the position School Secretary at East Fannin High School. She got the job and stayed at the High School until 1976.  After East and West Fannin High Schools were consolidated in 1976, Blanche remained at East Fannin Junior High for an additional 20 years, retiring in the mid-1990s.

Blanche and Fred were happily married from 1948 until her death in 2008, a period of 60 years. Fred was inducted into the Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame in 2015 and died in March of that year. Blanche Smith Ganues now joins Fred as a member of that elite group.