When asked to summarize his life and career, legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant said “I ain’t nothing but a winner”. Although 2020 Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame inductee Shannon Dillinger York is too unassuming to describe her life and career thusly, the words attributed to Bryant could easily describe her.

For the skeptics in the audience, consider these accomplishments in Shannon’s life to date. In 1990, she was selected as ‘Miss East Fannin’ at East Fannin Middle School. In 1993, she was elected as Homecoming Queen at Fannin County High School. In 1994, she was elected as the ‘Best All-Around’ senior girl at Fannin County High School and in 1997 she was elected Homecoming Queen at Piedmont College.

Shannon was an honor student at both Fannin County High School and Piedmont College She was the recipient of the Governor’s Honor Award at Fannin High and was awarded a Presidential Academic Scholarship at Piedmont. She earned a B.S. Degree in Psychology and Spanish from Piedmont in 1998 and a Master of Education Degree in Health and Physical Education from North Georgia College and State University in 2003. She also earned a degree as a Specialist in Educational Administration from Lincoln Memorial University. She taught Spanish, special education and physical education for 8 years and was named the Fannin County Teacher of the Year in 2012. She also served as Assistant Principal at Blue Ridge and Fannin Middle Schools for 8 years.

Shannon has a rich alto/baritone singing voice and, in 2011, won the ‘Mountain Idol’ talent competition This achievement led to a number of opportunities to perform at various venues and events throughout North Georgia. She recalls that, before winning the Idol competition, all of her public singing had been in church. News of her talent reached Georgia State Speaker of the House David Ralston who bestowed on Shannon the huge honor of recruiting her to sing the National Anthem on the closing day of the State House of Representatives session in 2018.

Involvement in athletics began for Shannon with the East Side Youth basketball team when she was 6 years old. She played for the East Fannin Middle School Wildcats for a couple of years before beginning her high school career at Fannin County High School in the fall of 1990.

At Fannin County High School, Shannon York became the starting point guard for the Lady Rebels basketball team at the beginning of her sophomore season in 1991. She excelled in that role for three seasons. She was the floor leader on offense, a tenacious defender and a veritable ‘coach on the floor’. She played the game with gusto and at a relentless pace. She led the Lady Rebels to the Georgia Class AA State Championship in 1992-93, the first state title in the history of Fannin County at the high school level. As a senior in 1993-94 she was the recipient of the Best Defensive Player Award and the Most Unselfish Award.

Shannon lettered two seasons in cross country at Fannin High. She finished 6^th out of more than 70 runners in the Region 8AA cross country meet and qualified to compete in the state meet, the first Fannin County High runner to do so.

Following high school, Shannon was awarded a basketball and academic scholarship to attend Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia. She was the starting point guard at Piedmont all four years that she competed there. She was named to the conference all-freshman team in 1994-95. She was awarded the Bush/Harris Memorial Scholarship in 1995-96 and in 1997-98. She was elected team captain at Piedmont and earned the Coaches Award as a senior in 1998. Shannon became the all-time career assist leader in Piedmont women’s basketball history during her junior season.

While attending Piedmont, Shannon met her future husband, Richard York. Richard is something of a legend himself at Piedmont and was elected to the Piedmont Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007 in recognition of his exploits in basketball and golf at the school. Shannon and Richard were married in the summer of 2001. The union has produced two children, Reagan, age 15, and Hudson, age 12. Reagan plays basketball and volleyball at Fannin County High School and Hudson, a student at Fannin Middle School, is into basketball, golf and baseball.

Shannon and Richard are intimately involved in the activities of their children. Shannon also stays busy a Chairperson of the Leadership Program of the Fannin County Chamber of Commerce, her music projects and overseeing the professional care of her mother, who is struggling with health issues. She also helps out and supports Richard in his career with WoodmenLife, an Omaha-based life insurance and financial planning company. The company has some 1200 employees and Richard, an over-achiever cut from the same fabric as his spouse, was named as the firm’s top performer of the year in 2018.

Shannon York gives much of the credit for her successes to her parents, Debbie and Junior Dillinger. Junior was her basketball coach from the day she began competing until she reached the 7^th grade. She and her sister Tara learned the fundamentals of basketball from Junior and were ready to play the game when they reported for duty with Coach Johnny Farmer and his Fannin County High School Lady Rebels. Shannon also cites Coach Farmer for his role in developing her athletic skills to the championship level.

In a testimonial to Shannon’s character in her high school yearbook, her parents expressed the thought that she ‘always had her life in order’. She is truly ‘nothing but a winner’.

Bob Stewart has been a vital part of the sports landscape of Fannin County for more than 50 years. His body of athletic work as a player, coach, baseball umpire, football and basketball official, organizer, administrator and as hands-on athletic director with the Fannin County Recreation Department has earned him membership in the Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class of 2020.  

Bob grew up in McCaysville and began his career as a player at McCaysville Elementary School and West Fannin High School. At West Fannin, he was an all-around athlete participating in baseball, track and field, football and basketball. As a senior in 1961-62, Bob earned a starting guard position on the basketball team and, playing in the backcourt with fellow FCSHOF member Mike Hartness, averaged 9 points per game. He played his best basketball in the Region 3AA Tournament in 1962 and was instrumental in helping the Yellow Jackets win the Region title with wins over Calhoun, West Rome and North Whitfield in the title game. Bob played a sound floor game, defended tenaciously and scored at a 10 point-per-game clip in the tournament. He and Hartness were named to the All-Tournament Team in recognition of their outstanding play. That team went on to win the first State Tournament game in the history of the school, a 56-39 victory over Elbert County.

After graduating from West Fannin, Bob played basketball at Truett-McConnell for two seasons. He then returned to the Fannin/Basin area and landed a job with the Tennessee Copper Company.

The game of slow-pitch softball was quite popular and very competitive in the Fannin County/Copper Basin area in the early 1960s. Bob Stewart and some of his friends and acquaintances founded a softball team in the summer of 1964. A variety of potential nicknames for the team were suggested and one member of the group said ‘what about the Zots’. He explained that ‘zot’ was the sound that the aardvark in a popular comic strip made when sucking up an ant. The nickname was adopted unanimously. Little did the players know that the Zots would become legendary in Fannin/Basin history as one of the dominant teams in the area for more than 50 years.

Bob held down the third base spot for the Zots during most of his 35 years with the club. Many local observers who witnessed Bob play the game describe him as the best fielding third baseman ever to perform in the area.

Music was an important part of life in the Stewart family. Bob’s father E.P. ‘Slim’ Stewart was a native of Louisville, Kentucky where he and his four brothers, Al, Gene Jay, Bill and Redd, were professional musicians. The brothers had their own radio show in Louisville in the years leading up to World War II. Brother Redd would gain fame as a country music songwriter and has been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Some of the songs that he wrote or co-wrote are the ‘Tennessee Waltz’, ‘You Belong to Me’ and ‘Slow Poke’. Redd joined Pee Wee King’s group called the Golden West Cowboys and, following the end of World II, Redd became the lead singer of that group replacing Eddie Arnold who had elected to pursue a solo career.

Mary Evelyn German was a native of McCaysville who sang with a local group. Her group won a talent contest and one of the prizes was a trip to Louisville to sing on the Stewart Brothers radio show. She and Slim hit it off and were married in October of 1942. They moved to McCaysville where Slim gained honest employment with the Tennessee Copper Company. It was into this musical environment that Bob Stewart was born in 1944. He quickly learned to play multiple musical instruments and discovered that he has a decent singing voice.

In addition to forming the Zots softball team in 1964. Bob Stewart also organized his first band called the Twilights. The Twilights became one of the most popular local bands and performed at numerous venues in the North Georgia and Southeastern Tennessee area for years. Bob was a member of other groups throughout the years and has been the Coordinator of the popular local Pickin’ in the Park endeavor since 2013.

Bob Stewart coached youngsters at all age levels in competitive athletics in the area for more than 40 years. He was instrumental in establishing the Tri-Counties Junior Basketball Program in 1977-78 and coached the Epworth junior varsity basketball team (ages 10 through 12) to the championship in their age division. He also coached several youth baseball teams including the Copperhill Braves in the Dixie Youth League in 1968.

Bob began officiating local baseball, football and basketball games in the mid-1960s. In 1987 he registered and qualified with the TSSAA (Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association) and began officiating basketball and football games for that group. He worked as a TSSAA football official for 27 years until his retirement in 2014. During that period he was selected to officiate Tennessee football state playoff games 12 seasons. He was named as the Tri-State Football Association Official of the Year in 2007. In football contests, Bob as generally given the assignment of Umpire. The Umpire is stationed behind the defensive line and linebackers which means that he is in the middle of the action on most running plays. It is a dangerous assignment, not for the faint of heart. In a 2014 playoff game Bob found himself too close to the action and was knocked cold in a collision with a big linebacker. He decided then and there that he should call it a career to protect his 70-year old body from further damage.

The Tennessee Copper Company shut down most of its operations in 1987. The Company that had been the life-blood of the area for a century was gone. Bob Stewart had served as a safety engineer at the Company for his final 13 years there and was able to land on his feet when he was hired by Maytag as a safety inspector. He retired from Maytag in 2004.

Shortly after his retirement from Maytag Bob Stewart met fate head-on when he encountered Bernie Hodskins in a local retail business. Hodskins was the Director of the up and coming Fannin County Recreation Department and asked Bob if he knew any local sports-minded individuals who might be interested in joining the Recreation Departmet as Athletic Director. The job was a natural for Bob and he signed on with the Department and worked out a schedule that would permit him to handle his duties at the Rec Center Complex and continue his TSSAA officiating duties as needed.

Bob remained with the Fannin County Recreation Department until his retirement from full-time duties in late 2018. He continues to devote a good deal of time to the Department, however, on a part-time basis.

Bob Stewart and Kathy Hensley met at the Teen Canteen in Copperhill and were married in 1966. They have two grown daughters, three grandchildren and one great grandchild. As of this writing, Kathy Stewart serves as the Mayor of the town of Copperhill, Tennessee. Bob prefers athletics to politics and leaves the statesmanship duties to his spouse.

Following a legend can be a daunting assignment. History books are full of names such as Keith Montgomery (who succeeded Herschel Walker at Georgia), George Selkirk (who followed Babe Ruth with the New York Yankees), Ray Perkins (successor to Bear Bryant as football coach at Alabama), Paxton Lynch (who succeeded Peyton Manning as quarterback of the Denver Broncos) and many others. 2020 Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Melissa Holler Patton, had her own solution to a similar situation when she succeeded Shannon Dillinger York as starting point guard and team quarterback with the Fannin County High School Lady Rebels basketball team in the late autumn of 1994. She became a legend herself.

Melissa grew up in Morganton, Georgia and began her basketball career in the 4^th grade. Robert Craig was her first coach and continued to coach the teams for whom Melissa played through middle school. She cites Craig as a big influence in her development, especially in the areas of conditioning and emphasis on the defensive side of basketball. She is also quick to mention that her parents, Linda and Boots Holler, were enthusiastic supporters of her basketball efforts and seldom missed any of her games.

When she reported for practice as a freshman at Fannin County High School in 1992, Melissa had developed strong fundamental skills and made the Lady Rebel team as a freshman. She began her career at the beginning of a dynasty. The Fannin County girls, under the leadership of Coach Johnny Farmer, won two state titles during the decade of the 1990s and freshman Melissa Patton was a member of the 1992-93 Lady Rebels state championship team. It was the first state championship in any team sport at the high school level in the history of Fannin County. During her four years of competition, the Fannin girls posted the gaudy record of 98 victories and only 13 defeats.

Melissa earned a starting guard spot at the beginning of her sophomore year. Shannon Dillinger was the starting point guard and Melissa was assigned the ‘Number 3 Guard’ position in Coach Farmer’s offense. Her duties were essentially to play strong defense and attempt to work the ball inside to Fannin’s post players, Leslie Jabaley and Suzianne Green. She also helped out with the ball handling duties and one long time observer points out that, with Dillinger and Holler handling the ball, employing a pressing defense was a waste of time and energy for opponents.

With the graduation of Shannon Dillinger, Melissa ascended to the role of point guard for the Lady Rebels for her junior season of 1994-95. She had a banner season leading her team to a 23-5 record advancing to the quarterfinals of the Class AA State Tournament before losing to eventual state champion, Haralson County. For her efforts, Melissa was named as the Team Best Defensive Player and was selected as a member of the Class AA All-State Honorable Mention Team. She scored a then-school-record 7 three-point field goals in a game against Copper Basin that year. She scored a total of 30 points in that game. She continued to add to her highlight film later that season when she dished out 12 assists in a game against East Hall.

The 1995-96 Fannin High Lady Rebels finished the season with a record of 28-1, the best record in the history of the school. With Melissa Patton piloting the ship, Fannin advanced to the semi-finals of the Class AA State Tournament before dropping their only game to Dodge County. Melissa again received many individual honors including a repeat selection on the Class AA All-State Honorable Mention Team. She was named as the team Co-MVP along with fellow FCSHOF member Leslie Jabaley. She was selected as the Northwest Georgia Tip-Off Club Player of the Month for the month of December, 1995, a month during which she averaged 12.2 points, 3 steals and 7 assists in games played.  She was named MVP of the Taco Bell Christmas Tournament in December of 1995.

Johnny Farmer smiles when asked to reminisce about his time coaching Melissa Patton. Farmer says that Melissa “always came ready to play and gave 110% when she stepped on the floor. She was very coachable and was always in the best of shape. She was a race horse and I raced her to win. Best remembered for her ball handling and her tenacious defense. She was given the Best Defensive Player Award one season and I awarded her ‘The Glove Award’ meaning she was on you like a glove”.

Melissa also found time to play softball at Fannin High and earned three varsity letters in that sport. She played in the outfield and generally batted in the leadoff or number two hitter in the lineup.

At the end of her high school career, Melissa was offered a basketball scholarship to play at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. She chose not to continue her basketball career, however, and attended the University of North Georgia where she earned a B.S. degree in Finance. She has been a Member Services Representative at Tri-State EMC in Fannin County for the past 12 years.

Melissa married Randy Patton in 2000. They have three children, Morgan, age 19, Brook, age 17 and Sadie, age 9. Melissa enjoys running and coaching Sadie’s Recreation Department basketball team.  Sadie’s team won the Rec Department 8U state championship in 2019. Sadie also plays softball and was on the 10U team that were state runners-up in 2019. Who knows? — Sadie might follow in the mother’s footstep and become an athletic legend herself in a few years.

2020 Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame inductee Clifton Birdell Hunt (better known as ‘Shag’) was born in Tate, Georgia on January 12, 1913. Shag was born in an America where baseball was truly the country’s National Pastime. For most of Shag’s first 45 years or so, the game was one of the most important parts of his life.

In 1926, Grover Hunt, Shag’s father, was killed in an accident when he fell from a building on which he was working. Shag was only 13 years old at the time. He was the oldest of the three Hunt children and he dropped out of school around the 8^th grade to help support the family. In 1929, Shag’s mother remarried and moved to Detroit with the two younger children. Shag stayed in North Georgia and took up residence with his Uncle Gus in Loving, Georgia. When not working on the farm, he spent hours playing baseball on the fields at Epworth and Copperhill. Around this time, he acquired the nickname ‘Shag’ for the many hours that he devoted to shagging fly balls in the outfield. It was also about that time that he met Paul Kimsey, a young man from Epworth who played on several local baseball teams with Shag. The two would remain friends for the remainder of their lives.

Economic times were hard during the Depression years of the early 1930s and newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after taking office in January, 1933, began introducing a number of programs designed to alleviate the hardships of many Americans. One of the Roosevelt programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC, established in the spring of 1933. The stated goal of this program was to conserve the country’s natural resources while providing jobs for young men. The program proved to be very popular and, by 1935, over 2650 CCC camps had been established in all states employing more than 600,000 young men.

Shag Hunt, along with Paul Kimsey, enlisted in the CCC and, by the spring of 1935, the two young men found themselves assigned to CCC Camp 485, called the Sandy Creek Camp, near Athens, Georgia. Camp 485 fielded a strong semi-pro baseball team that competed in the Georgia Piedmont League against top-flight amateur teams in Northeast Georgia. Shag immediately became the mainstay of the camp pitching staff with Paul Kimsey behind the plate catching most of Shag’s offerings.

Shag was the pitching ace of the Athens team for two seasons, posting a record of 10-3 in 1936, pitching 116 innings and giving up 96 hits. He was also one of the most popular young men in the camp and discovered that he had a flair for writing poetry. He became the ‘Literature’ Editor of the camp newsletter, called the ‘Cracker’, and wrote a poem for each issue.  Shag’s poems did not contain any complex imagery or esoteric references, but were straightforward thoughts about nature, life, love, friends and family and, naturally, baseball.  His poems were characterized by humor, pathos and a comman man’s view of living.  Following is a tongue-in-cheek poem about the camp baseball team that Shag composed in 1936.

Our catcher started out this year
 As lively as a singer
He tried to catch a foul tip
 And cracked up his finger

Our pitcher had a fast one
 And threw a curve not using his thumb
He was a pretty good pitcher
 But my goodness he sure was dumb

Our first sacker was a honey
 He was tall enough and slim
He couldn’t get a grounder
 He couldn’t bend over, not him

Our second baseman was a little guy
 He wasn’t so awful hot
But one thing about him
 He was Johnny on the spot
We had a guy on third base
 Who was as lazy as could be
How he ever managed to hit
 Is a mystery to me

You should see our shortstop
 He could get around like a deer
Until he went after a hit
 And landed on his rear

Our left fielder was a genius
 He sure could cover ground
But when the ball got in the sun
 He could only go round and round

Our right and center fielders
 Led the team in being spry
‘Til they bumped heads together
 Trying to catch the same fly

The subs they don’t play much
 They watch the opposing pitcher’s slants
They’ve sat on the bench so much
 Now the seat is out of their pants

Our umpire had a crooked eye
 He didn’t know a ball from a strike
The last game he tried to call
 To get home he had to hitch hike

From the 1920s until the early 1950s, many industries in the United States sponsored company semi-pro baseball teams. This was particularly true among the textile plants that thrived in North Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina at the time. The arrangements varied but, generally, the company would seek out good baseball players, provide them with a not too complicated job at a reasonable wage and oftentimes company housing. In return the men would perform for the baseball team representing the company on weekends and sometimes during the week. Some of the rivalries that developed between small town teams rivaled that of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

Following the 1936 baseball season, Shag Hunt was discharged from the CCC. In September he married Mary Susan Davenport in Loving, Georgia and signed on to play with the Sugar Hill team near Buford, Georgia. This team competed in the Northeast Georgia Textile League. The Sugar Hill team was affiliated with the legendary Bona Allen Company semi-pro teams but the precise nature of that relationship has not been determined. What has been determined is that Shag had an outstanding season at Sugar Hill in 1937, posting a record of 11-3. He pitched 98 innings and had 70 strikeouts. Shag’s first child was born in Buford in August of 1937.

Shag’s performance at Sugar Hill, earned him a spot with the Greensboro, Georgia team of Georgia Piedmont League. He played at Greensboro for two seasons, 1938 and 1939. He had a record of 17-9 in 1939 and pitched a no-hitter against Commerce on Saturday, May 28, 1938.

Shag moved on to Greenwood, South Carolina and pitched for a mill team in the Central Carolina League in 1940, 1941 and 1942. He was very popular among the fans and, in a 1940 fans’ poll, he finished as runner up as the most popular player in the league. His best record at Greenwood was likely 1942 when he appeared in 28 games and compiled a record of 16-9. He also managed the team at various times.

Shag, his wife Susie and young daughter Mary Sue returned to Fannin County following the 1942 baseball season at Greenwood. Shag was never called to serve in the military during World War II, probably due to his age, but Susie’s four younger brothers all served in the conflict. Shag took a hiatus from baseball during the war to help care for, financially and emotionally, Susie’s mother and father. Shag was a first-rate carpenter and his skills were in great demand in the community. The second Hunt daughter, Elizabeth Ann, was born in 1944.

Following the end of World War II, Shag began pitching for the Blue Ridge, Georgia and Murphy, North Carolina semi-pro teams. These teams played some of the strongest semi-pro teams in the area including the Buford Shoemakers, the Atomic Bombers of Oak Ridge, Fulton Bag of Atlanta, the Grant Park Aces of Atlanta and many others. In 1947 his record was likely 12-4, including four shutouts. Published game accounts also report that, after the game against the Marietta Veterans Administration in August, Shag had 141 strikeouts in 139 innings pitched.

In 1948, the Blue Ridge team record was 15-12. Hunt’s record in those contests appears to have been 13-10. His record in documented games in 1950 was 9-3. He retired from active competition in the early to mid-1950s. Although exact records are virtually impossible to reconstruct, Shag undoubtedly won more than 200 games during his pitching career.

After his retirement from baseball, Shag was a home builder supervising and participating in the construction of some of the finest homes in Fannin County. He was also very active in church work serving as a deacon in the New Hope Baptist Church. He and Susie had a third daughter, Rebecca Reid, in 1950. Becky, Mary Sue and Ann all have very fond memories of Shag. One of Becky’s favorite memories is of Shag’s lifelong friend, Paul Kimsey, calling her ‘Little Shag’. Shag died of a stroke at the age of 63 on November 22, 1976 and is buried in the New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery in the Loving Road section of Fannin County.

As is the case with many small-town athletes who competed in athletics in the time of Shag Hunt, details of his career are very elusive and unearthed only after extensive efforts. All accounts, in the media an from first-hand interviews, however, are that Shag Hunt was a very talented pitcher and was highly respected by his family, peers and fans.

Oftentimes great athletes seem more eager to talk about the feats of teammates or family member than to talk about themselves. Such is the case with 2020 Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame inductee April Sisson Conti.  And with good reason. April’s son, Evan Cole, is an up and coming basketball star for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Evan stands 6’ 9” and is entering his junior year of eligibility with m the Jackets. He recently led his team to four victories on a preseason tour of Spain where they met several top international teams.

April began her own basketball odyssey at the age of five and did not hang up her sneakers until the end of the 1989-90 season at Fannin County High School. She earned four varsity letters playing basketball for the Lady Rebels under the tutelage of legendary Coach Johnny Farmer. April averaged 9 points per game as a junior and 13 points per contest as a senior. She was named as the Northwest Georgia Tip-Off Club Player of the Month in January 1990 and also was awarded the team Glenn Wilkes Hustle Award that season. Her teams at Fannin won region titles and advanced to the state playoffs during her junior and senior seasons.

While competing at a basketball camp at UT-Chattanooga, April impressed one of the coaches of the Tennessee Magic AAU team and was invited to play with that team during the summer between her junior and senior years in high school. She accepted and played with the Magic in games throughout the South,

Fannin County High School sponsored the first track and field team in the history of the school in the spring of the 1986-87 school year. April Conti was a freshman at the school at that time and suddenly was afforded the opportunity to display her wide range of athletic skills. April was not a one-dimensional athlete. She was well-coordinated, fast, quick, strong and possessed superb leaping ability. The multi-faceted sport of track and field was a natural for April and she competed in a variety of disciplines including the sprint events, middle distance events, relay events, the long jump and the high jump.

She excelled at the high jump and placed fourth in that event at the region track meet as a freshman. She continued to improve as a high jumper and won the Region 8AA championship in the event two times during her career. She finished sixth in the high jump at the state meet at the end of her senior year of competition in 1990. Her coach, Mike Durham, had these words to say about her performance: “Any time you get to the victory stand, you have done a good job because this means that you are one of the six best at your event out of the 16 that started in the state championship”. Overall, she earned three varsity letters in track and field (she did not compete in track and field during her junior year) and was named as the Most Valuable Player in that sport during her sophomore season.

It was in the sport of softball, however, that April Conti produced her most prodigious numbers. She earned four varsity letters in softball, starting in the outfield her last three years. During her stay at Fannin, her teams won four sub-region championships, two region championships and placed in the Elite 8 in state class AA rankings in 1988 and 1989. As a senior in 1990, April posted an incredible batting average of .625 while smacking 18 home runs and recording 75 RBIs. Following her senior season, she was selected to represent Region 8AA on the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association North All-Star Team and participated in the North-South All-Star Game held in Augusta in June of 1990.

April Conti was much more than just a stellar athlete during her years at Fannin County High School. She was an exceptional student academically earning a spot on the Principal’s List and/or Honor Roll every grading period while in high school. She was a member of the Beta Club, the Student Council and the Annual Staff. She was elected Student Council President for one year. She was the runner-up in the Homecoming Queen selection as a senior and was elected as the Best All-Around Senior Girl student by her peers during her senior year. She graduated from Fannin County High School with an impressive resume of academic and athletic accomplishments in the spring of 1990.

April was recruited by several colleges to play several different sports an elected to attend Georgia State University in Atlanta on a softball scholarship. She played there for one season but discovered that, at that point in her life, her passion for the nursing profession was more powerful than her passion to continue her athletic career. She transferred from Georgia State to Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia where she earned her degree in nursing.

April’s career choice was Perinatal-Care Nursing and she became a Registered Nurse in that field. She has enjoyed a 20 plus year career with Northside Hospital, serving as the Nursing Director of the Labor and Delivery Operating Room at Northside/Forsyth Hospital for eight years. She currently works with the Georgia Perinatal Consultants at Northside/Atlanta Hospital specializing in high-risk pregnancies.

April married Salvatore Conti in 2014. Sal is the Director of Information Services with Equifax in Atlanta. April and Sal reside in a condominium in midtown Atlanta. When not watching Evan play basketball for Georgia Tech or enjoying the myriad of entertainment and dining opportunities available in Georgia’s Capital City, the Contis travel extensively and their mode of transportation is generally by motorcycle. On a recent vacation they traveled coast to coast seeing much of the USA from the backs of their motorcycles.

 Johnny Farmer coached the Fannin County High School girls team from 1981-2007. During his time at the school, the Lady Rebels won a total of 509 games, won two state championships and finished as state runners-up on two occasions. The 1996-97 Fannin County High School girls team advanced to the Class AA championship game before losing to Thomasville. In recognition of their dramatic journey to the final game, the 1996-97 Fannin County Lady Rebels team has been chosen as the team selection in the Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame induction class of 2018.

As the Fannin girls gathered for practice in the fall of 1996, the outlook for the coming season loomed as a big question mark. The previous year’s team had posted an all-time team best record of 28-1 and had advanced to the state tournament final 4 before tasting defeat for the first and only time. Five seniors from that team graduated including four starting players. The lone returnee, however, was the sensational Ashley Herendon who competed as a junior for the 1996-97 team. As the season unfolded, the starting lineup for the Lady Rebels generally included three sophomores and two juniors. Only one senior, Leigh Muse, was on hand to provide leadership for the young group.

From the get-go the 1996-97 season was a roller coaster ride for the Fannin girls and their supporters. Probably based more on past accomplishments more than current prospects, the Lady Rebels were ranked # 6 in the preseason poll published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The young ladies started strong winning their first 8 games including a heart-stopping 46-45 decision over the also unbeaten Pickens County team in a game played in Jasper. Ashley Herendon’s free throw with 13 seconds remaining provided the victory margin.

Another of the high points of the season occurred a few days later when the Lady Rebels defeated Stockbridge in the first round of the Taco Bell Christmas Tournament at Blue Ridge. The victory was the 300^th career win for Coach Farmer. One of the low points of the season came the following night as the Lady Rebels lost their first game of the season, 46-47 to Murphy NC, a team that the Lady Rebels had defeated earlier in the season. The team rebounded and on the eve of the last regular season game on Friday, February 14, with a record of 18-3 were favored to win the regular season Region 7AA championship, needing only a victory over Forsyth Central the following evening to wrap up the crown.

Tragic news awaited the Lady Rebels and the entire student body at Fannin County High School, however, on Friday morning when word came that former Lady Rebel standout and a member of the 1995-96 team, Sabrina Gibson, had died in an automobile in Cleveland, Tennessee. After completing her eligibility at Fannin, Sabrina had continued her career at Cleveland State Community College. Suddenly basketball championships seemed insignificant as the young people of the school were forced to cope with the death of one of their own. The Lady Rebels proceeded with the final regular season game that evening in an atmosphere of grief tempered somewhat by the resiliency of youth in a time of crisis.

The Fannin girls defeated Forsyth Central and entered the Region 7AA tournament as the number one seed. They defeated White County in the semi-finals and then were blown out by Pickens County in their most lackluster performance of the year in the Region Championship game. Both the champion and runner up advanced to the State Tournament, however, so the Lady Rebels had some more hoops to play.

The real on-court drama began when the Lady Rebels squared off against East Hall in the first round game. Down by 17 points at one point in the third quarter, the Fannin girls stormed back, tied the game in regulation and won in overtime, 50-49, on a buzzer beating field goal by sophomore Stacy Parris. After the East Hall victory Stacy could have uttered the old vaudeville phrase “you ain’t seen nothing yet” because her post-season heroics were far from over. In the quarterfinal match against Dade County Stacy calmly sank a free throw with 15 seconds remaining to propel the Lady Rebels to another one-point victory, 41-40.

The trifecta of one-point victories came in the semi-final game against Hancock Central in another overtime thriller. With no time remaining on the clock, Stacy Parris again drilled a free throw to give the Fannin girls a 60-59 victory and a spot in the title game against powerful Thomasville. The magic finally ran out in that game and the Lady Rebels left Macon with a runner up trophy and an overall record of 23 victories and 5 defeats.

The 1996-97 Fannin County girls basketball team had many heroes. Junior Ashley Herendon and sophomore Stacy Parris were outstanding all season and both young ladies have been inducted into the Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame. Point guard and queen of the behind the back dribble, Roxie Reed, was a rock in guiding the team. Post players Leah Nelson, Tina Grice and Jodie Thomas controlled the ‘paint’ and backboards like guards at Ft. Knox. Leigh Muse, the only senior on the team, provided leadership and lots of help at one of the wing positions. Strong supporting help came from back-up point guards Tara Dillinger and Amanda Newton, inside or ‘post’ players Kelly Queen, Cheri Shinpaugh, Carrie Dills and Cindy Williams along with ‘wings’ Kristy Galloway and Rachael Nicholson. Assisting Johnny Farmer with the coaching duties was Eddie Payne.

After the season, Ashley Herendon became the first basketball player in Fannin County High School history to be named first team All-State when she was so honored by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. Seven of the sophomores on the team, Stacy Parris, Tina Grice, Leah Nelson, Roxie Reed, Cindy Williams, Amanda Newton and Rachael Nicholson would go on to be the heart of the 1998-99 team that won a State Championship. And, kudos should also go to Fannin High teacher and current assistant principal T.C. Dillard who was honored as the team’s Top Fan for her indefatigable support.

2018 Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame inductee Stephanie Scearce began her competitive basketball career as a second grader and did not hang up her sneakers until a knee injury permanently sidelined her just before her senior season at Kennesaw State University. It was her third serious knee injury in a career full of a lot of euphoric highs and a few devastating lows.

Stephanie enjoyed her first taste of glory as a member of the Georgia Class C Parks and Recreation Department State Championship 9 and 10 year old team in 1997. She was tall and talented and full of both trepidation and enthusiasm when she reported to Coach Johnny Farmer to begin her career at Fannin County High School in the late fall of 2000. She won a starting job as a low post (inside) player beginning with her very first game as a freshman. 

Coach Farmer says that Stephanie was one of the hardest working players that he coached. And he adds that her hard work was focused. She was continually working at improving specific parts of her game — working on a new offensive move, ball handling skills, free throw shooting, boxing out for rebound position and other disciplines — with no wasted energy. She always reported for practice immediately after her final class and worked hard until it was time to go home. She also devoted countless hours to a weightlifting regimen to improve her strength. As a low post player she generally battled the biggest and strongest player for the opposition and strength was a necessity to effectively compete.

Stephanie set a number of goals, both individual and team, for her basketball career and by the time she finished her sophomore season at Fannin High she was well on her way to accomplishing those goals. On an individual level, her goal of being a first-team All-State selection was realized when the Atlanta Tip-Off Club and Atlanta Journal and Constitution named her to the GHSA Class AAA All-State First Team of the Year. She was also selected as the Lady Rebels Best Offensive Player. Dozens of letters from college recruiters arrived at the Scearce house and Stephanie was considered as a top Division 1 College prospect. She had developed a strong relationship with the coaching staff at SEC power Auburn, however, and was making preliminary plans to spend her college days at the ‘loveliest village on the plains’ in Auburn, Alabama.

One of Stephanie’s team goals was to win a State Championship and the 2001-2002 team came very close, advancing to the state semi-finals before losing. After the season, Coach Farmer says that he had high hopes that the returning squad for the 2002-2003 season would have a very realistic shot at bringing home a third State Championship to Blue Ridge. The team would be led by junior Stephanie Scearce and two other members of the Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame, junior Alden Acker and senior Mandy Anderson.

The 2002-2003 season had barely begun when the unthinkable happened. As Stephanie was driving to the basket in a Christmas Tournament game at Towns County she felt a ‘pop’ in her right knee. The injury was diagnosed as a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear and Stephanie was done for the season. She had surgery a short while later.

The injury was so serious that several of the teams that had been recruiting Stephanie, including Auburn, backed away. She went through an intensive rehabilitation program, however, and came back for her senior season in 2003-2004 at or near 100% of her physical skills prior to the injury. Despite the injury she remained on the recruiting lists of numerous colleges. Her senior season would become one to remember in Fannin County High School basketball history.

After a sluggish start, the 2003-2004 Fannin girls developed into a force to be reckoned with, finished with an overall record of 25-8 and advanced all the way to the Class AAA State Championship game before losing to arch-rival Gainesville. Stephanie averaged 17.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game and was named as the Lady Rebels Most Valuable Player. The Georgia sports writers named her to the Class AAA All-State second team in recognition of her great season. Even missing most of her junior season and the first few games of her senior season, Stephanie Scearce scored 1,375 points during her career at Fannin County High School making her the third leading career scorer in school history. She was only 28 points shy of reaching the #1 spot. She was second in school history in career rebounds with 799. She graduated with honors and was ranked 26 academically in the 2004 graduating class. She was a member of the National Honor Society for three years.

Stephanie decided to continue her basketball career at Kennesaw State University, a school that was in the midst of moving up from Division II to Division I status for athletic competition. She had an auspicious debut with the Owls, scoring 18 points and gathering 13 rebounds in her first game against Southern Polytechnic. She went on to have a solid freshman year playing in all 30 games and finishing the year averaging 9 points and 6 rebounds per game. She had an individual game high of 24 points in a game against West Georgia.

Prior to the beginning of her sophomore season of 2005-2006, Stephanie found her career derailed again when she suffered another ACL tear, this time in her left knee. Another period of rehabilitation followed and she was healthy and ready to go when her junior season began in the fall of 2006. She was a major contributor to the Owls that season averaging 10.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. She led the team in rebounds with a total of 192. The injury demon appeared again before her senior season and she decided not to go through another round of rehabilitation and prepare for life without basketball.

Stephanie Scearce graduated from Kennesaw State University with a B.S. in Communications in 2008. An exceptionally bright, well-spoken young lady she landed a job as Executive Director with the Fannin County Development Authority in January of 2009 and remained in that position for nearly seven years. Her focus was in bringing new industry and jobs to Fannin County and in assisting existing businesses grow and develop. In October, 2015 she was offered and accepted a position as Northwest Georgia Project Manager with the Georgia Department of Economic Development. She makes her home in Woodstock, Georgia.

Throughout her career, Stephanie Scearce has been fortunate to have a strong support group led by her mother and father, Mike and Yevette Scearce. Mike is a banker and Yevette has been a 4^th grade teacher at East Fannin Elementary School for more than 20 years. Stephanie gives Mike and Yevette much of the credit for her development as a basketball player, student and the sharp and sophisticated businesswoman that she is today

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2018 Fannin County Sports Inductee Mandy Anderson scored more than 1,000 points during her basketball career at Fannin County High School between 1999 and her graduation in the spring of 2003. She then continued her basketball career at Reinhardt University in Waleska, Georgia where she scored 1,138 points in a four year career with the Lady Eagles making her the only basketball player in the history of Fannin County to score more than 1,000 points at both the high school and college level.
When Mandy began her basketball career at Fannin High in the autumn of 1999, the Lady Rebels were coming off a State Championship season. The 1998-99 State Champs were a senior-dominated team so Mandy entered the program at the beginning of a ‘rebuilding’ process. Mandy made the varsity squad as a freshman and went on to start for the Lady Rebels for her final three years at Blue Ridge. On a team level, her high school career crested in 2002 when her team reached the semi-finals of the Class AAA State Tournament.

At Fannin High, Mandy played softball and participated in track and field, in addition to her primary sport of basketball. She played third base and shortstop for the Lady Rebels softball team while starting all four years. Her teams won Region Softball Championships in 2002 and 2003. In track and field she found that she had a natural ability to throw the discus. With very little coaching, she learned the techniques for that event and won two Region Championships and was the runner up the other two years. She had a third and a fourth place finish in the discus in the state meet during her high school career.

Basketball, however was Mandy’s first love and primary sport. She was very, very good at the sport and decided fairly early on that basketball would likely be her ticket to earning a college degree. She worked hard and was rewarded by being named to the Atlanta Tip-Off Club Class AAA All-State second team as a junior and again as a senior. She was named as her team’s MVP as a senior. She never missed a day of school in 12 years and graduated with honors in the top 10% of the 2003 Fannin County High School graduating class.

Mandy was an undersized post player (inside player) in high school and the college recruiters did not beat a path to her door. Coach Johnny Farmer helped arrange a try-out at Reinhardt University and Mandy was offered a partial scholarship. Rookie Coach TJ Rosene brought in nine freshmen in the recruiting class of 2003 and dangled the carrot of a possible full scholarship to a select few ladies who could make the grade. He took the group along with a few other possible recruits to Hilton Head in the summer of 2003. The girls lived and practiced together for a week. Mandy knew that her college future depended upon her performance in this mini ‘boot camp’ and that she put forth the very best effort that she could manage during that week. She was rewarded when, at the end of the camp, Coach Rosene rewarded her with a full basketball scholarship.

Mandy played in 124 games at Reinhardt during her four year career. She saw a lot of playing time as a freshman and started her last three years. Her best season was in 2005-06 when she averaged 14.5 points per game for the Lady Eagles.

Mandy Anderson is an exceptionally bright young woman who has built a career from learning from every situation that has come her way in athletics. In high school, she says that she learned the meaning of intensity and will to win from mentor Johnny Farmer. She learned a great deal about the Xs and Os of the game from assistant Eddie Payne. She also credits Coach Payne for helping to instill much of her love for coaching. During her first two seasons at Reinhardt, she learned a great deal about advanced theories of the game including a working knowledge of the ‘Read and React’ Offense. After her second season at Reinhardt, however, she also learned that, basketball is a business. It was at that point that TJ Rosene, her coach, mentor and, in many respects, role model, moved from the women’s program to accept the position as head coach of the men’s team. For Resene, it was a sound move career-wise and he has gone on to great success as the head coach at NCAA Division 2 powerhouse Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia. Losing her head coach was difficult for Mandy, but she understood his reasons and learned from the experience.

Upon graduation from Reinhardt, armed with a Magna Cum Laude degree in Health and Physical Education, she began her career in teaching and coaching. She was soon offered an assistant coach position at Reinhardt and remained there for three years. She moved on to River Ridge High School for two seasons and then to Sequoyah High in Cherokee County where she was an assistant girls basketball coach for five seasons.

Mandy found that she preferred coaching at the high school level because there a coach was required to work with the material provided through the natural progression through the school system — or as Mandy phrases it “you play the hand that you are dealt”. At the college level, a coach was required to recruit players that hopefully would fit into his/her philosophy of the game. At the high school level, a coach worked with the players that came up through the school system and adapted a style of play to the talents of the players on hand. She remembers that Eddie Payne had voiced this philosophy during her days at Fannin County but did not fully grasp its meaning until she faced the same situation as a coach.

After five years at Sequoyah, in the spring of 2017, Mandy Anderson found herself at a crossroads in her career. She was becoming increasingly involved in the sport of CrossFit, both as a participant and as an instructor, and found that the time requirements of that endeavor coupled with the time required to fulfill her coaching duties were almost too much to fit into a 24-hour day. Fortuitously, a contact from her Reinhardt days approached her with the opportunity to become a basketball official with the GHSA. She decided to pursue that course, resigned at Sequoyah and is presently working toward becoming a basketball official at the middle and high school level for the upcoming 2017-18 hoops season. It is a male-dominated profession, but Mandy has the knowledge, confidence and general aura of ‘don’t mess with me, I know what I’m doing’ to be a success at this new opportunity in her young life.

Mandy lives in Woodstock, Georgia but visits her parents and two younger sisters in Fannin County often. Her mother was her first coach when Mandy was 7 years old and her sisters, Tasha and Stephanie, followed in her footsteps as outstanding basketball players at Fannin County High School. In fact the two younger ‘Anderson sisters’ both were good enough to play college basketball, Tasha at Brenau in Gainesville and Stephanie at Cleveland State. Tasha is currently the girls basketball coach at Fannin County Middle School.

Barely past 30 years of age, Mandy Anderson has already experienced quite a journey in athletics. In many ways, however, her journey has just begun.

Men or women like John Mercer Carter only come along once or twice in a generation. Mr. Carter was a man of extraordinary character, vision and energy who devoted much of his 102 years on earth to education, athletics and public service in and around Fannin County. In recognition of his many accomplishments and contributions to athletics, both as a participant and as a coach and administrator, John Carter has been elected to the Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2018.John was born in the community of Cobbs, North Carolina, close to the Georgia border in September, 1886. His father J.M. Carter was an educator and evangelist of some note who moved the family to Mineral Bluff and then to a farm near Morganton, Georgia before John reached the age of 10. J.M. Carter was one of the principals in the establishment of the North Georgia Baptist College in Morganton, a school that provided a quality education to students between grade one through two years of college. It was here that John Carter received his rudimentary education before moving on to the University of Georgia to complete the requirements to teach in schools at that time. He began his teaching career at a one room school in Hemp, Georgia in 1908.John Carter discovered the game of baseball around the turn of the century. In his book ‘Trails of the Past’, Carter tells of visits to his grandparents in Bellvue, North Carolina after his family had moved to Morganton. Another young man, Ty Cobb, who was two months younger than John, also visited his grandparents in the same community around that same time. The two boys played together as youngsters and, most likely faced each other in baseball games during the early years of the century. John had begun his career with the team from North Georgia Baptist College and Ty was often drafted to play with the semi-pro team in nearby Murphy, North Carolina while visiting in Bellevue. Cobb began his professional career when he signed with the Augusta, Georgia team in April, 1904, just as John Carter was completing his high school education.

Baseball was without question America’s National Pastime from the early years of the 20^th century into the 1950s and John Carter played the game with a passion. He was generally a catcher and, due to his playing ability, grasp of the finer points of the game and natural leadership qualities, usually found himself in the role of coach or manager of the teams for which he played. He played for some of the better semi-professional teams of North Georgia, Western North Carolina and Southeastern Tennessee for more than 50 years. In addition to Cobb, John Carter competed with and against some of the finest athletes of the day during his career including Hall of Famer Johnny Mize, future New York Yankees pitcher Spud Chandler, Cy Grant of University of Georgia fame, Joe Jenkins, a teammate at Morganton and member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, as well as local legends such as Tiny Swafford, Harry McNally and the Tipton Brothers.

 Carter states in his memoirs that he was offered several opportunities to pursue a professional baseball career. He was not inclined, however, to embark on a life of travel and professional uncertainty, preferring to remain with family and in his beloved teaching profession. Financially, a life in professional baseball during Carter’s playing days did not offer the huge benefits available to players today. In an era of fierce competition among strong local semi-professional teams, he was often recruited to play for teams in crucial games for the unheard of sums of $50-$100 per game. Added to his remuneration from his teaching jons, he felt that his financial condition was probably favorable to a life in professional baseball.

 Although he enjoyed an outstanding baseball career as a player, John Mercer Carter’s contributions as a coach, educator and administrator left a much more permanent on the landscape of athletics in and around Fannin County.

Beginning in the fall of 1908 Carter taught in the schools of Fannin County until the autumn of 1917, with two interruptions. During this period, he was a teacher and coach at North Georgia Baptist College for two years and also served as a teacher and coach at North Georgia College in Dahlonega for one year.

 In the fall of 1917, Carter was brought to Copperhill High School as a teacher and to modernize the athletic program at the school. At that time Copperhill High School served roughly equal numbers of students from Tennessee and from the nearby town of McCaysville, Georgia and its environs. The only other high school opportunities for students in Fannin County at the time were at the Epworth Seminary, a high school at Mineral Bluff (until 1925), the North Georgia Baptist College in Morganton (which became a public school in 1926) or the Mary Willingham School for Girls in Blue Ridge. All were a considerable distance from Copperhill/McCaysville and were difficult to reach considering the primitive transportation conditions at the time. So the logical alternative for local Georgia students was to pay a tuition fee and attend school at Copperhill High School.

 When Carter arrived at Copperhill, the school’s basketball teams played on an outdoor court and the school did not have a football program at all. Two of John Carter’s chief contributions at the school were the building of a modern basketball facility in 1923 and the establishment of a football program in the fall of 1925. After taking the position as coach and teacher (he later was elevated to the position of principal) he quickly recognized the need for a community club-type facility to provide for recreation, including competitive basketball, for the young men and women of the area. He organized a community club, including a facility for basketball competition, in an existing building shortly after his arrival. When local civic and business leaders recognized the positive impact of the endeavor, funds were raised from the citizenry and the Tennessee Copper Company to build a new facility that was called the Copperhill YMCA. The gymnasium at the Copperhill YMCA served as the venue for Copperhill and McCaysville High School and elementary school games until the 1950s.

 Establishing a football program was no small endeavor in but Carter, along with another visionary teacher at Copperhill, B. Fred German, accomplished that task in the fall of 1925. German coached the first football team and Carter continued to coach the basketball teams. He continued in that role until he left Copperhill at the close of the 1928-29 school year.

 The 1929-30 school year found John Carter as the head baseball and basketball coach at North Georgia College in Dahlonega.

 After a few years as coach and school principal in the Asheville, North Carolina area John Carter returned to Fannin County as the principal and coach at Fannin County High School in Morganton. The school had made the transition from North Georgia Baptist College to a public school in 1926 and much of the physical plant needed a major overhaul. The gymnasium, for example, also housed the Morganton Elementary School. Under the direction of John Carter the facilities were modernized and by the 1934-35 school year Fannin County High School boasted a gymnasium which according to Carter “would seat about 1800 people comfortably and was considered to be the best lighted gym between Atlanta and Knoxville”.

 Carter’s greatest coup at Fannin County High School was persuading the decision-making powers in Georgia District 9 athletic circles to hold the District tournament for the Western Division schools at Morganton in the early spring of 1935. In an upset of monumental proportions, the Fannin girls rose to the occasion and defeated Duluth, Hiawassee (Towns County) and perennial power Jasper (Pickens County) to win the Western Division championship. They then journeyed over to Clarkesville and defeated the Eastern Division champions to capture the overall Georgia District 9 girls basketball championship. Georgia did not hold a girls basketball state tournament at that time so the Fannin girls, under the leadership of John Carter, accomplished as much as was possible for them at the time.

 Following the 1934-35 school year John Mercer Carter had devoted most of his 50 years of service to education and athletics and his participation in athletics to Fannin County and its immediate environs. Opportunities came his way from the east in Buncombe County, North Carolina, however, so John Carter packed up his family and returned to Fairview High School near Asheville where he was hired as principal and coach. He devoted the next 23 years of his professional life to the Buncombe County School System as a teacher and coach until his retirement in 1958.

 John Mercer lived an additional 30 years after his retirement from teaching, coaching and playing the game of baseball. He remained in the Asheville, North Carolina area until his death in 1988. He stayed busy and found time to pen his memoirs ‘Trails of the Past’ in 1977. In the Introduction of this book an unnamed writer described the final 30 years of Carter’s life thusly: “Retirement for ‘Pop’ Carter was the start of new activities including farming, construction work and lecturing. Most importantly, he continues to teach each person he comes in contact with how to live better with themselves and with their fellow man”. A great tribute to a great man.