MACON SPORTS HALL OF FAME
CLASS OF 2018
CHARLIE ANDERSON
There is little question that Charlie Anderson is the best basketball player to ever play at Mark Smith High School during its six-year history that ran from 1965 through 1970, which was also Anderson’s senior year. In 1970, Mark Smith merged with Peter G. Appling and Lassiter to form Northeast High School. The 6-foot-4 Anderson led Mark Smith to their only state championship in any sport, guiding them to an unexpected Class AAA basketball title in 1968-69. Anderson led the way with 32 points in the championship game and was named the MVP of the state tournament, which helped him earn a basketball scholarship to the University of Georgia. Anderson was a three-year letterman for the Bulldogs and the team captain his senior season when he averaged 14.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. He had a career high 36 points in a game against Auburn University. Anderson spent one year playing professionally for Brest in France.
EDDIE ASHLEY
Nobody knows the high school athletic landscape in Macon and Bibb County better than Eddie Ashley, who worked in the system for almost 50 years. A Lanier High School and University of Georgia graduate, Ashley coached baseball, football and basketball during his career, which included stops at Northeast, Southwest and Southeast high schools. Baseball is where Eddie excelled as a coach serving as the head man at both Southwest and Southeast for more than three decades, compiling a 333-165 record. Ashley was named Georgia Athletic Region 4-AAA Coach of the Year in 1986 and 1987. Eddie was the head coach of the GACA South All-Star Coach twice, and Georgia Dugout Club South All-Stars three times. Ashley was the GACA State Baseball Chairman from 1991 until 1997 and served as a Georgia Dugout Club South Baseball Coordinator, while a member of the executive board. He was elected to the Dugout Club Baseball Club Hall of Fame in 2004. Eddie served as Bibb County School Athletic Director for seven years before his retirement in 2018.
SHANA ASKEW DANIELS
Shana Askew Daniels was a mainstay for coach Willie Goolsby’s Southwest Lady Patriots in the mid-1990s. She led the Lady Patriots to GHSA State Class AAAA runner-up finishes in 1994 and 1995. During her career, she scored 1,887 points and grabbed 609 rebounds, and made All-State, All-Middle Georgia, and All-City teams. After her high school playing days, she enrolled at Auburn University where she played four seasons appearing in 95 games with 68 starts. She started all 30 games her junior year. On the Plains, she scored 981 points and pulled down 373 rebounds for a career average of 10.3 points and 3.9 rebounds. Her top scoring game came against the University of Florida her junior year when she scored 22 points. She was a preseason All-SEC selection prior to her senior season. She is married to former Auburn and NBA player Marquis Daniels and has Shana has spent time as a high school coach.
BOBBY HIX
Bobby Hix, known as the “Legend” to his friends and students, is one of the premier golf instructors in Georgia. Hix was an all-state baseball and football player at Stratford Academy and received a scholarship to play baseball at Mercer. After graduation he began concentrating on golf, coaching the men’s and women’s golf teams at Mercer. Beginning his teaching career at the Sea Island Golf Club, Hix learned his trade from some of the top teachers in golf, including the late Davis Love Jr., the late Jimmy Hodges and Idle Hour Director of Golf Ray Cutright. Hix came to Idle Hour with Cutright as a senior instructor of the Blum Golf Learning Center. He has been recognized by the PGA Chapter and Section as Teacher of the Year on five occasions, Junior Golf Leader three times and PGA Professional of the Year and PGA Assistant Professional of the Year. Hix has also been listed as a Golf Digest “Top Teacher in the State” six times.
CATHERINE RADER WOOD
Catherine Rader Wood helped lead First Presbyterian Day School to the first of their three GISA Class AAA Basketball Championships in 1991, scoring 34 of her team’s 41 points in a win over Windsor. She is FPD’s all-time career scoring leader with 1,455 points and is also the single-season scoring leader when she tallied 567 points during the ’90-’91 season. She is also the FPD all-time leader in career blocked shots with 352. Rader Wood was an All-State performer in 1990 and 1991, and was the team MVP for three seasons. After her high school career, she went on to Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. and was a four-year starter for the Terriers and a member of their 1000 point club. She served as the team captain during her senior season in 1995. In addition to basketball, she played volleyball at Wofford and was named the Most Improved Player. Her No. 41 jersey has been retired by FPD, one of only two female athletes to ever receive that honor.
GRANT SERAFY
Soccer and Grant Serafy were synonymous In Macon for more than two decades after he took over the boys program at Stratford Academy in 1988. In just his third season, he led the Eagles to the first of six GISA State Titles while compiling an overall record record of 215-64-13. He parlayed that success to the girls team that claimed an impressive nine consecutive GISA State Titles and an overall record of 153-14-4. The Stratford girls were nationally ranked three times while he was at the helm. He entered the college ranks in 2004 taking over the Mercer University women’s program, and he coached the Bears for eight seasons before stepping down in 2011. By his third year with the Bears, his team had recorded a program-best 11 wins, and he was named the A-Sun Conference Coach of the year. His 2010 squad won the conference tournament, earning the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance. Serafy left Mercer and briefly coached the New York Red Bulls Youth team of the MLS and has coached boys soccer at the Lovett School in Atlanta.
DR. JAMES "LEE" STOCKSLAGER
Youth sports wouldn’t exist without volunteers and Dr. Lee Stockslager is a prime example. He has two passions in life, his practice of dentistry and coaching youth swimmers in Macon. The Atlanta native was a swimmer in high school at Marist and during his undergraduate days at the University of the South. In 1981, he open his dental practice in Macon and partnered with the developers of a new subdivision on Northside Drive to build a 25-yard pool and the Middle Georgia Aquatics was born. That team eventually became Swim Macon and again partnering with investors, a 50-meter pool was built, Highlands Aquatic Center, and was used by Swim Macon. Swim Macon, under Stockslager’s direction, has produced countless championship swimmers. Over 35 young people have been able to swim in college, many on scholarships, because of his tutelage. Dr. Stockslager is a true volunteer and has never been compensated for his work as a swimming coach for the youth of Macon.
THERON USSERY
Theron Ussery served as a member of Macon City Council for two decades and during his tenure at City Hall became known as “Mr. Recreation” because of his work for the betterment of recreation facilities and programs throughout the city. Theron understood how proper allocation of funds could ensure that recreation projects were taken care of. As Chairman of the Community Resources and Development Committee, Ussery was a driving force in pushing for monies to pave the parking lots at both Henderson Stadium and the Central City softball complex, he was vital in the building of the John Drew Smith Tennis Center at North Macon Park, and worked diligently to get Unionville as part of the Master Plan. Ussery, one of Macon’s top amateur golfers, also played a role in upgrades to the municipally owned Bowden Golf Course. In a 1996 poll conducted by the Macon Telegraph, Ussery was voted as one of the 10 most powerful sports people in Macon. He was the only elected person on the list. North Macon Park was renamed Theron Ussery Park in his honor in 2016.