Pre-1948
2023 INDUCTEES
Bill Hartman
Georgia Military Prep Graduate
Bill Hartman starred for Georgia Military Prep’s 1933 team that was coached by Wallace Butts and declared a state champion. According to the Macon Telegraph, Hartman “was the outstanding star of the game” in a 26-0 victory over Gordon Institute that clinched the mythical title. Hartman played quarterback and running back and was highly regarded prior to Georgia Military when playing at Madison A&M. He played fullback and linebacker at Georgia and made an All-America team in 1937. Hartman became the first Georgia Bulldog ever taken in the NFL Draft as the 69th overall pick in 1938. He played one NFL season, starting four games, though mostly backing up legendary quarterback Sammy Baugh, but he declined to return to the league and joined Georgia’s coaching staff full-time under Butts and served until 1956. He later worked as volunteer kicking coach under Vince Dooley for 20 years. Hartman became a legendary figure in the Athens community and Georgia’s athletic department. He was president of the university's alumni association and the Georgia Student Educational Fund, which was formed to raise private funds for athletic scholarships. Hartman entered the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1981, the College Football Hall of Fame in 1984 and the University of Georgia’s Circle of Honor in 1999. Hartman passed away in 2006 at age 90.
Billy Henderson
Lanier (Macon) High School Graduate
Billy Henderson is best known as a GACA Hall of Fame high school coach at Willingham and Clarke Central, but he was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1962 purely as an athlete. A Macon newspaper reporting his induction said Henderson was “believed to be the only prep athlete in Georgia to ever earn All-American honors in two sports, being named in football and baseball.” Henderson was a two-time All-Southern football player and three-year starter at Macon’s Lanier High. According to the Macon News, he scored a GIAA-record 150 points in nine games as a senior (equivalent of 25 touchdowns), breaking Clint Castleberry’s record of 138. The GIAA was Georgia's highest level at the time and included only about a dozen of the state's largest schools. Henderson scored 318 points for his career, more than 50 touchdowns, in a low-scoring era. Henderson played football and baseball at Georgia and then two seasons of minor league baseball. Henderson had a long career as a Georgia high school coach and won 285 games and state championships at Clarke Central in 1977, 1979 and 1985. Henderson passed away Feb. 14, 2018, at age 89.
Vernon ‘Catfish’ Smith
Lanier (Macon) High School Graduate
Vernon “Catfish” Smith earned all-state recognition in football, basketball and baseball at Lanier High in Macon. As a football player, he was a three-time All-GIAA player. The GIAA was the highest brand of Georgia high school football at the time. Smith went on to play college football at Georgia and was a consensus All-American in 1931. His most famous game came as a sophomore in 1929 when Georgia faced a heavily favored Yale team in the first game played at Sanford Stadium. Smith accounted for all of the Bulldogs’ points in a 15-0 victory. He recovered a blocked punt in the end zone, kicked the extra point, had a receiving touchdown pass from Spud Chandler for his second touchdown and added two points when he tackled a ball carrier for a safety. Smith was also a multi-sport athlete in college, playing basketball and baseball at Georgia, and was captain of both teams. After his collegiate career, Smith remained involved with football, serving on coaching staffs at Georgia, South Carolina and Mississippi. After his playing and coaching careers, he joined the Air Force and rose to the rank of colonel before retiring in 1963. Smith earned the Legion of Merit, Air Force Commendation Medal (twice), World War II Victory Medal and more. In 1956, Smith and Clint Castleberry were the first two athletes inducted into the Georgia Prep Hall of Fame, which evolved into what is now the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. In 1979, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
PREVIOUS INDUCTEES
Clint Castleberry
Boys High School Graduate
Clint Castleberry is perhaps the greatest pre-World War II high school player in state history. He started on three championship teams in the GIAA (highest classification) in 1939-41, during which Atlanta’s Boys High compiled a 32-1-3 record playing opponents from Miami to Knoxville, Tenn. He was the leading scorer for the 1941 team considered Georgia’s best of the first half of the 20th century. The ’41 Boys team outscored Georgia opponents 398-0. Castleberry also was an all-GIAA basketball and baseball player. Castleberry played at Georgia Tech for a single season and finished third in Heisman Trophy voting as a freshman while leading Tech to the Cotton Bowl. Tech was 3-6 the season prior. On Oct. 3, 1942, the Castleberry-led Yellow Jackets defeated Notre Dame for the first time since 1928, giving the Fighting Irish their first loss in two years. Castleberry’s No. 19 remains the only football jersey to be retired at Georgia Tech. In 2007, the AJC named Castleberry the No. 2 high school football player in state history behind Herschel Walker. Castleberry is one of the five original inductees into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame (1956) and one of only two athletes. An Army pilot during World War II, Castleberry was killed when his plane went down over West Africa in 1944 at the age of 21.
George Maloof
Marist School Graduate
Georgia Maloof was a do-it-all athlete and student at Marist, playing four sports and taking the place of colonel for the Cadet Corps. He made All-State, All-Southern and prep All-America teams as a football end and was named the most valuable prep lineman by the Atlanta Touchdown Club in 1947. He also made the first Wigwam All-America team, the lone Georgian to earn this honor. His career at Georgia Tech would be best defined by the 11-0-1 1951 season. Against Georgia that year, Maloof scored four rushing touchdowns in the 48-6 win. In baseball, Maloof was named to the All-SEC team twice as a third basemen. After graduating in 1952, Maloof served two years in the Air Force and returned to football as a coach. In 1958, he started the program at St. Pius X, where he would compile a record of 168-82-12 with a 1968 state title. His sons Kevin and Keith would follow him as long-time head coaches in Gwinnett County, and his grandson Tyler Maloof is head coach now at Lanier. Georgie Maloof passed away from cancer in 2009.
Bob McWhorter
Gordon Institute Graduate
Bob McWhorter was the first widely known football star in Georgia. He was the best player on the 1908 and 1909 Gordon Institute teams from Barnesville that claimed mythical state titles while dominating a small group of rivals in a loosely regulated era. In 1922, Atlanta Constitution writer Craddock Goins named an 11-man all-time Georgia prep team. He wrote, “Bob McWhorter was the best prep athlete ever developed in Georgia. His qualifications do not require an outline here.” One year removed from Gordon Institute, McWhorter made the All-Southern team as a freshman at the University of Georgia. As senior in 1913, he became the first Georgia-grown player to be selected as a college football All-American. McWhorter was the only Southern player among the 45 nationwide to get any All-America recognition in 1913. He scored 61 touchdowns in his college career and made the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954 and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1964. He was one of the five original inductees into UGA’s Ring of Honor in 1996. McWhorter taught law at UGA for 32 years and was Athens’ mayor for 12 before passing away in 1960.