His name is revered in high school football circles, but how much do you know
about Fitzgerald's most famous football alumnus? Here is some information on
Wright Bazemore:
* He was born on a farm in Fitzgerald, Georgia on August 1, 1916.
* He played five sports for FHS. He won four letters in football, basketball,
and track, and two letters in tennis and baseball (16 total).
* Here are the TD's he scored in the 1933 season, as reported by the
Thomasville newspaper:
| |
Date |
Opponent |
# of TD's |
| |
Sep 29 |
Montezuma |
5 |
| |
Oct 6 |
Ocilla |
6 |
| |
Oct 13 |
Sparks-Adel |
5 |
| |
Oct 20 |
Waycross |
1 |
| |
Oct 27 |
Moultrie |
1 |
| |
Nov 3 |
Albany |
1 |
| |
Nov 10 |
Douglas |
1 |
| |
Nov 24 |
Cordele |
0 |
| |
Nov 30 |
Tifton |
0 |
(NOTE: The paper didn't say if these were rushing or passing or defensive or
special team TD's) * He was also written up in Ripley's "Believe It or
Not" for scoring 10 TD's in two different games while at FHS. (NOTE: A Mercer
University "Mercerian" article in 2000 said that he was written up for scoring 11 TD's
in one game, but Coach Bazemore stated in a interview that it was 10 in two
different games. That was confirmed by Coach Bazemore's son.) * He graduated
from FHS in 1934. He had many scholarship offers, but chose to go to Mercer,
where his FHS coach (Bill Alderman) had played. At Mercer, he was on the football
and basketball teams. * He played football at Mercer with another Fitzgerald native,
Paul Ward. Mr. Ward later went on to become mayor of Fitzgerald. * He
graduated from Mercer in 1938 and he accepted a coaching job at Waycross. He
then joined Valdosta as an assistant coach in 1940 and took over as head coach
at Valdosta in 1941. He retired after the 1971 season. * During his
time at Valdosta, he had a career record of 268-51-8. His teams won 17
region titles, 15 South Georgia championships, 14 state titles, and 3 national
championships. Oh, yeah, he also won at least seven state titles in basketball
and he won six state titles in tennis. * While he wasn't drafted into the
service during World War II, he didn't think it was fair that boys he had
coached were going off to and dying in the war while he was back home, so he
joined the Navy. * He was named the National High School Coach of the
Year in 1969. He was Coach of the Year for District IV (covering six states) in
1968 and 1970. He was Georgia's prep Coach of the Year six times, and he was
named Region Coach of the Year eleven times. * He was elected to the Georgia's
Sports Hall of Fame in 1960. * He was made
a charter member of the Mercer University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1971.
* He was inducted into the Georgia
Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2001. *
In 1996, Valdosta's
football stadium was named Bazemore-Hyder
Stadium, in honor of Coach Bazemore and Coach Nick Hyder. * Pictures of
him while he was at Mercer: 1
2
3
4 *
An interesting piece of trivia: If you've seen "Remember
the Titans", you might recall that that the TC
Williams Titans finished second in the nation during 1971. Who was first in
the nation that year? Wright Bazemore's Valdosta
Wildcats, in what would be his final year of coaching. * How he wanted to
be remembered: "Even if I were not remembered as a coach, I would hope that
there are those who I have influenced as far as becoming responsible men and
women. Those who practice good Christian principles. All my life I've tried to
instill the fact that competition, properly supervised, is a good character
builder...Life is competition." So there you have it -- a little info
about Fitzgerald's most famous football alumnus. Information provided by:
Louie Harper, Curt Bazemore, Becky Taylor, "The Legendary Wright Bazemore's
All American Valdosta Wildcats: 30 Years of Winning" by Tapley Fennon
Newton, "Gridiron Glory Days, Football at Mercer, 1892-1942" by Robert
E. Wilder
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