Halls of fame created to recognize figures from original Campbell High

Supporters of the original Campbell High School have unveiled two new halls of fame.

The inaugural classes of 18 inductees for the Sports Hall of Fame and eight inductees for the Achievement Hall of Fame were announced.

The athletic honorees include former football coach Dixie Howell, former baseball coach and Atlanta Dugout Club founder Joe Lattanzi and many former players.

Academy Award-winning actress Julia Roberts leads the achievement class, along with former longtime Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon, among others.

The classes were selected by Da Boys of Campbell, an organization of Campbell alumni who started meeting in 2003. It was the second attempt at creating a hall of fame to honor former students and athletes from the first Campbell High School, prior to its 1989 merger with Wills High.

Ronald Brown, a Campbell graduate and founder of the alumni group, said the efforts the 50-member committee made to create the honorary halls of fame took several decades.

“They put it all into play, and we got it up and running and got it organized," Brown said. "It's been a big deal for the community. It's something that they tried to do about 20 years ago, and they didn't get it organized. Our group did, and we're really proud of all those people in there that were the initial inductees because, believe it or not, every one of them were voted in at 100 percent.”

Brown spoke about the qualifications for those who entered the halls of fame.

“We got most of the information from the old Marietta (Daily) Journal files,” he said, “but we have so many people there. They were into different sports, especially football, basketball and baseball. All-county, all-state, all kinds of accomplishments like that. And some of them who went to college and had tremendous accomplishments also. And so, we've listed all of those, and we're putting out a notice to their descendants and the ones that are still with us.”

Brown said the class had some amazing achievements.

“When you get, at the time, 75 or 80 people voting, and those people that you see on that list, everyone got 100 percent of the vote? They had some amazing achievements.”

Going forward, a small class will be inducted each year.

“Each February, the entire group there will nominate approximately seven people and, each year, those three or four that have the most votes will be inducted into the hall of fame,” Brown said. “We figured that was the best way to do it.”

The new halls of fame are on display at the Smyrna Community Center, which is open from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday.