In 44 years of existence Bulloch Academy has had numerous athletic accomplishments but no where to officially shrine them.
    Until now.
    This Friday during their basketball game against Brentwood, Bulloch Academy will honor their first ever athletic hall-of-fame class. Six athletes, two coaches and the 1978 state championship football team will all be inducted in the inaugural class.
    What took so long? Athletic Director Chandler Dennard is the one to blame, but blame wouldn’t be the appropriate word considering the negative connotation associated with it.
    “It’s something we’ve been batting around for a few years now,” Dennard said. “It just took up until now for us to figure out exactly how we were going to go about it.”
    The inaugural class was decided upon by six committee member — hand picked by Dennard — who have deep ties to BA and have the knowledge of the school's history to accurately make selections.
    Among those committee members are coaches Beth Burke, Barbara Conner and other folks with deep ties like Mike Anderson and Bill Howard. Dennard is on the committee as well and says anyone can send in nominations.
    “We’ll start taking nominations for 2017’s class in March,” Dennard said. “We want this to be as open as possible, but the committee will have final say on who gets in.”
    This ceremony — for those close with the school will remember — was supposed to be held on Oct.7 before BA’s football game against Frederica Academy. But Hurricane Matthew intervened and pushed the game up to Oct. 5, axing the ceremony until further notice.
    So tonight those members will finally get their due. Of those members the 1978 football team is the highlight of the group, standing as BA’s first state title in football and the best record in program history at 12-1.
    The team’s identity as a staggeringly good defense, as they allowed only 9.5 points per game. Their only loss was to Ocmulgee Academy by a 21-7 score in the third game of the season, but BA would turn around in the state championship and beat Ocmulgee 34-15 to take home the title in head coach Charles Webb’s third season.
    “I’ve got so many fond memories at Bulloch Academy,” said Charles Webb. “It really was an experience getting the athletic program started there and we had so much support from everyone around.”
    Webb himself is one of the two coaches to be inducted tonight. Him and his brother, Jack — whom both coaches at BA for ten plus years — will be the first two coaches inducted into the class. As head coach with Jack as his defensive coordinator, the duo helped BA to three state titles and three runner-up finishes.
    Jack would also won a state title in baseball and another three-in-a-row in track from 1982 to 1984.
    “The biggest thing I learned while coaching at BA was really learning to care about the kids I coached,” said Jack Webb. “I learned that’s what was important in the long run, was getting them to go where they needed to go.”
    For the athletes: Angel Aycock, Wes Chester, Randy Childs and Dana Nevil will be the first athletes inducted to the class. Childs personally was thrilled to receive the news and said his years at BA were some of the most influential in his life.
    “The time I spent in athletics were great,” Childs said. “But it was the academics at BA that made the biggest difference in my life.”
    Though basketball was his Forte, Childs lettered in football, track , baseball and tennis in his four years at BA. A two-time all state selection and the MVP in the 1978-79 season, Childs would sign to play basketball with South Georgia College following his senior season.
    Nevil won two state titles in softball and another in track, where she never lost a race in the 120 meter hurdles. Aycock holds the BA career record for career points scored in basketball and was a four-time all state selection in softball, where she would continue to play at the University of South Florida.
    Finally Chester, the quarterback for the 1982 and 1983 state championship football teams, still holds numerous records at BA including touchdown passes and field goals.
    BA will hold the ceremony at 5:30 p.m. before the girls basketball game at 6:00 p.m.