March 21, 2019
TIFTON–Coach Vann Brackin’s 1968-69 Golden Stallions at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College compiled a record of 25-6 on the basketball court and won the Southern Conference of the Georgia Junior College Athletic Association (GJCAA) with a perfect 12-0 mark.
Those numbers are impressive but perhaps the most significant achievement of the team was the fact that the Stallions were the first intercollegiate athletics team at ABAC with African-American players, Albert Lewis and David Adams. Other team members included Leslie Moore, Ashley DeLoach, Harold Adkins, Julian Deaton, Mark Hall, Jerry Johnston, Odell Pack, Dennis McSwain, Carlos McSwain, Harley Stewart, and Buddy Whitley.
The team will be inducted into the ABAC Athletics Hall of Fame on April 5 at 6 p.m. in Gressette Gymnasium. Tickets to the dinner are $40 per person. Tickets can be purchased from the ABAC Athletics Office at (229) 391-4930. The deadline to purchase tickets is March 27. There will be no tickets sold at the event.
“It was not an easy time in our country,” Brackin said, referring to African-American athletes joining previously all-white college teams. “Every kid on that team handled it like a true champion. We never had a problem.”
The Golden Stallions averaged 93 points a game and scored over 100 points nine times. ABAC set a single game scoring record with a 140-64 win over Jones Junior College on Nov. 20, 1968. ABAC lost only one home game in Gressette Gym all year, a 93-77 decision to Gardner Webb, led by its 7-foot-2 center Artis Gilmore. Nine ABAC players signed with senior colleges. Young Harris ended the ABAC season with a 77-70 win over the Golden Stallions in the first round of the state tournament.
Pack led the team in scoring with 18.9 points a game and pulled down 11.3 rebounds a game. A two-time GJCAA Player of the Week, he was named to the All-GJCAA first team. He continued his career at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Whitley averaged 13.1 points and 9.5 rebounds a game. He shot 80 percent from the free throw line. He was the Most Valuable Player for the ABAC baseball team and started every game for the Golden Stallions on the basketball floor and the baseball diamond in 1968-69. He signed a baseball contract with the Minnesota Twins and played four years in the Twins’ system.
Carlos McSwain led the team in rebounding with 13.9 rebounds a game. He also scored 11 points a game and later played for Valdosta State and Palm Beach Atlantic. Lewis averaged 11.7 points and 5.4 rebounds and earned a scholarship to Tennessee Tech where he was named All-Conference in 1972 and 1973.
Stewart, named to the ABAC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011, was the Most Valuable Player at ABAC during the 1969-70 campaign when he was named to the All-State team, the All-Tournament team, and the District All-Tournament team. Stewart had a standout basketball career at West Georgia after completing his ABAC eligibility.
Hall set an ABAC single game scoring record during the 1969-70 season with 64 points and later played for Columbus College. Adkins was a GJCAA Player of the Week during the season. One of the toughest defenders on the team and called a “true team leader” by Brackin, Deloach played for Valdosta State after his ABAC career and then had a successful high school coaching career.
Deaton later played baseball for Morehead State, and Dennis McSwain helped to lead the 1969-70 Stallions to a second-place finish in the state tournament. Moore later played for Virginia Commonwealth, and Johnston was a team captain on the 1969-70 ABAC team. Adams later played for Albany State.
Brackin, a Donalsonville native who earned 10 varsity athletics’ letters at Seminole County High School, later served as an assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth under former ABAC Coach Benny Dees. He was also the head coach at McDowell High School in Marion, N.C., where he was named Western North Carolina Coach of the Year when the team finished second in the state with a 24-6 record.
Brackin also coached at Dekalb South where his team won the GJCAA state title, and he was named Junior College Coach of the Year. He was also the Eustis (Fla.) High School coach where he was named the Florida 3-A Coach of the Year and his team won two district championships.
ABAC Athletics Director Alan Kramer said the 2019 Hall of Fame class also includes former softball standout Jenny McCarthy, former tennis star Lisa English, former football player and longtime high school coach Sidney White, former basketball player and college basketball coach Alfred Barney, and former baseball player and outstanding high school coach Terry Mixon.
The Athletics Hall of Fame dinner is a part of the 2019 ABAC Homecoming celebration. For more information on Homecoming, interested persons can visit the web site at www.abac.edu/homecoming. ###
TIFTON–Coach Vann Brackin’s 1968-69 Golden Stallions at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College compiled a record of 25-6 on the basketball court and won the Southern Conference of the Georgia Junior College Athletic Association (GJCAA) with a perfect 12-0 mark.
Those numbers are impressive but perhaps the most significant achievement of the team was the fact that the Stallions were the first intercollegiate athletics team at ABAC with African-American players, Albert Lewis and David Adams. Other team members included Leslie Moore, Ashley DeLoach, Harold Adkins, Julian Deaton, Mark Hall, Jerry Johnston, Odell Pack, Dennis McSwain, Carlos McSwain, Harley Stewart, and Buddy Whitley.
The team will be inducted into the ABAC Athletics Hall of Fame on April 5 at 6 p.m. in Gressette Gymnasium. Tickets to the dinner are $40 per person. Tickets can be purchased from the ABAC Athletics Office at (229) 391-4930. The deadline to purchase tickets is March 27. There will be no tickets sold at the event.
“It was not an easy time in our country,” Brackin said, referring to African-American athletes joining previously all-white college teams. “Every kid on that team handled it like a true champion. We never had a problem.”
The Golden Stallions averaged 93 points a game and scored over 100 points nine times. ABAC set a single game scoring record with a 140-64 win over Jones Junior College on Nov. 20, 1968. ABAC lost only one home game in Gressette Gym all year, a 93-77 decision to Gardner Webb, led by its 7-foot-2 center Artis Gilmore. Nine ABAC players signed with senior colleges. Young Harris ended the ABAC season with a 77-70 win over the Golden Stallions in the first round of the state tournament.
Pack led the team in scoring with 18.9 points a game and pulled down 11.3 rebounds a game. A two-time GJCAA Player of the Week, he was named to the All-GJCAA first team. He continued his career at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Whitley averaged 13.1 points and 9.5 rebounds a game. He shot 80 percent from the free throw line. He was the Most Valuable Player for the ABAC baseball team and started every game for the Golden Stallions on the basketball floor and the baseball diamond in 1968-69. He signed a baseball contract with the Minnesota Twins and played four years in the Twins’ system.
Carlos McSwain led the team in rebounding with 13.9 rebounds a game. He also scored 11 points a game and later played for Valdosta State and Palm Beach Atlantic. Lewis averaged 11.7 points and 5.4 rebounds and earned a scholarship to Tennessee Tech where he was named All-Conference in 1972 and 1973.
Stewart, named to the ABAC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011, was the Most Valuable Player at ABAC during the 1969-70 campaign when he was named to the All-State team, the All-Tournament team, and the District All-Tournament team. Stewart had a standout basketball career at West Georgia after completing his ABAC eligibility.
Hall set an ABAC single game scoring record during the 1969-70 season with 64 points and later played for Columbus College. Adkins was a GJCAA Player of the Week during the season. One of the toughest defenders on the team and called a “true team leader” by Brackin, Deloach played for Valdosta State after his ABAC career and then had a successful high school coaching career.
Deaton later played baseball for Morehead State, and Dennis McSwain helped to lead the 1969-70 Stallions to a second-place finish in the state tournament. Moore later played for Virginia Commonwealth, and Johnston was a team captain on the 1969-70 ABAC team. Adams later played for Albany State.
Brackin, a Donalsonville native who earned 10 varsity athletics’ letters at Seminole County High School, later served as an assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth under former ABAC Coach Benny Dees. He was also the head coach at McDowell High School in Marion, N.C., where he was named Western North Carolina Coach of the Year when the team finished second in the state with a 24-6 record.
Brackin also coached at Dekalb South where his team won the GJCAA state title, and he was named Junior College Coach of the Year. He was also the Eustis (Fla.) High School coach where he was named the Florida 3-A Coach of the Year and his team won two district championships.
ABAC Athletics Director Alan Kramer said the 2019 Hall of Fame class also includes former softball standout Jenny McCarthy, former tennis star Lisa English, former football player and longtime high school coach Sidney White, former basketball player and college basketball coach Alfred Barney, and former baseball player and outstanding high school coach Terry Mixon.
The Athletics Hall of Fame dinner is a part of the 2019 ABAC Homecoming celebration. For more information on Homecoming, interested persons can visit the web site at www.abac.edu/homecoming.
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