West Rome High School Chieftains Rome GA

Another EXCELLENT Article by the Rome News-Tribune 😎 They interviewed Coach Charles Winslette and it brings back the MEMORIES! 💚🏈🏆🤗

The 1976 Track Season continued... Gary Tillman, MVP. (50 years ago this week)
West Rome and later UGA Track All Star Gary Tillman earned the Most Valuable Player trophy after the Chieftain track season of 1976... and while accepting his trophy... turned around and gave it to his head track coach, in his first year with West Rome HS. Coach Gary Phillips. CLASS. PURE CLASS. Gary would later exhibit this same unselfish quality as he gave his life to protect others during a tragic aviation crash into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida... piloting the plane while steering close enough for passengers to swim to shore before it crashed into the ocean... In remembrance of a great West Rome and UGA athlete... and a great person as well.... Gary Tillman. MVP. From the Rome News-Tribune of May 23, 1976...
The Tillman Clocktower 5K Road Race & 2 Mile Health Walk is named in his memory 💚

(Excellent Article from the Rome News-Tribune) Thank you! 💚
West Rome making state Hall of Fame mark
By Matthew Brown [email protected]

When looking at the recent accomplishments of Bowdon High, Eagle’s Landing Christian and powerhouse Buford High, they still haven’t surpassed the standard bearer. Bowdon High will have that opportunity in the fall as it goes for its fifth state football championship in row, but for now the record sits at four straight in the Georgia High School Association with the West Rome High Chieftans of the early- to mid-eighties forever seated as the first.

Four state championships in a row. West Rome only lost one game in that four-year span.

It’s something Valdosta High’s legendary program came one season short of accomplishing twice in the 1950s and ’60s.

The commemoration of West Rome’s accomplishment is on display at Barron Stadium along with the triumphs of neighbor East Rome in the 1970s and Rome High just about a decade ago. In October, the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame will also forever recognize this Chieftan stretch when it holds the induction ceremony for the Class of 2026.

In that same class is a player who made his name in both football and the ministry of the Gospel well beyond his high school days.

The late David McCluskey spearheaded head coach Mike Hodges’ team to a 15-0 record capped off by a dramatic 7-6 win over Mary Persons High and another legendary coach, Dan Pitts, in the 1982 season. McCluskey, an All-American at running back and linebacker for West Rome, was also inducted into the Rome-Floyd County Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.

McCluskey then found himself at the mecca for college football running backs. He became a four-year letterman at the University of Georgia from 1983-86. As a fullback, McCluskey blocked for the likes of Lars Tate. Two others in that backfield were Keith Henderson and Tim Worley.

In four years, McCluskey rushed for 1,503 yards and scored nine touchdowns for Georgia and was a late-round draft pick by the Cincinnati Bengals.

McCluskey’s impact in college went beyond football as recalled by UGA longtime radio sideline voice and columnist Loran Smith.

“With David McCluskey, he was popular with the Black community in Athens,” Smith told the Rome News-Tribune. “I went to hear him play the organ at church many years ago for a column about his interests beyond football.”

Bishop David E. McCluskey was Senior Pastor of Glorious New Jerusalem when he passed away in September, 2023, at the age of 59.

“It was such a downer when he passed away at such a young age,” said Smith. “I can see him smiling now, deep and wide with those sparkling eyes which made you feel he was a Good Samaritan and friend.”

Under Hodges, West Rome would go on to win a second straight state championship 15-0 in 1983. It was the last of Hodges’ five seasons as West Rome head coach; he left with 53 career wins and then won another state championship at Thomasville High in 1988.

Another standout player from the West Rome title run is Eric Floyd, an offensive lineman who starred at Auburn University and played six years in the NFL with the Chargers, Eagles, Cardinals and Broncos.

Rodney Walker, winner of 300 high school football games as a head coach everywhere in Georgia from Villa Rica to Stephens County to Jones County to Peach County to Sandy Creek, led West Rome football for the 1984 season going 14-1. Walker passed away May 9, 2026. Ten years prior he was interviewed for a podcast series on the Sportsmic site called “Conversations with Tom Mobley.”

Walker mentioned how, in that one year, he had a “great group” of juniors.

“You look back on your life in coaching, and I think about that year. It was a great year,” said Walker. He mentioned what Hodges had done before his arrival and won that second championship with the juniors he had as sophomores.

“Probably the only bad move in coaching I ever made was leaving West Rome. I did not do those kids right. It’s something I never have felt good about. I should have stayed there ... not to win a state championship (again). I should have stayed because it was the right thing to do. I let ego get in the way. Sometimes we think we are a little bit better than we are ... I made a very poor decision, and I own it. It was my fault. I don’t mind telling the story.”

Charles Winslette took over in 1985, winning the fourth of four in row and 36 games overall in four years. Like Hodges, Winslette also won a state championship post West Rome when he was at Greene-Taliaferro (1993) for five seasons.

The Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony for 2026 is scheduled for Oct. 26 at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. The Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame was established in 2022. Other inductees for 2026 include: Daccus Turman, Washington-Wilkes; Kedric Golston, Sandy Creek; Rodney Hudson, LaGrange; Travis Stroud, Dunwoody; Patrick Pass, Tucker; Cosey Coleman, Southwest DeKalb; Jasper Sanks, Carver-Columbus; Stacy Searels, Trion; Vince Sutton, LaGrange; Terance Mathis, Redan; Mo Lewis, Murphy; Chuck Smith, Clarke Central; Eric Curry, Thomasville; Phil Baker, Pepperell; Jimmy Robinson, Ridgeview; Runt Moon, Commerce; Drew Hill, Newnan; Stump Mitchell, Camden County; Jim Bob Harris, Clarke Central; Joey Browner, Southwest Atlanta; Ricky Williams, Griffin; Randall Edmunds, Lincolnton; Billy Brice, Avondale; Dennis Chadwick, Decatur; Brent Cunningham, Putnam County; Doyle Orange, Waycross; Milton Byard, Risley; John Henry Jackson, Spencer; Wade Mitchell, North Fulton; Harold Olson, Southwest DeKalb; Jack “William” Peek, Tech; Bobby North, Tech.

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We've lost a beloved former Teacher who lived to be 99 years old, Mrs. Betty Higgins 💚

BIG NEWS!!! Score Atlanta will be inducting the late 💚 David McCluskey '83 💚AND the 1982-1985 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP 🏈 TEAM winners into the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame in October! 🏆🏆🏆🏆
Article from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
AJC Varsity
Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame announces 2026 class
By Todd Holcomb
May 20, 2026
Chuck Smith and Terance Mathis, key figures on the Falcons’ 1998 NFC Championship team, which lost to the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl, will be reunited in the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame this fall. Smith and Mathis were among the top vote-getters in the 2026 class of 33 announced Wednesday.

Smith played his NFL position, defensive end, at Clarke Central in the 1980s, but Mathis, who retired as the Falcons’ all-time leading receiver, played quarterback, tailback, cornerback and special teams at Redan before becoming an All-America wide receiver at New Mexico.

Other more widely known inductees include Drew Hill of Newnan and Georgia Tech and Mo Lewis of Murphy and Georgia. Each spent more than 10 years in the NFL and played in multiple Pro Bowls.
Current Georgia offensive analyst Stacy Searels was an all-state lineman and wrestler at Trion and first-team All-American at Auburn.

Joey Browner, who died in March, was a one-year phenom at Southwest Atlanta in 1978, having moved from Ohio. He was a four-time Pro Bowl defensive back with the Vikings.

A lesser-known but historically significant inductee will be John Henry Jackson, believed to be the first Black player from Georgia to play in a traditionally white major conference. A quarterback, Jackson led Spencer of Columbus to a Georgia Interscholastic Association title, then joined Indiana of the Big Ten and was the Hoosiers’ leading passer as a sophomore in 1959.

The oldest living player to be inducted will be Southwest DeKalb’s Harold Olson, a two-time first-team all-state lineman who made All-ACC at Clemson and played five AFL seasons. Olson, inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame last year, is 88.

Running backs dominated the class, with 12 to be inducted. They include Washington-Wilkes’ Daccus Turman, whose 3,172 yards rushing in 2000 remains the single-season state record; Waycross’ Doyle Orange, the state’s first 2,000-yard rusher in the integrated era; and Commerce’s Runt Moon, whose 2,501 yards rushing in 1973 set a state record.

The great runners go back to the 1940s, when future Georgia Tech players Jack Peek and Bobby North were part of great teams at Atlanta’s Tech High, to the 1990s, when Patrick Pass of Tucker and Jasper Sanks of Carver in Columbus were Parade All-Americans, AJC Super 11 picks and prize Georgia signees.

Former Georgia and NFL player Patrick Pass is among 12 running backs in the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class of 33 players. As a high school player at Tucker, Pass rushed for a DeKalb County-record 5,004 yards and scored 50 touchdowns in his career. He was an AJC Super 11 and the Gatorade Georgia Player of the Year in 1995. (Jack Spink/AJC file)
Former Georgia and NFL player Patrick Pass is among 12 running backs in the Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class of 33 players. As a high school player at Tucker, Pass rushed for a DeKalb County-record 5,004 yards and scored 50 touchdowns in his career. He was an AJC Super 11 and the Gatorade Georgia Player of the Year in 1995. (Jack Spink/AJC file)
Milton Byard, a GIA legend from Risley High in Brunswick, made the cut. He reportedly scored 50 touchdowns in 1950.

Putnam County’s Brent Cunningham compiled more than 3,000 all-purpose yards and scored 35 touchdowns in just 12 games in 1967, when he led Putnam County to the Class C championship.

Stump Mitchell rushed for more than 1,600 yards in 10 games as a 1976 Camden County senior, then became an All-American at The Citadel and a 1,000-yard NFL rusher.

Ricky Williams of Griffin in 1978 and David McCluskey of West Rome in 1982 were feature backs for state-championship teams.

💚West Rome’s 1982-85 teams, the first in GHSA history to win four straight championships, will be honored as a team. 💚

The induction will be Oct. 24 at 5 p.m. at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. This is the fifth Hall of Fame class and will bring the number of inductees to 181. The latest class was chosen by a vote of 50 board members. Score Atlanta administers the Hall of Fame.

2026 inductees
B / Jack Peek / Tech / 1944
B / Bobby North / Tech / 1946
B / Milton Byard / Risley / 1950
QB / Wade Mitchell / North Fulton / 1952
L / Harold Olson / Southwest DeKalb / 1955
QB / John Henry Jackson / Spencer / 1957
L / Randall Edmunds / Lincolnton / 1963
E / Billy Brice / Avondale / 1966
QB / Dennis Chadwick / Decatur / 1967
RB / Brent Cunningham / Putnam County / 1967
RB / Doyle Orange / Waycross / 1969
QB / Phil Baker / Pepperell / 1970
WR-RB / Jimmy Robinson / Ridgeview / 1970
RB / Runt Moon / Commerce / 1973
QB-WR / Drew Hill / Newnan / 1974
RB / Stump Mitchell / Camden County / 1976
QB / Jim Bob Harris / Clarke Central / 1977
DB / Joey Browner / Southwest Atlanta / 1978
RB / Ricky Williams / Griffin / 1978
💚RB / David McCluskey / West Rome / 1982 💚
OL / Stacy Searels / Trion / 1983
QB / Vince Sutton / LaGrange / 1983
QB / Terance Mathis / Redan / 1984
LB / Mo Lewis / Murphy / 1986
DL / Eric Curry / Thomasville / 1987
DE / Chuck Smith / Clarke Central / 1987
QB / Rodney Hudson / LaGrange / 1992
DL / Travis Stroud / Dunwoody / 1993
OL / Cosey Coleman / Southwest DeKalb / 1995
RB / Patrick Pass / Tucker / 1995
RB / Jasper Sanks / Carver-Columbus / 1996
RB / Daccus Turman / Washington-Wilkes / 2000
DL / Kedric Golston / Sandy Creek / 2001

About the Author
Todd Holcomb covers high school sports across the state. He rejoined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2025 and has worked with the AJC in varying capacities since 1985. He is a co-founder and editor of Georgia High School Football Daily. 🏈

Throw Back Thursday: Keith Slagg, Renaissance Man! (RIP) 💚

1972 Chieftain Acts Program! (Why was it called Chieftain Acts? Why not Chieftains Act?) The Annual Follies program was a Two Act performance: Act 1, an Intermission and then Act 2. Each Act was comprised of different group dances, skits, routines, musical performances, etc. 💚

Look who is on the Cover of Carrollton Living Magazine! Class of '78 alum Lorie Edmondson Bell 💚
Carrollton Living’s May issue highlights Lorie Edmondson Bell—a woman whose life reflects faith, service, and a deep commitment to her community. Rooted in strong family values, Lorie has dedicated her life to supporting families and children through her work in social services, education, and outreach. As founder and organizer of the Carrollton MLK Coalition, she has helped create meaningful spaces for unity, reflection, and connection across Carrollton.

Together, Lorie and Pastor Bradley Bell have built a life centered on serving others, both in their church and throughout the community. Her story is one of purpose, leadership, and heart.

Read more about Lorie and the Bell family in the May issue of Carrollton Living!

We were blessed with two original works of art by the late artist Robert Redden in 1958. One was a mural, the other was in the center court of our gymnasium. The gym floor was replaced in 1979. The mural was razed when the school closed in 1992.

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Rusty Mansell (@RustyMansell_) on X