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CLASS OF 2012

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JACK BAUERLE

Jack Bauerle, a native of Glenside, Pennsylvania brought his swimming talents to Athens in 1970 and became a four-year letter winner and two-time team captain. Following graduation, he was an assistant for the men’s team for three seasons and the women for one before being named women’s head coach in 1979, eventually adding the men’s title in 1983. In his time overseeing Georgia’s program, Bauerle produced seven NCAA and 12 SEC crowns with the Lady Bulldogs, with 174 men and women team members winning National Championships. At the NCAA Championships, his teams have posted 47 Top 10 finishes, including 21 Top 5 finishes in 22 seasons for the women’s squad from 1995-2017. In that time, 300 Georgia student-athletes have accumulated 1,974 All-America citations, while Bauerle himself has been chosen as the SEC Coach of the Year 18 times.

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BOB BOYLSTON

Born in Atlanta, Bob Boylston was a football, basketball, and baseball standout at Druid Hills High School. He decided to concentrate of football and joined the Alabama Crimson Tide program in 1958. Boylston played in the inaugural Liberty Bowl in 1959 and forced a fumble in a 7-0 loss to Penn State. He began officiating at the high school level in 1964 back in Georgia, and was then hired by the SEC at a time when they favored former players. He was told that his down lineman experience would work well as an umpire. Boylston worked his way to the NFL and would spend 21 years at football’s top level. He was assigned to 405 regular season NFL games, 21 postseason games including 4 Wild Card Playoffs, 6 Divisional Playoffs, 9 Conference Championships, and Super Bowls XXI and XXVI. 

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TRACY HAM

Tracy Ham was a dual-threat quarterback from Alachua, Florida who helped Georgia Southern become a national football power. Ham was the first player in college history to run for 3,000 yards and pass for 5,000 in a career, and was the first Division I-AA player to both run and pass for 1,000 yards in a season. Tracy led the Eagles to back-to-back National Championships in 1985 and 1986. When he left GSU, Ham held over 50 school records and 4 National records. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the 9th round of the NFL Draft but opted instead to play in Canada. In 1989, he won the CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award in leading the Edmonton Eskimos to a 16-2 record, throwing for 4366 yards on 268 completions out of 517 attempts with 30 touchdowns to 18 interceptions. In 12 CFL seasons, Ham accumulated 40,534 passing yards and 8043 rushing yards and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

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CLIFF KIMSEY

Cliff Kimsey, Jr. was a football and baseball letterman at Cornelia High School. In 1938, he scored a touchdown in the first Georgia High School All-Star game. Cliff stayed close to home enrolling at the University of Georgia where he played running back, linebacker, and punter. Kimsey was part of a famed Georgia backfield and he was named ALL SEC in 1941 as a blocking back alongside teammate Frank Sinkwich. Kimsey showed his receiving skills catching a 60-yard touchdown pass in UGA's victory over TCU in the 1942 Orange Bowl. As a pitcher for the Bulldogs baseball team, Cliff finished his senior year with a 4-0 record and a .345 batting average. He won Georgia's Outstanding Senior Athlete Award in 1942. He served a stint in the U.S. Army and then began coaching in 1946 with stops at Cedartown High School, and the University of Kansas from 1948-53.

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SALLY SMALLEY BELL

Sally Smalley Bell grew up in Dublin and graduated from Dublin High School in 1971. After Sally graduated from the University of Georgia, she took a job with the Habersham County Recreation Department and began officiating basketball games. To catch the attention of college coaches, Sally worked AAU summer tournaments. That exposure led to bigger assignments, and Sally began calling games in major conferences such as the SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big East. By the end of her seventh year as an official, Sally was chosen to officiate the NCAA Division 1 Final Four tournament. It would be the first of fifteen assignments to Final Four. In 1991 Bell was named the Naismith Female Official of the Year. After she retired from working games on the court, Sally served as supervisor of officials for the Sunbelt, Southland, and SWAC conferences.

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JOHN SMOLTZ

John Smoltz was a basketball and baseball standout at Waverly High School in Lansing when he was selected in the 22nd round of the 1985 MLB Draft by his favorite team, the Detroit Tigers. In 1987, the 20-year old Smoltz was traded to Atlanta for veteran pitcher Doyle Alexander. Over his first five full seasons, from 1989 to 1993, Smoltz averaged 14 wins per year. Smoltz went toe-to-toe with Minnesota’s Jack Morris in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series won by the Twins 1-0. Smoltz captured the 1996 National League Cy Young Award on the strength of a 24-8 record and 2.94 ERA and a league-best 276 strikeouts. But various arm problems would plague Smoltz and he even missed the entire 2000 season. Upon his return, he took on a new role as closer and in 2002, Smoltz set an NL record by converting 55 saves. Smoltz ended his career with stints with the Red Sox and Cardinals. The eight-time All-Star finished his 21-year big league career with a 213-155 record, 154 saves, 3,084 strikeouts and a 3.33 ERA. He was elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2015.

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