Seven iconic figures representing Pierce County’s alltime sports greatness, along with several of the county’s most legendary basketball teams, will be enshrined at the 2025 Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony this month.
Edwin Pope, Otha Lee Fuller, Jr., Joshua Murfree, Ardis Pickett, Swails Turner, Tommy Turner, Jr., and Yancey Turner will be inducted into the Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame in a ceremony set for Saturday, November 22 at Okefenokee Country Club.
Additionally, several state championship boys’ and girls’ basketball teams from Lee Street High School will be inducted collectively.
“The symmetry of this class should be easily recognizable to folks of a certain age,” says John DuPont of the Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame. “We certainly hope younger Pierce Countians can appreciate what our county’s basketball culture has meant through the years. At the same time, you can also point to elements of this induction and recognize where the county’s football boom began.”
The class of 2025 will expand the Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame’s membership to 55 individuals and 17 teams since 2017.
Edwin Pope
As an assistant football coach at Patterson High, Pope was part of a region championship staff in 1973.
From 1976-80, he served as the Eagles’ head coach, the last to hold that distinction, finishing as the third winningest coach in the school’s history (2117-2). Pope later served as defensive coordinator at Pierce County High School, starting with the school’s inception.
As architect of the 1982 Bears’ region championship team, Pope orchestrated a unit that yielded just 66 points in 13 games, which still stands as the program’s all-time standard. Pope also coached golf, track and other sports during his career before serving as Pierce County’s superintendent.
Otha Lee Fuller
Fuller was a First-Team football selection by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, playing end for the 1973 Eagles team which went 11-1 and earned a berth in the South Georgia Championship game.
He was also a member of the Region 2-B champion 4x440 relay track team which earned a state medal. But it was his basketball athleticism that took Fuller to the college ranks.
Voted the Eagles’ Best Rebounder and Best Defensive Player, he signed a scholarship in 1974 to play hoops at Fort Valley College (later Ft. Valley State University).
Joshua Murfree
Murfree authored several memorable performances on the courts, including a 43-point effort against Clinch County during the 1973-74 campaign.
He scored 26 points alone in the third quarter of that game, including a streak of 10 straight successful jumpers, en route to a 74-73 Eagles’ win.
Murfree averaged 25.3 points per game and scored 632 points during the 1973-74 season, when he earned All-State and All-American honors ( Coach and Athlete Magazine). He went on to play collegiately at Fort Valley, where he later served as the university’s athletic director. Ardis Pickett
Pickett, who played alongside Fuller and Murfree on the court, helped create a formidable attack for coach Petesey Barnard’s teams in the early ’70s and also played one season under head coach Wayne Sasser.
A two-time All-State selection on the hardwood, Pickett competed on six region/area champion teams as a four-year participant in basketball, football and track.
He was a two-time region track champion as part of the PHS mile relay team and an individual champion in the 220 sprints. Pickett was the PHS track MVP as a junior.
Tommy Turner, Jr.
Tommy Turner, Jr. was a four-year varsity football player at Blackshear High School. During his senior campaign of 1974, Tommy authored a phenomenal rushing display, breaking the 1,000-yard barrier in the eighth game of the season, finishing with a school-record 1,417 for the season.
His four touchdowns and 243-yard rushing performance keyed a 40-0 BHS win over Pelham. A two-time team captain, Tuner was voted Most Athletic his senior year at BHS.
He went on to play on the college gridiron for three seasons at Bethany College (Lindsborg, Kansas), where he was named the 1979 “Bartlett Senior Respect Award” recipient.
At Bethany, he would later be joined by his brother, Yancey. Bethany College improved significantly in the years that followed the arrival of the Turners, going from a low mark of 2–8 in 1975 to 6-4 the following season.
Then from 1977-80, the Swedes went 39-4, never losing more than one game per season while never winning fewer than nine.
Yancey Turner
Yancey Turner was named the Blackshear Tigers’ Best Defensive Lineman in 1975, and a Class AA All-State selection in ‘76.
A standout defensive tackle at Bethany from 1976-80, he served as the Swedes captain for two seasons. In ’79 he was named an NAIA Division II All-American.
Turner later received a tryout from the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals. He is enshrined in the Bethany College Athletic Hall of Fame.
Swails Turner
Swails Turner - like his elder brother Tommy - was an offensive specialist who, as a senior, averaged 8.6 yards per carry and scored nine touchdowns on the ground.
A four-year player at BHS, Swails rolled up 1,089 total yards (890 rushing, 82 receiving, 117 punt returns) for the legendary 1980 Tigers’ football team that went undefeated in the final season of the school’s history.
A two-way starter, Turner also tallied 45 tackles on defense. A two-time captain and two-time MVP for the Tigers on the gridiron, he also played baseball at BHS.
Lee Street
The most prolific run of championships in Pierce County’s history still belongs to Lee Street High School basketball.
The 2025 induction will enshrine the Lee Street state champion boys’ teams of 1949, 1951, 1954, 1955 and 1957 as well as the girls’ teams of 1960 and 1968. Previously enshrined were the 1957 and 1958 Lee Street girls.
Doors for the 2025 Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony will open at 6 p.m. with a fullcourse dinner served at 6:30 p.m. The induction program begins at approximately 7 p.m.
Tickets are $30 per person and include dinner. To order tickets call 912-387-3748 or purchase at The Blackshear Times.
All sales will be in advance. No ticket sales will be conducted at the door.
