CLASS OF 1983
ROBERT (BOB) DAVIS
Robert Thomas (Bob) Davis was only 17 years old when he arrived on the Georgia Tech campus from his hometown of Columbus. The 6-4, 220-pound freshman defensive tackle made an immediate impact and stepped right into the varsity lineup. Davis was a four-year starter for Tech, winning All- Southeastern Conference honors in each of his three final seasons and claiming All-America honors as a senior. He was not only captain of Georgia Tech's football team, but was also captain of the Jackets basketball team and he was a four-year letterman in both sports. He played pro football with the Boston Yanks for one season in 1948, before serving in the U.S. Army. He later entered the political ring as Mayor of Columbus and also spent eight years on the Columbus City Commission. Davis was elected to National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame.
MARY LOUISE FOWLER
Mary Louise Fowler, a native Covington, was an accomplished tennis player won over 200 trophies in singles, doubles and mixed doubles competitions from 1936-1961. After graduating from Agnes Scott College in 1929, Fowler became a biology teacher and tennis coach in the Covington area. For a 25 year period from 1937-1961, Fowler was ranked in the Southern Lawn Tennis Association ratings. She claimed the Crackerland singles crown in Athens in 1951, ’52, and ’54. She teamed with Natalie Cohen to win six straight Georgia Open doubles titles. Mary founded the Fowler Tennis Club, where she taught hundreds of youth the sport of tennis. Fowler also left an endowment for the Oxford tennis club that promotes the standards of competition.
JIM HEARN
James Tolbert (Jim) Hearn was raised in Atlanta and was a standout baseball and basketball player at North Fulton High School, where he played outfield and third base for the baseball team and center for the basketball squad. He opted for basketball and accepted a scholarship to play at Georgia Tech. But his baseball career continued on various semi-pro teams during the summers and Hearn was eventually signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as a third baseman. He was converted to a pitcher his first year of professional ball and would spend 13 years in the Major Leagues compiling a 109-89 record with 63 complete games. In 1951, his best in baseball, he started and won the two most important games in his career: Game One of the three-game tiebreaking playoff set with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Game Three of the World Series against the New York Yankees. Hearn spent his last three seasons with the Phillies, who converted him into a reliever. Jim also belted nine home runs in his career, including eight in the Polo Grounds, and finished with a .141 career batting average.
MILDRED McDANIEL SINGLETON
Mildred Louise “Millie” McDaniel attended David T. Howard High School in Atlanta before landing at Tuskegee Institute where she excelled in basketball and track. Singleton was the U.S. women's high jump champion in 1953, 1955 and 1956, and the indoor champion in 1955 and 1956. At the 1955 Pan American Games, she won the high jump with a meet record. She competed for the United States at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia where she won the gold medal in the women's high jump. In the process, she beat the current world record holder, Romania’s Iolanda Balas and set a new world record of 5 feet nine and one-quarter inches. McDaniel showed her all-around talents by also winning a bronze medal competing in the 4X100 meter relay. She was enshrined into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1983 as well as the Helms Hall of Fame in Los Angeles.
TOMMY NOBIS
Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Thomas Henry (Tommy) Nobis Jr. was an all-state performer in high school and signed to play football with the University of Texas. A two-way star playing both linebacker and guard for the Longhorns, Nobis is the only college player ever to win both the Outland Trophy (top interior lineman) and Maxwell Trophy (best all-around player) which he did in 1965. He finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting that year. The expansion Atlanta Falcons made Tommy the top pick of the 1966 NFL Draft. That season, he won the league's NFL Rookie of the Year, was voted to the Pro Bowl and amassed 294 combined tackles which still stands today as the team's all-time single-season record. In eleven professional seasons he led the Falcons in tackles nine times, went to five Pro Bowls and was named All-Pro twice (first team in 1967 and second team in 1968). Nobis was later named to the NFL's All-Decade Team for the 1960’s. Nobis is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and an inaugural member of the 2004 Falcons Ring of Honor. Known as “Mr. Falcon”, his number 60 was never worn by another Falcons player and eventually retired by the team.
REID PATTERSON
Logan Reid Patterson left Pineville, Kentucky to lead the Georgia Bulldogs swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition from 1951 to 1954. Patterson won eight SEC titles during his tenure at Georgia and set 6 SEC records: the 50, 100, and 220-yard freestyles, the 100 and 200-yard backstrokes, and the 150-yard individual medley. He won the NCAA national championship in the 100-yard freestyle in 1953, setting the American record during the meet. At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, Patterson finished fourth in the event final of the 100-meter freestyle. He briefly held the Olympic record in the event after his first heat. He later held the world records in the 50-meter freestyle and the 200-meter freestyle relay. He held the American record in the 400-meter freestyle and the 400-meter medley relay making his the country’s fastest man in water. He was selected for the University Of Georgia Circle of Honor in 1997.
JAMES (J.B.) SCEARCE
Born in Frankfort, Kentucky, James B. (J.B.) Scearce is a 1936 graduate of Eastern Kentucky State Teachers College with a Bachelor's degree in Health and Physical Education. He arrived at Georgia Teachers College in Statesboro in 1947 as Chairman of Health, P.E. and Athletics. As head baseball coach in 1948 his team was 20-10, but basketball was where J.B. made his mark. He won 396 of 621 games in 25 seasons as basketball coach from 1947-67 and 1977-80. He retired following a 33-year career as the winningest college basketball coach in the state of Georgia with a 501-284 record. His squads won six NAIA District 25 championships and earned spots in the NAIA National Tournament in 1956, 1958, 1959, 1964 and 1966. The 1966 team finished second in the nation. His 1950 squad led country in total offense and the 1952 team set a national scoring record. Scearce was inducted into NAIA Hall of Fame in 1965. The Atlanta Tip-Off Club named him Georgia College Coach-of-the-Year in 1960, 1964 and 1966.
