ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame’s 30-member Class of 2024 is set and will be inducted in a ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 26 at the College Football Hall of Fame. Board members of the Hall of Fame began submitting nominees for the Hall’s third class in early spring and then held committee votes before the final ballot was narrowed down to 100 names in mid-March. Once the ballot was set, each board member was required to vote for 30 players that spanned across these eras (Pre-1948, 1948-59, 1960′s, GIA, 1970′s, 1980′s, 1990′s, 2000′s). The top two from each era and a minimum of seven linemen were guaranteed spots, but neither requirement factored in and the top 30 vote-getters ultimately formed the class. The board’s ballots were all submitted by Monday, May 20, but a three-way tie for the final spot forced a runoff and the 30-player class became official Tuesday evening.
There were 10 first-time nominees that were voted into the 2024 class, 14 individuals that have appeared on all three ballots and six guys that debuted last year that were successful in their second attempt. Additionally, 22 of the 30 inductees are the first players from their respective school to enter the hall.
UGA led all colleges with nine former Bulldogs represented and Georgia Tech accounted for eight. For Georgia, Hutson Mason (Lassiter), Alec Ogletree (Newnan), Leonard Pope (Americus), David Greene (South Gwinnett) and Thomas Davis (Randolph-Clay) are five products of the Mark Richt-era that got in. Pope joins 1974 Americus alum Kent Hill as the only pair of inductees from the same high school and they graduated 27 years apart.
Georgia Tech’s group includes Kell’s Jonathan Dwyer and West Laurens’ Demaryius Thomas, who were both teammates under Paul Johnson on the Yellow Jackets’ 2009 ACC Championship Team. The other Yellow Jackets include Cartersville’s Robert Lavette, Thomas County Central’s Joe Burns, Thomson’s Jerry May, Decatur’s Frank Broyles and Riverside Military’s Everett Strupper.
“This is an impossible ballot,” said Score Atlanta President I.J. Rosenberg, who is the executive director of the Hall. “The classes fell into place easily the first two years but now the players are grouped closer together. I also was glad to see Georgia Tech ad almost as many inductees as Georgia. I think that will serve well for what we used to call ‘Good Old Fashioned Hate’ at the induction ceremony. I also will mention one inductee that was voted in and that was Lassiter quarterback Hutson Mason. he started at Georgia for one year and didn’t play in the NFL, but his high school career was one of the best high school quarterbacks ever in Georgia. He deserves a spot in the Hall for not only his tremendous passing numbers, but also the fact that he was the first great spread quarterback in Georgia.”
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There are 13 players that won state championships and Mason, Burns and LaGrange’s Tray Blackmon are the three inductees that were All-Classification Players of the Year during their varsity careers.
CLASS OF 2024
Pre-1948
Everett Strupper, Riverside Military 1913
Frank Broyles, Decatur 1941
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1948-59
Len Hauss, Wayne County 1959
Lauren Hargrove, Fitzgerald 1948
1960s
Alfred Jenkins, Hoganville, 1968
Edgar Chandler, Cedartown, 1963
1970s
Jeff Bower, Roswell, 1970
Andy Spiva, Chamblee, 1972
Ben Zambiasi, Mount de Sales, 1973
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Kent Hill, Americus, 1974
Homer Jordan, Cedar Shoals, 1978
1980s
Jessie Tuggle, Griffin, 1982
Jerry Mays, Thomson, 1984
Robert Lavette, Cartersville, 1980
Bill Mayo, Dalton, 1980
David Rocker, Fulton, 1986
1990s
Joe Burns, Thomas County Central, 1997
Terry Harvey, Dacula, 1990
2000s
Alec Ogletree, Newnan, 2009
Demaryius Thomas, West Laurens, 2005
Hutson Mason, Lassiter 2009
Thomas Davis, Randolph-Clay, 2000
Tray Blackmon, LaGrange, 2004
Jonathan Dwyer, Kell, 2006
Leonard Pope, Americus, 2001
GIA
Tommy Hart, Ballard-Hudson, 1963
George Atkinson, Johnson-Savannah, 1963
Silas Jamison, Washington, 1959
Jack Pitts, Trinity, 1965
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