Augusta Prep inducts first Hall of Fame class

Walter Davis wasn't going to escape Augusta Prep on Saturday without telling the story more than once.

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The school's first athletic director also coached the soccer team to two state titles in the 1970s, the second of which included a dramatic comeback.

Davis was among those in the first class inducted into the Steve Boyd Athletic Hall of Fame. The inductees included Davis, Steve Boyd, professional golfer Larry Mize (Class of 1976), three-sport standout Frances Barrett Swartz (1978) and golfer Cortland Lowe (1998). All were in attendance except Mize, whose parents were there on his behalf.

The inductees were honored with plaques Saturday and also introduced to the crowd at Prep's homecoming soccer game.

The Hall was named for Boyd, who has served as a teacher and coach at the school for 31 years.

"He epitomizes what Augusta Prep athletics is," said Lowe, who played on Boyd's last boys basketball team in 1998. "They couldn't have picked it better."

Lowe played golf at Wake Forest University and spent two years following graduation trying to make it professionally. He's now a teacher in California, and Saturday's induction ceremony was the first time he's returned to Prep's campus.

"Everything's changed for the better," Lowe said.

Davis, who served as the Cavaliers' athletic director from 1971 until 1979, spent a lot of time rehashing the 1977 state title game, a story that apparently has multiple variations.

Davis' memory has the Cavaliers down two goals to Pace with a little more than five minutes remaining. It was raining; the field was slick. In the first half, an opposing player had slid into the net with his shot.

Davis called his team together and told them to score, to just get one and go from there. The Cavaliers got one at about the 5:00 mark. They scored again with 40 seconds left to send it into overtime.

Prep scored on a header two minutes in for its second state title in the decade, the other coming in 1972.

"It was definitely the best comeback of all the teams I had," Davis said.

The Hall of Fame was established two years ago. The induction committee is made up of current Prep athletic director Tom Holodak, former longtime AD Carol Trammel, alum Jay Cudd, coach Rich Bland and Boyd.

The committee will induct a new class at each year's homecoming. Inductees must have been graduated at least five years.

Those in attendance Saturday had good things to say about the changes the school had undergone throughout the years.

Trammel began as a physical education teacher in 1972 and took over as athletic director seven years later. He recalled the difficulties the school faced during a sluggish economy.

"The school really struggled for three years," she said. "It picked back up. Look what we have now."