I’ve spent my life in Macon: there’s plenty left to learn

It’s hard to introduce yourself to a person. It’s harder still to introduce yourself to a city.

Most difficult of all is to introduce yourself to a city you know like the back of your hand, a place you’ve spent your entire life.

Here goes.

Macon is a culturally rich city in a wide range of ways, but the locale’s sports history is often one of the harder records to keep track of. Maybe that goes for any city. Unless there’s a truly prolific (read: professional) sports franchise in town, the stats and sports almanac-esque facts can go by the wayside.

I’ve lived here for all my admittedly young life, but only once I took up the mantle of Macon Melody sports editor was I regaled with stories of Bibb County’s athletic legends — how World Series champion pitcher Blue Moon Odom and NFL star Tommy Hart went to Ballard-Hudson at the same time back in the 1950s back when it was a high school, or how Norm Nixon and Jeff Malone represented Southwest as they made noise in the NBA during the ‘80s.

It’s harder than ever for athletes to make their way to the majors, so it’s compelling to read about it. It’s a shame that Macon’s sports history doesn’t get talked about more.

That’s not anyone’s fault, of course. The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame is filled with great exhibits and memorabilia galore. The Macon Sports Hall of Fame is even better at focusing on Bibb County products, inducting great classes each year. And really, everyone from around here knows Macon’s history thrives thanks to its shockingly stacked roster of musicians.

Something tells me name-dropping Otis Redding and the Allman Brothers won’t convince you that I’m local, though. Nor will it explain to you who I am, what I want to do here.

Maybe my passion for this place, sports related or not, will.

Some of the first and fondest memories I have of Macon are of Vine Ingle Little League baseball. Others are of Mulberry Street in downtown, either at the church I grew up in or walking through the arts and crafts booths during the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Later ones entail my years at Central High School. I’d love to say some of you might remember me from the football field, but it wouldn’t be true — not unless you paid abnormally close attention to the Sugarbear Band and spotted me in the drumline. (As soon as I figured out I wasn’t really a gifted athlete, I decided I’d get into sports the best way I knew how — by writing about them.)

My most recent memories are of Mercer University, where I learned about journalism and what it means to serve a community. My writing and reporting grew, yes, but so did my curiosity.

I said earlier that I knew Macon like the back of my hand. In some ways I probably do, but in my past few years as a journalist in this city it’s become exceedingly clear that there is so much more beneath the surface here.

There are major stretches of Bibb County I’ve yet to traverse, huge chunks of Macon history that elude me. But I’m here to learn about them, particularly the ones in the sports world. So come forward, all ye sports fanatics, history nerds and Macon lifers. Send me your stories. Recount great moments. I want to hear them.

And hopefully, so do y’all — and that goes for more than just athletics. A start-up newspaper that is truly dedicated to local reporting and coverage of our vibrant city is incredibly important.

Sports may not always seem like the area in the most dire need of coverage, but Bibb County’s student athletes, coaches and schools matter a great deal. A community can rally around anything, and sports is one of the most impactful ways a city can pull itself out of a difficult time or emphatically celebrate a good one.

That said, I’m here to engage with you, not just spout off about recent sports happenings. In this column, every week for the foreseeable future, I’ll strive to say something that matters. Sometimes it will be about professional sports, others it will be about a particular slice of Macon life. It will almost certainly be an attempt at a piece of positivity, or at least a morsel that starts a conversation.

And that slice of my sports editor life will be printed on an actual newspaper. Printed in Middle Georgia. Aw, shucks!

Either way, hopefully you all will get to know me, and I will come to know you. This is the most thrilled I’ve been in a long, long time.

Nice to meet you, Macon. For a while, I thought I knew you. But I’m certain I’ll really get to know you this time, if you let me. Here’s to sports, our city and the tales that count.