Northeast’s Copeland headlines 2026 Georgia Sports Hall of Fame class

The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame announced its 2026 class of inductees Tuesday, with Macon legend Alvin Copeland headlining a list of 10 iconic Georgia sports figures, according to a press release from the Hall.

The 2026 induction weekend, which will be the hall of fame’s 70th, is scheduled for Feb. 20-21 and features the annual GSHF Golf Classic, a jacket ceremony, the popular FanFest autograph event and the traditional induction ceremony.

Joining Copeland in the hall are Leah Brown, Morgan Burnett, Ray Cutright, Danny Hall, Bunny Fuller Harris, John Kasay, Chaunte Lowe, Patsy Neal and Tim Willis.

Copeland will be the key representative for Macon in the class. The former Northeast athletic director, girls basketball and track coach spent more than 40 years at one of Bibb County’s most iconic schools and led the girls basketball team to 881 wins between 1973 and 2011.

Copeland’s win total is the 27th-best in the country all-time for girls basketball coaches and the second-best in Georgia behind only Charles Reid of Vidalia, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Many of those wins came in the playoffs, as Copeland steered the Raiderettes to five state championships, including one in 2002 that is still the most recent state title in any sport by a Bibb County School District team.

Copeland’s dominance was not limited to the basketball court, though Northeast named its court in his honor. The Raiders lifer also coached the boys and girls track teams, winning six state championships with the girls and two more with the boys. 

He coached local legend Brenda Cliette Thomas, an Olympic reserve and eventually a longtime Macon fire chief. 

Copeland won Athletic Director of the Year awards while at Northeast. He was inducted into the Macon Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2012.

Ray Cutright is another member of the 2026 Hall of Fame class that Maconites might be familiar with. 

Though he currently lives in St. Simon’s, Cutright spent time as the director of golf at Macon’s Idle Hour Country Club. He is a renowned golf pro, earning Master Professional status from the PGA in 1991 and serving on the PGA’s national board of directors from 2008-2010. 

Cutright was also named the PGA National Golf Pro of the Year in 2014 and earned numerous endorsements from companies like Titleist and Mizuno. 

The rest of the hall of fame’s 2026 class features a variety of athletes and coaches from different sports.

Georgia Tech is well-represented. Legendary Yellowjackets baseball coach Danny Hall, who retired just this year, will join the hall along with former Georgia Tech track star Chaunte Lowe and All-American defensive back Morgan Burnett. 

Longtime UGA football fans might remember kicker John Kasay, who spent five years kicking field goals and extra points for the Bulldogs. Kasay went on to earn Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers. Former UGA gymnast Leah Brown will also represent the Bulldogs.

A member of one of the greatest girls basketball teams in Georgia history will be inducted into the hall. Bunny Fuller Harris scored more than 2,200 points for the iconic Taylor County squad that won 132 straight games from 1967-1973. She won four championships for the Lady Vikings and eventually wrote a book titled “There Was Once a Team” about Taylor County’s success.

Patsy Neal will join the hall in recognition of her achievements as a basketball player for Elbert County in the 1950s. She averaged 40.7 points per game and later played for the U.S. team at the 1959 Pan-American Games. Neal was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.

Tim Willis, another member of the 2026 class, was the first blind athlete to compete in cross country at the NCAA Division I level. He ran for Georgia Southern from 1990-1994 and went on to win several medals in three different World Championships.