In 2022, 15 former Georgia Bulldogs were amongst the members of the inaugural Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame induction class.
This time around, there will be 40 new members inducted into the second class, the ‘Class of 2023.’ An induction ceremony will take place Oct. 21 at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
22 of the 40 will be former Georgia Bulldogs who played their prep football in the state of Georgia. Some big names include Ray Goff, Mike Bobo, Quincy Carter, DJ Shockley, Jon Stinchcomb, Marcus Stroud, Jarvis Jones, Scott Woerner, Vernon “Catfish” Smith, Bill Hartman, Charles Johnson and Rennie Curran.
The Hall of Fame board members initiated the nomination process for the second class during the early spring. Extensive deliberations, committee votes, and appeals followed before narrowing down the final ballot to 100 names by mid-June. To ensure fair representation, each board member had to vote for a minimum of two players from each era, covering various time periods (Pre-1948, 1948-59, 1960’s, GIA, 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s). A total of 40 players were to be selected from the star-studded 100-person ballot. The deadline for submitting the ballots was June 1. However, due to a seven-way tie for the last two spots and the need for a run-off to determine a second representative from the GIA era, a separate vote-off was conducted to finalize the 40-player ballot.
Here’s the 22 former Georgia players elected to the class of 2023, broken down by era:
Pre-1948 (3)
End Vernon “Catfish” Smith, Lanier-Macon (1927)
FB, LB Bill Hartman, Georgia Military Prep (1933)
RB, Coach Billy Henderson, Lanier-Macon (1945)
1960s (1)
PR Buzy Rosenberg, Northside-Atlanta (1968)
1970s (5)
QB Ray Goff, Moultrie (1972)
QB Anthony Flanagan, Southwest Atlanta (1973)
OL Ray Donaldson, East Rome (1975)
S Scott Woerner, Jonesboro (1976)
OL Guy McIntyre, Thomasville (1978)
1980s (1)
RB Keith Henderson, Cartersville (1984)
1990s (8)
LB Randall Godfrey, Lowndes (1991)
OT Adam Meadows, McEachern (1991)
QB Mike Bobo, Thomasville (1992)
DE Marcus Stroud, Brooks County (1994)
QB Quincy Carter, Southwest DeKalb (1995)
OL Jon Stinchcomb, Parkview (1997)
DE Charles Grant, Miller County (1997)
WR Reggie Brown, Carrollton (1998)
2000s (4)
QB D.J. Shockley, North Clayton (2000)
DE Charles Johnson, Hawkinsville (2003)
LB Rennie Curran, Brookwood (2006)
LB Jarvis Jones, Carver-Columbus (2008)
