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ter hosted its 39th annual awards dinner honoring a local son with a distinguished political and community service career, Michael Thurmond; the dean of the Terry College of Business, Ben Ayers, with its Distinguished American Award; and Jonathan Taylor of Long Island, New York was recognized for his “Contribution to Amateur Football.”
Fred Butler, Athens Coca-Cola Co., presented the Coca-Cola Helping Hand Award to Shawonna Coleman of the Athens Boys and Girls Club; Jesse Hickey of the Turner Family Foundation presented the Jack Turner Award to Dan Jackson, Georgia’s overachieving defensive back, Dan Jackson; Tony Ferguson recognized on behalf of Georgia Power the two local public high schools Cedar Shoals and Clarke Central for their work with Play It Smart, an NFF program which provides support for academically at risk student-athletes; the most valuable players from the two schools (Taiwan Green, Cedar Shoals and Corey Watkins, Clarke Central) were awarded scholarships from Synovus Bank, hosted by John Tebeau.
Five former Georgia players Hap Hines, David Jacobs, Clint Boling, Jeff Hipp, and Orson Prince-Charles were honored for postgraduate achievement, which is sponsored by board member John Parker in memory of his parents Reid and Cynthia Parker. Lawton Stephens, a trustee of the Francis Wood Wilson Foundation, saluted Northeast Georgia scholar athletes: Jaiden Nelson, Clarke Central; Aiden Rainey, West Hall High; Jonah Burger, Franklin County High; Charlie Bradshaw, Chestatee High and Parker Crawford Grow, Athens Academy.
Julie Moran, a Thomasville, Ga., native and a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia was the keynote speaker who provided insights into the interesting things that have happened to her in her broadcast career.
A woman of firsts, her credits include co-founding NBC Sports’ “Inside Stuff” with Ahmad Rashad and later becoming the first ever female sideline announcer for Dick Vermeil and Brent Musberger. She is the first woman to have an NBA trading card, and with “Inside Stuff” being inducted into the Naismith NBA Hall of Fame, this means she will soon be receiving an NBA Hall of Fame ring.
She is the first woman to solo host ABC’s Wide World of Sports, later shifting to an assignment with “Entertainment Tonight,” in New York and Los Angeles. She left “Entertainment Tonight,” to raise her daughters Makayla and Maiya. She teams with her husband, Rob Moran, producing movies and documentaries. Their production company, Silver Fox Productions, is named for her grandfather, Sterling Dupree, Vince Dooley’s first recruiting coordinator.
An athlete herself, she made the All-State basketball team in high school at Brookwood Academy in Thomasville and she is being nominated by the University of Georgia for induction in the state of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
