April 24, 2019
Pictured: ABAC’s 1968-69 basketball team was recently inducted into the ABAC Athletics Hall of Fame. Those present for the ceremony included (l-r): Dennis McSwain, Buddy Whitley, Jerry Johnston, Julian Deaton, David Adams, Coach Vann Brackin, Mark Hall, Albert Lewis, Carlos McSwain, Harold Adkins, Leslie Moore, Harley Stewart, and Ashley DeLoach.
TIFTON—The 1968-69 Golden Stallions basketball team at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College was recently inducted into the 2019 class of the ABAC Athletics Hall of Fame.
Under the direction of Coach Vann Brackin, the Stallions compiled a record of 25-6 on the basketball court and won the Southern Conference of the Georgia Junior College Athletic Association (GJCAA) with a perfect 12-0 mark.
Those numbers are impressive but perhaps the most significant achievement of the team was the fact that the Stallions were the first intercollegiate athletics team at ABAC with African-American players, Albert Lewis from Wheelwright, Ky., now living in Floyd County, Ky., and David Adams from Clermont, Fla., now living in Lakeland, Fla.
Other team members included Leslie Moore who was originally from Warfield, Ky., and now lives in Ashland, Ky., Ashley DeLoach from Statenville, Harold Adkins from Floyd County, Ky., Julian Deaton from Wheelright, Ky., now living in Floyd County, Ky., Mark Hall from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., now living in Dahlonega, Jerry Johnston who was originally from Ashburn but now lives in Fitzgerald, Odell Pack from Louisa, Ky., now living in Ashland, Ky., Dennis McSwain from Ashburn, Carlos McSwain who grew up in Ashburn but now lives in Valdosta, Harley Stewart from Newnan, and Buddy Whitley from LaGrange.
“It was not an easy time in our country,” Brackin said, referring to African-American athletes joining previously all-white college teams. “Every kid on that team handled it like a true champion. We never had a problem.”
The Golden Stallions averaged 93 points a game and scored over 100 points nine times. ABAC set a single game scoring record with a 140-64 win over Jones Junior College on Nov. 20, 1968. ABAC lost only one home game in Gressette Gym all year, a 93-77 decision to Gardner Webb, led by its 7-foot-2 center Artis Gilmore. Nine ABAC players signed with senior colleges. Young Harris ended the ABAC season with a 77-70 win over the Golden Stallions in the first round of the state tournament.
Pack led the team in scoring with 18.9 points a game and pulled down 11.3 rebounds a game. A two-time GJCAA Player of the Week, he was named to the All-GJCAA first team. He continued his career at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Whitley averaged 13.1 points and 9.5 rebounds a game. He shot 80 percent from the free throw line. He was the Most Valuable Player for the ABAC baseball team and started every game for the Golden Stallions on the basketball floor and the baseball diamond in 1968-69. He signed a baseball contract with the Minnesota Twins and played four years in the Twins’ system.
Carlos McSwain led the team in rebounding with 13.9 rebounds a game. He also scored 11 points a game and later played for Valdosta State and Palm Beach Atlantic. Lewis averaged 11.7 points and 5.4 rebounds and earned a scholarship to Tennessee Tech where he was named All-Conference in 1972 and 1973. Lewis set the Ohio Valley Conference record with 34 consecutive made free throws in 1972. He averaged 16 points a game with a high of 35 against Morehead State in 1972.
Stewart, named to the ABAC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011, was the Most Valuable Player at ABAC during the 1969-70 campaign when he was named to the All-State team, the All-Tournament team, and the District All-Tournament team. Stewart had a standout basketball career at West Georgia after completing his ABAC eligibility.
Hall set an ABAC single game scoring record during the 1969-70 season with 64 points and later played for Columbus College. Adkins was a GJCAA Player of the Week during the season.
One of the toughest defenders on the team and called a “true team leader” by Brackin, Deloach played for Valdosta State after his ABAC career and then had a successful high school coaching career. Deloach averaged 28 points a game during his senior year at Echols County High School.
Deaton later played baseball for Morehead State, and Dennis McSwain helped to lead the 1969-70 Stallions to a second-place finish in the state tournament. Moore later played for Virginia Commonwealth, and Johnston was a team captain on the 1969-70 ABAC team. Adams later played for Albany State.
Brackin, a Donalsonville native who earned 10 varsity athletics’ letters at Seminole County High School, later served as an assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth under former ABAC Coach Benny Dees. He was also the head coach at McDowell High School in Marion, N.C., where he was named Western North Carolina Coach of the Year when the team finished second in the state with a 24-6 record.
Brackin also coached at Dekalb South where his team won the GJCAA state title, and he was named Junior College Coach of the Year. He was also the Eustis (Fla.) High School coach where he was named the Florida 3-A Coach of the Year and his team won two district championships.
The 2019 Hall of Fame class also included former softball standout Jenny McCarthy, former tennis star Lisa English, former football player and longtime high school coach Sidney White, former basketball player and college basketball coach Alfred Barney, and former baseball player and outstanding high school coach Terry Mixon.
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