By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Recently, the rural North Carolina town where I currently reside dedicated a plaque outside of its city hall to UNC head basketball coach, Roy Williams.

Now, Williams did not grow up in the town or attend the local high school. Truth be told, he has no affiliation with county at all, except for the fact he was born here.

As sports fans, you and I always take pride in seeing an athlete that attended the school we went to, or root for, be successful; now it appears that same pride extends to city/town of birth.

There has been a plethora of great athletes born in the state of Georgia, and while I’m sure I’m missing someone you believe deserves to be on this list (and you might be right) for a variety of reasons, these are my top five:

5.Terry “Hulk” Hogan (b. Augusta). Anyone who complains that wrestling is fake and therefore not a real sport, should have their fandom pass revoked.

Just because the first statement has some merit doesn’t mean the latter does, too. The athletic ability Hogan showed in the wrestling ring, particularly for his size, and the longevity he was able to sustain is enough to earn the respect of any informed sports fan.

Throw in the fact you could argue his popularity is the main cause behind wrestling’s three decades of success and that’s why he’s on this list.

I haven’t watched wrestling since the Rock asked me to smell what he was cooking, but I would start tonight if Hogan was back in the ring.

4.Wyomia Tyus (b. Griffin). I admit I had no idea who Wyomia Tyus was and to my own embarrassment, I still don’t know as much as I probably should.

What I do know is she was a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist (2- 100m. dash, 1- 4x100m relay) and was the first Olympian ever to win back-to-back gold medals in the same event. That alone is more than enough justification to have her on this list.

3.Herschel Walker (b. Wrightsville). Name me an athlete that is the definition of “Georgia Athlete” more than Walker. The man is such an icon I truly am surprised there isn’t some sort of state legislature stating every male born in Georgia is required to have “Herschel” or “Walker” somewhere in their birth name.

2.Ty Cobb (b. Narrows). If you’re going to be ahead of Herschel Walker on this list you’d better be damn good and since Cobb is considered one of the greatest baseball players ever, that fits the bill.

Obviously, I wasn’t around to watch him to play, but the man’s name appears more times in the record books than Donald Trump’s does on his own buildings.

Before I get to number one, let me say there are a number of other athletes (Bobby Jones, Walt Frazier, Fran Tarkenton) that could just have easily ended up in top five; most probably would have had they been born in other states. However, none deserve to be above this next person.

1.Jackie Robinson (b. Cairo). There probably isn’t a sports figure, outside of Muhammad Ali, that would top Jackie Robinson on any list like this, no matter where he was born. I’m not sure there’s anything else I can say that hasn’t already been said by people much more articulate, so I won’t.

If we’re celebrating birthplaces, it’ll be harder to find a better collection than in Georgia.