Hall announces 2027 induction class

The Board of Directors for the Glynn County Sports Hall of Fame is pleased to announce its 2027 Induction Class.

The Hall of Fame class includes Bill Alford, a standout on Brunswick High’s 1999 state runner-up football team who went on to play in the collegiate and professional ranks; Jay Brown, who had a stellar baseball career at Brunswick High before going on to enjoy a successful college career; Justin Coleman, a former Brunswick High football great who would also excel in college as well as the National Football League; Crystal Ferrier, a standout student-athlete for Glynn Academy in several sports before she went on to play collegiate golf; Charles Loving, an outstanding basketball player at Brunswick High who also went on to achieve further success in the college ranks; and Bobby Wilkes, a record-setting quarterback for Glynn Academy in the early 1980s who would go on to play college football as well.

The Class of 2027 was finalized this week by the Hall of Fame board. This will be the 10th class inducted into the local sports hall which currently has 53 members.

 The induction banquet for the 2027 class will likely be held sometime next summer. A banquet date will be finalized before the end of the year.

“We’re excited about having another exceptional class of inductees,” said Kevin Price, president of the county sports hall. “This is another great group of individuals who all achieved at a high level in their respective sports, and each one is deserving of this honor from their hometown hall of fame.

“I want to thank our board members for the time they devoted to this important task and helping us select another outstanding class.

“As always, with the help of the inductees themselves, we will work over the next year to put together an induction ceremony that makes this a special night for them, their families, and friends. This 2027 class is also our 10^th class as noted, so we will also celebrate this milestone for the hall of fame at this banquet with our present and past inductees as well as our Glynn County community.”

In alphabetical order, here’s a quick glance at all six inductees in the 2027 class. More detailed bios for each honoree will be released at a later time.

Bill Alford is shown here while playing for the Jacksonville Sharks in the Arena Football League.

Alford is a former defensive back for Brunswick High, where he was among the many standout players on the Pirates’ Class AAAA state-runner-up team back in 1999. He would first play college football at Middle Georgia College for two years before closing out his collegiate career by playing two years at Vanderbilt University.

He continued his career in the professional ranks by first playing in NFL Europe for the Frankfurt Galaxy, helping the team to a World Bowl championship in 2006 before the Galaxy again played for the championship the following season. Alford also spent time on several NFL rosters including the Baltimore Ravens (2005), Atlanta Falcons (2006) and Denver Broncos (207) while playing in Europe.

Alford also later starred in the Arena Football League, where he was a team captain for the nearby Jacksonville Sharks and played a key role in the team winning Arena Bowl XXIV in 2011. Following his playing career, he served as the defensive backs coach for the Sharks for two seasons.

Jay Brown is shown here during his time pitching for the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Brown was a four-year letterman for the Brunswick High baseball team. A standout shortstop and pitcher for the Pirates, Brown batted .418 as a junior before finishing with a .493 batting average as a senior, when he also posted a 1.69 ERA as the team’s top pitcher while recording a school-record 104 strikeouts which still stands as a single-season high mark. He was the Region Player of the Year his senior season and also was named All-State by the Georgia Dugout Club.

Brown was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 38^th round out of high school. He chose to accept his scholarship at Young Harris College, where he played for two seasons, becoming a team captain and also All-Region player in Georgia’s junior-college league as a pitcher while helping the team to a pair of state championships in 2005 and 2006. He was inducted into the Young Harris Hall of Fame in 2017.

Again, after two seasons at Young Harris, Brown was selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 18^th round of the Major League Baseball draft in 2006, but chose to remain in college as a scholarship pitcher for the South Carolina Gamecocks. He was team captain for the 2010 South Carolina team that won the national championship at the College World Series in Omaha.

While at South Carolina, he underwent Tommy John surgery and missed an entire season, but would finish his career with an 8-0 record and a 4.03 ERA in 33 games including 21 starts. Brown was  also named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll and was chosen for the 2009 SEC Baseball Community Service team. He was selected by South Carolina’s athletic department for the prestigious President’s Award, an accolade presented to the top USC student-athlete among all sports in the areas of athletics, academics, community service, and leadership.

Justin Coleman is shown here during his playing days with the Tennessee Volunteers.

Coleman was a standout in both track and field and football while attending Brunswick High, but would sign with the Tennessee Volunteers to play football as part of their 2011 recruiting class.

One of the top cornerbacks in the country coming out of BHS, he started for the Vols as a freshman. He was among the interception leaders in the SEC during his senior season and was selected to play in the East-West Shrine Game after the season.

He signed with the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2015 and would play in the NFL for eight seasons with several teams including the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins.

Coleman played in 107 games while making 33 starts and played in four playoff games. The obvious highlight of his career was winning a Super Bowl ring with the New England Patriots during the 2016 season.

Crystal Ferrier is shown here during her playing career at Auburn University.

Ferrier was an exceptional student-athlete while attending Glynn Academy. She earned 16 varsity letters in six different sports including cross country, track and field, softball, volleyball, basketball and golf.

She lettered all four years in basketball, starting for the 1995 Final Four team at point guard as a sophomore. She also lettered four times in cross country, earning team MVP honors four straight years and leading the Lady Terrors to four straight region championships. She also lettered all four years for the GA girls track team, specializing in the one- and two-mile runs.

But, it was golf in which she shined the brightest. Ferrier won four straight individual region titles and also won state crowns as a junior and senior. She also played for the Glynn boys team her final two seasons.

She would sign a golf scholarship with Auburn University after high school and played four seasons with the Lady Tigers. She was a member of the 2000 SEC championship team and was a four-time SEC All-Academic selection.

Ferrier continued to excel in golf beyond college, winning the Women’s Club Championship at the Brunswick Country Club in 2005, 2006, 2012 and 2014.

Charles Loving is shown here while playing in high school for the Brunswick High Pirates.

Loving was a standout basketball player at Brunswick High, where he averaged a double-double for the Pirates as a senior with 17.1 points and 14 rebounds per game during the 1972-73 season.

One of the top players in the state as a senior, he began his collegiate career playing locally for two seasons at Brunswick Junior College. He was voted one of the top defenders in Georgia’s juco ranks as a freshman before earning first-team all-region honors as a sophomore when he averaged 13.6 points and 7.6 rebounds a game.

Recognized by Street and Smith magazine as one of the top junior college players in the nation, he considered scholarship offers from several schools before choosing to play for Cleveland State to finish his college career. He averaged just over 10 points a game as junior and was among the team’s top rebounders as a senior when he played in all 27 games.

Loving had tryouts with several NBA teams following college including the Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers, and Chicago Bulls. He declined an opportunity to play professionally overseas.

Bobby Wilkes is shown here in action for the Glynn Academy Red Terrors.

Wilkes was a standout quarterback for Glynn Academy. As a senior in the 1983 season, Wilkes set a new state passing record when he threw for 2,479 yards in 12 games. His favorite receiving target that season was Randy Fisher who also has been inducted into the local sports hall of fame.

Wilkes also threw for 21 touchdowns as a senior when he was named first-team all-state by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and also made the Super 24 team for the Florida Times-Union as one of the top players in the newspaper’s Northeast Florida-South Georgia coverage area.

Wilkes accepted a football scholarship with the University of Georgia after high school. He also played baseball for Georgia. Nagging injuries forced him to end his playing career with the Bulldogs.

 The Glynn County Sports Hall of Fame formed in 2011 as a non-profit organization and honored its first induction class the following year.

The hall of fame’s main public display which includes plaques for every inductee is located at Southeast Georgia Health System in Brunswick.

The local sports hall also has a display which includes the names of all inductees by class inside the Athletics Center which overlooks the playing field at Glynn County Stadium. This wall display also has a listing of all the state championship teams from the local high schools through the years.  

You can learn more about the county sports hall on our website, which is www.gcshof.com. You can also click on the Inductees tab at the top of our website's home page to learn about all past inductees.