Sports

ESPN names Valdosta ‘TitleTown’

• Out of all the cities in the U.S., Valdosta is named ESPN’s “TitleTown” from the 20 finalists for the award.

Bryan Fazio
Valdosta Daily Times

ALBANY —As former Valdosta State and NFL football star Jessie Tuggle clutched the three-foot tall trophy Monday, and turned toward the thousands in the home stands of Bazemore-Hyder Stadium, the place erupted in cheers.

Yes, Valdosta had officially become “TitleTown.”

ESPN, the self-proclaimed “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” returned to the Valdosta High football stadium for a 2 p.m. taping Monday, which aired later that day declaring Valdosta — out of 19 other finalists, including Chicago, New York and Pittsburgh — as TitleTown USA.

“I think it’s great for the community,” VSU football coach David Dean said of the honor, which began with a search months ago among 50,000 cities across America to find the nation’s top sports city. “It says a lot for all those who set the precedent early in high school football and every sport which takes place in Valdosta. It’s exciting to be part of TitleTown.”

The news hit the area early Monday morning and spread town around noon when people started showing up at the stadium. ESPN then let the world know during the 6 p.m. showing of “SportsCenter.”

Not only were fans, athletes and coaches of Valdosta State, Valdosta, Lowndes, Valwood, Open Bible and Georgia Christian School in attendance, but also there coming out in support were Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, State Sen. Tim Golden, Mayor John Fretti, City Manager Larry Hansen, the Georgia Bridgemen, the Valdosta Marchin’ Cats and thousands of others.

Valdosta has won dozens of sports championships and is a hub for high school football and birthplace of several major sports stars, including NFL linebacker Randall Godfrey and former star Tuggle.

Valdosta High School has won 116 region and state championships, a large chunk of them in football. The Wildcats football team is the nation’s all-time winningest program and has 23 state championships.

Lowndes High, the 2007 Class AAAAA football champion, has 94 titles, and Valwood, a private school, has 55. Valdosta State University has won another 40 titles, including the Division II national championships in 2004 and 2007.

“We’re obviously ecstatic about the TitleTown USA designation,” Mayor Fretti said. “And we’re going to make the nation proud of Valdosta carrying this title.”

Valdosta captured the title with 29.2 percent on an Internet vote held Wednesday through Sunday.

Out of the 20 finalists, just the Top 5 were mentioned during the “SportsCenter” presentation of TitleTown USA, as Parkersburg, W.Va., finished second (24.4 percent), followed by Green Bay, Wisc., (11.2 percent), Massillon, Ohio, (6.7 percent), Boston, Mass., (5.8 percent) and Gainesville, Fla., (5.2 percent).

Valdosta hit the voting en mass and picked up support from throughout the country, including Donna Nix, mother of the ESPN reporter on hand Monday, Wendi Nix. Wendi Nix said her mother voted around 100 times after her daughter visited Valdosta for its TitleTown USA segment. Donna Nix was so impressed with the showing of Valdosta back on July 16 she tried to find out if the town was the winner before it was allowed to become public Monday afternoon.

“She called me and wanted to know where I was, and I said, ‘TitleTown USA, I can’t tell you where, but I’m in TitleTown,’ ” Wendi said. “She asked, ‘Is it Valdosta, is it Valdosta?’ ”

Indeed it was Valdosta, and although word got out Monday morning, ESPN broadcast it to the world that evening.

“We were able to really showcase Valdosta to the entire nation,” Cagle said. “This victory really solidifies in my mind the true national champion that Valdosta is.”

Cagle has been on a week-long tour to various media outlets throughout Atlanta and the state of Georgia trying to urge the state to vote for the South Georgia city. The campaigning and relentless voting from Valdosta paid off as they picked up nearly 30 percent of about one million votes.

“You cannot buy national attention like this,” new Valdosta State University President Patrick Schloss said. “It comes out of the community, the athletes and the university community coming together. It was my first day here, and it was bigger than anything I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a lot of big things.”

Indeed, the feel around Bazemore-Hyder and the various outlets which showed the “SportsCenter” broadcast was that this was one of the biggest things to ever hit Valdosta.

The city thinks so too, as road signs were being made Monday evening marking Valdosta as TitleTown USA.

“TitleTown USA is about being the best sports town in the nation, and all that it has to offer,” Cagle said. “The enthusiasm ingrained in the tradition here, I think, that’s what ... sports is all about.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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