Counting down Southwest Georgia’s Top 10 sports stories of 2014 — No. 1: Buster Posey, Ricardo Lockette win world titles

ALBANY – In a city in southwest Georgia with the population of a little more than 77,000, two athletes earned the coveted title of a World Championship — San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey and Ricardo Lockette of the Seattle Seahawks.

Most areas this size never have an athlete win a world championship, let alone two in the same year. However, Posey and Lockette did just that in 2014.

Posey, the San Francisco Giants catcher, is the core player on a team that has been to the National League Championship Series three times in his five-year career and won the World Series three times.

Since his call-up to the Majors, Posey has done nothing but succeed. In addition to three World Series titles, he was also the 2010 National League Rookie of the Year, the NL MVP in 2012, a two-time All-Star and the NL batting champion in 2012.

Long before Posey donned a major league uniform, there was one man that new he had a star in the making — former Lee County High School baseball coach Rob Williams. Williams now serves as the school’s athletic director.

“It was in his ninth grade year and I was taken aback by his knowledge of the game,” Williams said. “Buster always had the ability to analyze his strengths and weaknesses. So many athletes are concerned about working on what they do well. Buster will spot a flaw and work on improving his game. You have so many kids today who don’t want to work on what they don’t do well.”

His desire to be the best has driven him to be one of this area’s two World Champions.

The other World Champion made his mark on the gridiron. His journey to the Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks is a lesson in perseverance.

In 2011, Lockette was signed to the Seattle Seahawks’ practice squad as an undrafted free agent at the end of the NFL lockout. After being released by Seattle on September 3, he was resigned again to the Seahawks practice squad the next day.

On December 14, 2011, he was promoted to the Seahawks 53-man active squad. During the 2011 season, Lockette made a crucial 44-yard reception against the 49ers in a loss, and a 61-yard touchdown reception in an overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

However, despite those successes, he was cut from the final roster after the 2012 season and resigned to the practice squad, only to be released again. Then Lockette was signed to the San Francisco 49ers practice squad on September 24, 2012. However, Lockette was released a year later to make room for the 49ers backup quarterback in Seneca Wallace.

Then the Chicago Bears came calling. Lockette was signed to the Bears practice squad on September 1, 2013, but his stint with the Bears was short-lived as he was waived on October 21.

One day later, the Seahawks picked him up again. During his second stint with Seattle, Lockette became a special teams player and won a Super Bowl ring with the Seahawks when they defeated Denver in Super Bowl XLVIII.