By Tim Morse
The Georgia Dugout Club will welcome six new members into its Hall of Fame at its annual Coaches Convention on December 11, 2020 at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel & Convention Center.
The Class of 2021 includes former Dublin head coach Chuck Beale, Jeff Davis head coach Paul Glass, Alltoona head coach Keith Hansen, former Marist coach and Lovett athletics director Steve Franks, umpire Jack Martin and Starr’s Mill head coach Brent Moseley.
“I was impressed with this group,” said Georgia Dugout Club Executive Director Harvey Cochran. “That’s a good group of guys going in who are well-deserving.”
Beale and Hansen’s induction will make history. Chuck Beale will join his brother Billy, while Keith Hansen will join his brother George as the first sets of brothers inducted into the GDC Hall of Fame.
Chuck Beale
Dublin
Chuck Beale wanted to be at the top of his game as a player.
But deep-down inside, he said there wasn’t any doubt what he wanted to do after his playing days were over.
“I wanted to coach,” the longtime head baseball coach at Dublin High School and Tift County said.
Beale said he is thrilled to be inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame.
“It’s a big honor,” he said. “It’s a big honor for the kids who played (under me) as well as myself. I had a lot of good players and a lot of good assistants. I’m definitely excited.”
After playing baseball and football at Willingham High and Southwest Macon, he played two years of college baseball at Middle Georgia and was a part of the 1975 team that finished third at the Junior College World Series. He transferred to Valdosta State after the ’75 season and played under legendary coach Tommy Thomas, also a member of the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame.
At Valdosta State, Beale was part of a team in 1977 that finished third in the NCAA Division II College World Series.
He was hired at Evans Junior High after college where he was an assistant in football, baseball and track & field from 1977-79. He landed at Tift County in 1979 where he coached football and baseball until 1990 when he went to Dublin to serve as the school’s head baseball coach. He also coached football and softball until 2001 when he went back to Tift County, again coaching football and baseball before becoming Tift’s head baseball coach in 2004.
He served in that capacity until 2012 when he retired.
Beale’s coaching career was a successful one. He compiled an overall record of 362-183-2 in 19 seasons as head baseball coach at Dublin and Tift County. During his tenure, he said he was blessed to have coached both of sons – Chuck, Jr. as well as Rusty.
The longtime coach credited playing under such coaches as Billy Henderson, a GDC Hall of Fame member, and Edgar Hatcher. But perhaps his biggest mentor was his father, Billy Beale, Sr., who coached him in football at SW Macon.
“Dad instilled the love of sports in me,” Beale said. “He was always willing to play catch or whatever. I played football just to play for my dad.”
While Beale coached at Dublin, he had an impact on a young coach at a region rival school trying to make his mark in the Georgia high school coaching circle. Todd Eubanks, now the head coach at South Effingham High, said Beale gave him a warm welcome when he was the coach at Peach County after coming from Tusculum University.
“He was very helpful and he always did the right things,” Eubanks said. “When you played his teams, they were always well-prepared and played the game with class. He was always quick to offer encouragement.”
Chuck Beale will join his oldest brother Billy in the GDC Hall of Fame.
To say the Beale’s are a baseball family is an understatement. Billy retired from coaching Lincoln County High and his younger brother Ricky is the head baseball and softball coach at Evans High. Chuck’s two sons – Chuck, Jr. is the head baseball coach at Johnson County, while Rusty is currently an assistant at Cook.
“One year I think the Atlanta newspaper did an article on me, Billy and Ricky when we were all in the baseball playoffs,” Beale said. “That was our life. Without question, we knew what we wanted to do.”
And that was coaching.
Steve Franks
Marist/Lovett
His time as a high school baseball head coach was short.
However, a closer look at Steve Franks’ coaching resume as The Marist School’s varsity baseball coach and its hard to overlook his achievements — two state titles (1990, 1993) in a four-year span.
A strong ambassador for amateur sports, Franks will be inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021.
“I’m humbled by it,” he said. “When Bobby Howard and Hugh Buchanan told me I was going in, I told them there had to be somebody better. I only did it for four years. They told me there was no telling how many kids Jerry (Queen) and I had put into college. I owe a lot of gratitude to Jerry Queen.”
Franks teamed up with Queen, a GDC Hall of Fame member, to help Marist put together one of the state’s most-dominant runs in history from 1980-1993 when the school won six state baseball titles and finished as state runner-up twice. Franks was Queen’s assistant from 1980-89 before he took over the program.
He also coached football from 1980-1994 and served as the school’s athletic director for five years before jumping into the college ranks and becoming an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Vanderbilt in January, 1995. He moved into athletic administration as Assistant Athletic Director/Football Operations in December, 1996, then served as Associate Athletic Director of Operations from 2000-04 before returning to Georgia and becoming the Athletic Director of The Lovett School in June of 2004. He retired in 2019.
Franks’ baseball ties helped lure a young assistant coach named Tim Corbin from Clemson to Vanderbilt, who would eventually lead the Commodores to national baseball titles in 2014 and 2019.
“He’s a first-class individual as a coach and as a person,” said former Parkview coach and GDC Hall of Fame member Hugh Buchanan.
“He has worn a lot of hats over the years. I couldn’t be happier for him. He was a very talented baseball coach. He also had a way of dealing with youngsters that was very unique. He helped drive them not just on the field, but also off the field. He helped carry them the right way.”
A native of Russellville, Ala., Franks played on three state championship football teams in high school. He graduated from North Alabama in 1974 with his bachelor’s degree, then received his master’s in Administration/Supervision from West Georgia in 1982.
At Lovett, he oversaw more than $28 million worth of athletic department projects.
He was state Coach of the Year twice and recognized by the Atlanta Braves 400 Club as its High School Coach of the Year in 1993. He was Assistant Football Coach of the Year six times and served as the state coordinator for Team Georgia, which annually competes in the Sunbelt Classic in McAlester, Oklahoma. In 2013, Franks was named Georgia High School Athletic Director of the Year by the Georgia Athletic Directors Association.
But Franks’ biggest impact perhaps came during his time at Marist.
“When Coach Queen and I coached together, we sort of had this good cop, bad cop deal,” Franks said. “I was the good cop, while he was the bad cop. I enjoyed my role, but about a year or two before he retired, we changed roles. He told me he was tired of the bad cop role and wanted to be the good cop. We played Columbus High and they beat us pretty bad. I used to keep this little book where I wrote down the things we needed to work on. After the game, Coach Queen talked to the team about things we needed to do better, and then he asked me if I had anything I wanted to say.
“I told them, ‘Yeah, I do,’ and that it was going to take a while. I ripped into them like there was no tomorrow. I even got onto the guys chasing down the foul balls. After my tirade, coach came up to me and told me he was proud of me and that I had figured out the bad cop thing. Coach Queen was a good man and a consumate coach. There’s no way I would have had the success I had without him.”
Known as a player’s coach, Franks said his greatest honor is the countless emails, texts and phone calls he still receives from former players.
“That is meaningful to me … you can’t put a dollar sign on that,” he said. “A lot of times they call to see how I’m doing or needing advice. I’m just honored to have had a small part and an impact on a kid’s life.”
Paul Glass
Jeff Davis
The radio interview was one that Paul Glass has never forgotten.
When local media personality Stan Rentz, who later served as the Jeff Davis County School Superintendent, asked Glass and another coach to meet at Hardees for his weekly radio show, Glass was a rookie high school baseball coach looking to make his mark in the Southeast Georgia coaching circuit at a school that had never had baseball success. It was his first head baseball coaching job after working in Wayne County as an assistant for six years.
“When people mentioned Jeff Davis High School sports, (former football coach) Tom Hybl and girls basketball coach Hugh McBride always came up,” Glass said. “I thought to myself that it would be nice to be able to throw baseball into the mix one day.”
That was in 1999.
A little more than 20 years later, Glass’ baseball program has put Jeff Davis High on the map. He holds an overall record of 420-223 and his team’s have made the postseason 18 straight years. Before his arrival, the school had never made the state playoffs. He will be part of the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame’s Class of 2021.
“When they first told me I was going in, I said no way,” Glass said. “There are so many other coaches who need to be in there. I don’t feel like I’ve done enough.”
His coaching resume also includes four region titles, six trips to the state quarterfinals, one trip to the semifinals, one state runner-up finish in 2004 and two state championships (2017, 2019). He has been named Region Coach of the Year three times, Georgia Dugout Club Coach of the Year twice and has served as the GDC Southeast All-Star Coordinator since 2007.
But his trip into coaching is a story in itself.
A native of Jacksonville (Ala.), Glass played on two NCAA Division II National championship teams at Jacksonville State under Alabama Sports Hall of Fame coach Rudy Abbott. But when his playing career was nearing its end, Glass wasn’t sure of his future career. His parents were in the business world, while his brother was in the insurance business.
“That was like speaking another language,” Glass said. “I didn’t get it. We were at practice one day talking about classes and majors. I got to thinking I could just coach. That could be my living and I’d still be involved (in baseball).”
Glass didn’t start coaching at the top. In his first three years at Wayne County, he coached the freshman team by himself before eventually moving up to be a varsity assistant. He said it was good experience that prepared him for bigger jobs.
In 1999, he landed at Jeff Davis. And the program hasn’t been the same since.
“He’s one of the good guys in baseball,” Vidalia head coach Brent Korn said. “The way he coaches up his kids says a lot about him. But the thing that separates him from the rest is the way he promotes the game and not just his kids. No matter the uniform, he promotes all players. He does that like no other.”
Keith Hansen
Allatoona
When Harvey Cochran needed some Atlanta Braves tickets to help fulfill a dying wish for a teacher at North Cobb High School in the late 1990s, he reached out to one of his former players named Keith Hansen.
Hansen worked in the Braves’ ticketing department and also in public relations.
“My mom taught at North Cobb and my brother George also taught at North Cobb,” Hansen said. “This teacher was dying of cancer and she loved the Braves. I had access to tickets that nobody could get, so Harvey called me and said Polly (Williams) wants to go to this game and wanted to see if I could get her some tickets. So, I was able to get her some tickets in (former owner) Ted Turner’s box, and (former President) Jimmy Carter was sitting in the box that night. Nobody knew.
“Later on, Harvey came up and thanked me. He asked me if I had thought about teaching and coaching, and that North Cobb had a position. He said he thought he could get me in.”
Hansen took the opportunity. After serving as Cochran’s assistant for four years, he landed as a head coach at Alexander High School, then Cobb County’s newest high school Allatoona in 2008. A little more than 20 years later after securing those tickets to help a friend, Hansen will join his brother George in the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame.
Hansen worked for the Braves from 1992-98 after playing under Cochran in high school. He then graduated from LaGrange College. He spent six years at Alexander before becoming the only coach Allatoona has known. Between the two schools, he has won eight region titles, made the state playoffs in 14 of his 18 seasons as head coach, been to the semifinals three times and finished as Class 6A state runner-up in 2018. His overall coaching record is 383-146.
“I was taken aback when I was told,” Hansen said. “When I think about the GDC Hall of Fame, I think about guys like Hugh Buchanan, Bobby Howard, Harvey (Cochran), Donnie English and Hank Aldridge. I look at those guys in some rarified air. I’m now in the same club. It means two things. One, it’s surreal. Two, it means I’m getting old. It’s a tremendous honor.”
Hansen said he’s had a strong supporting cast to help guide him. His father played baseball in the military and was offered a professional contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers, while his mother was an educator.
“My parents have always been there for me and my brother … they attend every game they can. I will always be grateful to them for their support.”
His older brother George Hansen is the head baseball coach at Kennesaw Mountain High and helped mentor him as a young coach. Keith Hansen also said his wife has always been there for support, as well as other coaches and friends along the way. He added that to be successful as a coach, it is essential to have quality assistant coaches. He thanked Ed Wood, Brad Strickland, David Eeles, Mike Linch, Mike Dennison, Russ Russell, Bob Toolin, Brandon Lunsford, Pecos Galamore, Scott Edwards, Tim Jones and Rusty Bennett for their help.
“He’s done a great job at Allatoona and when he was at Alexander,” Georgia Dugout Club Executive Director Harvey Cochran said. “He’s surrounded himself with good people and he’s very knowledgeable of the game. He’s like a son to me and he’s been special.”
A student of the game, Hansen said he’s taken ideas from some of the state’s best coaches, molded them together and tried to build on the things he learned. But he hopes his players leave his program with a few basic concepts.
“Hopefully, people remember us for how we played the game and that we have respect for the game and for the other teams,” he said.
Jack Martin
Tara Officials Association
One could make the assumption that Jack Martin’s career as a baseball umpire bordered legendary status.
Not only did Martin oversee the Tara Officials Association for more than 50 years, he also was a major figure for the Southern Collegiate Umpires Association. In addition, he helped run the Pro Umpires Clinic for baseball and fast-pitch softball umpire for 13 years.
He will be inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021.
“I’m very proud and honored,” Martin said.
He said it’s a long story how he became an umpire. After working at Reeder and McGahee sporting goods store in Clayton County, he got involved in sports and eventually became an umpire. Not only did he do college baseball games and served as vice-president of the Southern Collegiate Umpires Association, he served as the assigning secretary for Tara Umpires for more than five decades. Martin helped Tara become the largest high school officials association in the state.
And Martin was well-known for promoting the game as well.
“I was putting together a ninth-grade tournament and I called him about umpires,” said Starr’s Mill head baseball coach Brent Moseley, who will be inducted with Martin into the GDC Hall of Fame.
“He told me to go ahead and put it together. He assured me that we would have umpires, even if he had to do it himself. That’s the kind of guy he was.”
But Martin was also big on training local umpires to be sure they had the tools they needed to be successful. In his Pro Umpires Clinics, Martin had famous umps such as the late Harry Wendelstedt, Gerry Davis and Marvin Hudson, three Major League umpires who called the All-Star Game as well as postseason games and the World Series.
As a college umpire, Martin officiated NCAA Division I games that often featured schools from the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern Conferences as well as other state colleges.
And it was normal to see Martin on a crew officiating state baseball championship series in the Georgia High School Association.
“Jack was all about baseball and trying to build baseball and umpiring on the southside for a long time,” said former Jonesboro High baseball coach Don Corr, who now serves as Associate Director at the Georgia High School Association.
“We first met in 1984 and Jack built the Tara organization into one of the best in the state. He trained officials well and also worked with college groups. No matter how short he was on umpires, you always had officials to work your games. You never had to worry about not having officials under Jack Martin. He always did what he could.”
Martin recently retired in 2019 from umpiring college games. He said it wasn’t because he couldn’t do it anymore.
“My reflexes just weren’t as good,” he said. “It was time to get out.”
Brent Moseley
Starr’s Mill
Brent Moseley says he doesn’t like to bore with how he ended up in the coaching profession.
“I had graduated from Jacksonville State in December and my wife and I were getting married a few months later,” he said. “So, I needed a job and I was working the ramp (at the airport) for Delta and I got a call one day from my old high school coach, Coach (Sam) Riddle. He called me and asked, ‘Boy, do you want to coach or not?’ Come up here to (Fayette County High) and meet Coach (Clint) Burton. So, I did that and the rest is history.”
After a short stint as an assistant at Fayette County High, Moseley landed at Fayette County’s newest high school – Starr’s Mill — in 1997.
The only head baseball coach the school has ever known, Moseley will join the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021.
“I know everybody says it’s extremely humbling,” Moseley said. “It really is. When they tell you you’re going in, it’s like one of those wow moments. I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of good players and parents as well as a strong booster club. They built the foundation we have at Starr’s Mill.”
After playing high school at McIntosh, Moseley went to Jacksonville (Ala.) State where he played one season before his playing career ended. After his conversation with Riddle, Moseley was hired at Fayette County in 1994 and he was an assistant baseball and football coach until 1997.
In 24 seasons, Moseley holds a career record of 435-190 with eight region titles, 13 state playoff appearances, seven quarterfinal trips, four semifinal appearances and one state runner-up finish in 2009 when his Panthers lost to Northgate in three games in the Class 4A state championship series.
He has helped get more than 60 players into college and nine into the pros. Since 2017, he has helped coach Team Georgia in the Sunbelt Classic in McAlester, Oklahoma.
Moseley is still an “old-school” coach who doesn’t allow his players to have long hair or not be clean-shaven. He said he’s also big on making sure players wear their shirts tucked in, and they take their hats off when they go inside.
“He is a coach with a lot of character and ethics,” said Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame member David McDonald. “He does things the right way. He genuinely cares about his players whether they are at Starr’s Mill or they are playing for Team Georgia. And college coaches think a lot of him. When he gives them a recommendation on a player, they know to take it serious. He is that kind of a coach.”
While Moseley said he is humbled to be part of GDC Hall of Fame, he knows where his support comes from.
“I’ve been blessed to have had a lot of good players,” he said. “I tell my players this all the time. If you don’t have good players, nobody will have ever heard of Brent Moseley.”