Macon Magazine

80 l MACON MAGAZINE DECEMBER/JANUARY 2013 Sports legends "Where is Mark Smith?" Jag Gholson is making sure people know the answer. Mark Smith High School existed for just five years. It opened its doors in the fall of 1966 and merged with Peter G. Appling and all-girls Lasseter High Schools to form Northeast in 1971 when Bibb County's schools integrated. In that five-year span the Bulldogs made their "mark" athletically, especially in basketball. Their football team beat long- established Lanier High School in just their third year of varsity competition, but their crowning accomplishment was winning the state AAA basketball championship in 1969 beating a tall and talented Carver of Columbus team in double overtime before a capacity crowd at Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the Georgia Tech campus. Carver had 7-foot-tall Fessor Leonard and 6-foot-8 Reuben Whitaker, while Mark Smith's tallest starters, Charlie Anderson Frank Prince and David Lee, stood just 6-foot-4. The other two starters were 6-foot- 1 Cam Bonifay and 5-foot-9 Scott Judd. Gholson, the sixth man on Mark Smith's team, has made it his mission to make sure that his team is not forgotten. Over the last several years he's worked on putting together a documentary that is available for viewing at wheresmarksmith.com. The title, "Where is Mark Smith?," was the question Beach High School coach Russell Ellington asked prior to facing the Bulldogs in the first round of the state tournament. He learned quickly as Mark Smith defeated Beach 52-49. "My motivation was a combination of things, but at the top of the list was a desire to help young athletes be able to keep their dreams alive. This story contains all the elements of a Cinderella-type story that can motivate any sports team," Gholson said. "I felt the story needed to be preserved to allow the younger generations to know that, yes, you can have a dream and with hard work and some luck, it is possible to achieve what may be considered impossible." Gholson said he suspended production of the documentary in early 2010 to redirect his efforts toward having a movie made. "I had a meeting with a person who had produced a number of successful shows while president of CBS Productions. He encouraged me toward the movie route,and that is where my focus has been for the last two years," Gholson said. Gholson thinks the story will eventually become a movie and unlike "Hoosiers", which he says is 10 percent fact and 90 MAKING THEIR MARK M A R K S M I T H H I G H 'S U N L I K E LY S TAT E C H A M P I O N S H I P SPORTS LEGENDS | by bobby pope Mark Smith High's starting five state championship basketball team, le to right, Scott Judd, Charlie Anderson, David Lee, Coach Butch Clion, Frank Prince and Cam Bonifay.

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