BILLY HENDERSON

Billy Henderson is best known as a GACA Hall of Fame high school coach at Willingham and Clarke Central, but he was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1962 purely as an athlete. A Macon newspaper reporting his induction reported that Henderson was “believed to be the only prep athlete in Georgia to ever earn All-American honors in two sports, being named in football and baseball.” Henderson was a two-time All-Southern football player and three-year starter at Macon’s Lanier High. According to the Macon News, he scored a GIAA-record 150 points in nine games as a senior (the equivalent of 25 touchdowns), breaking Clint Castleberry’s record of 138. The GIAA was Georgia's highest level at the time and included about a dozen of the state's largest schools. Henderson scored 318 points throughout his career, more than 50 touchdowns, in what was a low-scoring era. Henderson played football and baseball at Georgia and then two seasons of minor league baseball. Henderson had a long career as a Georgia high school coach and won 285 games and state championships at Clarke Central in 1977, 1979 and 1985. Henderson was inducted into the inaugural class of both the Athens and Macon Sports Halls of Fame in 2000. He was inducted into the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2004. Henderson passed away Feb. 14, 2018, at age 89.