EDDIE LEE IVERY

Eddie Lee Ivery was a starter at running back and safety for Thomson High and rushed for 1,701 yards, averaging more than 10 yards per carry, for a 6-4 team as a senior. He made First-Team All-State and was one of the state’s top recruits. Ivery went on to play at Georgia Tech, where he became the school’s all-time leading rusher with 3,517 yards and finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1978. The highlight of that season was his outstanding 356-yard performance against Air Force. He scored on runs of 80, 73 and 57 yards in snowy conditions. Ivery was selected by the Packers with the fifteenth-overall pick in the 1979 NFL Draft. He played eight seasons, appearing in 72 games with 50 starts despite suffering a torn ACL on the third carry of his first NFL game against the Chicago Bears. He reinjured the knee two years later, but despite the two knee surgeries that wiped out two seasons, Ivery led the Packers in rushing three times. In 1992, he went back to Georgia Tech and got his degree. Ivery has worked in Tech’s athletic department and has helped coach at Thomson in his retirement. Ivery was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.