History came alive for Butch Owen when Atlanta schools honored five athletes Friday night with induction into the school district's first athletic hall of fame.
Owen remembered his grandfather Hub Northen (1897-1947).
"It's been 105 years, but there he is," Owen said as he looked up at the black granite plaque on the wall of the entryway to Rabbit Football Stadium, the home of these and future hall of famers.
"All he did was play baseball. At age 15, he had a contract with a Monroe baseball team. Then in 1912, he was with the Brooklyn Dodgers," Owen said. "And here, he and Bear Allday built the first Atlanta baseball field where the fire department is now. Baseball was everything for him."
Owen was 3 when his grandfather died, so Northen's hall of fame membership gives his grandson another way of being close to his grandfather. Owen retired from Dallas and moved here three years ago. He joined about 70 other family members of the five inductees in ceremonies Friday night at the Atlanta Rabbit vs. Pleasant Grove football game.
With the awards reaching back more than a century, the moments brought memories for families and friends of the following inductees:
- major league baseball player Hub Northen, 1886-1947;
- the Rabbits' first coach, for whom they were named, Ed Rabb, 1893-1975;
- the football team's first star, Louis Franklin "Bear" Allday, 1905-1984;
- New England Patriots hall of famer Jimmie Lee "Earthquake" Hunt, 1938-1975;
- four-time state distance champion Sarah Haydel Carter.