One of Cedartown’s most decorated coaches in school athletics is getting inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
Escue Rodgers, who was synonymous with Cedar Hill High School athletics for more than two decades during the 1950s and 1960s, was selected to be inducted in the Legends category of the Hall of Fame.
Hall of Fame co-chairs Don Leebern III and Emily Parker Myers recently announced the full class of 2021, which also includes Tony Barnhart, Tom Glavine and Ray Lamb.
Rodgers was a native of Atlanta, graduating from Booker T. Washington High School and attending Morris Brown College. He received a degree in teaching and became head coach and athletic director of Cedar Hill High School in Cedartown.
His teams won 85 trophies in 24 years in football, basketball, and track. He coached all sports at the school. The Cedar Hill Fighting Panthers football team was a perennial winner. During the time of segregation, Escue was named head Coach of the North Team, the first ever Georgia Interscholastic Association All-Star Team.
His interest was not just to produce a winning football team, but he also felt a coach has an obligation to guarantee his boys a good education. Rodgers was honored during his lifetime with numerous coaching and teaching awards including Coach of the Year from Fort Valley State in 1953, Morris Brown College Outstanding…
