GMC News

GMC JC FOOTBALL BEGINS NEW YEAR WITH AWARDS FROM THE PAST

The off-season has been quite a busy one as usual for the GMC JC Bulldogs as they prepare to enter the 2007 season and make good on a pre-season #5 national ranking. Several awards and honors have been coming in, however, which continue to shed attention on glory from the past.

The NJCAA selected and inducted former GMC great and All-American Parnell Ruark into the NJCAA Hall of Fame in this year’s class. Ruark was the first player east of the Mississippi to be selected as a Junior College All-American in 1947. He followed his football success at GMC with a successful run in professional baseball and served in various positions at Georgia Military College over the years. “This recognition was very well deserved and I cannot be any happier for Coach Ruark and his family,” commented current Head Football Coach Bert Williams. “Coach Ruark has had a long and distinguished career at GMC and I am please to see him justly recognized.”

In addition, a group of recent Bulldogs were honored as the 2001 GMC Football Team as a whole was also selected and inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame. The 2001 National Champions amassed a slew of honors, including six NJCAA All-Americans, the NJCAA Coach of the Year, the NJCAA Defensive Player of the Year, the NJCAA Lea Plarski Award recipient, and its defensive unit set an all-time NJCAA record for fewest yards allowed during the season at 67.8 yards per game. “That the 2001 team was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a “TEAM” is especially fitting since that group of young men was the closest I have ever been around. It is a real honor and tribute to an outstanding group of young men, coaches, and support staff,” stated Coach Bert Williams.

Both awards will be officially presented this fall at one of the GMC home football games.

Contact Bert Williams for further details. 445-7211