Class of 2013

2013 Georgia Hall of Fame

Brad Hughes
Lifetime
Brad Hughes is a lifelong resident of Cartersville, Georgia. He and his wife Pam are the proud parents of two sons. They are dedicated members of Cartersville First Presbyterian Church. Brad is the Purchasing Manager for the New Riverside Ochre Company. 

As a founding member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Bartow County, Brad has implemented trailblazing ideas and encouraged forward thinking from everyone around him. His leadership titles at the Club have included Board Chairman, Vice Chair, Resource Development Chairman, Strategic Planning Chairman, Area Council Liaison and Executive Committee Member. 

Brad has been nationally recognized for his outstanding service by Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He has been deemed the Georgia Board Member of the Year, in addition to receiving the National Medallion and the President’s Volunteer Service Award.  

He is a vocal and persistent advocate for the Organization and Movement in all personal, professional, church, and civic endeavors. Brad’s vision and continued dedication to the Movement has enabled the Organization to flourish. Brad remains steadfast in his commitment to the Boys & Girls Club’s Mission, always striving to do what was best for the youth of our Community, State, and Region.
Alex Mills
Lifetime
In 1947 Alex Mills was named the senior Most Likely to Succeed at Concord North Carolina High School. He has definitely accomplished a great deal of success since his first job at the age of nine in 1938 as a newspaper carrier in Concord, North Carolina.

Service work has always been Alex’s calling. In his early years, he served as the Program Director of the Concord North Carolina Boys Club and pastor at Tillery Baptist Church. Alex pioneered youth athletic programs in Rome and Floyd Counties and shaped the lives of many through football, basketball and wrestling programs at the Boys Club. In 1955 he founded and organized the nationally recognized Boys Club Choir, which was active until 1989. The Choir traveled over 67,000 miles and visited 23 states and two Canadian Provinces.  

Alex moved to Rome in 1955 to serve as Executive Director of the Rome Boys Club. With an impressive tenure of 37 years as Executive Director, he served three more years as Director of Development before retiring from in 1996. With a total of 55 years of service to youth, Alex transformed the Rome Boys and Girls Club into a community icon that has touched the lives of more than 28,000 youngsters in Rome and Floyd Counties. In addition to this direct sevice, Alex served on the National Board of Directors for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Since retiring, he continues to serve youth in a volunteer capacity.

In addition to his work with Boys & Girls Club, Alex has been called on to perform ministerial duties, including weddings and funerals. He can be found volunteering in some capacity each Sunday morning. He was also very active in other community building organizations. He constructed ten Christmas Floats for the Rome Christmas Parade. Alex held charter memberships in several organizations, including the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Council, Citizen’s Council for the Arts and Civil Air Patrol, where he was the only chaplain among the charter group. With his interest in youth, it was only fitting that he join the Rome Noon Optimist Club in 1955. 

Alex has been recognized for his work with youth by numerous organizations in Rome and Floyd Counties. In 1979 he was honored by Rome and Floyd Counties with the designation of an “Alex Mills Day.” It is only suiting that he be honored for shaping the lives of so many youth through his work in athletics at the Boys & Girls Club in Rome and Floyd.  
Carl Rollins
Lifetime
Carl Rollins grew up in the Dawnville community just outside of Dalton, "on a dirt road" as he sometimes likes to say. Carl graduated 1960 from North Whitfield High School and went to Mercer University in Macon. He completed his undergraduate work in 1964 and law school in 1966.

At Mercer he served as President of senior class, Chief Justice of the Honor Council, Vice President of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, and was an ROTC Distinguished Military Graduate.

Carl was admitted to the Georgia Bar in June of 1966. From 1966-1968 he served two years in the US Army as a commissioned officer at Fort Gordon (Augusta) and served as a law instructor of the Military Police School. At the completion of his service, Carl returned to Dalton and joined the McCamy Law Firm in 1968 where he practiced civil law for the next 23 years. In 1991 he joined Shaw Industries as Vice President of Administration and an Officer of the company. He retired from Shaw in March 2003. 

Carl's Boys & Girls Club involvement had a great impact on the Dalton community. He started planning a Dalton club with Jim Hazel and Jim McFarland in early 2001. The Club opened at the beginning school in 2002. The Dalton Club was renamed the Carl Rollins Unit in May 2003 when Warren Buffett came to speak at the annual dinner.

He completed his board service in 2003 after health issues after the Club's opening. His service began a family legacy of Boys & Girls Club support as his daughter Betsy served on the Dalton Board in 2003 which saw the merger of surrounding counties. His son, Wyatt, is currently serving on the Board of BGCGMW and is Chairman of the Chattooga County Unit Advisory Committee.

Carl is an avid nature photographer, having produced an extensive and beautiful body of work from many of our National Parks. One of his photographs of the Slot Canyons in Utah won an award at the Houston Woodlands Art League. A life-long music lover, he's particularly fond of bluegrass gospel. He is a current member of Christ Church Presbyterian in Dalton. He and his wife Carole have two grown children and 4 grandchildren.
Don Russell
Lifetime
Don and Mary have been married for 45 years and have two grown children with two grandsons. They moved to Bent Tree in 1997 and are both involved in church and volunteer organizations. Don worked as a program/project manager and Mary as a Christian Educator.  
Don’s education includes extensive post-graduate work in the management field. Don was the Pickens County 2001 Citizen of the Year. 

 
Involvements in the past 14 years: 
• Founder & Chairman – Pickens Co. Community Resource Association, Inc. 
• Founder & President – Community Thrift Store 
• Co - Founder & Board Member – Community Emergency Shelter 
• Founder & Treasurer – North Georgia Men’s Christian Fellowship 
• Former President – Pickens Co. Family Connections 
• Founder – Prison Ministry After-Care 
• Former Board Member – The Joy House 
• Former Executive Director – Keep Pickens Beautiful 
• Former Chairman – Community/Social Development Task Force of the Pickens Co. Economic Development Commission 
• Former Member – Georgia Mountain Hospice Advisory Board 
• Former Board Member – Good Samaritan Health & Wellness Center 
• Founder & Board Member – Boys & Girls Club of North Georgia 
• Founder & Director – Community Resource Center 
• Former Board Member – Timothy House  
• Board Member – Ruth House
Jane Seddon WIllson
Lifetime
Jane Seddon Willson is a graduate of Emma Willard School, a preparatory school for girls in Troy, New York and of Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.  

She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law Degree from the University of Georgia in 2006. In the same year, she was honored as a Friend of UGA Alumni. She is a trustee of the University of Georgia Foundation.  

She was the first woman to serve on the Board of Directors of Bellsouth Telecommunications.   

She is President of Sunnyland Farms Inc., a successful company selling food products by mail, which she and her late husband, William Harry Willson, founded in 1948.  

An active member of her community, she served on the Board of the Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority (ADICA) and was Chairman for many years. She was a long time Challengers Club Campaign Chairman of the United Way of SWGA and Board Chairman in 1987.    

She is a past President and serves on the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Albany. In 1992, the Boys and Girls Clubs honored her with their Outstanding Achievement Award and presented the C.A.R.E. Award to her in 1999. In February 2012 she was presented the “Boys & Girls Clubs of America Service to Youth Award”. The South Albany Unit of the Boys and Girls Club is named the Jane Willson Unit.   

She was Albany’s 1983 Woman of the Year. In 2001, she received the Emma Willard School Lifetime Achievement Award. The Girl Scouts of Southwest Georgia recognized her as their 2004 Woman of Distinction. In 2006, Jane and Harry Willson were listed in the YMCA Book of Honors.   

She is a past President of the UMW of the First United Methodist Church, Albany Arts Council, the Albany Museum of Art, the Albany Concert Association, and the Charity League of Albany.  

She has served on the Albany Technical College Board, Albany State University Foundation and Darton College Foundation. While on the board of the Albany Chamber of Commerce, she served as Chairman of the Education Committee. She was on the founding board of Partners in Excellence.  

She is actively involved in the daily operations of Sunnyland Farms, an active member of First United Methodist Church, a board member of The Atlanta Opera and loves to travel.   
 
She has 4 children, and 5 grandchildren – and one great granddaughter.
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