I.J. Rosenberg, Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame chairman
Today’s interviewee is I.J. Rosenberg, chairman of the new Georgia High School Football Hall of Fame. The Hall will induct its first class of 45 players Saturday at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta. Rosenberg is executive director of Score Atlanta, a sports marketing company that administers the Hall of Fame. Sports Atlanta announced the creation of the Hall in February. A 35-member board comprising high school coaches and administrators and media finalized the first class through board voting in July.
1. What are your thoughts now that you're on the eve of the induction, as you look back on the original vision not many months ago and now the first class about to go in? “It has been a whirlwind because this is also the busiest time of the year for my company, so there have been some long days and nights for all of us. But what is exciting is the reaction of the inductees and the fact that many of them will be there and are bringing a lot of family members and friends. Right now, we are sitting at more than 800 coming to the ceremony at the College Football Hall of Fame. From Bill Curry to Herschel Walker, and Stan Rome to Andre Hastings, and Clarence Scott to Charlie Dudish, it’s going to be a gathering of the very best that have played in Georgia. We are also going to have some real surprises, so if you are not going to be there, make sure to watch the stream.” [Fans can watch it on Atlanta First News, formerly CBS46, or the GPB app or the National Federation High School (NFHS) Network.]
2. What’s in store for those who attend? “It’s an opportunity to get up and close with greatness. For instance, Eric Berry will be there with his mother. Eric is one of the greatest defensive backs to ever play in Georgia. and it’s incredible to think about what he went through with Hodgkin's lymphoma during his NFL career and how he was able to overcome it and get back on the field better than ever. I know that is somebody I want to meet. Also, I am going to give a tease to one of the surprises. Watch ESPN “College GameDay” on Saturday from the University of Oregon and you will get to see on a national level the strength of Georgia high school football. I also think that those at the ceremony will get to rub shoulders with some of the pioneers of the Black high school football players in Georgia when the schools were mostly segregated in the state. It was very important to our board that we did a good job here and didn’t miss Black players who were great but were not afforded the exposure that white players had back then.” [Rosenberg’s “GameDay” surprise might involve one of the inductees, David Pollack. Of the 45 inductees, six played in the Georgia Interscholastic Association, which ran sports for African American schools during segregation. They are Rayfield Wright, Mel Blount, Jim Parker, Otis Sistrunk, Clarence Scott and Emerson Boozer.]
3. What's been the reaction of some of the inductees when you've contacted them about making the HOF? “I think the best one came from Richard Dent. Now Dent is one of the greatest defensive ends to play in the NFL and was a Super Bowl MVP for the 1985 Bears for perhaps the greatest defense in NFL history. He was a very, very tough guy on the field and off of it, and I had different people on our staff calling each of the inductees. On Dent, I put our general manager Graham David on him. Graham is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, but it took some time and patience to get Richard to understand what was going to take place here Saturday. And the next thing we know, Richard is flying in from Chicago and has 14 people coming with him.” [Dent played at Murphy in the 1970s and was the first former Georgia high school football player to be named Super Bowl MVP. He was among the first to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame.]
4. What has been the vision for the Hall of Fame, and where do you see it going forward? “I think the vision is similar to what Loren Maxwell and Todd Holcomb and Becky Taylor and others were thinking when they started the Georgia High School Football Historians Association, and that is to tell the story of high school football in Georgia. The GHSFHA website has been able to do it through numbers and statistics, and we are going to do it through these players every year. At the ceremony, the inductees will answer questions from our hosts, Bill Hartman and Matt Stewart, but I asked Charlie Ward to speak for the class. I think Charlie is a perfect example of just how great high school sports is in football. Here is a guy who won a Heisman Trophy and led Florida State to its first-ever national championship. Yet he never played a down in the NFL. But he chose the NBA and played 12 seasons there. Moving forward, we will continue to build a strong class every year, and we’re in the process of developing a webpage and a strong brand and maybe, and I am being very careful here, a place to house the Hall someday.”