The Chamber of Commerce is hosting its 89th Annual Event on January 28, 2016 at the Central Square Gym. In addition to the changing of Chamber Chairman and business awards, this year’s speaker at the Annual Event is Douglas native Joe Sports.
Sports has played many different roles in Coffee County. He has served as a congressional aide, television newsman, political leader, legislative consultant, and is a former editor of The Douglas Enterprise.
Joe is the son of E. W. and Mae Sports. He grew up on Walker Street in Douglas where he attended and graduated from Coffee High School and South Georgia College. While still in high school, Joe went to work as a news writer and photographer for The Douglas Enterprise and became an associate editor before beginning a two-year tour of duty as an Army photographer in 1957.
For three years (1963-66), Sports was a member of the news team at Channel 10, WALB-TV in Albany. When the owner of the station, James H. Gray, was chosen as Chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, Sports was selected to work as his executive director in Atlanta. After he served two tours in Washington as top assistant to U.S. Senator David Gambrell, Sports opened his own legislative consulting firm in Atlanta. From there he began publishing Georgia Beat, a people-politics newsletter.
In recent years, Sports has spent considerable time in Douglas. In December Joe married Ronda McNeil Davis, a retired Coffee County educator, and they currently reside in Conyers, GA.
Sports said he is excited about his invitation to speak at the Chamber’s Annual Event and is already working on his remarks with the unique title, “You Can Always Come Home Again.”
For more information on the Chamber’s 89th Annual Event, contact the Chamber by phone at 912-384-1873.
– Submitted