Athletics Announces Four More to Hall of Fame

Brookwood School is adding 12 new inductees to its Athletic Hall of Fame, which sits inside the Beverly Athletic Center. The 2021 induction class will be honored on Thursday, October 28th at 5:00 p.m.

This year’s induction class includes ten former Warrior athletes and two former Brookwood coaches, the first two to be inducted. The ten former Warrior athletes include one graduate from the 1970s, five from the 1980s, two from the 1990s, and two from the 2000s.

Tickets for the event are available online at BrookwoodSchool.org under the Athletics tab. Below is the second group of inductee names to be released.

Heather Harper’s versatility across multiple sports places her as one of the premier athletes in school history. Harper lettered in Basketball, Softball, Soccer, Track & Field, and also captained the cheerleading squad for two years.

A five-year starter in Softball, Harper earned Team MVP honors her junior and senior seasons while also serving as Team Captain. Harper was also a five-year starter in Basketball. On the hardwood, she was named All-Region as a junior and earned Team MVP as a sophomore and senior.

Playing on the first Lady Warrior Soccer team in school history, Harper garnered both All-Region and All-State as a junior and senior. She also played in the state’s All-Star game as a senior. Harper then contributed to a school record 4x400 relay team on the Track and threw shotput in Field events.

She was also very involved in Brookwood’s campus life. Harper served as SGA President and was named Homecoming Queen. Currently, she works as a chiropractor in Thomasville at South Georgia Spine, Joint, & Rehab Center and contributes as a Brookwood Boosters Board Member. Her two sons, Rodge ‘24 and Roland ‘28, are current Warriors who excel in multiple sports.

One of the early prominent athletes in Brookwood Athletics history, Jim Chavaux excelled in both Basketball and Tennis for the Warriors.

Chavaux was named to the 1973 All-State Basketball team after his junior season. In his senior year, Chavaux led the Warriors to 21 wins and their first appearance in a State Semifinal for Boys Basketball. He scored 1,021 points in just two seasons of Varsity basketball without the help of a 3-point line.

Chavaux was a two-time Team MVP for the Warriors and is one of the program’s all-time leading scorers in points per game.

Leigh Ann Johnson was a star in the late 1980s for the Brookwood Lady Warriors in Softball and Basketball, starting on Varsity for five years in both sports. Johnson was named the Outstanding Female Athlete for the Class of 1989.

She was a five-time All-Region selection on the Softball diamond and named All-State in 1984, 1987, and 1988. Johnson was also named Team MVP for three different seasons. At the plate, she carried incredible batting averages of .610 as a junior and .660 as a senior.

On the basketball court, Johnson garnered All-Region honors four times and earned All-State recognition in both 1988 and 1989. She was selected as Team MVP twice for the Lady Warriors. Johnson went on to play basketball collegiately at Piedmont College.

Mattison Dunaway was a three-sport star for the Warriors in the mid-1980s. Remarkably, he was named All-State his Senior year in Football, Basketball, and Baseball. During his career, Dunaway won State Championships in both Football and Baseball, while finishing as a State Runner-up twice in Basketball.

On the football field, Dunaway was named All-State and All-Region as an upperclassman for the 1985 and 1986 seasons. He was Team MVP and an All-Star game selection as a senior in 1986. Then-coach Ronnie Jones at the time said, “Pound-for-pound there’s no doubt Dunaway is the best football player we have ever coached - both offensively and defensively.”

In basketball, Dunaway led the Warriors to 22 wins and a State Runner-up finish as an All-State point guard in 1987. He was also an All-Star selection and named All-Tournament that year.

Baseball was Dunaway’s most prolific sport. He was a five-year starter for the Warriors and named All-Region in 1985, 1986, and 1987. He earned All-State honors in 1986 and 1987. As a junior, Dunaway batted a red-hot .500 at the plate for the 1986 State Champion team, including an important homerun in the State Championship game. As a senior in 1987, he was named Team MVP and then went on to play baseball collegiately at Mercer.

While at Brookwood, Dunaway stayed busy outside of athletics as well - serving as class president, Key Club President, participating in Fellowship of Christian Athletes and being named to the Headmaster’s List. Dunaway was also inducted into the Thomasville-Thomas County Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.