TIFTON – The man who originated the idea for the ABAC Athletics Hall of Fame will join the ranks of former players, coaches, and supporters on April 1 when Michael D. Chason is inducted into the Class of 2022 of the Athletics Hall of Fame at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

ABAC Athletics Director Alan Kramer said the 2022 class also includes the 2002 women’s state championship basketball team, tennis player German Dalmagro, softball player Lee Davis Watson, soccer standout Nikita Morris, tennis player, coach, and contributor Margaret Treadway, contributor and volunteer assistant softball coach James Winfred “Vic” Vickers, contributor and volunteer assistant softball coach Jimmy Spurlin, and three-sport letterman Clayt Hurst.

Tickets to the 6 p.m. dinner on April 1 in ABAC’s Gressette Gym are $40 per person. Tickets can be purchased from the ABAC Athletics Office at (229) 391-4930. Tickets may also be purchased online at https://athletics.abac.edu/inside/hof/2022_Hall_of_Fame_Banquet. The deadline to purchase tickets is March 25. There will be no tickets sold at the event.

“It was during the 100th birthday year of ABAC in 2008, and I was looking for a way to honor the long list of athletes, coaches, and supporters of ABAC athletics,” Chason said. “We recognized that first group at an ABAC basketball game.

“I had the distinct pleasure of calling their names on the public address system in Gressette Gym at halftime while I was live on the radio doing the play-by-play of Golden Stallions’ basketball. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget.”

Chason joined the ABAC staff as the Director of Public Relations in May 1979 after an award-winning career as a sports writer and sports editor of the Valdosta Daily Times. Thanks to the generosity of Ralph Edwards, owner of Tifton radio station WWGS, Chason took on the basketball play-by-play broadcasts of Coach Donnie Veal’s Golden Stallions in November 1979.

“I met Mr. Edwards at the Dale Carnegie course at ABAC that summer,” Chason said. “Although I had never done basketball play-by-play, he had confidence in me. I will be forever grateful to him for the opportunity.”

Chason broadcast ABAC basketball games from 1979 to 2008 as a sideline to his many other duties promoting the college on television, radio, print, and the electronic media. For years, he was the host of “ABAC Update,” a twice monthly television show which aired on stations throughout South Georgia.

Chason retired from ABAC in 2011 after a distinguished 32-year career as the Director of Public Relations.  He was selected for the prestigious E. Lanier Carson Award as ABAC’s top administrator in 2002 and has received the Pacesetter and Superior Pacesetter Awards from the ABAC student newspaper. The ABAC Alumni Association named him an Honorary Alumnus of ABAC in 1986.

After his retirement, Chason returned to work part-time at ABAC and in 2012, he was named Director of Public Relations Emeritus.

The statewide Georgia Education Advancement Council (GEAC) honored Chason with its annual Communications Award in 1994 and with the GEAC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. He was the GEAC President in 1991 and Chair of the University System of Georgia Public Relations Administrative Committee in 1993.

The Tifton Kiwanis Club recognized Chason as a prestigious Hixson Fellow in 2001. A past president of the club, Chason received the Kiwanian of the Year Award in 1991 and the Legion of Honor Award in 2010 for 30 years of service.

A native of Lakeland, Ga., Chason was instrumental in creating the collection of materials, pictures, and artifacts in the ABAC History Room in Tift Hall. On Nov. 5, 2021, ABAC President David Bridges named the room the Michael D. Chason ABAC History Room in an impressive ceremony. The spacious venue displays the history of ABAC from the first day of classes in 1908 through recent years.

The Salutatorian and STAR Student of the Lanier County High School Class of 1970, Chason graduated in 1974 from Valdosta State College where he was a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society, Editor and Sports Editor of the campus newspaper, a Who’s Who at VSC selection, and the Recording Secretary for the Delta Chi fraternity.

Chason is now the owner of Chason Enterprises, LLC, a company which utilizes his speaking and broadcasting skills. He has been the voice of Valdosta State University basketball for 32 years and was named to the Valdosta State Athletics Hall of Fame in January 2022.

Chason and his wife, Kris, are members of Northside Baptist Church in Tifton. They divide their time between Tifton and Saint Simons Island.

The Athletics Hall of Fame dinner is a part of the 2022 ABAC Homecoming celebration. For more information on Homecoming, interested persons can visit www.abac.edu/homecoming or contact the ABAC alumni office at alumni@abac.edu.