George Hoblitzell

Dew graduated from Piedmont’s Bethune High School in 1954. The talent for basketball he displayed at Bethune attracted the attention of Alabama State College. Dew, variously described as 6-foot-10 or 7-feet in height, enrolled at Alabama State and almost immediately worked his way into the Hornets’ starting lineup where he remained for four seasons.

In an early December 1954 win, Dew scored 14 points coming off the bench. A week later, he netted nine points as a starter. He had 19 points in a starting role in mid-January 1955. He led Alabama State in scoring with a game-high 21 points in its final game of his freshman season, a March 1955 loss at the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) tournament at Tuskegee Institute.

When Alabama State defeated Tuskegee Institute 90-61 in Dew’s sophomore season, he scored 24 points. Alabama State opened a new basketball arena at the start of Dew’s junior season in November 1956. In early January 1957, the Hornets set a school single-game scoring record in a 129-50 win over Lemoyne College. Dew’s 10 points made him one of six Hornets who reached double figures in the victory.

Dew scored a game-best 25 points to lead Alabama State past Morehouse 89-62 in late January 1957 as the Hornets improved to 18-3 overall and 11-2 in SIAC play. By the close of the regular season, Alabama State was 20-3 overall and 15-3 in SIAC games, making the Hornets regular-season champions for the first time in 20 years.

As a senior, so important was Dew to the Hornets that they lost a 21-point lead and the game to Benedict College 85-81 in the first round of the SIAC tournament.

In April 1958 National Basketball Association draft, Dew was selected by the Detroit Pistons. He played well in a late-summer training camp for rookies but was cut when the Pistons reduced their veteran roster to 11 players. Dew also played briefly with two Eastern Basketball League teams in December 1958 – the Baltimore Bullets and the Scranton Miners.

During the 1959-60 basketball season, Dew signed on with the Harlem Satellites, a barnstorming team. In early January 1960, he was averaging 29.7 points and the Satellites were on a 92-game winning streak.

Following a June 1961 tryout camp, Dew became the first player signed to a contract by the Pittsburgh Rens of the fledgling American Basketball League. Pittsburgh waived him the second week of September. Dew signed again with Scranton but by mid-October he had joined the barnstorming Harlem Magicians for a 246-game schedule that would extend until mid-May 1962.

Dew toured with the Magicians the next two seasons then gave up playing basketball professionally. He returned to Piedmont, where he taught and coached basketball at Bethune.

A native of Calhoun County and 1965 graduate of Anniston High School, Hobizell devoted his adult life to teaching and coaching. His career included 25 seasons in Alabama, all as a head coach, and 25 seasons coaching in Georgia, with 11 seasons as a head coach. He had a special knack for taking charge of football programs that were struggling and making them successful. In Alabama, Hobizell’s teams were 171-102-2. His Georgia teams were 53-63.

Hobizell’s longest time at one school, and arguably his most successful career stop, came at Piedmont. Prior to his arrival ahead of the 1982 season, the Bulldogs had not had a winning season since the 1974 campaign. Over 13 seasons, Hobizell led Piedmont to a record of 105-44. Piedmont had never reached the AHSAA football playoffs before hiring Hobizell. During his tenure, the Bulldogs made nine playoff appearances, eight times as area champions and once as an area runner-up.

In each of Hobizell’s final seven seasons at Piedmont, the Bulldogs made the playoffs and won at least one playoff game. His 1990 team completed its regular season 10-0 and won twice more in the postseason. In the postseason, Piedmont shut out its three Class 4A, Area 3 opponents in the regular season by downing Cherokee County (34-0), Hokes Bluff (35-0) and Jacksonville (41-0) for an 8-2 record. In the postseason, the Bulldogs defeated Sylvania, Midfield and Deshler before falling to North Jackson (21-6) on the road in the 4A semifinal round.

Hobizell graduated from Jacksonville State University in 1969. After one season as an assistant in Georgia, he became head coach at Douglas High School in 1970. His first year at Douglas was also the first season for football at Douglas and the Eagles finished 4-5-1.

Success followed at Valley Head where his five teams were 34-21-1 with one loss coming in the 1972 1A state championship game and another in the 1976 1A semifinal round. Hobizell led his four Cleburne County teams to a 23-17 record after the Tigers were 23-52-4 over the eight seasons before he was hired.

In Calhoun County, Hobizell was named football coach of the year seven times by his peers and baseball coach of the year once. Overall, he was coach of the year honoree 11 times. 11 of his teams were area or region champions and 23 of his football players were named first-team, second-team or honorable mention all-state.

An all-around athlete at Anniston, Hobizell was a three-year starter in football, basketball and baseball and represented the school at Boys State. As a senior, he was a second-team all-county pick in football and a first-team all-county selection in basketball as a senior.

Hobizell played basketball and baseball at Snead State Junior College and was president of the Student Government Association while at Snead State.