The area's greatest athlete passes

Over the weekend, Felix "Doc" Blanchard of Bishopville died in his Texas home at the age of 84. If Blanchard was playing during the ESPN and internet era, he would have been as big a name as Tim Tebow. The Army running back was the first junior to win the Heisman and won back to back national championships in 1944 and 1945.
In 2004, Mark Haggard and I decided to take on the project of profiling the 15 greatest athletes from the Pee Dee and Grand Strand. We selected a panel of local experts who had a lot of experience and insight in our area to vote on the top athletes from our area. As always, lists like this are subjective. Here is the list we had in 2004:

WPDE's 15 Greatest Athletes of the Pee Dee and Grand Strand

#15: Reggie Sanders (Florence) - MLB

#14: Anthuan Maybank (Georgetown) - Olympic Gold Medal

#13: Buddy Baker (Florence) - NASCAR

#12: Terry Kinard (Sumter) - NFL

#11: Jumpy Geathers (Georgetown) - NFL

#10: Willie Puddin' Head Jones (Dillon) - MLB

#9: Bobo Newsom (Hartsville) - MLB

#8: Pearl Moore (Florence) - women's basketball (FMU)

#7: John Abraham (Lamar) - NFL

#6: Levon Kirkland (Lamar) - NFL

#5: Harry Carson (Florence) - NFL

#4: Cale Yarborough (Sardis) - NASCAR

#3: Freddie Solomon (Sumter) - NFL

#2: Bobby Richardson (Sumter) - MLB

#1: Doc Blanchard (Bishopville) - Heisman Trophy winner

We did this project five years ago. A couple of interesting things. First, our top three athletes came from what would now be considered outside of our viewing area. If we were to do this list again, we would likely exclude the Sumter players, but keep Bobby Richardson as he lives part of the year here on the Grand Strand. At the time, Harry Carson was not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but now he is. I always thought that Carson and Cale Yarborough should have been higher on this list.

Five years later, there would be new names that you would argue could make the top 15list:

Raymond Felton (Latta) - NBA
Ramon Sessions (Myrtle Beach) - NBA
Albert Haynesworth (Hartsville) - NFL
Lawrence Timmons (Florence) - NFL
Robert Geathers, Jr. (Georgetown) - NFL
Dustin Johnson (Myrtle Beach) - PGA

This was a fun project that gave us a great history lesson on our area when it comes to athletes. Doc Blanchard was a very private person and we were fortunate enough to talk to him just outside of Manning when he came to visit his sister. Blanchard never got to play in the NFL, because he chose to honor his military commitment. If there's one thing this project taught us, this area is a fertile ground when it come to elite athletes. Perhaps a couple of years down the road, we will re-visit this project and update our 15 greatest athletes from the Pee Dee and Grand Strand.

Just to put Blanchard's legacy in perspective. Imagine if a modern day Heisman winner went #3 overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the draft and went to Iraq or Afghanistan instead and never played pro football. That's what Blanchard did to serve our country and a lifetime of "what if" when it comes to professional football.