COVINGTON, Ga. — Inside the “old Newton High School,'' trophy cases showcasing the Rams’ past athletic achievements wrapped around the commons area. When moving to the current campus at 1 Ram Way, that case had to be downsized and much was packed up in a storage unit upstairs due to the lack of space. 

Newton athletic director Vincent Byams believes that memorabilia represents a rich history that deserves highlighting. That’s why he’s been working on a plan to celebrate past student-athletes’ achievements – something different than just storing the trophies and pictures of years gone by in a storage unit. 

On Feb. 3, a part of that plan came to light when he announced, via Newton athletics’ Twitter and Facebook pages, a Newton High School hall of fame.  

In fact, Byams included this project on his five-year plan that he instated a year into becoming the school’s athletic director. 

“I always saw there was a disconnect between the alumni and Newton itself. Other than just homecoming, there wasn’t necessarily a celebration of the famous alumni who came through,” Byams said. “I think it’s only right to celebrate those people. I’m sure those four years when they were student-athletes here, they had a good time or it has a lot to do with where they are now. It’s about celebrating them, their accomplishments and letting the community know as well.” 

Newton High is in the process of setting up an alumni board that will be tasked to head up the voting process and qualifications. The school hopes to have the committee and qualifications for induction set in the near future.  

The inaugural class will be 10 total former Ram student-athletes and subsequent classes will consist of four to five honorees per year. 

Byams wants to see the board and its members adopt a particular process when deciding future classes. 

“We’re looking at one per decade. We don’t miss anybody in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, etc,” Byams said. “Recency bias always plays a role in the process of picking people. You have some guys doing some great things now who graduated four years ago. But you can’t forget about those from 40 years ago. We want to make sure those people are covered.” 

Byams’ tweet announcing that the hall of fame was in the works drew a lot of attention. According to Twitter analytics as of Wednesday, the tweet had 9,506 views, 61 likes, three retweets and five quote tweets. 

Included in the tweet, Byams asked, “Who should be the first 10 inductees?”

A plethora of names were thrown out by various people. The top four names mentioned were Ron Bradley, Dale Carter, Tim Hyers and Jake Reed. Additionally, Tim Christian, Ashton Hagans, Kantrail Horton and Kenny Gillstrap had a few people vouching for their induction. 

Byams was not at all shocked by the response, but it did confirm to him that it was time to get the wheels moving. 

“I don’t want to rush it — especially something like the hall of fame. You want to make sure it’s done right,” Byams said. “You want to honor them in the right way. You don’t want to just put up a picture with a name on the wall and not let them know they’re being recognized.”

People can see the hall of fame on display down the hall from the main gymnasium entrance upstairs at Newton High School. Cady Studios did the design work as well as the setup of the wall. 

After the inaugural class is decided and announced, a picture of each Ram alumni along with a plaque for their name will be a part of the display. 

It is still uncertain who will be included in the first-ever hall of fame class. But, whoever they are, Byams believes it will be a great representative of the history of Newton High athletics. 

“It’s the ‘One Ram Way’ of doing things,” Byams said. “The starting point will be their athletic accolades from the field or court, but the other piece will be how they represent well at another level as well.”