CELINA-Five new members of the Clay County Sports Hall of Fame will be enshrined during ceremonies Saturday, January 17 here at halftime of the Clay County Lady Bulldogs home game with Gordonsville—which tips off at 6 p.m. and is followed by the Bulldogs matchup with the Panthers.

A meet-and-greet reception for this year’s class, their families, previous inductees, and others will be held prior to the game beginning at 4:30 p.m. The public is also encouraged to attend.

Four new members were voted into the athletes and coaches division, and the class will also include one heritage member—who are people whose careers occurred at least 50 years ago.

Over 100 previous hall of fame inductees were invited to cast their vote by electronic ballot to determine this year’s class, and their votes chose the five new members to be inducted this year.

The 2019 honorees are:

Athletes & Coaches

Gary J. Strong—who has an impressive playing and coaching career spanning nearly 50 years, which encompasses stints in four different sports and began as a star Bulldog basketball and baseball player at Celina High School (CHS) from 1972 to 1975.

Strong garnered all-district honors two years (1974-1975), an all-region honor (1975), and made the All-Mid-State Team his senior season, all during his campaign on the hardwood. He was also a part of the first Bulldog basketball team to ever advance to the Sub-State and a starter on the baseball team for two years (1973-1974), before the program ceased in 1975.

Upon graduation from MTSU, Strong returned to his alma mater as a teacher and coach to restart the baseball program—which kicked off a four-decade-long coaching career that still continues today.

Along the way, Strong has been the CHS girls and boys basketball team’s assistant coach, the head junior high basketball coach in both Celina and Cookeville, an assistant junior high football coach, an assistant high school basketball and baseball coach at Upperman, the head basketball coach at Cookeville High School, and he currently serves as the Clay County Lady Bulldog volleyball coach—a position he has held for the last 12 years.

Saylor Walden—who was a true two-sport star in basketball and baseball, and also played football at Clay County High School (CCHS)—all from 2002 to 2006. He made all-district in two sports multiple years and holds a school record in a third.

A consistent scorer and great free-throw shooter, Walden made some kind of all-district team all four years in basketball—including Tri-Lakes All-Conference 1st Team twice and he was also a three-time all-district player in baseball.

Walden scored 1,354 career points in basketball and grabbed 208 rebounds. He had a career 81% mark from the foul line, likely one of the best in school history, and he helped lead CCHS to its first-ever appearance in the state tournament—which was the first for a Bulldog team in 20 years, with Celina High School having made it two decades before that.

He led the Bulldog baseball team in batting percentage as a junior and senior and he also holds the CCHS school record for the longest punt return in football covering 83 yards and won the Carmen C. Brown Best Male Athlete award as a senior at CCHS.

Deanna (Donaldson) Pouliot—who was a multi-sport athlete lettering in basketball, softball, and golf all four years of her Celina High School career spanning from 2000 to 2003, but she is best known for her prowess on the hardwood as one of the Lady Dawgs’ greatest point guards of all-time while playing on some of legendary head coach Joe Sims’ best teams as a three-year starter.

During her career, Pouliot scored 917 points, pulled down 319 rebounds, and dished out 318 assists to help her team amass an impressive overall record of 104-23; win four district titles, two region championships, and two substates; and finish in the State Tournament Final Four in 2001 and as the State Runner-up in 2002.

She received All-Tri-Lakes Conference Honorable Mention, District All-Tournament, and Region All-Tournament her sophomore season; All-Tri-Lakes Conference 1st Team, District All-Tournament, Region All-Tournament, and State All-Tournament her junior year; and All-Tri-Lakes Conference 1st Team, District Tournament MVP, and Herald-Citizen All-Upper Cumberland 3rd Team her senior season.

Pouliot also received a scholarship to play at Roane State Community College and had an excellent career at the next level, where she became one of the leading free throw shooters in the nation.

Kenny Garrett—who was feared as one of the most imposing defensive players ever to don the black-and-gold, and left his mark on Celina High School football with toughness, effort, and all-out dominating play from his linebacking position from 1985 to 1988.

Garrett stands alone as his school’s all-time leading tackler with 299, holds the single-season mark with 129 tackles his senior year, and ranks second for the most stops in a single game with 21 against Gordonsville in 1988.

Besides those unprecedented defensive numbers, Garrett was a bonafide All-Mid-State first-teamer three times in his career—which was a prestigious honor given across all classifications at the time by both the Nashville Banner and Tennessean newspapers.  He was also an Associated Press All-State honorable mention his senior year and named All-District 5-A twice.

On the defensive side of the ball, he led his Bulldog teams to a 33-14 overall record throughout his career and they only allowed an average of 10 points per game during the same stretch. Garrett is widely considered Celina High School’s greatest defensive player of all time.

Heritage Athlete

The late John Clark Donaldson—who played both football and basketball for Celina High School all four years of his career from the fall of 1956 to the spring of 1960, when he was the captain of the Bulldogs on the hardwood his senior season and was named the Most Athletic Senior of the graduating Class of 1960.

Donaldson was an outstanding fullback and lineman during his football career and played for legendary head coach John Teeples during the golden age of Bulldog football. He earned All-Cordell Hull Conference honors his junior year, All-Upper Cumberland Conference honors his senior year, and the 1958 Best Lineman Award.

He was also Valedictorian, Class President, and Student Council President of his class, before he completed his course of study in three years at Tennessee Tech and became one of very few to be accepted into Auburn University’s Veterinarian School—where he obtained his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine in 1967.

Donaldson returned home to Celina to become Clay County’s first veterinarian and served as a member of the Clay County School Board for 30 years, where he was the board chairman the majority of that time and a lifetime supporter of all Clay County sports.

HOF info online

The Clay County Sports Hall of Fame has established an online presence at www.claycosportshof.com, a website featuring a list of current members, current nominees, full rankings from this year’s voting, and more.

The website, developed pro bono by Weaver Web & Print, also serves as the platform for balloting by current members—who are invited to cast their votes annually to induct future classes.

Though it is partially still in the construction phase, the website will also feature individual Hall of Fame classes and photos in the future.

Besides the voting platform and other attributes, the most important aspect of the website is the availability of a nomination form at all times, because the future of the organization depends on the public’s nomination of those deserving of induction.