Walk of Fame statues get new home in dedicated park
A new destination for visitors to downtown Cedartown has been under construction, but its foundations are built on the legacy of the past.
The Polk County Walk of Fame is getting a new home in a public park along Philpot Street next to the Doug Sanders Golf Museum specifically designed for the bronze statues of historically important local sports figures.
Daniel Morris, who serves as executive director of the Cedartown Coca-Cola museum and co-director of the Sanders museum, said the idea of bringing all of the statues from the Polk County Courthouse to a space where they would be presented in a more formal way.
“This will get the statues much closer together and allow people to come out and have a picnic and be able to walk and sit and enjoy them while also having them secured at night,” Morris said.
Primary funding for the park was obtained through the W.D. Trippe Foundation, with Morris’ family helping to orchestrate the construction and maintenance of the new park.
The area will include a paved walkway with decorative pavers, a flower garden and landscaping throughout, lighting, benches, greenspace, and a perimeter fence. Morris said the park will be open to the public six days a week from dawn to dusk.
All of the statues were removed from the courthouse grounds and prepared to be placed on pedestals. Morris said they hope to have a rededication this summer, about the time that the newest statue — local civil rights leader and former Cedar Hill High School coach Escue Rogers — is ready to be unveiled.
“It’s an important project for us. We really want to do the families of the people who are honored justice as well as honor the statues themselves. I mean they’re really beautiful pieces of art. So for us it’s just one more thing that people will be able to do when they come to downtown Cedartown.”
The Polk County Walk of Fame was initially dedicated in 2016 and honors the Polk County citizens who have been inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame for achievements at the highest levels of sports.
Morris said his family had originally considered constructing the park as part of the Doug Sanders Museum, which opened in August 2020, but didn’t have the time to complete it. The family was able to relocate the Walk of Fame statue of Doug Sanders from the courthouse to a spot just next to the museum before the opening.
“It’s been a concept for about two years and we finally had the time and the resources to get it done,” Morris said. “Thankfully, the W.D. Trippe Foundation is a big supporter of all this
and they wanted the idea and from the get go. They wanted a park that would really sort of do justice to the monuments.”
Including Sanders, the Polk County Walk of Fame consists of six statues currently, with Rogers to be added next year. The new park will have 12 pedestals initially to allow for more statues as additional members are included in the future.
“This will be something that the city will have to enjoy for decades to come, and
it will do right by the families of the people who are honored,” Morris said. “It’s impressive that Polk County has so many accomplished athletes, and this will do their legacy and the statues of them justice.”
The Walk of Fame includes champion Cedartown High School and University of Georgia coach Doc Ayers, NFL football players Ray Beck and Edgar Chandler, college football coach Jimmy Hightower, and MLB player Whitlow Wyatt.