Musella
Musella, GA · Education
macon-newsroom.com
Hometown Hero: The Untold Story of Macon Sports Legend Tommy Mixon
The year is 1951. A buzzing crowd of high school basketball fans are packed into the 1,800-seat Heisman Gym, home of the Georgia Tech basketball team. On this day, however, it wasn’t the Yellow Jackets taking the hardwood. It was Macon’s Lanier High School Poets. The all-boys Macon team was facing off against the heavily favored and top-seeded Brown High School from Atlanta.
Macon Telegraph
Bibb students, teachers try to get Macon teens to the ballot box
At 17, Northeast High student Ja’Cora Anderson is already counting down the days to her half-birthday in November, when she can register to vote. She’ll be a step closer to having a say in decisions shaping her future. “I feel like voting is not something we should take lightly because we weren’t always given that right,” she said. “We need that right, so we should use it.” But that eagerness is not shared throughout her school, Anderson said. Some of her classmates show little interest, despite local organizations’ sustained voter registration efforts on campus. The challenge is reflected in Macon-Bibb County’s turnout figures . In early voting so far, just 599 voters ages 18 to 24 have cast ballots for the Nov. 3 midterm election, a turnout rate of 0.5%, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office. The group’s turnout was 1% in the May 2026 primary election and fell to 0.3%, or 337 votes, in the June primary runoff. From high schools to college campuses, many students aim to show their peers the impact they can have on a community. “My voice matters,” said Anderson, a three-year participant in Macon-Bibb County’s Georgia Civic Awareness Program for Students, which
Macon Telegraph
from Lanier to Mercer: The story of Macon hometown hero Tommy Mixon
The year is 1951. A buzzing crowd of high school basketball fans are packed into the 1,800-seat Heisman Gym, home of the Georgia Tech basketball team. On this day, however, it wasn’t the Yellow Jackets taking the hardwood. It was Macon’s Lanier High School Poets. The all-boys Macon team was facing off against the heavily favored and top-seeded Brown High School from Atlanta. “Everyone was saying the Lanier High Poets were staying in the tournament on borrowed time,” The Macon Telegraph reported at the time. Many fans never expected the Poets to be in this situation, and it seemed clear to most that their run would end at the hands of Brown. It was assumed that Brown, being from the bigger city, would simply have the superior talent and would handle Macon’s team with ease. To add to the pressure, the Poets would be playing in a hostile environment that night unlike anything they had played in before, as only about 400 of the nearly 2,000 fans were there to support the boys from Lanier. “The Poets were booed lustily,” the Telegraph wrote. “Everytime they walked on the floor and every time they stepped up to make a free throw.”
courierheraldtoday.com
FRIDAY NIGHT SCOREBOARD: Dublin edges Dodge in 100-point thriller; West Laurens picks five to rout Liberty County
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... A runaway shootout in the Shamrock Bowl and an outstanding night in Hinesville for the West Laurens defense and special teams made for an eventful Friday night of high school football in the Heart of Georgia. Bleckley and Johnson counties rolled to a couple more huge wins, and others squeaked by in some late-season region tests.
Macon Telegraph
Late rally by Spalding spoils Westside homecoming as Seminoles fall 28-19
Westside High School appeared poised to pull off a homecoming upset Friday night, but a late comeback by Spalding spoiled the Seminoles’ celebration as they lost 28-19. Despite trailing 19-14 in the third quarter, the Jaguars scored 14 unanswered points to secure the 11-point victory, improving to 5-3 on the season while dropping Westside to 2-6. The Seminoles were led by an explosive performance from junior quarterback Jaiden Stephens, who made several spectacular plays with his legs to keep Westside in the game. Stephens’ biggest play came midway through the third quarter, when the Seminoles faced fourth-and-1 deep in their own territory. The junior tucked the ball, ran up the middle of the defense and broke through the middle of Spalding’s line to blast his way to a 70-yard scoring run, giving Westside a short-lived 19-14 lead. Westside head coach James Harris said Stephens’ athletic ability is special, but occasionally needs to be honed in. “Anytime you have an athlete playing quarterback, they think they can make every play,” Harris said. “He wants to make every play. He needs to determine when to make a play and when to just throw the ball away.” Before that explosive play from Stephens,