Redan hosts ceremony for new hall of fame class

Redan High School inducted five alumni into the school’s hall of fame on March 12 to honor the former students’ athletic careers.

Tommy Beuglas (wrestling), Paxton Briley (baseball), Tico Calzada (swimming), Willando Ficklin (baseball and football), and Laura Williams-Hartman (softball) are the former Redan standouts inducted in March.

Greg Goodwin—a Redan Hall of Fame committee member, former principal, and hall of fame coach at Redan—said the hall of fame is only a few years old but that its goal is to document “the tremendous history of outstanding student athletes who have come through our school.”

“I thought it was important that we tell our story because I don’t think we take a backseat to any school in the state as far as student athletes who have come through Redan,” added Goodwin.

Beuglas was a state champion wrestler at Redan who then coached wrestling for 30 years in Georgia and won state championships at several stops, including Lakeside High School. Beuglas also worked for DeKalb County School District as an athletics coordinator and as Lakeside’s principal, among other roles.

Beuglas had 26 top five finishes in Georgia as a coach, 43 individual state champions, 14 All Americans, four national champions, five nationally ranked teams, and an NCAA All American. His career dual record is 407-54.

“I say he only won state championship as a wrestler, but he won more than 40 as a coach,” said former Redan coach Tommy Barber.

Briley was a two-sport star at Redan where he made All-State teams in both basketball and baseball. He elected to go to Clemson on a baseball scholarship and was eventually drafted by the California Angels. Goodwin added that Briley continues to give back to the Redan community.

Briley was the DeKalb Pitcher of the Year in 1988 before being a three-year letterman at Clemson. He led Clemson to a College World Series appearance during his college career.

Calzada was a state champion swimmer at Redan and competed for Team USA at national events during his junior and senior seasons, according to Goodwin. Calzada passed his athleticism down to his son who played quarterback at Harvard.

On the US Junior National team in 1982-83, Calzada was a competed in eight races and finished top three in the 400-meter freestyle relay. Calzada went on to be an All American at Tulane University.

Ficklin was a standout from his first day at Redan, starting on the baseball and football teams as a freshman. He went to Georgia Southern University on a scholarship to play football. After his senior year of football, Ficklin played baseball and led the conference in hitting with a batting average greater than .400.

Ficklin was Redan baseball’s MVP in 1988 and 1989 when the Raiders were Team Area Champions and Region Champions.

Redan didn’t have a softball program when Williams-Hartman graduated, but she went on to be a record-setting softball player at Georgia Tech. She was also a standout basketball and tennis player while at Redan, in addition to winning ACC Rookie of the Year Georgia Tech and earning All-American honors as a senior.

“Just a tremendous athlete,” said Goodwin.

Additionally, Hartman Williams was co salutatorian in Redan’s Class of 1993, made the All ACC honor roll at Georgia Tech, was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame, and set the Georgia Tech records for hits and triples.

Goodwin added that the committee has plenty other nominations on the way.

“We just started this thing and Redan has been around for 48 years. It’ll take a while to get around to everyone who deserves to be in the hall of fame, but just hold on, we’re coming,” said Goodwin.