MOULTRIE — Former Packer Tom Beard has achieved athletic success in two widely different areas.

In 1963, he was an All-State running back who helped lead the Moultrie High football team to the state championship game.

Thirty-four years later, he became a partner in the MB2 Motorsports team that competed in NASCAR’s top circuit and featured such drivers as Derrike Cope, Ernie Irvan, Ken Schrader, Jerry Nadeau and Johnny Benson.

Next month, he will return to his hometown for induction into the Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame, where he will join former coaches Knuck McCrary, Bud Willis and Tom “Babe” White and former teammates Tommy Tucker, Wayne Tucker, Buddy McCoy, Bobby Cobb, Bob Montgomery and Dennard Robison.

The banquet will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 2, at the high school cafeteria. The inductees will be introduced before the Colquitt County-Valdosta High football game the following night.

Beard was the oldest of three brothers who were all-state football players for the Packers in the 1960s, but the only one who played in a state championship game.

He played youth football in the Moultrie Recreation Department program and before reaching the varsity was coached by Bill Chris-topher and Ed Reaves.

Beard played on Packers varsity teams that went 7-2-1 in 1961, 6-2-2 in 1962 and 9-3-1 in 1963.

The 1963 team won the South Georgia championship for the first time since 1937 and was the first since the Moultrie began playing football in 1913 to reach the state championship game.

And Beard was one of the team’s prime contributors at running back, leading the Packers in rushing and averaging more than 5 yards a carry.

Beard and Joe Linder each scored two touchdowns as the Packers opened 1963 season with 34-18 victory over Jordan High in Columbus.

Two weeks later, ranked No. l in the state, the Packers defeated Cairo 21-13 with Beard rushing for 120 yards.

In one of the biggest games of the season, Beard scored two touchdowns as the Packers defeated Valdosta 32-0 at Cleveland Field, dealing the Wildcats their first home loss since 1958.

Moultrie won the region championship with a 7-6 victory over Columbus at Mack Tharpe Stadium. Then, with Beard scoring a touchdown, the Packers shut out Glynn Academy 20-0 to advance to the state championship game.

But season ended with a 40-0 loss to Avondale on a cold night in Atlanta.

Montgomery was named first-team All-State and Beard, Linder and tackle Bobby Ricks received honorable mention.

But Beard says there were no true standouts on the team.

“If anybody should be in the Hall of Fame, it should be the whole team,” he said. “I really feel that.”

Beard also played linebacker on defense and ran track at Moultrie High. He walked on at the University of Georgia, but gave up football after three weeks.

“I was too small and too slow,” he said.

Beard went on to graduate from the University of Georgia with a degree and marketing and joined the U.S. Army.

His days playing football for the Packers helped him deal with Officer Candidate School, jump school and Ranger training.

“They weren’t anything compared to summer camp at Moultrie High School,” he said.

After he left the Army, Beard worked for C&S; and then joined the Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign and, when Carter defeated Gerald Ford, joined the White House staff as an assistant to Hamilton Jordan.

After leaving the White House in 1980, Beard worked for Stephens Inc. in Little Rock, Ark., and then for Smith Barney.

In late 1996, Beard and partners Read Morton and Nelson Bowers joined forces with M&M; Mars to form MB2 Motorsports and enter a team in NASCAR’s top circuit.

Beard enlisted his friend Rick Hendrick to build the team’s engines and became the team’s most visible partner and was a regular at the team’s races.

In 1997, Cope, a former Daytona 500 winner, drove the No. 36 Skittles Pontiac in the team’s first season of competition and finished 27th in points standings.

Veteran Ernie Irvan took over in 1998. Beard says that Irvan’s winning of the pole for the Brickyard 400 that year was one of the highlights of his time as a team owner.

Irvan also won the pole at Michigan and Martinsville that season and had 11 top-10 finishes.

M&M;’s took over as sponsor in 1999, but the season was marred by Irvan’s crash into the turn 4 wall at Michigan in a Busch Series practice, suffering head and lung injuries. Irvan announced his retirement a few weeks later.

Nadeau finished the season in the M&M;’s car and Schrader was hired to drive the car for the 2000 season. Schrader drove the No. 36 car for three seasons.

The next year, the team added the No. 10 Valvoline car and became MB2/MBV. In 2002 Johnny Benson, driving the No. 10 car, gave team its only victory when he won the Pop Secret 400 at Rockingham on Nov. 3.

Benson, who started 26th, passed Mark Martin with 28 laps remaining and held on for the victory.

“I was there to see that and it was a big thrill,” Beard said. “I still have the trophy.”

In May 2003, Nadeau, then driving the No. 01 U.S. Army car for MB2 Motorsports, suffered serious injuries when he hit the wall during a practice run at the Richmond International Raceway. Mike Wallace was hired to replace Nadeau.

In January 2004, Beard announced he had sold his interest, as had Morton, to Bowers.

He said he enjoyed his seven years of car ownership, but was glad to be free of the stress.

“It was fun and it was a great experience, but I’m glad I didn’t have to do that for a living,” he said.

Beard continues to make his home in Atlanta. He and his wife, the former Frances Gay, who was a Moultrie High cheerleader, celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in March.

They have three sons, Hayes, Brooks and Casey.