MOULTRIE — When Mike Hamner was in the eighth grade, two new tennis courts were built in Norman Park and he and best friend Bobby May began playing in earnest.

It was the start of an association with the sport that led Hamner to win four straight region titles and two state championships at Norman Park High.

He went on to play at Abraham Baldwin College, then at Valdosta State and finally all over the Southeast in competitive tournaments as an adult.

Julian Grantham, his former high school basketball and tennis coach calls him the most dedicated tennis player he has seen.

And on Thursday, Hamner will be honored for his long and successful tennis career when he is inducted into the Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame at its annual banquet.

And while tennis is the sport for which he is most known in Colquitt County, he was a good enough basketball player to have earned a scholarship to ABAC.

He started playing basketball in the sixth grade and when he reached Norman Park High, he played four seasons under Grantham, Herbert Houston and Monk Daniels. The Trojans reached the state playoffs one time during his four years.

“They were good coaches,” Hamner remembers. “We just didn’t have much size.”

When he wasn’t in the gymnasium working on his shot, he was on the tennis courts.

Grantham remembers Hamner and May on the high school courts at daylight and practicing until they had to go to class. Then they would practice again during second period physical education class. After school, they often would practice as many as three more hours.

That practice paid off for Hamner, who won the region singles championship all four years.

As a freshman, he lost in the first round of the state tournament. The next year, be made it to the second round before being eliminated.

As a junior in 1968 and as a senior in 1969, he won the state Class C championship.

His junior year, he lost just one match and it came against a player in a school in a higher classification.

He also lost just once as a senior, to Robert Turner of Bainbridge, who later was his junior college doubles partner.

Hamner often played against players from bigger schools, since there were few small schools in South Georgia that played tennis.

Grantham made sure Hamner and his teammates had plenty of matches and scheduled Bainbridge, Thomasville, Mitchell County, Berrien, Irwin County, Lee County, Waycross, Dougherty, Lanier, Deerfield-Windsor and even Talladega, Ala.

“He was good about taking us places to play,” Hamner said.

Grantham says he takes no credit for Hamner’s development into one of the state’s top high school players.

“He had a very strong serve, good volley game, good net play and had a great knowledge of the game,” Grantham said.

Before he left Norman Park High, Hamner had received a number of honors, including Mr. Norman Park High School, honor graduate, tennis most valuable player, basketball most valuable player, free throw shooting award, Senior Favorite, Best Dressed and Most Athletic.

After graduating from Norman Park, Hamner received a scholarship to play basketball and tennis at ABAC.

After his first year at ABAC, he gave up basketball and concentrated on tennis.

As a freshman at ABAC, he won the state Georgia Junior College Athletic Association title in singles and was second in doubles.

The team went to Nationals in Ocala, Fla, where Hamner advanced to the third round in doubles, but had to withdraw from singles when he received a laceration requiring stitches.

His second year at ABAC, he he won the state doubles title, but lost the singles championship in the finals.

He was the team’s most valuable player in 1970 and 1971.

Hamner said he worked especially hard at ABAC after his coach told him he was not likely to more than a No. 6 player.

The next year, he received a tennis scholarship from Valdosta State.

His first year, he played No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles and was named the team’s most valuable player.

Hamner left Valdosta State for a stint in the U.S. Army and returned in 1975 to play No. 1.

He was forced to withdraw from the state tournament that year because of the death of his mother.

His time at Valdosta State was not as rewarding as his years at ABAC, where tennis was taken much more seriously.

“ABAC was much more organized under Coach (Red) Hill,” Hamner said.

Following his collegiate career, Hamner continued to play tennis throughout the Southeast up until about 1990, winning some 90 individual championships and 125 doubles titles.

In 1984, he was the president of the Piedmont Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association.

Hamner said he had always wanted to teach physical education and be a coach.

On his first job interview for a teaching job, he was told there was no position available in P.E, but there was one in B.D., behavior disorders.

He took the job and spent 31 years working with special education students, retiring last May.

When he retired, he was the Related Vocational Instruction coordinator for the Newton County schools, helping place handicapped students in work stations within or outside the school.

Hamner also was the Special Olympics contact at Alcovy High School.

Hamner has taught in the Lowndes, Gwinnett, Rockdale and Newton county school systems.

He was the Teacher of the Year at Memorial Middle School in Rockdale County in 1997 and was the Newton County Teacher of the Year.

Over the years, he has coached football, basketball, golf and tennis, but says his greatest coaching joy was setting up a golf club for handicapped students.

Hamner and wife Sheryl are members of First Baptist Church in Covington and have three children and a grandchild.