Schreiber was the consummate Packer booster

Published 9:29 pm Monday, February 1, 2021

MOULTRIE — There are many former Packers whose contributions to athletics at the high school were greater than what they accomplished as athletes.

And one of those was Ronnie Schreiber, who died Saturday at 82 in Wilmington, N.C.

And it was not as if Schreiber’s contributions as a member of the Moultrie High football team were inconsequential.

He was a fine place-kicker, converting 15 of his 17 attempts as a Packer senior in 1955. He also played on the basketball and golf teams at the school in the community where he was raised.

But long after his days as a competitor were finished, he remained a committed supporter of athletics in Colquitt County.

In 2005, when Schreiber was inducted into the Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame, former Packers head football coach and athletic director Jim Hughes had this to say: “Ronnie’s passion for the athletic efforts and consequent positive development of young people in Moultrie and Colquitt County enriched the quality of life in this community.”

Donald Dale, who has coached golf and girls basketball at Colquitt County, called Schreiber “a giver. He wanted to know if any of the kids needed shoes or clothes. He was financially able to help and did so many times and did not want any thanks.”

No less a Moultrie and University of Georgia icon than Ray Goff said, “Mr. Schreiber had a huge impact on my life.”

Schreiber’s contributions to the county’s sports landscape was especially evident during the football team’s 1994 state championship season when he was the program’s booster club president.

After graduating from Moultrie High and the University of Georgia, Schreiber returned to Moultrie where he operated a popular downtown business that bore his family’s name and offered shoes, sportswear and jewelry. Both of his sons, Andy and Mark, were members of Colquitt County football teams.

Schreiber retired in 1999, closed the family business that had been in operation for more than 50 years, and moved to Wilmington, N.C. But he remained in close contact with friends in his hometown and remained a Packer fan.