TIFTON — The Tift County Athletic Hall of Fame will be Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center at the high school.

Alex Abbott, Jenna Shiver Abbott, Theoplis Bryant, David Denham, Jay Gaskins, Lindsay Welker Herlong and Kevin Tolbert are the athletes going in the Hall, with this year’s coach selection being Dr. Eric Holland.

The 1998-99 Lady Devils basketball squad is going in as a team and Dr. James Scott has earned the Anthony Bateman Meritorious Service Award.

For the third year, two current Tift County players are being recognized as Male and Female Athlete of the Year. These are John Davis and Jalaya Miller.

Alex Abbott, a baseball star for the Blue Devils, was drafted in the sixth round of the 2014 Major League Draft by the Angels. The Tift slugger spent four seasons in Minor League ball. As a high school player, Abbott’s highlights include two grand slams in one game.

Jenna Shiver Abbott excelled in softball for the Lady Devils. Among her highlights was ending Lowndes’ 55-game region winning streak in 2004, helping lead Tift to the title in the process. She was a two-time All-State player with a 48-13 record.

Theoplis Bryant played football for Tift. He had a six-touchdown season in 1971, including three against a Valdosta team that surrendered only 10.5 points per game and went 13-0.

Golf was David Denham’s sport. He won the Georgia State Amateur in 2004 and played in the U.S. Amateur in 2004 and 2005. Denham additionally played as an amateur in the 2005 U.S. Open.

Before the U.S. Amateur crown, Denham starred in the sport at Tift County and at the University of Georgia. As a three-year letterman, he was second team All-American once and placed on three All-SEC teams, including first team in 2004-05. With Tifh, his many outstanding finishes included fifth in the 1998 4A state championship.

Gaskins helped lead the Blue Devils to the region football title in 2006, which included a 36-35 win over Colquitt County to clinch in overtime. Gaskins stopped a Packer runner short of scoring in the third OT. He earned first team selection to three All-State teams that year.

Not done with athletics, Gaskins played a big role on the 2006-07 final four Blue Devils basketball team.

Lindsey Welker Herlong was a multi-sport sensation for Tift. Her efforts saw her sign with Clemson University to play basketball.

Her senior basketball season saw her average 16 points per game, along with 9.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.4 blocks. A 1,000-point scorer, Welker was three-time All-Region and twice All-State. She also played tennis at Tift.

Kevin Tolbert was a big name for Coach Tommy Blackshear’s 1990s Blue Devil teams, playing an integral role on the 1996 state championship squad. Among Tolbert’s big games was a team-leading 16 points to beat Wheeler in the semifinals. Tolbert earned multiple All-State and All-Region awards.

The 1998-99 Lady Devils basketball went 27-3, making it to the second round of the state tournament where they fell against Hephzibah by five points.

Holland, the coaching inductee, has a basketball resume practically unmatched in Tift County. He won two state championships — 2014 and 2017 — and during his eight years in Tifton, won seven region championships.

Davis and Miller, the Athletes of the Year, participate in different spots. Davis has signed to play baseball at Georgia Southern. Miller has mainly been a volleyball and basketball player, though injuries kept volleyball this season.