Jimmy Spurlin Park (Tifton, Georgia)
Jimmy Spurlin Park is a youth baseball field in Tifton, Georgia, named for James Kenneth "Jimmy" Spurlin Sr. (1935–2006), a Tifton city commissioner, Tift County Commission chairman and longtime youth coach. Tift County lists a Spurlin field in its D. L. Lastinger Recreation Area, and tournament organizers list it as Spurlin Field.
Sourcing: mixed 1 commercial · 1 genealogy · 1 government · 1 news
Jimmy Spurlin Park, which tournament listings call Spurlin Field, is a youth baseball field in Tifton, Georgia, named for the local coach and official Jimmy Spurlin.[1][2]
Facility
Tift County's recreation department lists Spurlin among the six athletic fields of the D. L. Lastinger Recreation Area, a 24.2-acre site bordered by Ridge Avenue, Second Street, Victory Drive and Fourth Street. The other fields are Burgess, Connor, Eve, Orr and Sertoma, and the county says the fields are used for baseball, softball, football and soccer.[3] Grand Slam Sports Tournaments, which schedules youth baseball events there, gives the field's address as 401 College Ave N and notes that the Spurlin and Sertoma fields back up to each other in center field.[1]
Namesake
The field is named for James Kenneth "Jimmy" Spurlin Sr. (August 17, 1935 – September 28, 2006).[2] He served on the Tifton City Commission until 1992, including as vice chairman, and was chairman of the Tift County Commission from 1996 to 2000. He was also a bank vice-president.[2][4] His obituary records that a youth baseball field, "Jimmy Spurlin Park," was named in his honor.[2]
Coaching legacy
Spurlin coached youth and school sports for more than 30 years.[2] According to the Tifton Gazette, his coaching jobs included:[4]
- assistant football coach and head baseball coach at Turner County High School from 1960 to 1962
- head coach in the first season of the Tiftarea Academy Panthers in 1975
- softball coach at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) from 1989 to 1992, where his teams won a national championship and finished once as national runner-up
- boys' youth softball coach from 1977 to 1985, with a record of 250–40 and national titles in 1978, 1980, 1981 and 1984
He was inducted into the Georgia ASA Softball Hall of Fame in 1992.[2] In 2016 the Tift County Athletic Hall of Fame named him its Meritorious Service Honoree.[4]
See also
- Places named Spurlin · Places strong
Overview of communities, landforms, streams, crossings, cemeteries and civic sites in the United States that carry the Spurlin (or closely related Spurling) name, with pointers to Spurlin historical markers and federal land records. - Jimmy Spurlin · People strong
James Kenneth "Jimmy" Spurlin Sr. (1935–2006) was a coach, banker and local official in Tifton, Georgia, who chaired the Tift County Commission and was honored by the Tift County (2016) and ABAC (class of 2022) athletic halls of fame. - Gwen Cottle Spurlin · People strong
Gwendolyn "Gwen" Cottle Spurlin (1937–2022) was a Tifton High School basketball star. She scored 700 points in the 1954–55 season and was inducted into the Tift County Athletic Hall of Fame a week before her death.
References
- ↑ ↑ Spurlin Field — Grand Slam Sports Tournaments — Tournament organizer's field listing Commercial
- ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ James Kenneth "Jimmy" Spurlin, Sr. — Obituary, Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals (CurrentObituary.com) — Funeral home obituary, 2006 Genealogy
- ↑ D. L. Lastinger Recreation Area — Tift County, Georgia — County recreation department facility page Government
- ↑ ↑ ↑ Local athletes to be honored Saturday at Hall of Fame ceremony — Tifton Gazette (21 Oct 2016) News
Last reviewed 2026-09-24.