One of Georgia’s all-time winningest coaches enshrined in sports history
FORT VALLEY, Ga. (BVM) — Women’s basketball at Fort Valley State University (FVSU) has been locked into its winning ways since 1984. That’s the year that legendary coach Lonnie Bartley took over, and the program has never looked back.
Before Bartley’s time, the FVSU women had never won a conference title. During his 29-year tenure, the Lady Wildcats racked up 11 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) titles and 27 consecutive winning seasons.
Bartley’s accolades rank him 45th all-time in wins (652) for any division and 10th amongst NCAA Division II coaches. He was the SIAC Coach of the Year 10 different times.
Now Bartley finally saw the true fruits of his labor, as the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame made him an official member in late February. This came as a huge honor, being put in alongside the likes of Willie Anderson, a former basketball Olympian, and Eddie Lee Ivery, an eight-year running back for the Green Bay Packers.
However, this wasn’t the first rodeo for Bartley as far as hall of fame inductions go. In 2011, he was introduced into the National Black College Hall of Fame.
To make a storied career even more remarkable, Bartley was once named College Coach of the Year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, Georgia Division II Coach of the Year by the Atlanta Tip-Off Club, and College Coach of the Year by the Black College Sports Information Directors Association. And although the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame induction is meant as an individual achievement, Bartley thinks otherwise.
The FVSU hero understands that along with himself, this induction will be honoring many others that played a part in the school’s success. The newly enshrined hall of famer says that not only does this honor take him into the hall, but also his family and the entire Wildcat family. Without everybody coming together, a program turnaround like this would have never been attainable.
“Everybody was just on the same page,” Bartley told WMAZ. “Many times I don’t think coaches are even in the same book as their players, let alone the same page.”
Above all else, Bartley said that all of his teams believed. They believed that if there was a team that was going to be successful, it was them. Bartley told WMAZ that he always insisted on pushing this message across to his players, and to this day it is what he remembers and always will when it comes to his time at FVSU.
“All for one, one for all, together we stand, divided we fall.”
