By MICHAEL MURRAY
Sports Editor

From the Editor:
Here at the Americus Times-Recorder (ATR), we are very proud of our area’s exciting history of sporting excellence.
As many of our readers will remember, the ATR recently completed an archive series celebrating the 40th and 50th anniversaries of the Americus High School Panthers’ epic sweeps of the state playoffs in 1975 and 1965.
The time has come again to open up our archives and embark on another pair of journeys through Americus’ rich history.
In the coming weeks and months, the Times-Recorder will be running another series detailing the fiftieth anniversary of the Americus High School Lady Panthers basketball team’s exciting rise to the top of the heap in the 1966 state tournament, which the Americus High girls went on to win.
Following the completion of this series, the ATR will take off on another trip down memory lane to celebrate the 1986 Southland Academy Raiders football team’s rise to prominence as they blasted their way through their opposition en route to a state championship victory.
The ATR will be conducting interviews with team members and fans of each of these teams to supplement our archive coverage and help bring these stories to life for our modern readers.
Team members and fans of the 1966 Lady Panthers basketball team and the 1986 Raiders football team that are interested in sharing their stories in brief interviews are encouraged to contact the Times-Recorder’s sports editor, Michael Murray, by email at michael.murray@americustimesrecorder.com or by phone during regular business hours at (229)924-2751.
We certainly hope to hear from you soon and look forward to sharing your stories!