Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame baseball coach Terry Holder, who combined to win eight state titles at Evans High School and Greenbrier High School, was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025.
Holder inducted into Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
Legendary Georgia high school baseball coach Terry Holder was one of eight inductees into the prestigious Georgia Sports Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025.
Holder joined an elite group that included Marquis Grissom, Tim Hudson, Courtney Kupets Carter, Terance Mathis, Leo Mazzone, Bob Rathbun, Theron Sapp, Dennis Scott and Jeff Wallace.
Holder built one of the most-feared baseball programs during his tenure at Evans High School. Then when Greenbrier became the newest Columbia County school, Holder led Greenbrier to three consecutive titles in its first three years of existence, earning him eight baseball titles in a 12-year span.
“Coach Holder taught us a lot about baseball,” former Greenbrier player JC Widener told the Columbia County News-Times. “More importantly, he taught us about life.”
The Cochran native was a three-sport standout in high school where he was a four-year starter at fullback on the football team, then he was the starting point guard on the basketball team. He helped Cochran High win the state title in 1965, his senior season. In baseball, he pitched and played shortstop.
After high school, he earned a baseball scholarship to Brewton Parker, then later played at Austin Peay University.
He began his career as an assistant football coach at Putnam County and Perry before landing his first head football coaching job at Wilkinson County. He left after one season to become a football assistant and head baseball coach at Evans.
In more than two decades, he guided the program to five state titles and one state runner-up finish. From 1989-90, his program put together a 61-game winning streak, which still stands as a state record.
He left in 1996 to become athletic director as well as head football and baseball coach at Greenbrier where he had immediate success.
He retired from Greenbrier in 1999, then came out of retirement in 2005 to coach baseball at Thomson High School where he led the school to two playoff appearances and its first region title in more than 40 years in 2009. He stepped away for good after the 2009 season.
He finished with a 588-153 record in baseball, while he went 27-15-1 as a head football coach. His only losing season in either sport came when Wilkinson County’s football team went 3-6-1 in his only season at the school.
Greenbrier named its baseball field “Terry Holder Field” in 2017.
“There’s a generation of Columbia County boys who became men because of Coach Holder’s influence on them,” former player Garrett Black told the Columbia County News-Times. “He means a lot to this county, and baseball is what it is in this county because of his efforts.”
He was named Georgia High School Coach of the Year six times and garnered two National Coach of the Year honors.
In 1996, Holder was the winning coach for the South team at the U.S. Junior Olympic Trials in St. Louis.
He is a member of four halls of fame – Brewton Parker, Georgia Athletic Coaches Association, Georgia Sports and the Georgia Dugout Club.