By Tom Law - Rabun Hall of Fame Committee
Submitted. Former RCHS and Georgia Bulldog football player Charlie Woerner will be inducted into the RCHS Hall of Fame. Woerner currently plays for the Atlanta Falcons.
The Rabun County Athletic Hall of Fame will induct three individuals and a four-person relay team on Friday, Oct. 9, prior to the Rabun vs. Athens Academy football game at Frank Snyder Memorial Stadium.
The induction ceremony will begin at about 7 p.m. at midfield. The inductees for 2026 include football standout Charlie Woerner, basketball coach the late Ken Byrd, football standout Gary Keller and members of the record-setting RCHS 4X100 sprint relay team from 2014.
- Woerner was a four-year starter in football for the Rabun County Wildcats and started on both sides of the line of scrimmage during his time as a Rabun player.
During his RCHS career, he amassed 150 receptions for 2,696 yards including a senior season in 2015 with 57 catches and 15 touchdowns. He was also named the Class AA Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 and received all-state honors.
Woerner was also named to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Super 11 team and was considered one of the top tight end recruiting targets in Georgia.
He played collegiately at the University of Georgia from 2016 to 2019 and was a member of the Bulldogs’ conference champion and national championship runner-up team in 2017 which included a Rose Bowl game against Oklahoma.
During his career at Georgia, Woerner started 19 of the 54 games in which he played.
In 2020, Woerner was a sixth round pick in the NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers playing in 65 regular season games with seven starts and totaling 11 receptions for 120 yards.
Woerner signed with the Atlanta Falcons in 2024 after inking a three-year, $12 million contract. He remains in Atlanta where he made his regular-season debut with the Falcons against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept.13.
Hall of fame committee member Allyn Stockton has for several years called Woerner’s inclusion in the hall as “the biggest no-brainer in the history of hall of fames.”
The hall of fame’s criteria includes a 10-year waiting period between graduation and induction.
This is the first year Woerner has been eligible for induction.
- In the spring of 2014, the Rabun County High School girls track team featured one unit that surprised virtually everyone.
The 4X100 relay team shocked Northeast Georgia by winning the Region 8-AA championship and qualifying for the state meet held at Hugh Mills Stadium in Albany.
The Lady Cats sprinters were also a surprise at the state championships as they finished eighth out of 16 teams competing, still the best ever placement for a Rabun 4X100 relay team.
Along the way to the state finals, the team established a school record of 51.4 seconds that still stands. Team members included Alexis Owens, Taylor Beck, Brooke Shead and Sally Woerner. Coach was Tim Bragg.
Although the relay team lost Woerner to graduation, the Lady Cats repeated as region champions in 2015 and again in 2016.
- Gary Keller was a multi-sport standout for the Rabun County Wildcats in the late 1970s. He was a three-year letter winner in football and track and was a two-year letter winner in basketball.
He was a two-way starter for coach Arvil Holmes in football from 1977-79 and rushed for a total of 2,302 yards and 22 touchdowns during those three seasons. In 1978, Keller returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. During the 1979 season, Keller was credited with 41 tackles, 16 assists and one fumble recovery. In 1978, he intercepted four passes.
Keller went to Furman University where initially he was a running back for the Paladins, but switched to defensive back where he lettered for three seasons. In his senior season, Keller recorded 31 tackles and eight assists, including three tackles for loss. He picked off four passes for the Paladins and deflected seven others. He caused one fumble.
Gary Keller is the son of Elliot Keller who starred at Furman in football and was inducted into the Rabun Hall of Fame in its inaugural class in 2020, making the Kellers the first father/son duo inducted into the Rabun Hall of Fame.
- The late Ken Byrd was head girls basketball coach and an assistant football coach at Rabun County High School. During his tenure as girls basketball coach, Byrd directed the Lady Wildcats to state tournament berths on two occasions - 2000 and 2002.
It was the first state tournament appearances for the Rabun girls basketball program in more than 50 years. In 2000 and again in 2002, Byrd-coached teams won first round games to advance to the Sweet 16 before being eliminated.
Earlier in his coaching career, Byrd directed girls teams at William Blount High School and Greenback High School in Tennessee and also coached girls basketball at Bainbridge in Georgia before moving to Rabun County.
He was inducted into the Blount County (Tenn.) Hall of Fame in 2006. Byrd also served as associate head women’s basketball coach of the University of Kentucky.
The basketball court at Rabun County High was named in his honor in 2012.
The hall of fame committee will also recognized the passing of committee member Janice Wayne earlier this year.
Wayne was a charter member of the committee when it first started work in 2020. “She was a huge asset for us,” committee member Tom Law said. “She had 40 years of history of being a part of or around Rabun County athletics. Janice touched many Rabun Countians during her life. She is sorely missed by the community and hall of fame committee.”