George Ward Linn

George Ward Linn, 84, of Columbus, Ohio, passed away at his home in Dothan, Alabama, on Monday, May 21. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, on Dec. 26, 1933, and graduated from Grandview Heights High School in Ohio. In 1956, he graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where he was an All-American basketball player and captain of the Rocket 8 Championship team. Linn, who was tapped last year as a 2017 Allstate® Southeastern Conference Basketball Legend, holds the distinction of making the longest basket in the program's history, nailing an 84-foot, length-of-court shot in Foster Auditorium marked for posterity with a brass X on the hardwood where he launched the ball in a home game against North Carolina in the 1954-55 season. He was Vice President of Legislative Affairs at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in Washington, D.C., until his retirement. After retirement, he worked many years as an alcohol and drug counselor for the city of Columbus, Ohio. In recent years he moved to Dothan, Alabama, where he enjoyed life and received excellent health care from numerous doctors and their staff. He was an active member of St. Columba Catholic Church, the A.A. Program, and was an avid sports fan for the University. He is survived by two children, Elizabeth Hollimon Planz, Dothan, and George Drury Flowers, Huntsville, Alabama; a grandson, Dr. John Flowers Hollimon, Brooklyn, New York; a sister Ann Linn Griffin, Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida; several nieces, a nephew, an aunt, and an uncle, and many cousins. A private service will be held at a later date in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida. Robert Byrd of Sunset Memorial Park Funeral Home (334) 983-6604 www.SunsetMemorialPark.com