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On Thursday, we published a story about Lanett native Jimmy Cribb, who served as a photographer for the Atlanta Falcons for nearly 40 years. 

Cribb retired in September of 2018 due to his health. His wife, Pattie, said that if it weren’t for his health, he would have continued on. That month, he was honored as a Legend and given a blazer and ring. Later, the Falcons also threw a party for him. Jimmy came home with a large banner announcing his retirement that he strung up on his porch, without telling his wife.

“I thought that’s it. That’s all they’re doing for him,” Pattie said. 

However, Falcons President Rich McKay had one more honor in mind for Cribb when he called Pattie and asked her to come to the new building. 

Inside the Jimmy Cribb media room is a plaque with four photos of Cribb taking pictures. Underneath is a plaque with a biography of his time with the team. 

“When they said ‘plaque,’ I thought it would be like 8×10 … I would never have imagined it would be like this,” Pattie Cribb said. On April 27, 2022, Jimmy Cribb passed away. Though he didn’t get the chance to see the dedication, Pattie said she believes it would have meant a lot to him.

Although many in the community knew who Jimmy was and what brought him to his home in suburban Atlanta, many generations of Atlanta Falcons past,  present and future will also know about Jimmy and that he is from Lanett, Alabama.

A quick social media search of Jimmy yielded hundreds of comments and messages about how great of a person Jimmy was when the Falcons announced his death in April 2022.

Former Falcon great Roddy White posted on Twitter, “I’m going to miss this man right here. He was awesome every day I seen him it was nothing but positivity throughout our building. The love and care he has for everyone was amazing RIP Jimmy, u where amazing man.”

Former friend and colleague Curtis Compton told VTN the way the Atlanta Falcons chose to honor his legacy was “top-notch,” and we could not agree more. 

If you have a minute, scroll through social media and read the kind words about Lanett’s legendary son and don’t stop at the April 2022 posts, there are plenty more posts chronicling his behind-the-scenes work with the Falcons organization.

It is amazing to know that someone from Lanett graces the wall of a multi-million dollar facility of an NFL football team.