Drive Bar keeps the spirit of the Hogansville Greenwave alive
Published 3:11 pm Friday, March 7, 2025
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The Hogansville Greenwave’s legacy lives on if you know where to look. Drive Bar, a driving range and bar located in Hogansville, is keeping the spirit of the Greenwave alive. Walking through the doors and you are immediately transported to a time and place that no longer exists.
There is Hogansville High memorabilia from wall-to-wall throughout the establishment, ranging from the 1950s up until the 90s when the school closed down and was replaced by Callaway High. It has become a life-long goal of Drive Bar owner Brett Chapman to preserve the legacy of one of Hogansville’s most treasured places.
“For so long this was the identity of the town,” he said. “When they opened the new school, the history didn’t carry over with it which I think was a real shame.”
Whether it is old Hoganville jerseys, helmets or letterman jackets, you can find just about any article of clothing from Hogansville High at the Drive Bar. And that barely makes a dent in his collection as he has also obtained Hall of Fame plaques and more.
“Once I started putting the stuff up people would come to me and tell me about how they had some stuff in the barn or storage and were looking for somewhere to put it,” Chapman said.
The totems are not hidden away but are proudly displayed the second you open the door and walk into the Drive Bar.
Chapman does not just hunt down the items themselves. He is also deeply interested in the history of the items he collects. Take the most prized piece of Hogansville memorabilia from his collection for example. Chapman owns a Greenwave helmet from the 1950s and instead of letting it collect dust on a shelf somewhere with a mystery behind it, Chapman decided to do a little research.
“I was not sure if it was a Hogansville helmet at first, but I bought it and there was a name in the helmet, Mark Stone,” Chapman said. “Todd Pike, who is the expert on Hogansville High, helped me look him up and we found that he graduated from Hogansville High in 1959.”
Sitting next to the helmet from the 50s is a collection of Hogansville High helmets from over the years, showing the evolution of the Greenwave uniform.
The Drive Bar collection is far from limited to just football memorabilia. Chapman has collected memorabilia from the baseball and basketball teams and more.
“That’s Kenny Addam’s football jersey,” Chapman said, motioning to the jersey in a glass case hanging on the wall. “All the 17 jerseys you see belong to the Gaddy family, Wesley Gaddy, Lance Gaddy, Bobby Gaddy. 17 was kind of the Gaddy number.
“I also have Derek Smith and his son Nolan in magazines,” he added. “Demetrius Smith gave me one of his old Alabama jerseys and his Callaway jersey from the late 90s.”
Smith spent nearly a decade in the NBA, winning an NBA championship, after helping guide the Greenwave to two state championships on the hardwood during his youth. Smith was a two-time state player of the year for the Cavaliers. Chapman has a story for just about every piece of his collection which grows more and more extensive.
Chapman is far from done adding to his collection.
“There is a room at the old rec department building that has a lot of old trophies in it and I’ve been trying to gather them up and bring them here since right now they are just collecting dust,” he said.
If members of the community have any Hogansville memorabilia that they don’t know what to do with, Chapman encourages them to bring it down to the Drive Bar, where it will get the appreciation it deserves.
Chapman, a Callaway High graduate, has no shortage of Cavalier memorabilia on the walls as well, including an entire display honoring the 2020 state championship football team hanging right by the bar.
Outside of his time serving in the U.S. military, Chapman has called Hogansville his home practically all his life. He has poured his heart and soul into the community and plans to continue to elevate the Hogansville community. Whether it’s serving the community behind the bar or practically converting the floor space of the Drive Bar into a Hogansville Greenwave museum, Chapman isn’t slowing down any time soon.
