Leander K. Powers

2004 Effingham County Sports Hall of Fame Inductee

I was born in Guyton in 1913 and believe that I was one of the pioneers in the field of competitive tennis in Effingham County.

When I started in Guyton High School in the late 1920’s, the only competitive sports in Effingham County schools were basketball and track. I played both sports but started playing tennis because I was not as big or as tall as my contemporaries were, although I did receive a letter in basketball from Guyton High in 1930, the year I graduated.

            As far as I know, the only tennis court in Effingham County was a concrete court in Mr. Phillip Morgan’s yard in Guyton. He and his wife (Miss Kate) allowed a few of us boys to practice and play as long as we could afford our own rackets and balls.

            During high school I began playing singles and doubles in the Savannah city tennis tournaments at Daffin Park.

            In 1930 my partner and I won the Savannah Junior Boys Doubles.  The trophy, which I still have, was a small silver tennis ball with the title and date engraved on it.

            From 1930 until 1932 I was a student at Gordon Military College in Barnesville, Georgia where I was captain of the tennis team. I’m proud to say that I won the college single tennis championship.

            The Gordon tennis team played other teams around the area, including the one from Lanier High School in Macon. The day we played Lanier, the great tennis professional, Bill Tilden, was in town to present an exhibition at the Macon Auditorium.

            Tilden came to the courts and watched our matches. He later commented on our play and invited us to his exhibition.  He gave us tennis balls and even gave a racket to one player.  His generosity made a lasting impression on us.

            Competitive tennis for me ended in 1932 after I played in the Georgia State Tennis Tournament, during which I advance to the quarterfinals.

            For the next nine years I was busy at college and at hospitals completing my medical education. I was then called to active duty in World War II with the U.S. Army Medical Corps. I have been practicing medicine in Savannah since WWII.

            I have been married to my wife Pauline for nearly 62 years.  We have five children, seven grandchildren and one great grandchild.

            I still enjoy visiting my hometown at least once a week. I have a house and farm I Guyton that has been in my family for generations.

            Seeing Guyton brings back many memories for me.  The chimes and the communion silver at New Providence Baptist Church were given by my mother, Maggie Cubbedge Powers, in memory of my father, Dr. Bruce P. Powers, and my grandfather, B.J. Cubbedge.  I was a member of New Providence for more than 50 years before I transferred my membership to First Baptist Church of Savannah.

            My forebears were civic-minded residents of Effingham.  My grandfather Cubbedge was a county commissioner and my grandfather Powers was county surveyor. My Uncle George Cubbedge was county tax collector.  I am a 33^rd degree Mason and a former president of the Georgia Salzburger Society.  I was president of the society in 1970 when the museum was built.

            My father was county physician for Effingham County for 37 years.  His portrait and some of his old medical tools are on exhibit at Effingham County Hospital.  When I was a child I rode with him on house calls all over the county and while he treated patients and delivered babies.

            In 1922 my father built several building in the “shopping district” on Central Avenue.  A drugstore he owned, call Powers Drug Co., was in business in the 1930’s where Roscoe’s Cabinet Shop is now.  While I was studying medicine my father hired a pharmacist from Cobbtown named Terrell Webb who later moved to Springfield and opened a drug store.

            I didn’t practice medicine in Effingham County because I liked surgery and obstetrics and there were no accredited hospital facilities at that time.