On New Year’s Day, we said farewell to one of the true coaching legends of the area and the state when Coach Jim Lofton passed from this life into the next after a long battle with congestive heart failure. After some time in the Army and at Auburn, where he was former UGA coach Vince Dooley’s roommate, Coach Lofton was a winner everywhere he went, including winning a state championship in Alabama, as well as winning here locally at Jefferson, East Hall and North Hall. He finished his career at Greater Atlanta Christian, which he took to the semifinals of the state playoffs in the Georgia Dome.