The Alpharetta City Council has voted to rename a road that runs through North Park for Johnny Herron, a local youth sports advocate for more than 40 years.
“Without Johnny, there would not be an Alpharetta Youth Softball Association, which serves nearly 400 young women every season,” according to a biography in the council agenda packet. The AYSA requested the street name change, to Herron Way.
An Atlanta native, U.S. Air Force veteran and longtime Alpharetta resident, Herron in 1977 persuaded Fulton County Parks and Recreation to give him field space to start a softball program for girls. It was the area’s first athletic program for girls. He coached teams with his two daughters and won a state championship.
He was a founding member of the Alpharetta Recreation Commission in 1985, served as chairman from 1995 to 2006, and worked on the city’s first parks bond in 1995. He was influential in creating North Park, the Adult Activity Center for seniors and the Miracle Field for the special needs community.
Herron coached AYSA girls up until two days before his death at age 75 in May 2017.
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