Harry B Thompson Jr was Born in Atlanta on February 21st, 1906 to Harry B Thompson and Maude Scott Thompson. He attended Boy’s High School of Atlanta which was located on 10th street across from Piedmont Park. Graduated Boys’s High of Atlanta in 1923.

Mother

Maude Scott Thompson is the daughter of Maude Goldsmith Scott (1880-1958) of Cartersville Ga, the daughter of Mark Wingfield Scott ( 1848-1912) and Emma Lois Goldsmith (1856-1935).

College:

Bachelor of Science degree from Georgia Tech in 1928. Member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity.

Professional Life:

Upon graduation from Georgia Tech in 1928 , went to work with his father at Conklin Tin Plate & Metal Company. Served as Vice-President until 1953 when he succeeded his father as President.

Along with Malon Courts was one of the 3 Founding Members of ALTA ( Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association), organizing tournaments and hosting planning committee meetings at his house on Chatham Road. Harry was President of ALTA in 1952 and 1953 and was instrumental in making ALTA what it has become today – one of the largest tennis organizations in the country with over 80,000 members “unequaled in the world for fun and fellowship through tennis”.

In 1952, along with Malon Courts , helped establish Bitsy Grant Tennis center on Northside Drive making tennis more accessible to all. Prior to Bitsy Grant Tennis Center there were few public courts – most tennis was played at private clubs including Atlanta Athletic Club and the Piedmont Driving Club.

Personal Life:
On December 19th, 1931 married Helen Harriet Cody. Together, they had 2 children, Leila born March 20th 1934, and Harry III born April 11th 1938.

Above: Helen Cody Thompson with Daughter Leila

Helen Cody Thompson

Helen Harriet Cody was born on October 9th, 1907 in Atlanta Ga to William Cody and Leila Cheely Butt . She was the youngest of four children and the only girl. Her brothers were Wellborn Cody, Louis Cody and Edward Cody.

Father : William Cody

William Butt Cody was born to Edmond Cody ( 1811-1858) and Mary Wright on July 9th, 1858 in Warrenton Ga a small city 40 miles southwest of Augusta Ga. From a young age he started caring for and riding horses, skills that would serve him well as a young adult. In 1876 at the age of 17 he moved to Atlanta. Two friends who were members of Atlanta’s Volunteer Fire Dept encouraged him to join the Dept, which he did, first as a Mechanic and then as a Driver. Back then the Hose Reels were transported by Horse and Carriage. He remained in that position until July 1882 when the Dept went from one that was made up entirely of Volunteers to one made up of Paid Employees. Initially he resigned saying that he fought fires for the love of it. Superiors who realized that they would lose one of their best, persuaded him to stay by appointing him the lead “Hose Reel Driver” at Atlanta’s main facility , Fire Station #1 located at the Bridge on South Broad Street.

1887 was a new era in the Atlanta Fire Department when the first Holloway Engine powered truck replace the Horse drawn Buggy and Reel and William Cody , though reluctant initially to leave behind his beloved Horse, realized that speed of getting to the fire would increase significantly. Fire Chief Walter Joyner ( who would go on to become Atlanta Mayor) chose William Cody to be the driver of the first model received.

In 1892 William Cody was made a lieutenant and then in 1895 went on to become a captain and then in July of 1915, Chief.

William Cody was the Atlanta Fire Chief during the Great Atlanta Fire of 1917, described in this article.

Brother: Wellborn Cody

Her brother, Wellborn Cody, was a founding partner in what would become the largest law firm in Atlanta, Kirkpatrick Cody, which is currently named Kirkpatrick, Stockton, & Townsend. In his earlier years he was a standout baseball player at University of Georgia where he was a star First Baseman and Captain of the Team.

In his later professional Life , he was among the most prominent attorneys in the South and represented Coach Wall Butts following the March 1963 issue of the Saturday Evening Post which accused both Butts , the Coach at Univ of GA, and Bear Bryant, the Coach of Univ of Alabama of fixing games.

The Below are excerpts from a Sports Illustrated article 1962 Written by Dan Jenkins

A TRIAL THAT HAS THE SOUTH SEETHING

Published charges of a college football fix will be challenged in court next week when ex-Georgia Coach Wally Butts (above) confronts accuser George Burnett (opposite) in a case nearly as divisive as the 1925 monkey trial

The Saturday Evening Post charged that Butts, ex-coach and athletic director of the University of Georgia, furnished game secrets to the University of Alabama before the 1962 meeting of the teams, which Alabama won 35-0. For Wally Butts, once so firmly seated in the front row of the coaching profession, for Alabama Coach Paul (Bear) Bryant, who occupies an even more exalted chair today, and indeed for college football itself, there have been few more serious interludes. The weeks have been filled with rumors, counterrumors, accusations, boasts, speculations and seeping innuendos. Now, providing there is no eleventh-hour postponement, the matter should at last be disposed of properly by a jury and judge in the $10 million libel suit of Wally Butts vs. the Curtis Publishing Company.

The presiding judge will be Lewis (Pete) Morgan, a graduate of the University of Georgia law school, a stern man who is unlikely to allow any foolishness and who will admit spectators to the 225-capacity room on a first-come-first-served basis. Like Judge Morgan, the opposing trial lawyers are graduates of Georgia’s law school. William Schroder Jr., who will represent Wally Butts, and Wellburn Cody of the defense are from prominent Atlanta families and broadly respected firms. They are old friends and golfing companions. “We’ll still be friends when it’s over,” says Schroder, “but it won’t make any difference in the courtroom.”

While Wellburn Cody, a good varsity baseball player as an undergraduate at Georgia, has steadfastly refused to make any pretrial comment. Schroder, a former Notre Dame end and Georgia freshman coach during the ’30s, has spoken freely. “Both sides are confident,” he says. “I’ve heard they’ve said that we couldn’t win any damages with a winnin’ machine, but I could tell ’em they don’t have a chance either. I talked with Louis Nizer before I took this case, and I’ve consulted him since, and I’m going for a record settlement that would top the $3.5 million he got for John Henry Faulk in the blacklist case.” Schroder is of the opinion that from 20 to 30 witnesses will appear and that the duration of the trial will be about two weeks.

In any libel action it is the burden of the defendant to prove truth. It shall therefore be the privilege of Wellburn Cody to make the opening and closing pleas to the jury in behalf of the publishers. In the meantime, Schroder may have the burden of rebutting charges that Wally Butts’s character was such that it could not be damaged by the article.