Petty Ezell served as director of athletics at Woodward Academy for 27 years. He joined the Woodward Academy staff in 1964 and taught biology and coached basketball and baseball. During Ezell’s tenure at Woodward, his teams were state finalists 31 times. Also during this time, the school’s enrollment increased from 600 to 2,750 to become the largest National Association of Independent Schools high school in the United States.
Ezell is a charter member of the Georgia Athletic Directors Association and served as the NIAAA liaison. He was the first editor of the GADA magazine and served in the planning of the GADA state conferences for over 20 years.
Petty was also a member of the GHSA Executive Committee for six years and served on the track, swimming, baseball, soccer, sportsmanship, and cheerleading committees. He was instrumental in working to improve the relationship between public and private schools in the association.
Nationally, Ezell served on the NIAAA Credentials committee. He received the NIAAA State Award of Merit in 1991 and was selected as the GADA athletic director of the year in 1990.
For 10 years, Ezell was the Fellowship of Christian Athletes huddle group leader at Woodward, which had a membership of 250, one of the largest groups in the country.
