Tina Blalock - Class of 1980
Tina Blalock graduated from Milton HS in 1980 and earned a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1984. While at Milton, Tina was a standout in both athletics and academics. From 1976 – 1980 she was a member of the Girls Basketball team, serving as the co-captain from 1978 – 1980. During that time, the team won the Region 4-AAA Championship, the Region 5-A championship, and the Fulton County Championship. Tina was named to the North Fulton All-Star team, the Fulton County All-Star team, the Atlanta Tip-Off club Team of the Year, All-State Honorable Mention, All-State Second Team, Region 5-A All-Star team, Region 4-AAA All-Star team, and Region 4-AAA North All-Tournament team. By the end of her Milton basketball career, Tina held these school records: most points in a game, season, and career; most points average per game; highest season and career field goal percentage; highest season free throw percentage; most assists in a game, season, and career; and most steals in a game, season, and career. Tina was also a two-year letter winner in volleyball and tennis.
In addition to athletics, Tina was in the Beta Club, National Honor Society, and on the Homecoming Court. She was on the Student Council for four years, serving as Co-President her senior year. Tina was chosen by the faculty to receive the Journal Cup and was the Class Valedictorian.
As a result of her stellar high school career, in 1980 Tina signed with Georgia Tech as the first female to receive a full athletic scholarship at Tech. Like all freshmen, she had great hopes for her collegiate basketball career. She was the leading scorer even though she came off of the bench….until the sixth game of the season when she blew her knee out. She had to have ACL reconstruction and never made any gameday impact after that. However, she was used as the leader of the Tech scout team and played a major part in their on-campus recruiting. Tina’s senior year at Tech was the first year she coached an 18U AAU team. After graduation, she returned to Wills Park to help her dad with the Fundamentals Basketball Clinic from 1984 – 1997 and then started a fundamentals clinic for girls in the South Forsyth area until 2002. She then took a job as a lay coach at Vickery Creek Middle School, coaching the 8th Grade Lady Vipers until 2017. She retired from coaching after fifteen seasons where she was “fortunate to combine my two loves….basketball and kids. I pray that I made a difference in their lives as I always raised the bar and encouraged them to strive for it. Now I’m just enjoying from the stands.”
Tina has worked in the building industry and real estate, but her real passion was serving as a volunteer and lay coach with young kids. At the age of 46, she earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from Kennesaw State University and is now a math tutor. She has two daughters and two grandsons. Tina was inducted into the Milton High School Hall of Fame in 2018.
