3 join ranks of JA’s Business Hall of Fame

By Charles Oliver

Many of Dalton’s business leaders gathered Tuesday to honor Jim Jolly, Norris Little and Pleas Smith on their induction into the Junior Achievement Northwest Georgia Business Hall of Fame.

But those three men used the opportunity to pay tribute to the many co-workers, employees, business partners and customers who helped make them successful.

“This is not about me. It’s about hundreds of people over many, many years who have preceded me and supported me and helped me along the way. I can’t think of this any other way. There are lots and lots of people who have helped me reach this point,” said Little, who is now vice chairman emeritus of Shaw Industries.

Little previously served numerous roles in that company including president and chief operating office and vice chairman.

“I have been so blessed in my life to come across so many good, honest people, the people in this town who have helped me so much,” said Smith. “When I got out of the Army, I came back and started in construction. I had so many good friends and so many people that gave me work and let be build for them.”

Smith helped found Smith & Green Construction in 1948, and it is now Dalton’s oldest general construction company.

The three joined 12 previous inductees, including some of the founders of Dalton’s floorcovering industry.

“I am very honored and very humbled to stand before you tonight,” said Jolly, former chairman and CEO of J&J; Industries. “When I look at the 12 people who are currently in and the two men who are being honored with me tonight, I am very honored to be in that company. It’s a great collection of people.”

Little agreed.

“I’m proud to be in the company of those people who are listed in your program as previous honorees as well as the people being honored here tonight. I’m in really, really god company,” he said.

Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce president Brian Anderson called all three men role models.

“These honorees demonstrate business excellence, vision and innovation, leadership and community mindedness,” he said.

Anderson said the purpose of the hall of fame is to identify role models, especially for young people such as those served by Junior Achievement.

Junior Achievement volunteers teach students from elementary school to high school how economics and finance apply to the real world. About 250 volunteers teach some 8,000 students in the eight-county Northwest Georgia district, which includes 39 schools in Murray and Whitfield counties. The nonprofit organization has been in Dalton since 1964.

Jack Harris, president of Junior Achievement of Georgia, said the group tries to foster “the sense of entrepreneurship and innovation in the next generation.”

Judy Norris, executive director of the local Junior Achievement, says the group’s educational activities go beyond the world of business.

“We try to teach our young people how to be good citizens, good role models and good people in all areas of their lives,” she said.

The dinner is one of the group’s largest fundraisers.



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Three new members were inducted into the Junior Achievement Northwest Georgia Business Hall of Fame Tuesday. The inductees were Jim Jolly, former CEO of J&J; Industries; Norris Little, a former executive at Shaw Industries; and Pleas Smith, founder of Smith & Green Construction,

The 2008 class consisted of brothers Ken and the late Jim Boring, who were part owners of Hardwick Holding Co. and got their start in the rock quarry business; and the late Tom Jones, co-founder of J&J; Industries and a member of the Dalton Board of Education for 26 years.

Joining in 2007 were the late James Brown, founder of Brown Printing; Norman Burkett, former administrator of Hamilton Health Care System; the late Harry Saul, who founded Queen Carpet (which was sold to Shaw Industries); and businessman Jack Turner.

The inaugural class in 2006 included Jack Bandy, co-founder of Coronet Industries; the late Alan and Shirley Lorberbaum, co-founders of Aladdin Mills (which became Mohawk Industries); V.D. Parrott Jr., former general manager/president of Dalton Utilities; and the late Catherine Evans Whitener, one of the pioneers of the bedspread industry, which evolved into the carpet industry.