Willie "Goody Goody Peanut Man" Bowman, a fixture at various sporting venues in Columbus, GA., died Monday, July 23, 2012. He is best known for his trademark pitch on peanuts, "goodygoodygoodygoody peanuts" at Golden Park, once home to various minor league baseball teams in Columbus. Bowman was a fixture from the park since the 1930's, until Columbus lost it's last minor league team in 2008. He also spent 15 years with the Columbus Cottonmouths at the Columbus Civic Center. Bowman shadowed his grandfather at the segregated stadium as a young child. But it was local businessman B. Dayton Preston who began a lifelong business relationship and friendship with a young Bowman in 1949. "A group of us young entrepreneurs started a business at Memorial Stadium," Preston recalled. "We rented seat cushions for those hard benches. Willie came up to me and said he needed a job, so we gave him a job. He would go pick up the cushions when people left." Willie is a legend in Columbus Georgia sports. Please help me get a bronze statue in his likeness erected in front of the Columbus Civic Center, this would be a great tribute to Willie for all he became for fans of sports in Columbus, GA.

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