Augusta, GA
‘I know she’s smiling’: Local coach’s influence lives on
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – As the graduates from Cross Creek High School file in to take their seats, joy in the James Brown Arena is palpable.
Everywhere you look, there’s a loved one celebrating.
Quanda Ball should be one of them.
The 43-year-old’s body was found in a car at Pendleton King Park Tuesday. Investigators are calling her death “suspicious.”
“She would have been clapping and yelling and screaming,” said Krystle Johnson. “She would have been really proud.”
Ball never had any children of her own, but it’s fair to say, she still had a lot of kids.
Krystle Johnson met Ball through a mutual friend when they were looking for a coach for the Lady Grinders, a local girls travel basketball team. She says Ball instantly became family to the girls on the team.
“She was that Auntie that they needed,” Johnson laughed.
Just ask Michaela Bogans.
She started playing for “Coach Q” in the 6th grade.
“I know she’s smiling right now,” Bogans said.
Bogans will be playing at the next level next year; she signed to play Division I basketball at Morgan State and leaves for Baltimore in July.
Bogans helped lead Cross Creek to four region titles and the Lady Razorbacks’ first-ever state championship.
“Coach Q, she means a lot to me. She was amazing. She told me I could do anything that I put my mind to,” Bogans said. “She was an inspiration to me. I looked up to her.”
Ball was quite the baller herself, playing D I ball for William and Mary.
Before that, she helped lead Curtis Baptist to the 1996 GISA state championship. The following year, she played for Richmond Academy and helped her team win the 1997 GHSA AAA High School State Championship. They were the first-ever team from Augusta to win a state championship in Class AAA.
“She was a really good person,” said Tiara Turner, a 2024 grad from Cross Creek. “A nice person. A good coach – a GREAT coach.”
Turner has been playing for Coach Q since middle school. Cross Creek teammate and fellow 2024 graduate Alaya Henry says she learned a lot about life from Coach Q.
“I had a game where I walked out of the gym, and she followed me out there and told me to tighten up – do it for the team,” said Henry. “Can’t just think about yourself no more.”
On this day of celebration, the Cross Creek graduates are thinking about others; they’re reflecting on how they each got to this point. For the young ladies Coach Q mentored, that means celebrating Coach Q’s impact, too.
“There’s a song that we would sing in church called ‘May The Work That I’ve Done Speak For Me,” Johnson said. “And I hope the work that Quanda has done in our community – especially with our girls – continues to live on.”
As an AAU coach, she wasn’t just a mentor for girls at Cross Creek; she coached girls in schools all across Richmond County.
When she wasn’t on the court, Ball also worked as a nurse, dedicating her life to caring for others.
Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Several artists came together for a Mother’s Day concert Bethel Community Church Family Life Center.
Lucresha Thomas with Psalm 100 Entertainment said the event honors mothers.
“I think that is very important to honor the mothers because there’s some people that don’t have mothers due, the mothers passing away and mothers not being local,” Thomas said. “So this helps bring them together and they’re able to fellowship with other mothers and just be positive, bringing some gospel to the community where they can fellowship together, be blessed and maybe receive a blessing.”
Host Tommy Ingram said groups from across the area participated in the concert.
“We got a live, a lot of groups coming from all over the area to make sure that all the mothers in the area have a good time today,” Ingram said.
Host Adrian Monet said the free concert gives back to the community.
“Well, okay, yeah, a lot of mothers enjoy some good gospel singing. They love gospel concerts,” Monet said. “And this one is a give back, you know, to the community because it’s completely free. And so it’s a chance for people to bring their mothers to enjoy the music that they love so much.”
Erica and Jessica Harris, co-owners of Sophisticated Soul Food, said they wanted to celebrate mothers.
“Okay, we’re out here today for this pre-Mother’s Day event, and we’re just, we just want to give back to the community and celebrate all mothers,” the co-owners said. “And so we’re so excited to be out here. And we have great soul food for everybody that wants to come out.”
Kenneth Medlock, Tyrell Gibson and Gary Durham of The Country Boys, a gospel group from Thomson, said they were honored to participate.
“So we’re just so grateful to be here and honored to be able to stand up and let the world know how good God is through our songs and our praise,” the group said.
Anthony Gallant and Lamont McDowell, members of a gospel group from the Carolinas, said celebrating mothers is important.
“Oh yeah, I think it’s extremely important because mothers work hard throughout the year. They’re very diligent,” Gallant and McDowell said. “And I think at least if you could celebrate them one time, just make them feel special and that the queens that they are, I think it’s important and they’ll feel that love.”
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Democratic candidate for Georgia governor Olu Brown visited Augusta on Friday evening, stopping near the Sand Hills Community Center as early voting continues.
Brown is one of six candidates in the Democratic primary.
Campaign priorities
Brown said his vision as governor would focus on three main areas.
“One, it’s affordability around health care and making sure we expand Medicaid and expand Peach Care and make sure we continue to make our rural health care systems healthy and vital,” Brown said. “Number two, we’ve got to address education in all of Georgia, making sure every kid in Georgia gets an excellent education, and we’re paying our teachers more. And number 3, we’re protecting the rights of all women. Folks in the Gold Dome shouldn’t be making decisions about their bodies or the choices that they make.”
Brown is running against Amanda Duffy, Derrick Jackson, Geoff Duncan, Jason Esteves, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mike Thurmond.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
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