COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — If you have lived in Columbus for any length of time, you’ve probably seen the name on a stadium and on the YMCA. That name is AJ McClung. He was a leader, mentor, and civic pioneer, and he was Columbus’s first and only Black mayor.
Arthur Joseph “AJ” McClung sat on the first city council under the new Consolidated Government in 1971. He also served as Mayor Pro Tem.
In 1973, the death of Mayor JR Allen in a plane crash thrust McClung into the role of Mayor. He mourned a friend, but recognized the enormity of his new responsibilities…