The club has presented the award annually since 1979 to honor the memory of Harris, a community leader who was editor of The Augusta Chronicle and Augusta Herald in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.

In accepting the award, Rhodes recalled that it had been Harris who hired him out the University of Georgia almost 50 years ago.

Rhodes said he had received many honors over the years, “but this is one I really wanted.”

His Ramblin' Rhodes column is the longest-running column on country music in a daily newspaper in America.