I believe there are numerous Ginkos in downtown Athens.
Pam

Gingkos should've all lost their leaves by now. There are some oaks (not live oaks) that still have some green leaves now.

I guess they could be a cherry laurel, but 30 feet seems a bit tall for that tree.

I know they are not ginkos or cherry laurels. These are mature trees with some stature. I really think they are a type of oak. I was thinking Willow Oak, but I thought they were decidedly decidious, but perhaps not in your climate?

Other possibilities are Sweet Bay Magnolia (magnolia virgiana) and Red Bay (Persea borbonia). Both of these still have leaves.

Not willow oak, they are deciduous and leaves are gone now, but there is some other oak that still have greenish leaves (I have some in my yard and they are still green but sparse). So it could be an oak.

Wish someone in Athens would respond.

Though I don't know HotLanta, like Ellen, my first thought was M.virginiana, or possibly even M.grandiflora.
When I think 'ficus', I'm thinking edible figs, but I guess the magnolia leaves do resemble F.benjamini
I suppose Water oak, Q.nigra, could be a possibility, as I've seen them hold (mostly) green leaves through the winter, and I guess the leaves resemble fiddleleaf fig, to some degree, though a whole lot smaller.

They are not magnolias. I am very familiar with both M Virginiana and Grandiflora (yes, I actually have a small (12 ft) but healthy Grandiflora in my back yard here in coastal Massachusetts, but I was certainly impressed by the monsters in Georgia! Anyway, I am very confident that the trees in question are oaks. And I was also thinking that it might be a water oak because I once read that they are a common tree in the SE. And the trees I observed did indeed have fairly small leaves. But I suppose it will take somebody from Athens to finally answer my question. I should have taken a picture!

I think Roger Cauthen is Athens-Clarke County's resident tree expert. Why not call or email him and ask him what those trees are? Here's a link to the county department that I think can probably answer your question for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Athens-Clarke County Landscape Management Division

I contacted the Community Forester as you suggested. She was very helpful and informed me that the trees in question are called Darlington Oaks. They are Quercus Laurifolia or a variety of Laurel Oak. Very nice tree!

I was hoping you'd update us. Thanks rockman!

Darlington Oaks are Quercus hemisphaerica and are much more beautiful than Quercus laurifolia, I think. Both of these trees will lose a large percentage of their leaves in the early spring, as the new flush of growth emerges.

In the plants database of USDA, Quercus hemisphaerica is listed as a synonym of Q. laurifolia. It also has it's own listing too.

I think what I have must be Q. laurifolia because it says that sometimes it can have "three-lobed apices (var. tridentata)" and my trees definitely have that but also has leaves that are just plain. I've had the devil of a time trying to figure it out but after reading the description of Q. laurifolia I believe that is it.

Here is a link that might be useful: PLANTS