I'm with Burnsie on this subject. BW will make an OK bow but if I were going to make a BW bow I would cut a smaller, easy to manage tree(4" to 8" dia). Generally you would use the white wood, just under the bark, for a BW bow.
As far as quality grade BW a tree of at least 60 years old or older should be used. The sapwood on BW is quite thick so it takes a very large tree to get to the "good" lumber.
There is lots of good bow making wood around the Athens area. Hickory, oaks, elm, HHB, ERC and many others. Bigger trees don't necessarily make better self bows. Pat