Greater Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame Dinner Highlights

  • Tuesday, March 3, 2015
  • B.B. Branton

Greater Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame Highlights

 

by B.B.  Branton

 

A softball warrior playing the game for parts of six decades, a baseball pitcher who was nearly non-hittable for Lookout Valley, a pioneer with the Chattanooga Track Club, a legend in the local swim league and a pair of younger brothers who overcame the backyard battles with big brothers and learned to beat the best and a pair of tennis champs who have made the Lady Mocs net program proud were just a few of the class of 2015 inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame Monday night at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

 

A Look at a Few of the Inductees and Their Stories:

 

Bill Caulkins (Swimming and Diving): For nearly 50 years, longtime Lookout Mountain resident Bill Caulkins served tirelessly as Chattanooga Area Swim League (CASL) head referee and coordinator.

He did everything so well for so long, the end of summer city meet is now known as the Bill Caulkins City Swim Meet.

 

Yet due to the scare of polio in the 1930s and 40s, Caulkins did not make a name for himself in the water, yet excelled in football and track and field at McCallie in the late 1940s.

 

“When I was growing up, we did not gather in large groups such as at swimming pools or movie theatres for a fear of the illness being spread from person to person,” stated Caulkins whose two daughters, Betsy and Caroline were prep All-American swimmers at GPS.

 

Yet thanks to Dr. Peter Salk and others, the polio vaccine of the early 1950s to mid-1960s saved millions of lives and it was safe to go back in the water.

 

“To me, swimming is the best all-around sport since knowing how to swim might one day save your life or the life of someone else,” Caulkins stated.

 

“For 50 years I have tried to do my best to serve my God, my family and the swimming community.”

 

Sylvia White (Softball): In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Chattanooga softball was among the best in the South and the nation.

 

But Sylvia White and her softball talents were showcased on the local playgrounds long before Kobax, Golden Gallon, Combustion and the rest.

 

“A little scraggly 10-year-old girl went from Alton Park to Warner Park to playing for DuPont at the age of 25 and later managing teams out of state,” said White.

 

Bob Rhinehart (Softball): “Growing up in Chattanooga, we were blessed with such quality players, teams and leagues.”

 

Growing up I was motivated to be as good a player as possible. You didn’t want to be picked last in the neighborhood games and get stuck playing rightfield,” Rhinehart stated with a laugh.

 

Looking at his resume, the only reason to play him in right field would be due to a comparison to Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Al Kaline or Roger Maris.

 

The 13-varsity letter winner at Ringgold High School, earned all-city (8), all-state (5) and All-American in 1976 and led Dugan and Dugan to a third place finish in the national tournament.

 

Harley Woody (baseball): While White and Rhinehart hit the big white ball around the ball yard, Harley Woody and his buddies from Lookout Valley won the TSSAA Class A baseball state crown in 1977.

 

Known for his hitting and pitching, Woody learned to “rock and fire” at an early age and parlayed that talent into a prep All-American career for the Yellow Jackets with a less the 1.00 earned run average and 27-2 in three years on the hill.

 

He also led Columbia State to a fourth place finish in the Juco World Series and helped New Britain win the Eastern League title in his last year of minor league ball in 1983.

 

Meg Bandy and Elizabeth Sharp Henderson (UTC Tennis): The Lady Mocs net program has produced great players and coaches, including Meg Bandy (Southern Conference MVP in 1991) and Elizabeth Sharp Henderson a six-time AIAW national champion (singles and doubles) in the late 1970s.

 

Bandy coached the Baylor girls to three state titles in the 1990s and has been an assistant coach for GPS and their state title teams of 2008 and 2010. She and her daughter, Maddox won the USTA Mother-Daughter National Clay Court Championship this past fall.

 

Luther Killian and Steve Gross (Wrestling): Both Killian and Gross gave credit to their older brothers (Jack Killian and Jerry Gross) for helping to hone their mat skills in the back yard or on the living room rugs.

 

Those long, sometimes torturous, matches with older brother led the way to national prep championships for both younger brothers in the late 1960s at McCallie.

 

Bob Marler (Track and Field): "We were a tiny bunch, but we had a plan and a purpose and today we have 1,000 CTC members," said Marler who along with hall of fame runner Joe McGinness were among the founders of the CTC.

 

Taylor Hall and Davis Tull: Almost Quit and Almost Forgotten: Taylor Hall came close to not playing college basketball, changed her mind and went on to become Southern Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year for UTC in 2014.

 

Tull broke his leg his senior year at Knox. Bearden High School and was all but forgotten by college coaches.

 

But UTC stayed in touch, Tull walked on as a freshman, later earned a scholarship and became a three-time Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year (2012-13-14) for the Mocs and a two-time Academic All-American.

 

Monday night, Hall was honored as the Female Athlete of the Year, while Tull shared the Male Athlete of the Year Award with Duke All-ACC linebacker David Helton (Baylor School) whose talents on the field and in the classroom earned him the William V. Campbell Award, better known as the Academic Heisman.

 

A Look to Next Year and Beyond

 

A few athletes and coaches to consider: Carl Poston Jr (skeet shooting) a world and national champion … David Hannah (football, Baylor School and Alabama) … Paul Schulz (former Chattanooga Free Press prep editor and national award winning writer) … national prep wrestling champions Albert Wilson (Baylor, 1970) and Brian Card (McCallie, 1971) … High School All-American wrestler David Kent (McCallie, 2x state champ)… Coach Buck Stamps who was recreation director on Lookout Mtn for 40 years ... Southern doubles champion and TSSAA state champion Elizabeth Donnovin (tennis).

 

Contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net

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