Soddy Daisy High School's 1946-47 State Basketball Team Only Lost Twice; Won State Championship

  • Thursday, June 29, 2017
  • Bill Peterson

The 1946-47 Soddy-Daisy High School Trojans boys basketball team, one of the greatest high school teams to ever take the hardwood in the state of Tennessee, won the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association state championship that year in convincing fashion.  

March 15 marked the 70th anniversary of that event.  This might have been cause for celebration if not for one thing:  Time seems to have erased the memory of the 1947 Trojans for many, if not most, people.

  Or perhaps most don’t know the story of the Trojans in the first place.  

“There have been two history books written on Soddy-Daisy, and neither of them mentioned the state championship,” said Soddy-Daisy High School graduate Allen Miller, son of sophomore starter on the state championship team, Cecil Miller.  “If they’d talked to some of us older people, that’s one of the first things we’d mention.”

Red Bank Mayor John Roberts, also a Soddy-Daisy alumnus, said, “I’ll bet hardly any of the current students has any idea that the school has won a state championship in basketball.”  Roberts, a relative of Willard Lovelady, one of the stars of the ’47 state champs, continued, “It’s a shame.  It’s like the movie Hoosiers.”  

Like the Hoosier State of Indiana, Soddy-Daisy was an exciting place for basketball during that time, with great talent and community support.

“Oh, we hated playing Soddy-Daisy, especially there,” said Eddie Test, former University of Tennessee basketball player and a member of the 1958 Chattanooga Central team that finished runner-up in the state tournament to Lenoir City that year.  “It was really tough.”  

“We always had a packed gym for games,” said Ernestine Eldridge, daughter of the coach of the ’47 champions, Ernest Eldridge. "We had to bring in chairs from the cafeteria to handle the crowds.  We would circle the floor with those chairs and it would be that way for every game.”  Miss Eldridge said that fans from the twin cities traveled very well to away games and to the state tournament, as well. 

The 1947 Trojans boasted an incredible array of athletic talent, basketball smarts, and great coaching and leadership.  George Short of the Chattanooga Times wrote in 1947 of the Trojans, “They are a fan’s basketball team.  They are nothing if not a ‘team’ in any sense of the word.”  

The Soddy-Daisy Trojans were led by Coach Ernest Eldridge.  Eldridge became the school’s first basketball coach in 1937, when Daisy High School and Soddy High School merged to form Soddy-Daisy High School.  Before that, he had been coach at Daisy High, starting in 1920.  In 1928, his Daisy High team won the prestigious Dixie Prep Championship.  

Coach Eldridge had no given middle name.  But his nickname of “Big Boy” is well known to this day.  “A lot of people think he was called that because he was fat,” Miss Eldridge said.  “He was not fat.  He was just big.  He was tall and strong.”  

At 6’3” and a college playing weight of around 200 pounds – indeed quite big, especially for the time –  Eldridge’s size served him well when he was a standout lineman for the University of Chattanooga Moccasins starting in 1913 after graduating from the old Soddy High School earlier that year.  His college studies and playing career were interrupted by World War I, where he served for three years as a member of the Signal Corps.  He returned to UC in 1919 and graduated in 1920.  

Interestingly, Coach Eldridge, the former football star, never coached football in high school and only rarely tried coaching another sport.  “I think he tried volleyball for a few games but that was it,” said Miss Eldridge.  “He was a basketball coach.”

Coach Eldridge was a brilliant tactician with great feel and instincts for the game of basketball.  

“They didn’t fast break as much back then as they do today,” said Miss Eldridge, a former coach herself.  “It was more deliberate.”  But as newspaper stories tell, when the opportunity presented itself, Coach Eldridge’s Trojans could score points in a hurry with their “pass and shoot” offense. 

“He had a great feel for the game,” Miss Eldridge continued.  “I remember asking him, ‘Why didn’t you take Burr out when he had three fouls?’”  “Burr” is the nickname of Thomas Maynor, the ’47 team’s most valuable player.  “Daddy would tell me, ‘Because I want to win the game.  I can’t win the game with my best player on the bench.  Besides, he’s not going to foul out.’”  

“And Burr never did foul out of any games,” she said with a smile and a laugh.  

“The top three things in daddy’s life were the Lord, his family, and his students, in that order,” Miss Eldridge said.  “Daddy wasn’t very spiritual until he met mother.  But he became very spiritual.  We were baptized together, when I was eight years old.  It was at the creek at Falling Water.  Most churches didn’t have baptism pools back then.”  

Miss Eldridge continued, “Something funny about that:  The preacher needed someone to help baptize daddy because he was so big.  He didn’t want to lose control of daddy in the creek.”

She related another humorous story, this one involving her father and legendary local sports official Cooper Dyer.  The setting was a banquet honoring Coach Eldridge.  “Daddy could get anyone to officiate his games because he never complained to the referees,” Miss Eldridge said.   “Never said a word.  Nothing.” 

Dyer brought this up at the banquet.  “Big Boy never said a word during games,” he said.  “But 100 people behind him did.” 

True to his Christian faith, Coach Eldridge lived a clean life free of drinking and smoking.  According to Miss Eldridge, her father said, “I can’t ask my players not to do that and then do it myself.”  

Former Chattanooga Times sports editor and Soddy-Daisy graduate Buck Johnson had a close relationship with Coach Eldridge.  Johnson was on the bench for the 1947 championship game, even though he was not a player or a manager.  “He wanted someone he could talk to who was not a member of the team,” Johnson said.  “He was like a second father to me.  He even gave me a team jacket.  It’s priceless.”  

Johnson recalled being summoned to Coach Eldridge’s side when the coach was on his deathbed.  They exchanged one final conversation before Eldridge produced a silver dollar, which he gave to Johnson.  “You’re Buck, and now you have a buck,” Coach Eldridge said to Johnson.

When Coach Eldridge retired from coaching in 1964, he had amassed a coaching record of 840 wins with only 256 losses – a winning percentage of 77%.  Eldridge was the winningest coach in the South when he retired and was listed among the top ten nationally.  Today, he is still listed among the top 50 winningest boys high school basketball coaches of all time.   Coach Eldridge is an inductee into numerous halls of fame, including the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, and was in the inaugural class of the Soddy-Daisy High School Hall of Fame.

Coach Eldridge raised thousands of dollars for various charities by donating gate receipts from designated basketball games.  His bio at the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame reads: “A soft-spoken gentleman, Eldridge had a great influence on the lives of hundreds of athletes in the northern Hamilton County area before his death in 1976. This, above all else, is his lasting legacy.”

Coach Eldridge’s plaque, the first one on the wall at the Soddy-Daisy High School Hall of fame, reads: “Head Basketball Coach.  Philosopher.  Gentleman.  Role Model.”  That was Coach Ernest “Big Boy” Eldridge.

The year before the championship season, Coach Eldridge’s 1945-46 team came close to winning the state title that season, as well.  The tournament that year was played at Middle Tennessee State College (now University) in Murfreesboro.  Nashville West High (also known as West End High), the pre-tourney co-favorites with Soddy-Daisy, won the title by beating Livingston Academy in the championship game.  Livingston Academy, a public school with a private sounding name, upset Soddy-Daisy in the semifinals by one point.  The Trojans had earlier beaten Fayetteville in the state quarterfinals.  In the consolation game, Soddy-Daisy beat McMinnville to finish 3rd in the state.  To qualify for the state tournament, Soddy-Daisy won the East Tennessee Region tournament in Maryville, beating a strong Friendsville High School team in the final.

The Trojans entered the 1946-47 season having lost three starters from the year before:  Eugene “Corky” Parrott, Everette Cox, and J.D. Bean.  But Willard Lovelady, who would become one of the greatest athletes in school history, joined the team after having served a year in the Navy, something not uncommon around World War II.  The addition of the 6’4” Lovelady to an already strong returning cast would be all the Trojans needed to make another run at a state title.  

Lovelady had left Soddy-Daisy for the Navy standing 5’10” and returned 6’4”.  According to Roberts, Lovelady liked to joke that the Navy “stretched” him.  Lovelady was well known by his nickname of “Chicken” or “Chick.”  No one interviewed knows how he got the nickname.  

Despite Lovelady’s year in the Navy, he was still age eligible to participate in high school sports in the TSSAA.  The TSSAA age eligibility rule today simply is, if a student turns 19 years of age on or before August 1 of the upcoming school year, he or she cannot participate in athletics.  According to records available online, Lovelady would not turn 19 until August 16.  So, Lovelady would be eligible to play today, and he was eligible to play then. 

Lovelady joined a team of great athletes and basketball players led by 6’1” Thomas Maynor.  “Burr” Maynor ended the championship season as first team All-City, All-Tennessee Valley Conference, All-First District, All-East Tennessee Region, and All-State.  Maynor was voted most valuable player in the state tournament.  He was the best player in the state, the team leader, and he strived to make others on his team better.  

Allen Miller shared a story about Maynor told to him by his father, Cecil, a member of the championship team.  Maynor would always make it a point match up with Cecil in practice, hounding him from start to finish.  A frustrated Cecil Miller, two classes behind Maynor, finally asked him, “Why are you always getting on me in practice?”  Maynor replied, “Because I want to make you a better player.”  Cecil told his son that Maynor taught him offense and defense and that he owed his success in basketball to Maynor. 

Along with the 6’1” Miller, the starting lineup was rounded out with 6’3” Bobby Ballew and 6’1” Charlie Bean, brother of J.D. from the team the year before.  They were bolstered by reserves that included 5’10” Eddie Correll, an all-star on Coach Charley Millsaps’ Trojan football team, and future Major League Baseball player, 5’10” Buck Varner, also a football all-star.  The ten-man team also included 6’1” Charles Narramore, 6’2” Bobby Johnston, and 6’1” Algia Trantham.   Those interviewed said that the entire team played more than one sport at Soddy-Daisy, and they all contributed at one time or another in basketball.  Correll suffered a season-ending injury in the First District Tournament, and Charles Varner, a talented, lanky B-team player, took his place and also had a role in the championship season.  

It seems that the basketball thinking of today is to have five players of all around the same height on the floor.  Likewise, the starters for Soddy-Daisy all hovered between 6’1” and 6’4”.  They would be a good sized high school basketball team today and they certainly were in 1947.

Coach Eldridge could hardly have picked a more attractive home opponent to start the 1946-47 season:  The defending Georgia state champion Rossville High School Bulldogs.  Rossville, led by star player Joe Dunagan, had defeated Tucker in the state title game at Macon the previous season.  This was designated as a charity game by Eldridge, with gate receipts going to charity. The event was billed as a triple-header and included a B-team game and a game pitting an American Legion five against a Power Board team.  The legendary Raymond Hines, Rossville High’s principal and basketball coach who had coached the Bulldogs to two state championships over the prior three seasons, had resigned from coaching.  Billy O’Brien, who had been on Scrappy Moore’s football staff at Chattanooga, was now leading the Bulldogs.  After the two preliminary games were finished and in front of a packed arena at Soddy-Daisy, the Trojans, with Burr Maynor’s 25 points leading the way, routed Rossville and Dunagan, 65-41, in a very impressive debut.

Next on the schedule for the Trojans was the Times Cup Series Tournament, a 13-team basketball extravaganza played over five days, held at Chattanooga Central High School on Dodds Avenue.  Soddy-Daisy opened with neighbor Sale Creek and won big, 41-24.  Cecil Miller had 14 points and Chicken Lovelady 9 to lead the Trojans.  In the next round, the Trojans beat a good Ooltewah Owls team, 32-15.  In the semifinals, the Trojans downed Coach Bill Bales’ Chattanooga Central Purple Pounders, 32-20, behind Maynor’s 14 points.  In the championship game, Soddy-Daisy defeated the Baylor Red Raiders, 32-16, led by 10 points from Maynor and 9 from Miller.  

Central High football coach Red Etter, the tournament director, reported to the Chattanooga Times that the total attendance for the Times Cup Series was 2,504 fans and that each team would receive $12 and 44 ½ cents per game plus mileage of ten cents per mile ($18.00 for Soddy-Daisy). Total payout from the Times Cup Series for Soddy-Daisy was $67.78 (approximately $744 today).

Rhea Central next hosted the Trojans in Dayton with Soddy-Daisy embarrassing the home team, 49-28.  Lovelady paced the Trojan attack with 11 points followed by Charlie Bean and Bobby Ballew with 8 each.  Soddy-Daisy then faced Sale Creek for the second time in under two weeks and dispensed of the Panthers, 55-31, led by Lovelady’s 16 points, in a game played at Soddy-Daisy.  Before breaking for the Christmas holiday, the Trojans hosted a strong Friendsville High School team, easing by the Blue Jays by a 36-31 score.  Lovelady again led the Trojans with 13 points.

After Christmas and prior to embarking on a four-day, four-game tour of East Tennessee, Soddy-Daisy hosted Oak Ridge and whipped the Wildcats, 46-25.  Top Trojan scorers were Lovelady with 16 and Bean 11.

On New Year’s Day, Soddy-Daisy began its East Tennessee excursion at Norris High and behind Bean’s 15 points downed the host team, 39-23.  The Trojans then trekked to the Atomic City to face Oak Ridge for the second time in less than a week.  Soddy-Daisy won by a score almost identical to the first game, 48-25.  Lovelady with 16 and Bean with 11 points paved the way for the Trojans.

The third stop on the four-game swing through East Tennessee was at Friendsville High School, one of several now-defunct schools the Trojans faced during the season.  It was a wild affair in which tempers flared on the floor and in the stands.  Maynor had his best game of the season to date with 22 points in leading the Trojans to their 13th consecutive win by the score of 51-34.  But stealing the headlines from Maynor was TSSAA Executive Director A.F. Bridges suspending five Friendsville players for the remainder of the season for unsportsmanlike conduct during the game. Four Blue Jay players, all starters, had fouled out, and words were exchanged between players, fans, and referees during the heated game.  Another Blue Jay was ejected from the game for fighting.  However, at a hearing in Knoxville a week later, the TSSAA Board of Control voted to reinstate two of the Friendsville players immediately and three others a month later.  But the school would remain on probation for one year.  

With the Friendsville game in the win column, the Trojans of Soddy-Daisy wound up its road trip by facing the Trojans of Knoxville High School, also now defunct.  Before closing its doors in 1951, the prestigious school graduated a host of notable alumni and won many state sports championships.  In the battle of Trojans, the Soddy-Daisy version prevailed, 40-38, in two overtimes.  Lovelady led Soddy-Daisy with 20 points and hit the winning basket in the second overtime, which interestingly was sudden death.  The sudden-death second overtime rule was common in high schools nationally at the time.  To win the game, a school had to score two points to achieve the sudden-death win.  One free throw would not secure a win.

Before returning to the friendly confines of Soddy-Daisy High School, the Trojans would face two more teams on the road, both in Chattanooga.  Soddy-Daisy returned to Chattanooga Central, site of the Times Cup Series, and demolished the Purple Pounders, 54-19, in a game described by the Times as a “lacing.”  It was the worst loss of Central coach Bill “Bang Bang” Bales’ career.  The Trojans had all but two players score, led by Maynor’s 14, Miller with 10, Ballew 9, Lovelady 8, and Bean 7.  Also scoring for the Trojans were Charles Narramore, Bobby Johnston, and Algia Trantham, each with 2 points.  Some observers felt that the pounding of Central was retribution for the one-sided football defeat of Soddy-Daisy given by Central earlier in the school year.  Times sports editor Wirt Gammon addressed the issue in his “Just Between Us Fans” column.  Trojan fan Clarence H. Elliott of Soddy rebuked Gammon in a stinging letter to the editor, pointing out that Central had beaten Sale Creek, 76-24, in the 1943 First District Tournament.  

Those three tense affairs behind them, the Trojans visited Notre Dame High School at their old location on 8th Street in downtown Chattanooga and left with a resounding win, 68-37, Bean’s 17 and Lovelady’s 16 points paving the way for Soddy-Daisy.

After more than two weeks of not having played a home game, Soddy-Daisy enjoyed a three-game homestand, defeating Chattanooga Central, 47-40, Knoxville High, 50-28, and Ooltewah, 51-25. Then, before playing one of the biggest games of the season, the Trojans visited Spring City High, coached by future Soddy-Daisy football coach Harland Burnette, and left with an impressive 63-21 win over the Bulldogs.  Maynor led with 17 points.

Next up for Soddy-Daisy was a trip down Highway 27 just over the state line into the bustling mill town of Rossville, Ga., to face the powerful Rossville High Bulldogs.  The Trojans had defeated Rossville soundly to start the season, and the defending Georgia state champions were motivated for the rematch.  In front of a raucous, standing room only crowd, the stage was set for an ambush.  The Bulldogs, led by Joe Dunagan’s 16 points, Lamar North’s 12, and Pete Brown’s 9, upset Soddy-Daisy in a thriller, 45-42.  The game, described by the Times as “gripping,” was close from start to finish.   Ballew and Maynor led the Trojans with 11 points each.  First-year Rossville coach Billy O’Brien would later resign his position before the season ended, after leading the Bulldogs past Marietta High’s Blue Devils in the region championship at Rome, which gave the Bulldogs a spot in the Georgia state tournament at Macon.  Raymond Hines would again coach the team in the state tourney.  In the first round, Rossville suffered a bad night at the free throw line and was upset by the Perry High School Panthers, 25-23, who would go on to win the state title.  This would mark the first of eight state championships won at Perry by legendary coach Eric Staples, who would later be nicknamed the “Adolph Rupp of Georgia.”

The Trojans rebounded from their first loss in 20 games by beating Coach Erwin McEwen’s Sale Creek Panthers on the road, 48-26, with Maynor and Lovelady each tallying 12 points for Soddy-Daisy.  The Trojans then began a four-game homestand, first entertaining Notre Dame in another charity-designated game by Coach Eldridge, this time for polio.  Soddy-Daisy trounced the Fighting Irish, 69-40, and raised $140 (over $1,500 today).  Lovelady’s 17 points led the Trojans.  Soddy-Daisy doled out a 57-37 whipping to their next guests, Rhea Central, with Maynor scoring 16 and Bean and Miller 12 each.  Coach Tony Matusek’s Hixson Wildcats were the next victims of the home team Trojans, falling by a 53-33 count.  Maynor’s 14 led Soddy-Daisy.  Spring City concluded the homestand for the Trojans, and the outmanned Bulldogs were crushed again, 52-15, with Miller, Soddy-Daisy’s super sophomore, leading with 15 points.

Soddy-Daisy took to the road again, to the foot of White Oak Mountain, and defeated Ooltewah for the third time in the season, 50-32, backed by Maynor’s 21 points.  Then, behind 14 points from Maynor and 11 each from Lovelady and Bean, the Trojans bombarded Hixson on the road, 60-27.  Chattanooga City High School’s Maroons next visited Soddy-Daisy and left with a 53-27 thrashing.  Maynor and Lovelady each had 14 points.

The Tennessee Valley Conference Tournament, hosted by Soddy-Daisy, was next on the schedule.  The Trojans won the tournament, leaving no doubt, as they overwhelmed the Tyner Hilltoppers (as they were known then), 73-22, blitzed Hixson for the third time in the season, 66-30, and blistered Spring City, also for the third time, 64-26, in the final.  Lovelady’s 22 and Maynor’s 19 led the way over Hixson, while Maynor had 14, Bean 12, Miller 11, and Lovelady 10 in the Spring City win.

Three games remained in the regular season, beginning with a home-and-home series with Baylor School, one of the top teams in the old Mid-South association.  They were led by two future members of that school’s hall of fame, Coach Bob Hill and star Russ Faulkinberry, a boarding student from Murfreesboro.  Russ, one of the best all-around athletes in Baylor history, would go on to be a four-year letterman for Vanderbilt in football and later become head football coach at Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette).  In the first game of the series, at Baylor, Soddy-Daisy won, 53-35, paced by 18 from Lovelady and 11 apiece from Bean and Maynor. Faulkinberry had 10 for Baylor.  Four days later, at Soddy-Daisy, the Trojans defeated the Red Raiders for the third time in the season, 56-41.  Miller and Maynor had 14 points each for Soddy-Daisy and Bean 13.  Faulkinberry led the visitors with 12.  

Soddy-Daisy closed out the regular season by defeating City, on the road, 53-27, Lovelady’s 19 points and Maynor’s 16 leading the Trojans.  Soddy-Daisy ended the regular season as city champions and winners of the Times Cup Series and Tennessee Valley Conference tournaments. But now the season – and the march into history – would begin in earnest for the Trojans with the beginning of the First District Tournament.       

Red Bank High School would be hosts for the First District Tournament with Dunlap High School the first post-season opponent for Soddy-Daisy.  On a windy night that kept many fans away, the Trojans led at the half, 35-9, before cruising to a 73-31 demolition of the Sequatchie County school.  Charlie Bean bucketed 18 points for the winners, with Burr Maynor and Chicken Lovelady contributing 16 and 14 points, respectively.  Eddie Correll, who had 6 points, was injured in this game and would not play for the remainder of the season.  Charles Varner, a talented B-teamer, would take his place on the varsity.

Marion County was the quarterfinal opponent for the Trojans, with Soddy-Daisy making quick work of the Warriors, 56-24.  Coach Eldridge pulled the starters after the first quarter with a 20-6 lead.  Bobby Johnston and Algia Trantham led the Soddy-Daisy scoring with 10 points each.  Other scorers for the Trojans were Maynor with 8 and Cecil Miller, Charles Varner, and Bean scoring 6 points each.  Rounding out the scoring for the victors were Buck Varner and Lovelady with 4 apiece and Charles Narramore with 2 points.

The First District semifinals featured the Trojans against Bledsoe County’s Warriors.  Lovelady tallied 16 and Miller and Maynor 12 points each in a 57-27 Soddy-Daisy rout.  The Trojans led after three quarters, 48-17.

Chattanooga Central was Soddy-Daisy’s opponent for the fourth time in the season.  And for the fourth time, Soddy-Daisy dispatched the Purple Pounders, this time by 61-37.  A capacity crowd of 900 was on hand for the game, with an estimated 500 to 800 fans turned away at the door.  With four minutes left in the game, Central conceded the game and sent in its subs.  Coach Eldridge then reciprocated.  Maynor and Lovelady led the Trojans with 19 and 11 points, respectively, for the newly minted First District champions.  The entire Soddy-Daisy starting team was named to the All-First District team.

To determine the participants in the State Tournament at the time, the TSSAA divided the state into regions based on the state’s three Grand Divisions:  East Tennessee Region, Middle Tennessee Region, and West Tennessee Region.  Each region sent its champion and runner-up team to the State Tournament.  To complete an eight-team bracket, each region rotated sending four teams every third year.  In 1947, it was the East Tennessee Region’s turn to send four teams.  Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee would send only the champion and runner-up team to the ’47 tournament.  In 1946, when Soddy-Daisy qualified for the State Tournament, the East Tennessee Region, of which the Trojans were champions, sent only two teams.  

Growing fan interest led to the East Tennessee Region Tournament being moved from Maryville to the University of Tennessee’s Alumni Memorial Gymnasium where the LaFollette Owls would be the first opponent for the First District champion Trojans.  Soddy-Daisy eliminated LaFollette, 48-25.  Both squads played with adrenaline and Coach Eldridge had to call time out to settle the team down.   The game was physical underneath the basket, and Maynor fouled out (a rarity) in the third quarter, replaced by Buck Varner.  A balanced scoring attack featuring Lovelady with 10 points, Bean, Maynor, and Bobby Ballew each with 9, and Miller with 8 cemented the win.  

Coach Jim Largen’s Ooltewah Owls, the Second District champions, would be Soddy-Daisy’s opponent in the quarterfinals.  The Owls had beaten Alcoa, 40-28, to reach the quarters.  It would be the fourth meeting between the two schools in the season.  Since it was the East Tennessee Region’s turn to send four teams to the state, the winner of this game would clinch a spot in the State Tournament.  Observers described the Trojans as having an off night, but Soddy-Daisy still managed a 43-30 win, the closest margin between the two schools in four meetings that season. Maynor led the Trojans with 12 points and Ballew received much acclaim for his rebounding and all-around floor play.  
     
A State Tournament slot already in hand, Soddy-Daisy faced Happy Valley High of Elizabethton the next day at 3 p.m. in the semifinals.  Happy Valley had shocked Kingsport’s Indians, 59-41, to advance.  Happy Valley was coached by future TSSAA Hall of Fame inductee John Treadway, who would coach the Warriors to the state championship in 1950.  The Happy Valley “whiz kids,” as they were called, were led on the floor by Treadway’s son, Joe, who would go on to play and letter in two seasons for the University of Tennessee Volunteers.  The crowd of 2,000 fans witnessed a tense, back-and-forth affair that went down to the wire, with Happy Valley shocking the favored Trojans, 50-49.  Maynor had 20 for Soddy-Daisy and Treadway 23 for the Warriors.  Coach Eldridge complimented the Warriors, saying, “We lost to a great team.”  In the consolation game later that evening, Soddy-Daisy downed the Loudon Redskins, 55-38, behind Miller’s 18 points.  Loudon had lost its first game of the year to Knoxville Central to land in the consolation game.  Happy Valley downed Knoxville Central in the title game, 43-41.  Maynor was named to the All-East Tennessee Region first team and Ballew to the second team.

With the completion of the West Tennessee Region, Middle Tennessee Region, and East Tennessee Region tournaments, the participating teams for the State Tournament were now in place:  From the West Tennessee Region, champion Memphis Central and runner-up Jackson; from Middle Tennessee, champion Nashville West (defending state champions) and runner-up Father Ryan; from East Tennessee, champion Happy Valley, runner-up Knoxville Central, 3rd place Soddy-Daisy, and 4th place Loudon.  

The University of Tennessee’s Alumni Memorial Gymnasium would host the State Tournament after it outgrew the venue at Middle Tennessee State College.  The facility was state-of-the-art for the day, and Chattanooga area observers couldn’t help but be impressed.  George Short of the Times described the arena as “paradise.”  He wrote about the “spacious floor with glass backboards.”  He raved about the seating capacity of 3,300 and that all fans could be “seated.”  Short gushed about what a striking sight the interlocked “UT” painted in orange on the center circle was from the top (14th) row of the balcony.  He was further impressed that Alumni Gym had “concession stands” and “pop boys” in the stands selling “baseball park knick-knacks.”  The tournament director was University of Tennessee head basketball coach John Mauer.  The chief referee for the tournament was the top official in the Southeastern Conference, Bowser Chest of Nashville.  The setting could not have been a more perfect one for Soddy-Daisy to make basketball history.  

Soddy-Daisy’s opponent in the first round was the West Tennessee Region champion Memphis Central Warriors.  Coach Ruffner Murray actually took his team through Chattanooga on the way to Knoxville.  They spent the night at the Key Hotel in Chattanooga and worked out at the YMCA.  It no doubt was a long ride back to Memphis after Soddy-Daisy downed Memphis Central, 42-32.  “We had to play basketball today; and I’m glad we played one of our better games,” said Coach Eldridge in the Times.  That newspaper described the game as “height against height.”  Maynor with 14 points, Lovelady with 11, and Miller with 10 led the Trojan offense, while Ballew dominated inside defensively.  

Nashville’s Father Ryan High School Irish knocked out upstart Happy Valley and would be the semifinal opponent for Soddy-Daisy.  The Trojans played their best game of the year to advance over Ryan, 53-36.  Soddy-Daisy shot 63.6 percent from the field and was 11 for 11 at the free throw line.  The Trojans controlled the ball and rebounded well and “played the ball game all of Chattanooga and vicinity knew they could,” wrote Short.  Lovelady with 15 points and Miller and Bean each with 10 paced the Trojan victory.  

With the other three East Tennessee Region teams eliminated, Soddy-Daisy was the clear crowd favorite at the Knoxville venue.  The Trojans would need the crowd and more as they would face the defending state champion Nashville West Blue Jays in the state championship game.  West was brilliantly coached by Emmett Strickland who would eventually win three state titles with West.  They were the Middle Tennessee Region champions.  Without question, this would be the toughest game of the year for Soddy-Daisy.  But the Trojans were more than ready for the occasion, routing the Blue Jays, 52-26, before a frenzied crowd of 3,000.  From the opening tip won by Ballew to the final whistle, the game was all Trojans, thrilling the large contingent of fans from the twin cities as well as the other East Tennessee fans now on the Trojan bandwagon.    

Austin White of the Chattanooga News-Free Press quoted Nashville West coach Strickland, like Coach Eldridge now an inductee in the state sports hall of fame, as saying that Soddy-Daisy was “one of the finest high school teams I have ever seen in the state.”  White wrote that many basketball observers considered the Trojans to be “the most efficient high school basketball team to spring up in many a day.”  Lovelady with 16 points led the Trojan scoring followed by Maynor with 12 and Miller with 11.  Maynor and Lovelady were voted first team all-tournament and Ballew second team.  Bean and Miller were honorable mention.  Maynor was voted the tournament most valuable player and was the de facto Tennessee “Mr. Basketball.”  Soddy-Daisy concluded its grueling championship season with a record of 43-2.  

Burr Maynor turned down a scholarship to Vanderbilt to marry his high school sweetheart.  But he continued his basketball career with the powerful Rossville-based Peerless Woolens, a semi-pro team that competed in highly competitive and talent-laden industrial and textile league basketball. Chick Lovelady also played basketball for Peerless while playing baseball in the minor leagues, including with the Chattanooga Lookouts.  Tragically, Lovelady passed away at the age of 30 due to stomach cancer.  Buck Varner enjoyed a six-year professional baseball career that included a stint in the majors with the Washington Senators. Charlie Bean got a basketball scholarship to Middle Tennessee. He became a principal at several local schools. 

Ernestine Eldridge says that Coach Eldridge and all of the team’s players, including personable team manager Red Frazier, have passed away.  Information about the players is scarce and hard to come by after 70 years.  But it is the opinion of many that this team and these people who brought so much honor and distinction to Soddy-Daisy, to Soddy-Daisy High School and to Hamilton County and Chattanooga should never be forgotten and should always be honored.  John Roberts compared the story of the Trojans to the movie Hoosiers.  But at Indiana’s Milan High School (the team that inspired the movie), the team and players are remembered.  

Times writer George Short, a proud Tyner High Hilltopper, finally gave in to the excitement of the Soddy-Daisy state championship and referred to the Trojans as “our Trojans” in one of his final pieces from the State Tournament.  Indeed, the 1947 Trojans are all of ours.

Many thanks to the following people without whom this story could not have been written:  Ernestine Eldridge, member Soddy-Daisy High School Hall of Fame; former Chattanooga Times sports editor Buck Johnson, member Soddy-Daisy High School Hall of Fame; Red Bank Mayor John Roberts, Soddy-Daisy alumnus; Soddy-Daisy High School principal Steve Henry; Allen Miller, Soddy-Daisy alumnus; Tom Satkowiak, University of Tennessee assistant athletic director for media relations; Shonnie Speicher, TSSAA; Theresa Liedtka and Carolyn Runyon, UTC library; Mary Helms, Chattanooga Public Library; Eddie Test, Chattanooga Central and University of Tennessee basketball player; Jerre Haskew, former Sport Talk host; John Shearer, Chattanoogan.com; Jon Scott, University of Kentucky basketball historian; Nelson Smotherman, TSSAA historian.

1946-47 Soddy-Daisy High School Basketball Schedule and Results

Date       Opponent           Score             Site
 
Dec 7      Rossville              65-41            Soddy-Daisy

Times Cup Series Tournament
Dec 11    Sale Creek          41-24            Central 
Dec 12    Ooltewah           32-15            Central                    
Dec 13    Central                32-20            Central 
Dec 14    Baylor                  32-16            Central 

Dec 17    Rhea Central      49-28            Rhea Central
Dec 20    Sale Creek           55-31            Soddy-Daisy
Dec 21    Friendsville         36-31            Soddy-Daisy
Dec 28    Oak Ridge           46-25            Soddy-Daisy
Jan 1       Norris                  39-23             Norris
Jan 2       Oak Ridge           48-25             Oak Ridge
Jan 3       Friendsville         51-34             Friendsville
Jan 4       Knoxville             40-38 (2OT)   Knoxville
Jan 7       Central                54-19              Central
Jan 10     Notre Dame       68-37              Notre Dame
Jan 11     Central                47-40              Soddy-Daisy
Jan 14     Knoxville             50-28              Soddy-Daisy
Jan 17     Ooltewah            51-25             Soddy-Daisy
Jan 18     Spring City          63-21              Spring City
Jan 21     Rossville              42-45              Rossville
Jan 24     Sale Creek          48-26               Sale Creek
Jan 25     Notre Dame       69-40               Soddy-Daisy
Jan 28     Rhea Central      57-37              Soddy-Daisy
Jan 31     Hixson                 53-33               Soddy-Daisy
Feb 1       Spring City          52-15              Soddy-Daisy
Feb 4       Ooltewah            50-32              Ooltewah
Feb 7      Hixson                  60-27               Hixson
Feb 8      City                       53-22               Soddy-Daisy

Tennessee Valley Conference Tournament
Feb 13    Tyner                    73-22               Soddy-Daisy 
Feb 14    Hixson                  66-30                Soddy-Daisy 
Feb 15    Spring City           64-26               Soddy-Daisy 

Feb 17     Baylor                  53-35               Baylor
Feb 21     Baylor                   56-41              Soddy-Daisy
Feb 22     City                       53-27               City

First District Tournament
Feb 24     Dunlap                 73-31              Red Bank 
Feb 26     Marion County   56-24              Red Bank 
Feb 28     Bledsoe County  57-27              Red Bank 
Mar 1       Central                 61-37             Red Bank 

East Tennessee Region Tournament
Mar 6      LaFollete               48-25            UT Alumni Gym 
Mar 7      Ooltewah             43-30             UT Alumni Gym 
Mar 8      Happy Valley        49-50            UT Alumni Gym 
Mar 8      Loudon                  55-38            UT Alumni Gym 

State Tournament
Mar 13    Memphis Central 42-32           UT Alumni Gym 
Mar 14    Father Ryan           53-36           UT Alumni Gym 
Mar 15    Nashville West      52-26           UT Alumni Gym 

Bill Peterson can be reached at billvol@yahoo.com

      


     


 

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