by B.B. Branton
posted March 12, 2008
One of the good guys in Chattanooga sports is gone.
Raymond Lewis “Buck’’ Stamps – a legend in the world of local youth sports – died earlier today at his home in Madison, Miss.
A speedy running back for Scrappy Moore-coached Chattanooga football teams in the early 1950s (1950-51-52), Stamps served as Lookout Mountain recreation director for four decades (September 1955 – August 1995).
On the gridiron, Stamps was the Mocs co-leader in scoring (42 points, seven touchdowns) as a senior in 1952 and second on the team in rushing (260 yards, 5.5 yards per carry) and scoring (30 points, five touchdowns) in 1951.
“Buck and I roomed together for three years in college and there was never a harsh word between us,’’ said former Moc football player and former Baylor basketball coach Jack Stanford. “It is amazing, even to this day, how many people have high regard for him.’’
Stanford played end and tackle and led the way for Stamps on offense.
“He was known as the ‘Bremen (Ga.) Flash’ and ran like a rabbit, darting inside or outside as he carried the ball and was difficult to catch,’’ said Stanford with a laugh.
After college, Stamps was hired as Lookout Mountain’s fourth recreation director and raised two generations of kids to understand the importance of team work, discipline, respect for others, loyalty and fair play.
In his final summer as recreation director Stamps said, “The key to success in working with kids is to make it fun.
“Of course, there is some competition in the various activities we offer and we also assist in the development of their athletic skills. But the main thing is to show the youngsters an enjoyable time.’’
Current Lookout Mountain School physical education director Rick Dockery, hired in 1981, was Stamps’ first full time assistant.
“Over the years, Buck taught the kids to play hard and play fair and that’s the way I coach,’’ said Dockery, a product of the Cleveland Dixie Youth program.
“In the 15 years I worked for him (1981-1995) at Lookout Mountain School and with the summer camp program, Buck was always on time and I feel I do the same. More than anything else, he taught me a strong work ethic.’’
A complement to his work with young people, he left his unique “stamp’’ in several areas, including:
* Establishing a summer intern program at the Lookout Mountain Playground for UT-Chattanooga students who earned six credits and received a salary.
* Spearheaded the founding of the Lookout Mountain Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.
* Organized the first T-Ball league in Tennessee in 1959.
* Served as Lookout Mountain Dixie Youth Baseball league vice-president and secretary for 37 summers.
‘‘I cannot think of another person who has had a greater impact and touched our community in a more positive way than Buck,’’ said former Lookout Mountain, Tenn. Mayor and current town council member Ansley Moses.
With a physical education degree in hand in the summer of 1955 and plenty of talent in a variety of sports, Stamps then earned a Master’s and a PhD during the next four decades in dealing with life’s simple, but important questions such as “When’s lunch?’’ and “Do you know where my glove is?” from four-year-old girls in pigtails and nine-year-old boys with skinned knees and a well-worn baseball cap pulled down overt their eyes.
The questions were endless and sometimes frustrating for Stamps, a member of the Bremen (three-sport star in high school) and Lookout Mountain Sports Halls of Fame. But when the young ones excitedly proclaimed that they just got their first hit of the summer, or had a friendly wave and proclaimed “See you tomorrow, Coach’’, Stamps knew that it had all been worth it.
“Buck had a knack of working well with kids that not many people have,’’ said Lee Dyer, an NFL official and league president of the Lookout Mountain Dixie Youth Baseball program. “There was something about the way Buck carried himself and his demeanor that earned him the respect of the kids.’’
“I thought a great deal of Buck,’’ said longtime Red Bank Dixie Youth official and youth boxing leader Skipper Fairbanks.
“We worked together as high school football officials for years and then had competing All-Star teams in Dixie Youth. He was a good man and treated everyone fairly.’’
At his retirement party on Labor Day 1995 Stamps said, “How does the luckiest man in the whole world say thanks to everyone who had a part in this great day for me and my family.’’
Actually, we who had the privilege to learn and be associated with this man are the lucky ones.
A memorial service is planned for later this spring on Lookout Mountain, but no definite date has been set.
Memories of Coach Stamps And Summers Long Ago
Go back a half century to wonderful summer days at a familiar spot – the Lookout Mountain Towne Common (many of the baby boomers call it The Playground) – where for most of the children, life began at 10 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m.
Armed with a sack lunch, a ball cap and glove and well-worn sneakers (P.F. Flyers, no doubt), we marched through those summers of the late 50s, early 60s and beyond to the tune of a young, handsome pied piper – the Lookout Mountain recreation director.
At birth, he was named Raymond Lewis Stamps, and to his classmates in his hometown of Breman, Ga., he was known as Buck.
But to the children of Lookout Mountain, he was, and always will be, known as “Coach.’’ Growing up, many of us had no clue what this man’s last name was or if he even had one.
Coach and his wife, Barbara, arrived in our community in late summer 1955 in time for Labor Day festivities and the start of school at Lookout Mountain and Fairyland Elementary Schools.
For the next 40 years, he would serve as LMS physical education director (for the first 25 years he had no assistants) and director of the summer recreation program. Along the way, he has been inducted into the Bremen and Lookout Mountain Sports Halls of Fame and a past recipient of the Walt Lauter Award for lifetime service in sports from the Greater Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame.
An integral part of Stamps’ summer responsibilities was overseeing the daily activities of the Lookout Mountain Dixie Youth Baseball program (originally known as Little Boys Baseball) that started in 1959. He, along with Nick Senter, helped organize league play and coached numerous All-Star teams, including the 1960 state runner-up team and the 1961 World Series host squad.
Along with the fun and games, Coach and his summer teenage staff intertwined in our lives the fundamentals of playing various activities, plus good sportsmanship, discipline, how to win with grace and lose with class.
Each summer day was sheer heaven and packed with fun-filled activities ranging from tetherball to checkers to ping-pong to baseball and softball practice. And even that so-called horrible, ego-crushing game of dodge ball!
Boys and girls ages 5-12 would come running in great anticipation of the next activity with Coach exclaiming, “Lineup, lineup!’’
The highlight of each day was 3:30 p.m., as Coach would walk around The Playground shouting, “Bingo. It’s time for bingo!”
An outside observer would think we were searching for diamonds as we scurried to gather a handful of rocks and then reach into a box for a dog-eared bingo card. Finally we secured a place on the pavilion concrete floor waiting in anticipation for one of Coach Stamps’ summer assistants, Bunny Jones, to begin.
She would sit on her throne (an old folding chair) and hold court, calling out “B-8, I-19, N-33.’’ On and on she would go until one happy youngster would yell, to everyone else’s chagrin, “Bingo!’’
And the winner’s treasure came from Sam Robinson’s Lookout Mountain Pharmacy: Bazooka bubble gum, packs of lik-a-maid, neccos, jaw breakers, and the grand prize for “blackout’’ was a pack of baseball cards.
Actually, spending summer days at The Playground was our grand prize, as Coach and his staff welcomed us each morning at 10 a.m. and sent us home at 4 p.m. with great anticipation for another day of sports, as it seemed to never end.
Coach Stamps, a star athlete at Bremen High School and football player at the University of Chattanooga, retired as Lookout Mountain Recreation Director in the summer of 1995. He and Barbara moved to Madison, Miss. in 2007 to be near they adult children, Grant and Michele.
Yes, coach. Thanks for the memories.
Contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net
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