G. Turner Howard III
Recently retired McCallie School graduate G. Turner Howard III of Knoxville has enjoyed a career in -- and on -- the court as a Knoxville attorney with an accomplished past tennis resume that included playing in the U.S Open and Wimbledon.
If that is not enough, he also enjoyed finishing third in in the World Masters Championships in cycling in 2002 in his mid-50s against bicyclists who had formerly competed in the Tour de France. He has also finished in the top 10 percent at the Boston Marathon, and he coached the McCallie tennis team to state and national championships in the mid-1970s.
Amid the personal accomplishments and accolades, this jack of all trades and master of several has also taken time to serve others. He was a Vietnam War veteran, has served as a minister after getting two seminary degrees, and was a member of the board of trustees at McCallie, where his daughter, Jennifer Howard Collins, now works.
“I’m very confused about what I want to be when I grow up. I’m kind of like Forrest Gump in a way,” he joked recently as he sat in his former office in Knoxville, where he proudly displays a photo of Dwight Eisenhower before D-Day and a Distinguished Alumnus honoree plaque from McCallie presented in 2015.
Mr. Howard is getting ready to start on his own next journey in his life, although he is not yet sure what challenge or area of service it might encompass. He recently merged his practice with the Garza law firm in Knoxville.
Although he will still be of counsel with the firm, and his staff and files have transferred, he said he personally has retired. “Now I am working through how to handle retirement,” he said in an amicable and easily approachable manner. “I will be 78 in July, but I feel like I’m still fit and have stayed sharp mentally.”
His mother, Sue, had lived until the age of 99 despite an occasional alcoholic drink and cigarette, he said with a laugh, while his father, Dr. G. Turner Howard Jr., lived until the age of 92 before his death in 2005. His father, he said, instilled a sense of accomplishment and service in him.
“He was a leading surgeon here (in Knoxville) for years,” he said, adding that he had gone from Harlan, Kentucky, to being the captain of the University of Kentucky tennis team and on to Harvard Medical School. “He was the only board-certified surgeon in Knoxville when he came.”
He remembered that his father was very busy in a solo practice, occasionally getting paged while at football games at Neyland Stadium, and he had probably treated close to 40,000 patients in some way by the time he retired. Turner III said people would learn his name and ask if he were the son of the surgeon, sometimes telling him that his father had saved their lives.
The younger Mr. Howard went to McCallie for four years as a boarding student before graduating in 1965 and then played tennis at Tulane. He remembered in his younger years often battling Baylor tennis star Zan Guerry, who was two grades behind him.
“We grew up cutting our teeth on each other,” he said. “We had some classic four- and five-hour matches.”
He had started law school while also continuing in tennis, and then joined the U.S. Army, initially thinking he could play tennis and entertain servicemen that way. He also hoped to follow acquaintance and noted tennis pro Arthur Ashe in working with the West Point program. However, he was sent to Vietnam, although a change in assignments prevented him from more hazardous work near combat.
“I did not do reconnaissance,” he said, showing relief even after all these years. “I was slated to do it and someone changed my orders. I was then ordered to the (also dangerous) DMZ, but that changed again, and I made it back.”
He remembered returning to the United States with someone he realized was from near Knoxville, but later learned the soldier suffered from PTSD due to the harshness of the war.
He then completed his law degree from the University of Tennessee in 1974 while attending with future Knoxville mayor Victor Ashe. He then clerked for Federal Judge L. Clure Morton, who helped desegregate the Nashville schools.
His friend Victor Ashe had wanted him to run for state Senate, but he ended up teaching English and coaching tennis at McCallie for two years. Using his competitive drive, he helped draw such players as future pro Tim Wilkison from Shelby, N.C., and the school won state championships in 1976 and ’77 and a national crown. “I loved working with young men,” he said.
However, after watching his players serve the tennis ball for a couple of years, Mr. Howard then realized it was time to serve the Lord more fully. So, the longtime Presbyterian went to Andrews Theological Seminary in Michigan and served for 17 years at Northshore Community Church, an Evangelical Presbyterian church.
He and his first wife had raised three children together but were unfortunately divorced after 25 years. That went against that church’s principles, so he had to leave his position. He was admittedly ready for a new venture, he said, and decided to put his law degree to work.
It all worked out OK, he said, as he quickly found law to his liking.
“Being a trial lawyer is inherently adversarial, and I’m inherently competitive, and it fit me well,” he said. “I enjoyed squaring off with other attorneys in a trial. I am not naturally argumentative, but I enjoy the competition.”
Like a number of lawyers these days, his firm advertised on billboards along the interstate and did some TV ads during football games or other high viewership times. The latter included some former TV spots that featured noted actor of yesteryear Robert Vaughn of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” Mr. Howard said he decided to start advertising some after talking to a few people already doing it following a 1977 Supreme Court rule letting all professions advertise.
“Lawyers realized if you advertise, you get a lot more exposure,” he said of his firm that was also known as G3HelpMe.com. “It made the profession more lucrative and more competitive.”
As Mr. Howard continued talking amid a now quiet office except for his three accompanying dogs – a.k.a. his retained staff -- he admitted that he is still not sure what his next step will be. He and his wife, Janie, attend City Hills Church in Knoxville where he also now helps some, but whatever else he does, it will likely involve a challenge. That is, if his past history is any indication.
“I am just very competitive,” he said with a smile.
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Jcshearer2@comcast.net