As soon as Walter “Buck” Van Huss was big enough to play with the big boys, he joined in the backyard basketball games. Born in 1919 in Carter County, Tennessee, Van Huss attended Happy Valley High School with one eye on his books and the other on the bouncing basketball. After a stint in the army during World War II, he entered Lincoln Memorial University and East Tennessee State University. Before receiving his bachelors degree from ETSU in 1954, Van Huss had already started his basketball coaching career at Hampton High School in 1953. He coached at Hampton for fourteen years, with an overall record of 484-133 and a tournament total of three district championships, four regional championships, and one state championship. Coach Van Huss then took over as basketball coach at Kingsport Dobbyns-Bennett High School in 1967, where he remained for almost twenty years. In his illustrious career as a coach spanning more that three decades, his players brought him a combined total of more than 860 victories, as well as ten district, eleven regional, and one state championship. Van Huss was named coach of the year twelve times and was honored to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the National Basketball Foundation. In his community, Van Huss proudly served on the Elizabethton City Council, and he was once given the Distinguished Community Service Award from the “Kingsport Times-News.” Walter “Buck” Van Huss contributed much to his community and to basketball in Tennessee, and for this, he will never be forgotten.
