Born in Plant, Tennessee in 1934, Charlie Anderson was a Cohn High School graduate and U.S. Navy veteran. He received his undergraduate degree from Middle Tennessee State University and then obtained two graduate degrees at George Peabody College in Nashville.
Anderson began his coaching career at old Central High School in Nashville in 1959 and was a high school coach in the Nashville area for 19 years at Central, Stratford, Bellevue and Hillsboro with a record of 409-132. While his most notable successes came in boys basketball, he also had noteworthy accomplishments as an assistant football coach, tennis, girls basketball, baseball and softball coach.
In 1981, he became the head basketball coach at Aquinas College in Nashville, and in his 20 years at Aquinas, he compiled a record of 451 victories and 179 losses. He took three teams to the National Junior College Tournament and won the National Junior College Championship in 1991, the first time in history for a basketball team from Tennessee. That year, he was chosen by Basketball Weekly as the JUCO National Coach of the Year.
In 1992, he was inducted into the Tennessee Junior College Hall of Fame and was voted Teacher of the Year by the Aquinas faculty. Since, he has been inducted into the TSSAA Hall of Fame and the National Junior College Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He was also nominated by the Nashville Sports Council for a Lifetime Achievement Award not only for his winning record but also for his commitment to building character in the athletes under his guidance.