According to Vol teammate Biggie Marshall, “no one who played in the SEC in our time had as much leaping ability as Harry [Anderson]. His spring was tremendous, and he was such a good athlete that he almost never timed his jumps wrong.”
A Memphis native, Anderson stood 6’4″ and weighed 200 pounds and used his tremendous jumping ability to capture Southeastern Conference championships for the University of Tennessee in basketball and track.
In basketball, Anderson was captain of the 1934-1935, 1935-1936, and 1936-1937 teams and led Tennessee to two SEC championship games. In the 1936 SEC tournament, won by the Volunteers, he averaged fourteen points per game and was a defensive standout. Anderson held three opposing centers with a combined fifty-three points in their previous tournament games to a total of just four in play against the Vols.
For his championship abilities on the court, Anderson was named All-SEC and became Tennessee’s first All-American. He was later selected in a “Knoxville Journal” poll for the early era (1933-1963), all-time Volunteer basketball team.
Harry Anderson equally proved himself a champion on the track. He came to Tennessee in 1933 on a track scholarship and upon graduation four years later, held seven school records. He ran a 9.5-second, 100-yard dash and a 21.7-second, 220-yard run and crossed the bar at 6’1″ in the high jump.
Anderson once beat a horse in the 100-yard dash with only a 10-yard head start. Because of his proven speed and jumping ability, Harry Anderson was the high point man in the 1936 Southeastern Conference track meet. He placed in the top four in the high jump, the broad jump, the 100-yard dash, and the 220-yard run. He was SEC champion in the broad jump and the 100-yard dash.
Harry Anderson, who died on June 21, 1996 at age 83, was truly an early legend in Tennessee basketball and track. His contributions to championship sports in the state will not soon be forgotten.