It is hard to believe there was a time not long ago when a college lineman weighing 195 pounds was the largest man on his team! Ernest Eldridge was such a man and even had the nickname “Big Boy” for his size. Eldridge graduated from Soddy High School and went to the University of Chattanooga in 1913. An outstanding tackle, he was captain of his 1916 and 1919 teams. Between those years, Eldridge fought in the war as a member of the Signal Corps. He needed a job after graduating in 1920 and found one coaching basketball at Daisy High School. It took eight years ascending to the top of the mountain, but in 1928 his Daisy team won the Dixie Prep Championship, the highest honor of the day. In 1937 Daisy High and Soddy High were consolidated, and there was no doubt who would be the basketball coach. Noted for his community service during World War II, Eldridge’s team played a Victory Bond benefit game, raising $4,000, and were also available for polio benefit games. At the time of his retirement in 1964, Eldridge was the winningest boys basketball coach in the South, with a record of 840 victories against just 256 defeats. A soft-spoken gentleman, Eldridge had a great influence on the lives of hundreds of athletes in the northern Hamilton County area before his death in 1976. This, above all else, is his lasting legacy.
