Joe Biddle is a Tennessee native, born June 13, 1944, in Johnson City and has been writing about sports for different publications for decades. His father died when Joe was two, and his mother married five years later. They had two children, Richard Machamer Jr., and Sally Heydel of Brentwood. Biddle is a 1962 graduate of Science Hill High School and a 1971 graduate of East Tennessee State with a B.S. in Journalism.
His professional career started with the Johnson City Press Chronicle in 1971. He also served in the Air Force from 1966-70, including a year in Vietnam. He was a sports writer for the Daytona Beach News-Journal from 1972 to November 1979, covering college football and basketball as well as the NFL expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he moved to the Nashville Banner in November, 1979, as sports editor and columnist until the afternoon newspaper closed in 1998.
He was hired as a sports columnist at The Tennessean and remained there until 2011. During those years, Biddle was a four-time Tennessee Sports Writer of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sports Writers Association. He covered the Super Bowl 25 years, College Football’s National Championship games and numerous bowl games. He voted for years on Associated Press college football and basketball polls. He was also an original voter for the Harris Poll, which determined the top two teams in college football. Biddle remains the State Director for Heisman Trophy voters.
He now writes sports columns for WKRN-TV2 in Nashville and Franklin’s Williamson Herald. Biddle was inducted into the Tennessee Sportswriters Association’s Hall of Fame in 2013 and was inducted into the 2005 Alumni Hall of Fame by ETSU’s Communication Department. Outside of football, Biddle also covered 25 Masters golf tournaments and a number of PGA Championships, Ryder Cups, NCAA Final Fours and two Summer Olympics Games. Biddle married Sharon Biddle in 1975. She has a daughter, Leigh Anne.