Every family has its share of joy and feels the pain of tragedy. For the close-knit Majors family, the short life and untimely death of son and brother Bill brings both fond memories and deep sorrow. Like the two brothers before him and the two that came after, Bill was a football star. He played high school ball for his father, the legendary Shirley Majors, at Huntland in Franklin County. Following in his oldest brother John’s footsteps, Bill entered UT in 1957, where he was a great defensive player and single-wing tailback. His senior year, Bill was selected Second Team All-SEC and played in the Blue-Gray game. Perhaps his shining moment as a player came on November 7th, 1959, his twenty-first birthday and the day UT beat defending national champion LSU, 14-13. Bill had a tremendous game that day and was in on the tackle which kept LSU from making a late two-point conversion, sealing a Volunteer victory. After graduating, Bill was a UT assistant coach under Doug Dickey until his death in a 1965 auto accident at Knoxville, which also claimed the lives of two other assistant coaches. Described by his brothers as a true family man, Bill was only twenty-six years old when he died, leaving behind two boys. A tragic loss in the otherwise storybook history of the Majors family, Bill Majors will always be remembered with fondness as a great football player and an honorable family man.
