Inductees

There weren’t too many bright spots on the University of Tennessee football teams of 1962 to 1964. The teams went 13-16-1 over those turmoil-filled years which saw three different coaches…

An All-American high school football player, Art Demmas went on to become a four-year letterman at Vanderbilt University and co-captain of the 1956 team. As a lineman for the Commodores,…

A native of Atlanta, Richard Dent made his mark on the football history of Tennessee State University before heading to the NFL. Dent was recruited by coaching legend John Merritt…

Tennesseean of the Year  If you saw him play or listened to stories told about him, you might have known Phil Dickens better as “Phantom Phil.” Phil Dickens, a native…

Eldridge Dickey’s football career at Tennessee State University spanned from 1964-1967. He was a three-time HBCU All-American. In 1966, Dickey led the school to its first undefeated, untied and National Black College Football…

Sometimes careers are cut short at the height of greatness. Such was the case for Memphis State University Football Coach Rex Dockery, who died in 1983 at the young age…

Robert Lee “Bobby” Dodd was a winner all the way. In high school at Kingsport, Tennessee, he starred in football, basketball, and baseball. He tried tennis and won the city…

Those who knew Ken Donahue would marvel at his devotion to coaching football. His former associates, friends and family would speak of his endless hours and the boundless energy he…

“If you love coaching, it gets in your blood and stays there.” So said “Boots” Donnelly, whose impressive twenty-season career as head football coach at Middle Tennessee State University came…

It may be cliché, but they just don’t make ‘em like Nathan W. Dougherty anymore. Few people devote so much of their lives and accomplish so many things for the…

Born in Pennsylvania in 1930, Andrew Kozar enrolled at the University of Tennessee in 1948. Over thirty years later, Dr. Kozar’s illustrious affiliation with the school as an athlete, alumnus,…

Although as football fans, we tend to think that bowl games have been played since the beginning of time, the fact remains that individuals, through hard work and vision, actually…

Ken Dugan is one of the best things to happen to baseball in Tennessee. As head baseball coach at Nashville’s David Lipscomb University, Dugan led his teams to a remarkable…

William B. Dunavant, Jr. is a native Tennessean and Chairman of the Board of Dunavant Enterprises, Inc. in Memphis. He graduated from The McCallie School in Chattanooga, attended Vanderbilt University…

Coach Lin Dunn, one of the true pioneers in women’s basketball history, is a graduate of The University of Tennessee at Martin. Three years after Dunn graduated, UT Martin had…

As a player at Sweetwater High School in Sweetwater, Tennessee, Bill Dupes was the captain of the football team and a star tailback and linebacker from 1943-1947. He played on…

A McMinnville native, Jimmy Earle’s first collegiate basketball experience came as a player at Martin College. He became Martin’s leading scorer, averaging 17.7 points per game. Earle subsequently transferred and…

Born in Warren, Pennsylvania, Jack Eaton earned a basketball scholarship to Washington & Jefferson College. Graduating in 1950, at the start of the Korean War, he went into the Air…

To all those familiar with Tennessee Tech athletics over the past four decades, the name Hooper Eblen rings a familiar note. For it was Eblen, more than any individual, who…

Thomas F. Elam of Union City was appointed to the University of Tennessee’s Athletics Board in 1951 and to the school’s Board of Trustees in 1956. A knowledgeable observer of…