Tullahoma Sports Hall of Fame Banquet, hosted by the Tullahoma Sports Council, Inc., and Tullahoma Parks and Recreation, will be held Saturday, Feb. 4, at D.W. Wilson Community Center, beginning with a silent auction from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., followed by dinner and the induction ceremony at 6:30 p.m.
This year’s class of inductees into the hallowed hall will include: coach and community volunteer Mark Moran; TSSAA official and executive Kenneth Pack; football coach, state champion track and field coach Clester Winningham; state champion football coach, athletic director and educator John Olive; softball player, coach and athletic trainer Whitney Darlington Morris; and the 1990 TSSSAA State Champion baseball team. State track champions Brindley Duncan and Lily Storey will also be honored at the event.
Mark Moran
Mark Moran has been involved in youth sports for many years. His involvement includes serving as the president of the Frank Mullins Youth Football League for 25 years; volunteering for Tullahoma Little League Baseball for over 16 years as coach, league president and assistant district administrator; helping coach the Tullahoma Youth Wrestling for over 30 years; and serving as the president of the Tullahoma Quarterback Club for 22 years.
Kenny Pack
Kenny Pack was a TSSAA official for over 40 years and was inducted into the TSSAA Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
He has officiated high school football games every year since 1971 and has officiated in eight TSSAA State Football Championship games. Pack was named Outstanding Football Official in Tennessee in 1994 by the National Federation of Interscholastic Officials Association, and Outstanding Official in Tennessee by the Lawrenceburg Quarterback Club in 1999. He has also officiated in the TN-KY All-Star Game three times.
Pack received the Bob Heriges Award for Best Official in the OVC in 1981 and the TSSAA A.F. Bridges Award for officials in 2008.
Pack was born and raised in Tullahoma and has lived here all of his life. He married the former Jane Hutson in 1974, and graduated from Tullahoma High School in 1966, where he lettered in football, baseball and golf. He went to Tennessee Tech on a baseball scholarship and later became a graduate assistant at MTSU. He started officiating high school football and basketball in 1969, where he worked in basketball until 1980 and in high school football until 2020. In total, Pack has worked over 1,300 high school, middle school and college football games. He was also a TSSAA supervisor and assigning officer for Central Tennessee Football officials.
He officiated in eight TSSAA football championship games, one short of his father’s record. His father, Bill Pack, is also a member of the TSSAA Hall of Fame and the National High School Hall of Fame in the officials’ category.
Clester Winningham
Clester Winningham was born in 1942, the youngest of seven children, and was the only one of his siblings to go to college, having earned a football scholarship to Tennessee Tech where he graduated with an education degree, and later earned his Master’s.
He married his wife Suzanne in 1966, and together they had three sons. He started coaching at Tullahoma High School in 1981 with Kelton Garner. Winningham took over as the Head Freshman Coach the following year, and was able to coach all three of his sons in both football and track. He was also the Head Track Coach and had multiple State Champions. He moved to Florida in 2012, and quickly started volunteering as a coach for football and track at Hagerty High School where he was able to coach both of his grandsons in football and track. There is a track award named for him at Hagerty High School.
“A coach is a teacher who constantly strives to reach greater heights as a builder of lives … in glory and victory and yes, in defeat who sets the example for those that compete, who advocates for teamwork and proves every day that everyone wins in the game of fair play,” he said.
John H. Olive
John Olive began his career in 1980-1981 as a Graduate Assistant at Carson-Newman University before he went on to become the Assistant Football Coach at Loudon Co. High School from 1983-1984. From 1984-1986 he was Offensive Coordinator at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., and from 1986-1988 was the Offensive Coordinator for Maryville High School.
From 1988-1992 he was Head Football Coach at Maryville High School before from becoming the Head Football Coach at Tullahoma High School from 1993-2021. He currently serves as the Athletic Director for Tullahoma City Schools and the Faculty Advisor for the Tullahoma High School Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which he has been a part of since 1994.
Olive has been a member of the Tennessee Athletic Coaches Association Board of Directors since 1997 and is currently known as Athletic Director for Life. He also served with Tennessee Football Coaches Association from 1998-2008 where he was a founding member and part of the Board of Directors.
Some of Olive’s recent awards include the 2020 Tullahoma News Citizen of the Year; 2020 Tullahoma Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year; 2021 TSSAA State Football Championship Coach and 2021 Tennessee Titans Coach of the Year.
Whitney Darlington Morris
Whitney Darlington Morris was the 2001-2004 Tullahoma High School record setting MVP in softball and was part of the all-district team from 2003-2004 and the all midstate team in 2004. She was a MTSCA South All Star and had her #2 jersey retired at THS in 2010. She was the 2004 Female Athlete of the Year and played 2005-2006 for Motlow State College softball and was a two-time All-Conference selection. She received the Outstanding Leadership softball award and was selected on the 2006 Louisville Slugger/NFCA NJCAA Division 1 South Region Second Team and NJCAA All American College Sports Information Directors Second Team
She played on the 2007-2008 Middle Tennessee State University softball squad and won the MTSU Raider Award, Sunbelt Conference Commissioners List Award, 2008 Outstanding Major of the Year Award, TAPHERD James E. Ward Outstanding Major of the Year and was selected to be on ESPN Magazine’s All-District Team Region IV.
She was Player/Coach Swedish National Team, Skovde Sweden and Player/Coach Tennessee Diamondbacks, National Professional Fastpitch
Morris is currently a Physical Education teacher at Tullahoma High School, and is the Assistant Coach to the Tullahoma High School Softball and an Assistant Strength Coach for the Tullahoma High School Football team.
1990 THS baseball team - TSSAA Class AA State Champions
The Head Coach and Assistant Coach for the 1990 THS baseball team was Jerry Mathis and John Huskey, respectively. They finished the season with a record of 24-4 and hoisting the state title.
Members of the team include Harry Keller, Kiley Maupin, Gary Phillips, Scott Johnson, Andy Akers, Kevin Suits, Chris Barnes, Andy Stone, Keith McFarlane, Phillip Davis, Chad Hatfield, Ted Ferrell, Chris Rickman, Todd Branch, Troy Wilson, Craig Reavis, Mark Fitzgerald, Tony Sheffield, Greg Cope, Jeremy Winters, Marc Mattasits, Jae Pruett, Wesley Petty, Todd Waller, Robert Prosser, Chris Bunch Managers: Mike Smith, Rachel Kuzmeski, Kellie Blaise, Melanie Darrow, Paige Huskey and Angie Amos.
