Battle, Sexton inducted into GKHOF
Former FHS coach praised
In addition to his induction into Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame, Lynn Sexton had a good time visiting, and poking friendly jabs at, various familiar faces.
“I know three or four” of the inductees, Sexton, Farragut High School varsity boys basketball head coach for 30 school years [1960-91], said after he was one of 10 inducted into Class of 2016 during a ceremony in Knoxville Convention Center, Tuesday, July 26, ceremony. “Steve Chancey, he used to call on me when he was working at the Athletic House, way back.
“I know the softball inductee [Samantha Hatcher Chafin], I know her dad, Phil Hatcher. He used to referee [basketball]. I gave him a hard time at times I’m sure,” Sexton added.
A few moments later, as Phil Hatcher approached Sexton for a congratulatory handshake, Sexton said with a laugh, “If he had a whistle he’d blow it.”
Sexton won 544 games in 30 years at FHS while dominating Knox County and much of East Tennessee in the late 1970s and early 1980s. That included 18 regular season and district tournament titles plus three state tourney trips. Twelve of his teams won at least 22 games.
“Coach Sexton gave me my first actual Knox County coaching position helping him with boys basketball in the 1985-86 year,” David Moore, a softball and volleyball head coach at FHS for more than 25 years, said. “He was a great coach, but he’s a better person. I taught driver’s ed with him, that’s how we started our relationship.”
Tommy Schumpert, another of the 10 inductees as a championship baseball and football coach at Central High School, had kind words for his fellow class members as inductee spokesman during the ceremony.
“Lynn Sexton, 544 wins. Great athlete at Maryville College. And he’s a great person,” Schumpert said.
“And I know what means more to him than the 544 wins are all the faces he sees and the young people with he has dealt with.”
“Tommy’s a fine guy, I’ve known him for years” Sexton said.
About the ceremony, Sexton said, “It was pretty good. I enjoyed it.
“That’s a lot of people. They told me there was going to be 1,200 people or something like that. I can believe it.”
