MIKE ORGAN

How East Nashville's track team brought former coach Junior Ward to tears

Mike Organ
Nashville Tennessean

Junior Ward was willing to give up a Friday night last week for what he believed was a fundraiser for the East Nashville track and field team.

Instead, he was the one receiving the gift when the team and others in attendance surprised Ward by letting him know the historic school's track and field facility was being named in his honor.

Ward, a former East Nashville track standout and coach, spoke to the group about what the program means to him, returned to his seat and was asked to come back to the podium.

Junior Ward, right, was surprised at what he was told was a fundraiser event for the East Nashville track and field program, when he was told the school's facility will be named in his honor.

When he returned members of the track team unveiled a sign which read, "The Junior Ward Track & Field," that will be hung at the facility. It brought Ward to tears.

"I am very surprised: I had no idea," Ward said. "I thought I was here for a fundraiser. We were just going to raise some money and I was going to give a little talk. Having the facility named in my honor is important to me because my life changed when coach (Vic) Varallo showed interest in me when I wasn't interested in sports, or even school for that matter. I came out of my shell because of coach Varallo and what he did for me."

Ward, known for his versatility on the track, was the inaugural winner of The Tennessean Trackman of the Year in 1960.

"He's unquestionably the finest all around trackman I've ever coached," Varallo said at the time.

After setting the Nashville Interscholastic League record in the 440-yard dash as a junior at 51.1 seconds Ward set it again as a senior at 51.0. He also set the record in the broad jump at 21-feet-4 1/2 inches, the high jump at 5-10, and was part of the mile relay team that set the record at 3:31.3 minutes.

He also set the TSSAA state track meet championship record in the 440 at 51.0.

Ward went on to run track at Middle Tennessee State, then coached for many years and is currently supervisor of the Tennessee Football Officials Association in Middle Tennessee. He was inducted into the TSSAA Hall of Fame in 1999.

In 2014 Ward created the East Nashville Football Stadium Foundation, which resulted in the building of a new football stadium at the school.

Former Mt. Juliet baseball star John Dyer, now at Tennessee Tech, is national player of the week

Tennessee Tech's John Dyer, a former Mt. Juliet star, was named the Collegiate Baseball's national player of the week Monday.

Tennessee Tech first baseman John Dyer, a former Mt. Juliet standout, was named Collegiate Baseball's National Player of the Week Monday.

Dyer, a senior, batted .462 with five home runs and nine RBI in a three-game series against Eastern Illinois over the weekend.

He had six total hits and scored five runs. He also became the 29th member of the Ohio Valley Conference’s 40-home run club and the sixth Golden Eagle to reach that mark.

McCabe Golf Course pro Loren Personett retires

Loren Personett

Longtime Metro Parks golf professional Loren Personett has retired.

Personett spent 30 years with Metro including the last 20 at McCabe Golf Course.

The former Glencliff and Lipscomb golfer is playing as well as ever and will now have even more time to work on his game. He was the 2022 Tennessee Section Senior PGA champion and the 2021 Tennessee PGA champion.

Audie Johnson, a former assistant at McCabe, has moved from Ted Rhodes to serve as interim general manager at McCabe. Mike Seward, former Ted Rhodes assistant, is now the interim general manger there.

TSU gets basketball transfer from Nebraska

The Tennessee State men's basketball team picked up Denim Dawson, a transfer from Nebraska who started in eight games as a freshman in 2022-23.

The 6-foot-6 guard from San Bernardino, California, scored a season-high seven points against Ohio State and grabbed nine rebounds against Penn State.

MTSU added Josh Ogundele, who spent the last three years at Iowa.

The London, England native is 6-11 and shot 59.5% from the field during his career at Iowa. His best performance came in 2021 against No. 2 Purdue when he scored seven points and had five rebounds and three blocks.

Lipscomb added Joe Anderson, a 2021 Tennessee Mr. Basketball finalist from Maryville, who spent the last three seasons at Furman.

Anderson, a guard who is Maryville's all-time leading scorer (2,387 points), played in a total of 48 games over the last two seasons with one start. He averaged 1.6 points and 1.6 assists last season.

Two players from Austin Peay − Kamarie Coffey from West Creek, who also played at Columbia State Community College, and Drew Calderon, a sophomore guard from Texas − entered the transfer portal. Calderon started in two games last season while Coffey hardly played.

Baseball conference coming to Nashville Library

The 20th annual Southern Association Baseball Conference is coming to Nashville.

It is set for May 13 from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at the Metro Archives at the Nashville Public Library on Church Street. The fee is $25 and snacks and lunch are included.

The conference is dedicated to the preservation of the history of the Southern Association of Baseball.

There will be a get-together May 12 at 6 p.m. at Elliston Soda Shop.

For more information or to attend contact Skip Nipper at 615-483-0380 or skipn1@comcast.net.

If you have an item for Midstate Chatter contact Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.