Region One officials recognize teams, officials
Published 12:43 am Thursday, November 14, 2019
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Star Photo/C.Y. Peters Officials receiving 15 year awards were Dennis Brooks, Jeff Dykes and Arnold Thomas.
Star Photo/C.Y. Peters Roger Shaw and Don Hamilton receive 40-year awards.
Star Photo/C.Y. Peters Supervisor Lynn Griffin presents Larry Bowling with a 50-Year plaque.
BY C.Y. PETERS
STAR CORRESPONDENT
JOHNSON CITY – The TSSAA Region One officials along with area school representatives gathered Monday evening at the Carver Rec Center hosted by TSSAA official Herb Greenlee to recognize local schools for their sportsmanship as well as long-standing officials.
One of the top awards given out is the Ralph Stout Award named after one of the most notable officials to come from Region 1 having called at various levels during his tenure as an official.
One called the Booby Dodd Award, the name was changed over to Stout’s name in recognition of his 60 years of service to the TSSAA in many sports.
The Johnson County Longhorns were selected by the officials to receive the award but unfortunately for the officials who selected the team, they were like a bride left at the alter as no one from Johnson County showed up to receive the award leaving the entire group a little disappointed.
However, as the saying goes the show must go on and indeed it did.
The officials recognized schools from 6-A to 1-A with Morristown West winning the 5-A/6-A category while Cloudland took the 1-A award as schools included in the running spanned from Mountain City to Jefferson City.
First-year Cloudland Principal Richard Church and interim head coach Scotty Potter gladly accepted the award for the Highlanders.
“We are extremely proud of Coach Scott Potter and the entire football program for turning around a tough season and showing class and sportsmanship all the way. This is the kind of student-athletes we have in Roan Mountain and we are excited about this honor,” said Church.
Former Baltimore Orioles coach Alan Johnson was the guest speaker and spoke about the strength of players and how a coach or official prepared for games and how much time it took from their families.
Johnson also mentioned what it takes to become an official or coach and the sacrifice’s for sports that makes them legends.
Several officials received their five, ten and fifteen-year awards. Those included Roger Shaw and Don Hamilton who were presented their 40-year service award.
Elizabethton’s Larry Bowling was given a 50-years plaque. Larry not only is a longtime official but has coached for over 40 years and was an assistant on the 2004 Unaka Basketball State Championship team.
