Coach Bobby Chambers to be Inducted into the TSSAA Hall of Fame

Published 1:48 am Friday, February 4, 2022

For the second year in a row, a Carter County man will be inducted into the TSSAA Hall of Fame. Coach Bobby Chambers’s ceremony is scheduled for April 2nd in Murfreesboro. Shelby Miller, a TSSAA official for over 55 years, was inducted last year.Born in 1937, Chambers attended Elizabethton High School where he graduated in 1955. He played baseball and basketball for the Cyclones. Bob attended Milligan College, where he played basketball and baseball.   Chambers began his coaching career at Elizabethton High School in 1959 as an assistant to legendary Coach John Treadway. His Jr. Varsity record was 124-16 before leaving and taking the head coaching position at Lynn View. While at Elizabethton, he was the varsity baseball coach and won 37 games out of 53 in three years.   In 1968 when Sullivan East was open, he took the first basketball coaching job for the Patriots and then went on to Tennessee High to coach the Vikings. His Bristol team made three sub-state appearances and one trip to the big show. At the three schools, he recorded 317 wins with only 116 losses. They averaged winning more than 24 games per year.   He coached the 1979 McDonald’s Capital Classic and was an assistant at the University of Kentucky from 1981-84. His 78-79 Tennessee High team was honored by the Tennessee State Senate. In 1981 he was named Honorary Kentucky Colonel.   Chambers set up a nationwide video scouting service that was featured on CBS by Billy Packer. He organized the first summer basketball camp in Bristol and directed it for eight years. Chambers has worked in basketball camps at ETSU, King College, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Kentucky.

In 20014 Coach Chambers was recognized by the Big Seven with a lifetime achievement Award and he was inducted into the Elizabethton Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Carter County Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.