Remembering the Legends: Hack Hyder
Published 8:48 am Wednesday, July 27, 2022
File Photo Hack Hyder(back row, left) is pictured with the Elizabethton Cyclones coaching staff.
File Photo Happy Valley Warriors assistant coach Hack Hyder on the sideline during a game.
File Photo Elizabethton High Baseball Coach Hack Hyder shows a player the proper way to hold a bat.
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
BY C.Y. Peters
Elizabethton/Happy Valley/Milligan
As a football senior for EHS in 1956, Hack Hyder garnered All-Big Six Conference honors (tackle) and was voted to the Tennessee All-American team. He was also a Cyclone baseball player and did well enough to earn a chance at Milligan. Hyder wound up leading the Buffs in batting average both seasons (.458 in 1958, .333 in ’59).
As a baseball coach, Hyder led Happy Valley to seven Watauga Conference titles — and the school’s only state tournament appearance (1978 Class AA semifinals). At the end of a 10-year stay, he followed up with 12 years as skipper of the Cyclones, guiding them to the Big 7 crown in his first year. Hyder was an assistant coach in football, coached two high school baseball teams and was a clock keeper for the basketball team for many years. He was loved by so many students he helped become men and women. Hyder was a member of the Oak Street Baptist Church, where he was a Deacon and a member of the church choir. He was married to Shelby Reece and they have two sons, Steve and Greg. Hack Hyder passed away on February 27, 2007.
