Kermit Davis guest for Sports Hall of Fame

By TONY STINNETT/Courier Sports Editor

Kermit Davis, the winningest coach in MTSU men’s basketball and Sun Belt Conference history, will be the guest speaker for the third Cannon County Sports Hall of Fame Banquet.

Davis will deliver the keynote address for the event at Robert A. Harris gymnasium, May 9, at 6 p.m. The meal will be catered by Prater’s Barbecue. Tickets are $15 and will go on sale at The Cannon Courier, April 15.

The 2013 Hall of Fame inductees will be announced April 15. The Cannon Courier Players of the Year in each of CCHS’ sports will also be named at the banquet, along with the Male and Female Athletes of the Year, Male and Female Publisher’s Cub winners for top scholar athletes and the Lion Award winner.

“We are delighted to have a speaker the caliber of Kermit Davis for our third banquet,” said William R. (Ron) Fryar, publisher and owner of The Cannon Courier, which serves as the banquet host. “Coach Davis is a highly-successful and he will have a great message. It will be another great night to honor Cannon County’s greats - past and present.”

Davis just completed his 11th season as MTSU’s head men’s basketball coach.

The highly-successful coach has restored pride in a program that had fallen on hard times prior to his arrival. Davis is a three-time Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year and his 208 wins are the most in Blue Raider history. He is also the Sun Belt’s all-time winningest coach with 117 league wins.

Davis led the Blue Raiders to the 2013 NCAA Tournament, MTSU’s first appearance in the tournament in 24 years. He led the Blue Raiders to the 2012 NIT quarterfinals, marking MTSU’s first postseason wins in 23 years.

The Blue Raiders won the Sun Belt’s regular-season championships in 2010, 2012 and 2013 under Davis, and MTSU enjoyed its most wins (28), most conference wins (19) and most road wins (11) in program history in 2012-13.

MTSU had a 17-game winning streak at one stretch, which was the longest in the country at the time. The Blue Raiders have wins against SEC foes Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Mississippi the past two seasons.