Six to enter Sports Hall of Fame

By TONY STINNETT/ Courier Sports Editor

The third class of the Cannon County Sports Hall of Fame will be inducted when six members are enshrined at Robert A. Harris Gymnasium at 6 p.m. May 9.

The Class of 2013 includes Helen (Hayes) Davenport, Tom Dillard, Rick Insell, Mike Mayfield (coach), Ronnie Smith and Teddy Taylor.

MTSU head men’s basketball coach Kermit Davis, the all-time winningest coach in school and Sun Belt Conference history, will be the keynote speaker for the Cannon Courier Hall of Fame and All Sports Banquet. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased at The Cannon Courier Office, online at CannonCourier.com; or you may reserve tickets by calling 563-2512. No tickets will be sold at the door. Deadline to purchase tickets is May 6.

“Once we again we have a Who’s Who of Cannon County’s athletic landscape,” said William R. (Ron) Fryar, owner and publisher of The Cannon Courier, which sponsors the banquet. “This has been an outstanding event the last two years and it appears we have another exciting evening ahead of us.”

In addition to the Hall of Fame induction, The Cannon Courier’s Players of the Year in each of CCHS’ 13

TSSAA-sponored sports will be named, in addition to the Male and Female Athletes of the Year; the Female and Male Publisher’s Cup Winners for top scholar-athletes, and the Lions Award.

Helen Hayes (athlete) was one of the Midstate’s top players in the late 1950s and she remains one of the top performers in Woodbury and Cannon County girls basketball history.

Hayes holds the Lionettes’ record for most points in a game with 48 and her 28.5 point per game average in 1959-60 remains the highest scoring average for a season in Lionettes’ history.

She remains fourth on the Lionettes’ all-time scoring list with 1,933 points. She joins Julie Powell and Vickie Todd as girls basketball players to be voted into the Cannon County Sports Hall of Fame.

Tom Dillard (athlete) was one of the state’s top football players and led Tennessee in scoring when he dominated the gridiron for Woodbury Central High School. He had an opportunity to become the first African American scholarship athlete to attend college at Mississippi but opted to get married and begin a career.

Rick Insell (coach) began his coaching career at West Side Grammar School in Woodbury and become of the top high school and college mentors in the country.

Insell is in five Halls of Fame. He built Shelbyville Central High School into a national power and won an unprecedented 10 Tennessee state championships.

He has led MTSU to seven NCAA Tournaments and also is the school’s all-time winningest coach.

Mike Mayfield (coach) passed away in September 2012. He was a current Cannon County School Board member at the time of his death. Mayfield coached football at Cannon County, where he also was an assistant principal.

Mayfield coached high school football for 22 years. He also was a motivational speaker.

Ronnie Smith (athlete) is second on the all-time scoring list for Lions basketball with 1,460 points. His total had stood as the benchmark for for almost 40 years before Justin Davenport broke it with 1,719 points in his career.

Smith’s 24.2 scoring average in 1971-72 is second all-time at Cannon County.

Teddy Taylor (contributor) has been involved in Cannon County athletics in some capacity for most of his life. Taylor has been instrumental in the youth basketball program, served as assistant coach at the high school level, head coach at the youth level and also has served as a sports announcer.