Color next year’s Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame class — in part anyway — Purple and Gold
Former Union City High School basketball standout John Ed Miller will be part of the 2013 induction class next May in Nashville.
Miller will be the Hall’s Lifetime Achievement inductee.
The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame announced Tuesday the names of 11 inductees to be enshrined at its annual Induction Banquet on May 4 at the Renaissance Hotel in Nashville.
In addition to Miller, former UT Martin basketball player Leonard Hamilton; Rick Byrd, basketball coach at Belmont; Penny Hardaway, University of Memphis and NBA basketball star; Kelly Holcomb, NFL football player and Middle Tennessee State star; Chris Jones, basketball standout and coach at Carson-Newman; Larry Seivers, All-America wide receiver at Tennessee; Trey Teague, outstanding center at Tennessee and the Denver Broncos and Frank Wychek, All-pro tight end for the Tennessee Titans.
Also to be inducted posthumous will be longtime radio and TV announcer Bob Bell and standout Morristown athlete and later coach Ermal Allen.
Miller had an outstanding prep career at Union City, highlighted by the team’s state runner-up finish in 1959-60.
In a time when there were no classifications, the Golden Tornadoes under head coach Ed Phipps were unbeaten through 31 games, picking up the state’s No. 1 ranking by the Associated Press in mid-January, and advanced to the TSSAA State Tournament championship game at Vanderbilt.
The Twisters dropped a tough 49-42 decision to Hampton after winning four games at Nashville.
Miller scored 75 points in five state tourney games and finished the year with a team-best 484 points, earning All-State Tournament honors.
The previous season, Miller scored 280 points in helping UC (24-5) to the second round of the state tournament.
UC again reached the state tournament in 1961, Miller’s senior season, finishing fourth and posting a 22-10 record. He completed his prep career with 1,337 points and was named first-team all-state and all-state tourney as a senior.
At Vanderbilt, he was the captain of the 1965 SEC Championship team, the first Commodore team to win a regular season SEC title.
After graduating from Vanderbilt, he served in the US Navy before starting his 35 year career at Bell South.
Miller has served on the Board of Directors on over 15 community organizations, earning him the reputation of selfless service to his community.
Hamilton, current Florida State head basketball coach, had a brilliant college career at UTM.
As a senior, Hamilton averaged 11.7 points a game and was named the team’s most valuable and best defensive player.
He was the first coach to be named coach of the year in both the Big East and ACC. 
Byrd continues to rewrite the coaching record books. With 637 career victories, Byrd ranks eighth among all active NCAA Division-I head coaches in wins.
Hardaway was drafted third overall in the 1993 NBA Draft and went on to make the first of four straight All-Star Game appearances.
MTSU went 31-16 during Holcomb’s career with an OVC championship and three NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearances.
An outstanding basketball player, Jones played in four National AAU Tournaments and the World Cup. He was drafted by NBA Cincinnati Royals and ABL Kansas City Steers.
After his professional career, Jones returned to Carson-Newman as coach in 1981, where he averaged 30 wins a year the first four years.
A native of Clinton, Seivers totaled 347 yards as a sophomore but exploded in 1975 for 840 yards on 41 receptions. It was the first time any Tennessee receiver topped the 800-yard mark in a season, earning him All-America honors.
The following year, Seivers caught 51 passes for 737 yards and was again named All-America.
While at Tennessee centering the ball to Peyton Manning, Teague earned Associated Press All-SEC honors in 1997.  Tennessee lead the nation in total offense that season, averaging 482 yards per game in winning the SEC championship.
Starring as a tight end for the Tennessee Titans, Frank caught 505 career passes for 5,126 yards and 28 touchdowns
Bell is best known for over 50 years in broadcasting, starting in the business as a 19-year old.
Allen was a standout high school athlete in Morristown and former star athlete at the University of Kentucky who made sports his career.
Allen played or coached under some of the most successful football and basketball coaches in history, including General Robert R. Neyland, Paul “Bear” Bryant, Adolph Rupp, Paul Brown and Blanton Collier.

Published in The Messenger 10.3.12