College Archives - Oak Ridge Today

Higgins one of few former Oak Ridge athletes to win national collegiate championship

Posted at 3:03 pm January 9, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Wildcats Tee Higgins Catch at Ooltewah Nov. 13, 2015

Oak Ridge’s Tee Higgins (5), who was then a junior, makes a leaping catch during a 26-17 loss at Ooltewah in a second-round Class 5A playoff game on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015. (File photo by Julio Culiat)

Oak-Ridge-Higgins-Clinton-Aug-18-2016-Web

Oak Ridge’s Tee Higgins (5), who was then a senior, talks to a television reporter after a 56-21 rout at Clinton on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. Higgins had two touchdown receptions and two interceptions that set up Wildcat scores. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Former Oak Ridge wide receiver Tee Higgins is one of a few former Wildcats to win a national championship in a college sport. Higgins, who was a football and basketball star in Oak Ridge, is probably the first former Wildcat with a touchdown catch in a national championship game.

Higgins is a sophomore wide receiver for the Clemson Tigers, who crushed the Alabama Crimson Tide in a 44-16 championship win in Santa Clara, California, on Monday. It was Clemson’s third national championship and second in the past three years, both over Alabama. It was the first national championship for Clemson since Higgins, the team’s leading receiver who has impressed fans with his catches, joined the Tigers.

Higgins had three catches for 81 yards on Monday, including a five-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter, the final Clemson touchdown.

Clemson is the first college football team to go 15-0 since Penn in 1897. Trevor Lawrence, the Tigers’ freshman quarterback, was impressive Monday, finishing 20-for-32 for 347 yards and three touchdown passes. He became the first true freshman starting quarterback to win a national championship since Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway in 1985. [Read more…]

Tryouts will be held June 28 for Roane State golf teams

Posted at 3:32 pm June 20, 2018
By Owen Driskill Leave a Comment

Chris Griffin

Tryouts for the revived Roane State men’s golf team and the first-ever women’s team at the community college will be held Thursday, June 28, at Oak Ridge Country Club, 150 Gum Hollow Road.

Chris Griffin, a Roane State alumnus who was a member of the college’s golf team, is volunteering his time to reactivate the men’s squad and launch a women’s team, a press release said.

Rising Roane State sophomores and students who have graduated from high school and are enrolling in Roane State this fall are invited to try out, Griffin said.

Those tryouts will consist of a single 18-hole round, and tee times will begin at 1 p.m. Contact Griffin at (865) 898-0043 to reserve a tee time. [Read more…]

NRA Foundation awards grant to national champion Roane State Shooting Sports Team

Posted at 2:30 pm June 7, 2018
By Owen Driskill Leave a Comment

Roane State’s national championship Shooting Sports Team has been awarded a grant for supplies from the NRA Foundation. Shown after winning the national title last fall are, from left, Assistant Coach James Wattenbarger, Head Coach Kenneth Carey, Ty McCaskey, Nathan Wattenbarger, Andy Carey, Codey Dean, Assistant Coach Kevin Hembree, and Nathan Hembree. (Submitted photo)

The national champion Roane State Community College Shooting Sports Team has received a Friends of the NRA Foundation Grant for supplies valued at more than $4,400, a press release said.

“We greatly appreciate the foundation’s support for our athletes,” team coach Kenny Carey said.

Through the grant, the team will receive Winchester 12-guage shotgun shells, Winchester 20-gauge shotgun shells, and a promotional banner.

The Roane State Shooting Sports Team participates in trap, skeet, sporting clays, and five stand competitions. The team has received state and national recognition for its performance, including a first-place finish in the Scholastic Clay Target Program last fall. The competition included more than 200 athletes from 14 states and 21 colleges. [Read more…]

Big 12 Rowing Championships in Oak Ridge this weekend

Posted at 11:45 pm May 11, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Kansas State competed in the SIRA Championship Regatta on the Clinch River (Melton Hill Lake) in Oak Ridge on Saturday, April 21, 2018. The Wildcats will also race in the 2018 Big 12 Rowing Championships in Oak Ridge on Saturday, May 12, and Sunday, May 13, 2018. (Photo by Julio Culiat)

Note: This story was last updated at 12:30 a.m.

The 2018 Big 12 Rowing Championships are in Oak Ridge on Saturday and Sunday.

The races will feature some of the top rowing programs in the country. The eight participating teams, including No. 3 Texas, will compete for an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships set for May 25-27 in Sarasota, Florida, according to TexasSports.com.

Besides Texas, other teams competing in Oak Ridge this weekend are Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, in addition to rowing affiliate Alabama, Old Dominion, and Tennessee.

The Big 12 Championships begin at 2 p.m. Saturday with preliminary heats. Final heats start at 9 a.m. Sunday. [Read more…]

Roane State to add men’s and women’s golf teams for fall 2018

Posted at 11:49 am December 1, 2017
By Owen Driskill Leave a Comment

Chris Griffin, who was a member of the Roane State golf team when he was a student in the late 1970s, has volunteered to coach a revived squad, which he intends to compete in collegiate tournaments beginning in the fall of 2018. (Photo by Roane State)

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

A Roane State alumnus with fond memories of his days on the college’s golf team wants to make those experiences available to current students as well as those who enroll at Roane State in the future.

Chris Griffin of Oak Ridge has volunteered to be the coach of a revived men’s golf squad and to also launch the college’s first-ever team of women golfers.

Current high school golfers and Roane State freshmen will be invited to try out for the squads—composed of between five and seven members each—and Griffin said plans are for competition tourneys to begin in the fall of 2018. [Read more…]

Photos: ORHS WildBand performs with UT Pride of Southland at Neyland

Posted at 6:59 pm September 24, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge High School Wildcat Marching Band performs with the Pride of the Southland Band on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017, at the University of Tennessee and UMass football game. (Photo courtesy Ginger Meadows)

Note: This story was updated at 10 a.m. Sept. 25.

Here are photos of the Oak Ridge High School Wildcat Marching Band performing with the Pride of the Southland Band on Saturday at Neyland Stadium before and during the University of Tennessee and UMass football game.

The WildBand participated in the march to the stadium and the patriotic themed halftime performance.

Here are pictures by ORHS Counseling, Teresa Ledden, Ginger Meadows, Jutta Bangs, and Danny L. Weeks, along with a video by Kristin Hensley. [Read more…]

ORHS Band performing with UT Pride of Southland Band on Saturday

Posted at 4:42 pm September 20, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Seniors in the 2017 Oak Ridge High School Wildcat Marching Band are pictured above with a new banner. (Photo courtesy Merny Hughey)

Note: This story was last updated at 10 a.m. Sept. 25.

The Oak Ridge High School Wildcat Marching Band is performing with the Pride of the Southland Band this Saturday at the University of Tennessee and UMass football game.

The WildBand will participate in the march to the stadium and the patriotic themed halftime performance, a press release said.

“Kickoff at noon makes an early rehearsal call at UT of 7:15 a.m. tough but absolutely doable,” the press release said. “We were happy to rearrange our fall competition schedule in order to accept the invitation from Dr. Don Ryder, director of bands at UT. With all four band directors in the Oak Ridge Schools system being alumni of the Pride—Spence Milligan and Mike Spirko (also former Pride drum major) at ORHS, Sean Rutherford at Jefferson Middle School, Elizabeth Reams at Robertsville Middle School—it will be a homecoming for them as well as a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the ORHS Band students.”

There is an added connection since there are currently six ORHS alumni marching with the Pride, two of whom have siblings currently in the WildBand. The six are Delaney Thurston, Maggie Nathan, Kaitlin Ledden, Marah Yaun, Hunter Gray, and Matthew Martin. [Read more…]

Fulmer to be keynote speaker at Industry Appreciation Breakfast in September

Posted at 4:30 pm July 26, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Former University of Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer will be the keynote speaker at an Industry Appreciation Breakfast in Oak Ridge in September.

The invitation-only breakfast is sponsored by the Oak Ridge Utility District and the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce. It will be at ORUD on Tuesday morning, September 12.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Hackworth, of Oliver Springs, named head softball coach at Roane State

Posted at 4:11 pm March 12, 2017
By Owen Driskill Leave a Comment

Jessie Hackworth

Jessica Hackworth has been named Roane State Community College’s head softball coach.

She had served as the interim coach. Hackworth succeeds Sue Niemi, who has taken a student services position at the college.

Hackworth, who is from Oliver Springs, was a Roane State assistant coach for five years. In addition to coaching duties, she organized remodeling of the softball locker room, ran fall tournaments, and worked closely with players to ensure their academic success. Roane State softball players have received numerous conference honors for their academic performance. [Read more…]

Roane State to celebrate Nesbit’s 25 years of coaching

Posted at 11:07 am January 23, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Head Coach Randy Nesbit and Roane State’s 1992-93 men’s basketball team. (Photo courtesy Roane State Community College)

Roane State Community College is celebrating 25 years with Men’s Basketball Head Coach Randy Nesbit on Saturday, January 28, when the Roane State Raiders take on Dyersburg. The game is at 4 p.m., with a reception to follow.

A 1980 graduate of the Citadel, Nesbit began his Roane State coaching career in the fall of 1992 after serving as assistant to Citadel’s Head Coach Les Robinson. A three-year starting point guard on Robinson-coached basketball teams, Nesbit was a key member of The Citadel’s 1979 team that won 20 games, a first for the college. Captain of the 1980 team, Nesbit was selected to the 1979 and 1980 All-Southern Conference second team and paced the 1978 team with a 54.0 field goal percentage and a 92.5 free throw percentage in 1980, which was the second-best in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA. He tied a school mark with 13 assists in a 1979 game against Marshall, and established the school’s season record of 120 dishes that season, holding the school’s record for most career assists (324). Nesbit played only three years after having transferred from Gulf Coast Community College. [Read more…]

Former Roane State dual enrollment student now an expert in his field

Posted at 1:30 am September 21, 2016
By Owen Driskill Leave a Comment

Kyley Dickson tests the field at Bristol Motor Speedway before the Battle at Bristol, the record-setting football game between Tennessee and Virginia Tech. (Photo courtesy Roane State)

This Fentress County farm boy will likely soon have a new title: professor.

Kyley H. Dickson, who grew up on a farm in the rural middle Tennessee county, will be receiving a doctorate in plant and soil science this December from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

And his expertise in his doctorate—the safety of athletic fields—was put to use recently when he and a professor went to Bristol, Tennessee, for an inspection.

They were checking on the safeness of the Astroturf installed for the football game between UT and Virginia Tech, held September 10 at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Now, Dickson is setting his sights on a teaching job at UT-Martin, where’s he’s applied for a professorship. [Read more…]

Johnny Majors, standout halfback, winning UT coach, to teach ORICL course

Posted at 9:28 am July 26, 2016
By Carolyn Krause Leave a Comment

Johnny Majors, standout halfback and winning coach at the University of Tennessee, will teach a course at ORICL. (Submitted photo)

Register by Aug. 17 for fall term

Want to feel more relaxed, less fearful, and flexible during this election season? Consider taking courses presented by the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning, or ORICL, on yoga, meditation, and tai chi.

As a Tennessee football fan or coach, would you like to take a course from Johnny Majors, College Football Hall of Fame standout halfback and winning coach at the University of Tennessee? He will tell about his life and the secrets of coaching to win.

Would you like to know more about driverless cars, Mozart, the Vikings, Russian fairy tales, Chinese diagnosis in medicine, and who should have power and why?

Learn about Indonesia, Myanmar, and Thailand? Explore supernatural phenomena, mitochondria, research at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge, and the God question. [Read more…]