SPORTS

Street name to honor one of Nashville's greatest players

Mike Organ
morgan@tennessean.com
Junior Gilliam, who attended old Pearl High, began his career playing for the Nashville Black Vols at Sulphur Dell, which was located near the site of First Tennessee Park.

It took 37 years for the Sounds to get a new address. It won't take that long before the address changes again.

In fact, by the halfway point of the upcoming season, the street name on which the new First Tennessee Park is located probably will be changed to honor Junior Gilliam, one of the city's greatest major-league players.

The stadium's new address will be 19 Junior Gilliam Way.

Gilliam's uniform number was 19. The Los Angeles Dodgers retired his number prior to Game 1 of the 1978 World Series.

The effort to rename the street originated with the Sounds ownership and already has been approved by the Metro Planning Commission and Metro Historical Commission.

The next step is to file the legislation needed to change the current street name, Jackson, between Second and Fifth avenues north. The proposal must be approved by Metro Council and will undergo readings on April 20 and May 19.

"We have no reason to believe there are any issues with this proposal," said Toby Compton, executive director of the Metro Sports Authority. "We think this is a good thing that will be supported by the council and the community."

Jackson Street leads to the home plate entrance of the park.

Gilliam, whose real name was Jim, attended old Pearl High and began his career playing in the Negro Leagues for the Nashville Black Vols in 1945.

He played many games at Sulphur Dell ballpark, which was located near the site of the new ballpark.

After signing a free-agent deal with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951, Gilliam made his major-league debut in 1953 and he took over for Jackie Robinson, who had moved to third base and the outfield.

Gilliam led the league in triples (17) and was named the National League Rookie of the Year.

It was the beginning of what turned out to be a remarkable 14-year career with the Dodgers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles.

Gilliam was named an All-Star in 1956 and 1959 and played in seven World Series.

He remained with the Dodgers as a coach after his playing career ended and became one of the first African-American coaches in the major leagues.

MBA's Rolfe will play football at UT

Because of his versatility, Montgomery Bell Academy's Austin Rolfe had plenty of choices when it came to deciding which college to attend.

After playing football, basketball and lacrosse at MBA, Rolfe received scholarship offers in each sport from several colleges.

He finally decided to pass on the scholarship offers and accepted an invitation to play football at Tennessee as a preferred walk-on.

Rolfe, who played receiver and safety at MBA, has UT and Vanderbilt ties.

His father, Billy, who also played football at MBA, was a running back at Vanderbilt (1984-86), and his grandmother Margaret worked for many years in the athletics department.

His grandfather Bill Johnson was an All-America guard at Tennessee (1957), served on the school's athletics board in the 1970s and was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.

Original Sounds owner dies

Bob Elliott, one of the original owners of the Sounds, died March 29. He was 90.

Elliott played baseball and basketball at Tennessee and went on to play baseball professionally in the St. Louis Browns farm system as a pitcher.

He was president of the Nashville Old Timers Baseball Association in 1997-98.

A celebration of life service is scheduled for 11 a.m. April 20 at Belle Meade United Methodist Church.

Covington plants 3s, NBA plants trees

Robert Covington

Former Tennessee State star Robert Covington is doing his part for the environment.

As part of NBA Green Week (March 22-29) the league will plant trees for each of the 992 3-pointers made in those seven days.

Covington, now with the Philadelphia 76ers, made 18 3s, which was the second-most behind Golden State's Stephen Curry (24).

Covington hit six 3s against Denver, five against Sacramento, five against Cleveland and two against the Lakers.

Ex-UT assistants land head coaching jobs

Former Tennessee assistant Steve Forbes was named the head basketball coach at East Tennessee State and Jon Harris was hired at Southern Illinois Edwardsville this week.

Forbes, who replaced Murry Bartow at ETSU, was on Bruce Pearl's staff at UT from 2006-10 during a stretch in which the Vols averaged 26 wins per season and advanced to four consecutive NCAA Tournaments.

"(Forbes) helped me build Tennessee into a nationally competitive program because of his ability to recruit and evaluate talent.," said Pearl, now the head coach at Auburn.

Forbes spent the past two seasons on Gregg Marshall's staff at Wichita State.

Harris was an assistant on Cuonzo Martin's staff at UT from 2011-14. He replaced Lennox Forrester, who was fired at SIUE in March after eight seasons.

Along with the time he spent at UT, Harris was an assistant for Martin at Missouri State and California.

SIUE was 12-16 overall and 8-8 in the OVC this past season and finished fourth in the West Division ahead of Southeast Missouri and Austin Peay.

Former Portland star to be honored by Maryville

Scott Cline, a standout on the Portland High baseball team in the 1980s and currently an NCAA umpire, will be added to the Maryville College Wall of Fame in October.

Cline was an All-American at Maryville in 1992 and one of the nation's top hitters.

Cline, who also was a standout quarterback at Portland, has spent the past 22 years as an umpire in the SEC, ACC, OVC and Sun Belt.

Glencliff will recognize football greats

From Wayne Bush to C.J. Scott and Jerry Broadbent to Tim Dobbins, plans at Glencliff call for honoring the school's greatest football players of all time by paying tribute to them as part of the locker room renovation project that is underway.

Pictures, plaques and banners will be placed on a wall of fame in the facility.

"We want to have lots of excitement for the alumni as well as to show current players the great history of Glencliff football," assistant coach Lisa Limper said.

Anyone wishing to lend a hand should contact Limper at lisal55@comcast.net.

The Glencliff Alumni Association is pitching in to help.

Anyone who would like to visit the school's Alumni Room or donate memorabilia should contact Debbie Young at youngrakes@msn.com.

Former TSU star lands place on staff at Georgia

Olten Downs, who played defensive back at TSU (2003-05), has joined the staff at Georgia as a quality control assistant.

Downs led Fairburn High to the Class 5A state championship in Georgia in 2013 and the second round of the playoffs in 2014.

The Columbus, Ga., native said Georgia offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer contacted him about joining the Bulldogs staff, which led to an interview with coach Mark Richt.

Ravenwood softball hits eight homers in one game

Ravenwood’s Autumn Ogletree hit two home runs in Thursday’s win over Brentwood.

Ravenwood's bats came alive Thursday in a 19-6 win over Brentwood.

The Lady Raptors hit eight home runs, including seven that cleared the fence at Granny White Park.

Catcher Autumn Ogletree hit a grand slam in the fourth inning to put Ravenwood up 7-3 and added a solo shot in the seventh.

Lauren Myers, a UT Martin signee, and Demi Patonis, a Youngstown State signee, also hit two home runs each while Haley Barnette, a Union signee, and Drew Dudley had one apiece.

Lipscomb volleyball assistant named up-and-comer

Lipscomb assistant Billy Ebel was a recipient of the 30 Under 30 Award given this week by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Ebel is 27 and in his second season at Lipscomb.

The award goes to coaches the AVCA considers "up-and-coming."

Youth football Combine coming to JPII

A regional combine for youth football players will take place at Pope John Paul II on April 25.

The Football University Combine is free and structured similar to the U.S. Army National Combine, where athletes are evaluated and tested in five measurable events.

It is for athletes in grades 5-11. Registration is 11 a.m.-noon, and the combine is noon-5 p.m.

For more information, contact Neil Hamilton 703-402-9165 or nhamilton@allamericangames.com.

If you have an item for Midstate Chatter, contact Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 and on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.

SPORTS ON NASHVILLE TV

The top five ratings for local sporting events on television for March 23-29.

1. College basketball: Kentucky-Notre Dame, 13.7 rating

2. College basketball: Duke-Gonzaga, 12.9 rating

3. College basketball: Kentucky-West Virginia, 12.3 rating

4. College basketball: Michigan St.-Louisville, 9.7 rating

5. College basketball: Notre Dame-Wichita St., 8.9 rating

SEC Network ratings not available.

Each rating point is equal to 10,028 Nashville homes.

Source: Mark Binda, WTVF-5 program & research director