Tommy Bartlett (Basketball)-ja.cruzcal.org

American basketball and tennis players and coaches

Thomas George Bartlett (6 June 1928–October 19, 2016) was an American college basketball and tennis player and head coach of college basketball and tennis. After graduating from the University of Tennessee, he was the head coach of Carson-Newman University, the University of Chattanooga (now the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga), the University of Florida, and the head coach of men’s tennis. At the University of Tennessee and UT-Chattanooga.

Early life and playing career

Bartlett was born in Homerville, Georgia and graduated from Knoxville High School in Knoxville, Tennessee. He attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he played for the Tennessee Volunteer Basketball Team from 1949 to 1952 and for the Volunteer Men’s Tennis Team from 1950 to 1952. Choosing the All-Southeast Conference (SEC) at Guard as Senior; In tennis, he was a three-year letterman, a two-year starter, and an All-SEC selection as team captain and senior. Memorably, Bartlett was undefeated in a volunteer men’s tennis team for three seasons, winning the SEC Singles Tennis Championships 6th in 1950, 5th in 1951, 3rd in 1952, and the SEC Doubles Championship. I won in 3rd place. Second place in 1950 and 1951, second place in 1952. As a senior, Bartlett is the third-placed college basketball player with a foul shot success rate (80.2%) and is the men’s tennis champion who led Bols to the first SEC team. He graduated from Tennessee in 1952.

Coaching career

Bartlett began his coaching career in 1953 at Lenoir City High School in Lenoir City, Tennessee. In four seasons as head coach of the Lenoir City Panthers, he set a comprehensive 97-20 win / loss record and led the Panthers to the state’s best in the school championship semifinals before losing to Kingsport High School in 1957.

He then served as Chief Basketball Coach at Carson-Newman College from 1957 to 1958 and Chattanooga University from 1958 to 1962. Under Ray Mears. In 1963, while continuing to be a volunteer basketball assistant, he also became the head coach of the volunteer men’s tennis team. In 1966 he led the Vols Tennis Team to the second SEC Tennis Team Championship. This is the first time since 1952, when Bartlett was a member of the team.

In 1966, Bartlett began his seven-year term in Florida after Norm Sloan departed for North Carolina. Unlike Sloan, Bartlett focused on defense from the beginning. Bartlett’s first Gator’s squad, including Gary Keller and Neal Walk, was the best Florida ever produced. They finished 21-4 overall (the school’s first 20 wins season) and 14-4 at the SEC. It was also the first Gators basketball team to be ranked in the national vote. In a 23-team NCAA tournament, when only conference champions were guaranteed to bid, the Gators lost the first SEC title and NCAA after losing twice to the Lamyers Tennessee Volunteer coach during the regular season. I missed the tournament by one match. Bartlett’s 1968-1969 Gator’s received an invitation to the 1969 National Invitation Tournament (NIT), but none of the subsequent Gator’s teams could match his first success. bottom. He was also responsible for hiring Steve Williams, Florida’s first African-American player. He finished in the SEC with an overall record of 95 vs. 85 and 62 vs. 64.

Bartlett returned to college coaching in 1979 and served as the men’s and women’s tennis head coach for Chattanooga Mock for 12 seasons until 1990. , 1988 and 1989); his Lady Mocs team won the Southern Conference Women’s Tennis Championships five times (1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990) and at the NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis Championships. Won three times (1983, 1984, 1985).

Bartlett was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1986. He died at his home in Chattanooga on October 19, 2016.

Tennis family

Bartlett’s daughter-in-law, Sue Bartlett, was an All-American on the Chattanooga Ladymock Tennis Team in 1978. His granddaughter Claire Bartlett played for the Florida Gators Women’s Tennis Team from 2008 to 2011.

Head coach history

Men’s basketball

See also

• Carson-Newman Eagles
• Chattanooga mock
• Florida Gator’s
• List of people at the University of Tennessee
• Tennessee Volunteer
• University Athletic Association

Reference

Bibliography

• Kos, Bill, Pond Birds: Gators Basketball, full story from inside, Fast Break Press, Gainesville, Florida (1996). ISBN 978-0-8130-1523-1.