The History of this History

I've always loved history. Primarily sports history, but all history. I love learning what life was like in the past. My love of history, sports, and numbers runs through this project. For me, it's the perfect mix. 

However, I'm not ready to publish the book yet, so I'm starting with this website. Enjoy this information while it is free. I will post at least once a week beginning March 1, 2025, my 66th birthday. As of today, September 18, 2026, I've honored that commitment. The free time is over.

As the play-by-play voice of the Tullahoma Wildcats, I have intently watched some 400 games during the past 40 years, which is about 40% of every THS football game ever played. In the past few months, I received previously dormant THS football information, originally compiled by my cousin, the late Tommy Allen. Because he was meticulous and because he sourced every score he had, I began to backtrack and discovered his information was factual and reliable.

I'm not aware of any other collection of Tullahoma football information that anyone has that compares with what I have gathered. If you know someone, let me know. Otherwise, this information should be considered factual and truthful, as well as the official history of Tullahoma football.

I had Tommy Allen as a Geography teacher at East Junior High School in the early 1970s. Although the class was called geography, it was more like a history class. I loved it, and he and I talked often after class about random topics, including a lot of sports. 

In 1985, after beginning my broadcast career in 1984, Tommy invited me to his house to see his collection of Tullahoma football memorabilia. He had a lot and I was impressed. He said he hoped to write a book someday.

He never wrote that book and passed away in 2011. He gave his information to Pat Welsh, who told me about it. That was the first time I thought, "If Tommy had what I remember, I would love to see it."

However, life continued and I never got the information from Pat. When Tullahoma won the state championship in 2021, I knew I had a bestseller on my hands if I could only get all the facts. You can't write a complete history of a subject unless you have all the facts and can trust those facts without reservation.

But Covid was still happening and I had basketball and baseball games to broadcast, so I kept putting off getting the information from Pat until 2024, when I learned that John Olive had found a document that listed all of Tullahoma's football scores from 1922-1974. 

That was the information I wanted, and I thank Coach Olive for giving it to me without reservation. However, the information had inaccuracies, which made it unreliable and questionable. As it turns out, it had many, many mistakes.

That led me back to Pat, and Tommy's information. When I went to pick it up, Pat showed me a notebook where Tommy had documented every season. I saw the sources (newspapers, annuals, game programs, etc.) and knew I had hit paydirt. His collection is spectacular and includes not only detailed documentation of THS, but also the football history of Tullahoma Middle School, Coffee County, and Moore County.

I have spent and continue to spend significant time collecting this information and molding it into an interesting and informative narrative. I hope you enjoy it.