An outstanding basketball coach from Farragut High School has died.
Lynn Early Sexton, 91, contracted covid while being treated for a fall. Coach Sexton’s first Farragut team (1961) went 1-26. But since the previous year’s team had not won a game, Lynn’s reaction was classic: “A 100 percent improvement over the previous year.”
By his retirement in 1991, the Admirals had compiled a record of 544-353, and his teams won 12 district regular season championships and three regional tournament championships, advancing to substate six times and to state tournament three times.
He hailed from the Quaker town of Friendsville, Tennessee, and graduated from Friendsville Academy, where his mother taught, and Maryville College, where he met his future wife, Patricia. They were together for 67 years and had four children, 12 grandkids and 15 great grandchildren.
In 2002, Farragut High School renamed its gymnasium after Coach Lynn Sexton.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 1, 2025, noon, at Erin Presbyterian Church, 200 Lockett Rd., Knoxville. A reception and receiving of friends will follow at the church. The service will be live streamed at ErinPresbyterian.org. The full obituary is here.
