Football fans and former players from several high schools will join for a celebration of the life of ex-Vol captain Buddy Fisher on Thursday evening at Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel, 6200 Kingston Pike.
Visitation with the Fisher family will be from 5-6. The program will follow.
Fisher died on August 21. He was a Tennessee end in the early 1960s. He was Vol captain in 1963.
Buddy coached and taught at Knox area high schools for 38 years. Stops included Morristown East, Doyle, Oak Ridge, Bearden, Carter and Farragut.
“Buddy and I were fellow freshman football players at Tennessee in 1960,” recalled Bert Ackermann, Vol center then, later an SEC official and Knoxville businessman.
“He was a farm boy from Maxwell, Va., who was a rock-sturdy athlete, very quiet and all business, a perfect match for coach Bowden Wyatt’s style of play.
“Buddy was a good student with a plan to become a coach. He was a leader by example. He led the team through tumultuous times, the abrupt change in head coaches (from Wyatt to Jim McDonald in mid-1963).
“Buddy’s wise leadership was crucial in keeping the team together,” said Ackermann. “It was especially important for the younger players. Retaining them was critical for the early success of coach Doug Dickey. Those were difficult times.”
Ackermann said Fisher’s leadership skills reappeared in “his wonderful high school coaching career.”
Fisher compiled a 72-29 record at Farragut. His career coaching record was 134-79.