Randy Smith
As my 64th Thanksgiving holiday approaches, I find myself being thankful for the same things over and over again. My beautiful wife, my two wonderful children, my four fabulous grandchildren, and all my extended family and friends. I have always been thankful for my career; I really wouldn't change much at all. So what's new that I can be thankful for this year?
Well, I am very thankful the "Legions of the Miserable" at Tennessee finally got off of Vols' Coach Butch Jones back. Yes, the Vols lost a couple of games they should have won but a win over Vandy this weekend puts UT's record at 8-4 and with everyone returning for 2016, the future looks very bright.
I am also thankful for all the success they've had at UTC. The football team winning a third straight SoCon title, the basketball teams are off to a great start this season and the Lady Mocs are nationally ranked.
I am thankful for Notre Dame head football coach Charles Fant. He has reached the TSSAA semi-finals for a second straight year, and will face powerful Alcoa a second year in a row as well. I am so happy that Notre Dame had the foresight to hire Coach Fant.
At the same time, I am also thankful for Boyd-Buchanan coach Grant Reynolds whose tenth team at BBS finished 11-1 before bowing out in the state playoff's second round. He is a true gentleman and a great role model.
I am thankful to be a member of the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors. When you can surround yourself with true sports legends at least once a month, it is a real blessing.
I am thankful for being a dog lover. I can never think of a time in my life when I didn't have at least one pooch to love.
I am thankful for my Tuesday lunch group; Jerry Pond, Jim Crittenden, Arch Trammell, Earl Freudenberg and several others.
I am thankful to be able to retire, but I am also getting very bored. And I'm thankful for being bored. That means I really need to be doing something other than cleaning house and mowing the yard.
I am thankful to have a publishing company that believes in my book, Seasons of Change. It will be available by next spring.
I am thankful every day for thne great mentors I have had. The late Monte Hale, the late Bill Nash and the great John Ward. Without their help and guidance, I would never have been able to do even a portion of what I've done.
I am thankful that I am still able to drive, though my family would disagree. I am also thankful I DO NOT have to drive anywhere this Thanksgiving holiday.
I am thankful for the five years I spent as a Broadcasting teacher at the high school level. I made a lot of friends; both teachers and students.
I am thankful for my TSSAA umpiring buddies. I don't know how many more years I can umpire but I always look forward to the meetings which begin in January.
I am thankful that my mother is still with us. She's 86 and is still sharp as a tack.
I am thankful that being on Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with some of my high school friends and classmates.
I am also thankful that I have only been forced to unfriend a dozen people or so because of inappropriate comments or political ignorance.
I am thankful that 35 years after selling my camping trailer, my wife and I have bought a new one and have fallen in love with camping once again.
I am thankful for the warmth of a good wood fire. (Comes in handy when you're camping)
I am thankful for my wife's buttermilk pies. She only makes them twice a year; Thanksgiving and Christmas. But man they're good.
Finally, I am thankful for the people who read my blogs or columns on chattanoogan.com. You make all this worthwhile. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
---
Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. He is currently teaching Broadcasting at Coahulla Creek High School near Dalton, Ga.
His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for thirty years.
He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga Television for more than a quarter-century.
In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, (Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith.) They have four grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, DellaMae and CoraLee.