Page 69 - Cityview Jan-Feb 2017

Photograph by Hobe Brunsongiven the high designation “Most Loyal Vol Fan.” He had a full and interesting life. Floyd was a baseball player,an insurance adjuster, a politician,an entrepreneur, an entertainment manager, and my favorite uncle.Born in 1925 at St. Mary’s Hospital, Floyd, the youngest of three children, spent his early life in the Lincoln Park community of Knoxville. The family rst lived on Oswald Street and then later on Farragut Avenue near Lincoln Park Elementary School. His motherGrace, a MeHa ey, and her large family were charter members of Lincoln Park Baptist Church. It was said of his father, Floyd, Sr., that he could be chained toa power pole on Magnolia Avenue and would have a restaurant up and going within 48 hours. A er Uncle Floyd’s mother (my grandmother) died during Floyd’s adolescence, he was largely raised by his older sister, LaVerne(my mother). The second of the three children was Gene. Gene was tall and rough. Floyd was small but athletic. Gene was a drugstore cowboy, and Floyd wanted to be like Gene.If you were coming of age in pre-war Knoxville, the Lincoln Park Drugstore on Chickamauga Avenue was the place to be. Nothing was handed to you.One day, in Gene’s absence, Floyd was accused of getting ice cream on a bully’s jacket. Only 12 years old, Floyd was too small to ght the much larger boy and ran a er being humiliated. When Gene found out, he marched Floyd down to the drugstore, put the bully in a bear hug, and pinned his arms to his sides. Gene dragged the boy backwards across the street to the schoolyard and sat down on a low wall; a er lying back on the grass embankment he said, “Okay Floyd, now work on him.”A er graduation from Knoxville High School in 1943, Floyd followed Gene into the U. S. Navy and served on submarine duty for three years in the South Paci c. A er returning to Knoxville, he married his sweetheart, Helen Young of Lenoir City, and immediately entered law school at Cumberland University. Floyd and Helen had two children, Mike and Patty, and later grandchildren and great grandchildren.Floyd always had great hand-eye coordination and if given a stick could hit anything moving or standing still. A er law school, he turned to his rst love: baseball. He played two yearsin the Virginia Minor League for the Su olk, Virginia Goobers. Playing in the shadow of the Planters peanut factory, his batting average was .309. He was the Goobers’ best and most reliable hitter. Floyd played in the Florida League from 1950 to 1953— rst in Leesburg, Florida, then in Gainesville and Jacksonville.He batted .335 with the LeesburgPackers and was a team manager. Before acquiescing to the demands of his older sister, LaVerne, to “get a job,” he last played for the Maryville-Alcoa Twins in the Mountain States League where he batted .364. Floyd retired from minor league baseball with a lifetime batting average of .325.For a period of time in the 1960’s, Floyd was Archie Campbell’s manager before the Hee-Haw days, and thetwo became great friends. Floydwas a constant source of jokes and a better comedian than manager. For many years, Floyd was administrative assistant to the Commissioner of the Department of General Services in Nashville. Later in life, he liked to hang around country music in Nashvilleand frequently was a VIP guest atthe Nashville Palace, where he could enjoy a good country music show and dinner. He had his own table adjacent to the stage. He allowed his gray hair to grow long and it curled up in the back under his cowboy hat. One evening, two busloads of British tourists stopped by for the show and mistook Floyd for Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass. Of course, he con rmed that he was in fact Bill Monroe, signing autographs and posing for photographs with his new- found fans.Floyd loved the Tennessee Vols. He witnessed the growth of the program from the Neyland era to the great years of Coach Phillip Fulmer. If the Vols were playing, Floyd was there. On the third Saturday of October he watched the 1948 Neyland-coached Volunteers beat Alabama, coached by Harold “Red” Drew, 21-6 at Shields-Watkins Field. That game featured his Knoxville contemporaries Bud Sherrod, Kenneth Donahue, and Orvis Milner. In 1956, Floyd watched Tommy Bronson, Johnny Majors, and Bill Anderson run through every SEC team plus Duke and Maryland for a 10-1 season (6-0 SEC). In the 1960’s Floyd became a member of the Vol Fan Club and traveled to away games on buses with rabid fans just like him. He was in the Superdome with his entire family the night Je Powell took it to the house in the 1986 Sugar Bowl to defeat the No. 2 Miami Hurricanes 35-7. All of the men of our family were with himJANUARY FEBRUARY 2017 67PRYORITIES