Mike Organ

morgan@tennessean.com

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick ran the St. Jude Country Music Half-Marathon to support his fiancée and then stuck around to see an old friend.

Belichick and his fiancée, Linda Holliday, who is from Franklin, spent the better part of the weekend trying to find former Vanderbilt All-America quarterback Bill Wade.

Belichick’s father, Steve,was the backfield coach each of the three years (1949-51) Wade played at Vanderbilt.

Steve Belichick and Wade remained close through the years. After Steve died in 2005, however, Bill Belichick lost touch with Wade.

Belicheck came to town on April 25 and worked out several of Vanderbilt’s draft-eligible players. That’s when he first put out some feelers that he was looking for Wade, who is now 83.

He didn’t hear anything until shortly after crossing the finish line at the half-marathon on April 26, when he was told Wade was in an assisted living home in Bellevue.

Belicheck and Holliday were too tired to visit that day but dropped in on Wade last Sunday.

Belicheck was born in Nashville in the spring of 1952 after Wade’s senior season at Vanderbilt.

His father stayed at Vanderbilt through that season and then went on to coach at North Carolina and Navy.

Coach with 1,080 wins looks for job

Cheatham County produced two of the winning­est basketball coaches of all-time inPat Summitt and Charlie Anderson.

Summitt, who is from Henrietta, accumulated a total of 1,098 wins during her career as the Tennessee women’s coach, and Anderson, who is from Pegram, had 1,080 wins on the high school and junior-college levels.

Both were part of the 2003 class inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.

“At that time I was ahead of Pat in wins,” Anderson said. “And then she passed me.”

Anderson, 79, was hoping to catch back up with Summitt, who retired in 2012 after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s.

But that might not happen because Anderson’s contract as the boys coach at Nashville Christian School was not renewed.

After 55 years on the bench, it might seem like a good time for Anderson to finally call it quits. He’s an avid angler and decent golfer, so why not trade in his whistle for a fishing pole and set of clubs?

“Because I’m not ready for that yet,” Anderson said. “I have always enjoyed coaching, and I still enjoy coaching. I wouldn’t still be doing it if I didn’t enjoy it.”

Anderson’s family moved to Nashville while he was growing up, and he graduated from Cohn High in 1952 and then joined the Army, where he served for three years.

In 1958, he graduated from Middle Tennessee State, and after earning his master’s degree from Vanderbilt a year later, Anderson started his coaching career at Stratford, which opened in 1959.

He built that program into a powerhouse, which eventually made four trips to the state tournament (1966, 1967, 1968, 1969), and he later did the same at Bellevue, taking the Owls to the state tournament in 1976, 1978, 1979 and 1980.

“He is the ultimate coach,” said Ray Maddux, who played on three of the four Stratford teams that went to the state tournament and went on to play at Vanderbilt. “He’s coached guys, he’s coached girls, he’s coached junior college. He’s coached private schools and public schools. And he’s been successful on every level and everywhere he’s ever been.”

After retiring from Metro, Anderson spent 20 years as the coach at Aquinas and led the Cavaliers to the 1991 junior-college national championship.

Anderson already has made some inquiries with hopes of getting an new job.

Someone suggested he check with Drew Maddux, Ray’s son, who is the coach at Christ Presbyterian Academy, which won back-to-back Class AA state titles and made it to the semifinals this past season.

“I don’t think Drew needs any help,” Anderson said. “But there might be somebody out there who does.”

Dad sinks hole-in-one in front of daughter

Bob Farnsworth was one proud pop Wednesday. He made a hole-in-one at Belle Meade Country Club, and the witness was his daughter, Alexandra.

Bob aced the 147-yard, No. 16 hole using an 8-iron.

Even with the hole-in-one, Bob couldn’t beat Alexandra on the nine holes they played. They tied at even par-36.

It was Bob’s second hole-in-one. On the day he made his first, he and Alexandra aced the same hole.

Alexandra is a three-time winner of The Tennessean/Metro Parks Schooldays Tournament. She is a senior at Ensworth who is headed to Vanderbilt on a golf scholarship.

MTSU signs 13 Midstate wrestlers

Middle Tennessee State’s wrestling team awarded scholarships to several local athletes at a signing ceremony on campus last week.

They included Cage Hargrove, Jamie Boyce and Tyler McClendon (Forrest), Dalton Cantrell and Austin Wells (Blackman), Austin Skirvin (McGavock), Nick Patton (Centennial), Alex Hernandez (Spring Hill), Daniel Devers (Wayne County), Keydexon Brown (Smyrna), Nelson Masyan (Stewarts Creek),Evan Walker (LaVergne) and Cory Wright (West Creek).

MTSU competes in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association.

Coaching Brown brothers honored

Cookeville natives Mack and Watson Brown, who are the winningest coaching brother pair in NCAA football history, received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hometown Champions Night on Thursday.

Mack, who coached for Texas for 16 years, and Watson, who is headed into his eighth season at Tennessee Tech, also served as keynote speakers for the event at the Leslie Town Center in Cookeville.

While Mack was the coach at Texas last fall, the brothers increased their number of wins to 365 and moved ahead of Bill and Vince Dooley’s 362 wins.

Mack, 62, who also coached at Tulane, North Carolina and Texas, has 238 victories and Watson, 64, who also had stints at Austin Peay, Vanderbilt, Cincinnati, Rice and Alabama-Birmingham, has 127.

Mack has not said whether he plans to continue his coaching career. Don’t be surprised if he ends up in a TV booth this season.

Metro Hall of Fame adds three inductees

Former Metro high school basketball coaches Jim Nolner and Ricky Collins along with longtime administrator Julie Williams were inducted into the Metro Basketball Hall of Fame.

Nolner coached at North, Whites Creek and Antioch, while Collins started out in the Memphis area and then coached at old Pearl High, Antioch and Whites Creek. He’s still on his son Brian’s staff at Columbia State.

Williams spent more than 40 years in Metro and wrapped up her career at Hunters Lane and then Maplewood.

Edens takes over Shelby golf course

Daryl Edens, who spent the past four years as the assistant manager at McCabe Golf Course, is now the manager at the Shelby Course.

Before going to McCabe, Edens was the longtime pro at Ravenwood Country Club in Hermitage.

Audie Johnson, who was a pro at Lebanon Country Club, replaced Edens on the staff at McCabe.

Antioch great speaks at alumni event

One of Antioch’s greatest football players, Mike Woodard, was in town Saturday to speak at the school’s Alumni All-Athlete Homecoming.

Woodard is an Army helicopter pilot stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C. The kicker graduated from Antioch in 1978 and went on to play at Vanderbilt, where he still ranks fifth in scoring, with 152 career points.

Nashville to host its first Hope races

Author Trisha Meili, who was raped and beaten while jogging in Central Park in 1989, is scheduled to be in town next weekend for the Hope & Possibility 5-miler and 1-mile race.

There have been 11 Hope & Possibility races in Central Park since Meili was attacked.

This will be the first in Nashville and will start and finish Saturday on the Dominican Campus on West End Avenue. Registration is available at achilles5miller.racesonline.com.

Meili, who wrote “I Am the Central Park Jogger, A Story of Hope and Possibility” in 2003, is scheduled to speak at 6 p.m. Friday at Montgomery Bell Academy.

If you have an item for Midstate Chatter, contact Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 and on Twitter at @MikeOrganWriter.

SPORTS ON NASHVILLE TV

The top five local ratings for sporting events for April 21-27:

1. NBA playoffs: Clippers-Warriors (April 27) 4.1 rating

2. NBA playoffs: Rockets-Trail Blazers (April 25) 3.9 rating

3. NASCAR: Richmond 400 3.7 rating

4. NBA playoffs: Thunder-Grizzlies (April 24) 3.6 rating

5. NBA playoffs: Hawks-Pacers (April 22) 3.3 rating

Each rating point is equal to 10,434 Nashville homes.

Source: Mark Binda, WTVF-5 program & research director