Hampton High to honor the 1960 state champs
Published 12:17 am Saturday, November 30, 2019
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Star Photo/C.Y. Peters The new sign that will be installed to recognize the state champion Hampton Bulldogs basketball team.
BY C.Y. PETERS
STAR CORRESPONDENT
Sixty years ago Coach Walter “Buck” Van Huss started a journey with a bunch of boys from the mountains that would make history and become icons in their community.
The 1960 Hampton Bulldogs would become known throughout the state of Tennessee as “the little men from the mountains” as they made a trip to Vanderbilt and brought back the TSSAA State Title in basketball.
Nine members of that team are still living and will be honored Tuesday night at Hampton’s first high school basketball home game of the 2019-20 season.
Several members of the team became ministers, ball coaches and a few of them even started a scholarship fund for Hampton graduates to attend college.
A sign will be placed by the road leading to the front of Hampton High that says, “Home of the Hampton Bulldogs, 1960 TSSAA State Champs” by road Superintendent Roger Colbaugh.
The dedication will be presented by Colbaugh, school superintendent Kevin Ward and Mayor Rusty Barnett. The sign will be presented to the school on Tuesday night by Charles Peters.
Peters wrote a book about the 1960 team and their journey to a state title. The Hampton team defeated two undefeated teams and was the first team ever to win five games in the tournament.
They also played in front of the largest crowd at that time to ever watch a high school basketball game, over 7000 people attended the finals.
Van Huss went on to coach at Kingsport and would become the state’s winningest coach – a record that will more than likely never be broken.
Van Huss won more than 40 games in several seasons, with his 1960 team going 44-4. Today the TSSAA limits the number of games a school can play.
The games on Tuesday night will begin at 6:30 pm.
