Tennessee
Tennessee Super Bowl 58 ties include Christian McCaffrey’s uncle who played at Vanderbilt
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey’s uncle Billy was a star basketball player at Vanderbilt, and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ father was a pitcher for the Nashville Sounds.
San Francisco tight end George Kittle lives in Nashville on a property where he built his own golf course in the backyard, and the 49ers’ Charvarius Ward, who played at Middle Tennessee State, is an All-Pro second team cornerback who played in two previous Super Bowls with the Chiefs.
Those are a few of the local ties entering Super Bowl 58 on Sunday (5:30 p.m., CBS). Here’s a more detailed list:
Kansas City Chiefs
• Izaiah Gathings, tight end on the practice squad (MTSU): Gathings signed with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in May. He signed with the Chiefs in July but was waived before the season. He re-signed with the Chiefs on Dec. 20.
• Darius Harris, LB, (MTSU): Harris, who already has two Super Bowl rings with the Chiefs, was signed off the practice squad in December. He has seen action in five games this season.
• Richie James, WR, (MTSU): James has 11 receptions for 114 yards. He is averaging 20.8 yards on nine kickoff returns and 10 yards on 20 punt returns.
• Patrick Mahomes II, quarterback: Mahomes’ father, Pat Mahomes Sr., pitched for the Sounds in 2003 and 2004. The younger Mahomes was 7 in 2003. His father posted a combined record of 10-8 and struck out 59 batters in two seasons with the Sounds.
• Pat Sperduto, co-director of college scouting (Nashville Kats coach and Titans assistant): Sperduto was the coach of the Arena Football League’s Nashville Kats from 1999-2001 and again from 2005-07. He also was on the Titans’ coaching and scouting staffs (2001-08).
• Trey Smith, OG, (Tennessee): Smith has made 50 career starts and is his third season with the Chiefs.
San Francisco 49ers
• Oren Burks, LB (Vanderbilt): In his sixth NFL season, Burks has made five starts and recorded 46 tackles with one sack and one interception.
• James Cregg, assistant offensive line coach (Tennessee offensive line coach): Cregg spent the 2009 season as UT’s offensive line coach under Lane Kiffin. The Vols allowed just 12 sacks that season, tied for fewest in the SEC.
• Jauan Jennings, WR (Tennessee; Blackman): Jennings has 25 catches for 334 yards and one touchdown in his third season with the 49ers.
• George Kittle, TE (lives in Green Hills on a 75-acre property that includes a golf course and fitness center): 49ers’ third-leading receiver with 71 catches for 1,128 yards and seven touchdowns.
• Christian McCaffrey, RB (uncle Billy McCaffrey played basketball at Vanderbilt): Billy McCaffrey, whose older brother Ed is Christian’s father, played two seasons (1992-94) at Vanderbilt after transferring from Duke. Billy averaged more than 20 points per game in both seasons at Vanderbilt and led the Commodores to the 1993 SEC championship and the NCAA Sweet 16.
• Charvarius Ward, CB (MTSU): Ward is playing in his third Super Bowl. His first two were with the Chiefs. Ward was named All-Pro second team and to the Pro Bowl this season. He has 46 tackles, five interceptions, 23 pass breakups and a forced fumble.
Former Titan Terry Killens will officiate Super Bowl
Another local tie in the Super Bowl will be former Tennessee Titans linebacker Terry Killens, who will become the first person to play in and officiate a Super Bowl.
Killens, 49, played five seasons (1996-2001) with the Titans, including their appearance in Super Bowl 34 against the St. Louis Rams.
Killens started officiating in the NFL in 2019. He will work his first Super Bowl as an umpire.
Lissa Bradford entering Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame
Former Harpeth Hall golfer and Belmont coach Lissa Bradford is part of the 2024 Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame class.
Bradford won the 1981 TSSAA state championship and played at Alabama, where she served as captain from 1984-86. Bradford won two Tennessee Women’s Amateur championships (1983 and1985) and qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1983.
She began her career as assistant pro at Springhouse Golf Club at Opryland and Belle Meade Country Club. She has served as senior director of Junior Golf for the Tennessee Golf Foundation at Golf House Tennessee since 1995.
Bradford also served as Belmont’s women’s golf coach from 2001-20.
Retired Herald-Citizen sports editor Frank Layne dies
Longtime Cookeville Herald-Citizen newspaper sports writer Frank Layne died on Feb. 2.
After serving as equipment manager for the Tennessee Tech football and baseball teams, Layne graduated from Tech in 1961 and became Cookeville’s first full-time recreation director,
After leaving town for several years, Layne returned in 1970 to cover local sports, including Tennessee Tech for The Herald-Citizen. He retired in 2000. In 2019, he was honored by the Ohio Valley Conference with its inaugural media lifetime achievement award.
Nashville Sounds single-game tickets on sale
Nashville Sounds single game tickets for the 2024 season are now on sale.
The Sounds will play 75 home games beginning April 2 with a five-game series against the St. Paul Saints (Minnesota Twins). The reigning Triple-A Champions, the Norfolk Tides (Baltimore Orioles), visit April 30-May 5.
Tickets can be purchased bit.ly/3Ox4rRW or by calling 615-690-4487.
Belmont hires tennis coach
Jeff Cero was hired Monday as Belmont’s men’s tennis coach.
Cero spent the past four seasons as coach at George Fox University in Newburg, Oregon. He led George Fox to three consecutive Northwest Conference championships, three straight NCAA tournament appearances and a national quarterfinal finish in 2021.
“It is truly an honor to be a part of this program and family of student-athletes, and I am excited to jump in right away,” Cero said. Prior to George Fox, Cero was the men’s and women’s tennis coach at Colorado Christian University, where his women’s team set the school record for wins in a season.
If you have an item for Midstate Chatter contact Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
Darius Harris
Former Tennessee baseball pitcher Garrett Stallings was called up by the Milwaukee Brewers on June 30.
Stallings, 28, likely will make his major league debut against the Cincinnati Reds on June 30 in the second game of the Brewers’ four-game homestand.
Stallings played at Tennessee from 2017 to 2019 in the early years of Tony Vitello’s stint at the Vols’ head coach. He earned a starting role as a freshman and became the ace by his junior season.
In 2019, the Los Angeles Angels selected Stallings in the fifth round of the MLB draft. He bounced around in the minors before landing firmly in Triple-A with the Norfolk Tides, and later the Brewers’ affiliate Nashville Sounds, in 2024.
Stallings posted a 3-3 record with the Sounds in 2026 with a 3.45 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 62⅔ innings.
He will be the 54th player in Tennessee history to reach the major leagues and the 12th since 2020. He will join left-hander Garrett Crochet (2020); right-hander Ben Joyce (2023); infielder Andre Lipcius (2023); IF Trey Lipscomb (2024); outfielder Jordan Beck (2024); RHP Seth Halvorsen (2024); RHP Chase Dollander (2025); RHP Blade Tidwell (2025); INF Christian Moore (2025); OF Drew Gilbert (2025); and RHP Chad Dallas (2026).
Dallas made his debut for the Toronto Blue Jays on June 4.
Wynton Jackson covers high school sports for Knox News. Email: wynton.jackson@knoxnews.com
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BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The poet laureate of Tennessee has just died. Margaret Britton Vaughn was 87-years-old. Friends knew Vaughn as hilarious, talented, and deeply unique.
Visiting Bell Buckle, Tennessee over the years, I’ve just found this little place has so many artists. A proud addition to that is Vaughn.
“When Maggi was your friend, you knew you had a friend,” said longtime friend Annie Rooney. “It wasn’t if you’re rich or poor or have four matching tires on your car, she was your friend.”
Going way back, Vaughn was a songwriter for some country greats.
“Loretta Lynn, yes!” said friend Carla Webb.
To understand the uniqueness of Vaughn, listen to this story.
“Maggi says, ‘honey, you wanna go to the movies with me?’” friend Billy Phillips remembered.
Phillips was nine when he and Vaughn became friends and took a trip to the Carpi Theatre in Shelbyville.
“When I get into the car, there were 200 empty boxes of chocolate bunny rabbits!” Phillips laughed.
“She loved chocolate,” Rooney agreed.
“It couldn’t be hollow milk chocolate,” Phillips continued. “It had to be solid milk chocolate.”
That was just one of many loves. One of the times I got to talk to Vaughn was in 2023. She was selling eclectic things she’d collected. They included a typewriter built out of clothes hangers and a lamp made of forks and spoons.
“Maggi had a lot of stuff!” Phillips said.
She’d call around to antique shops.
“Got anything that looks like me, honey?” Rooney laughed, remembering Vaughn’s calls.
Talking to Vaughn, you came to understand something. She had a deep appreciation for the art and the artist who made it. That’s something that sprang from Vaughn being an artist herself.
“My mother looked down and said, ‘are you sure you don’t want to be a nurse?’” Vaughn told me in 2023. “I said, ‘no, momma. I wanna be a songwriter and a poet.’ People say, ‘Maggi, these books. You’ve written my life.’”
“Maggi had front porch books, not coffee table books,” Webb said.
“She was a poet of the people,” Rooney continued.
Vaughn took on prejudice in her work. She also wrote about all things she loved.
“She covered rural life, southern things,” Phillips said.
That writing carried her to become the poet laureate of Tennessee in 1995. The next year, she wrote Tennessee’s bicentennial poem.
“I gave her her last kiss the other day,” Webb said.
“I’m on the verge of tears,” Phillips added. “This will be a real gut punch.”
Asking around town, people seemed to agree on their favorite of Vaughn’s works.
“Is That You Mama?” Phillips said, naming one of Vaughn’s poems.
Webb read me an excerpt of the poem. It ended with these lines;
“Well, mama, I’m okay now. You tell the Lord I said hi. Was that you, mama, that just kissed me bye?”
“Maggi was a true original, and Bell Buckle was proud to call her our own,” Phillips said.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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