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
Tennessee
Nashville’s Eastpoint Neighborhood groundbreaking marks largest affordable housing project in Tennessee
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nashville’s newest neighborhood is starting to take shape. The Fallon Company broke ground on the Eastpoint Neighborhood, which developers say is the largest affordable housing project and investment in Tennessee right now.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell says the mixed-use development is designed to benefit all families, accommodating incomes from $20,000 to $80,000 a year. In addition to housing, the development will include upgraded parks and green space, on-site childcare, and retail space.
“This is gonna be how we build Nashville’s next great neighborhood,” O’Connell said.
“We’ll have upgraded parks and green space, it will literally have on-site childcare here,” O’Connell said. “Basically all the ingredients that happen in a great neighborhood are going to be here.”
The development comes as many Nashville families struggle to make ends meet.
“They’re working jobs that are $10, $12 an hour jobs and they cannot afford basic living expenses,” Tony Turntine said.
Turntine and his family are success stories of UpRise Nashville’s free career training program. Through that experience, he has seen firsthand how getting to a better life requires studying, working, mentorship — and help with housing.
“The affordable housing that gives them an opportunity to come out of some of the really lower income neighborhoods they’ve been in and have better, quieter, more wholesome places to live,” Turntine said.
“If people can afford a better opportunity, we see everyone blossom from it. It’s a great day,” Al Brady with UpRise said.
Turntine says the tough choices Nashville families face are real.
“Whether I’m gonna pay the car out or whether I’m gonna get food for the kids,” Turntine said.
Now living and thriving in a new opportunity, Turntine has made it his mission to help others get there too.
“We’re living in a better neighborhood now — we actually just moved last weekend to a house twice the house of what we were in before,” Turntine said. “When you make different choices in life, that gives you different opportunities.”
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Amanda.Roberts@NewsChannel5.com
This story was reported on-air by Amanda Roberts and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
101st Airborne veterans get Purple Hearts years after an insider attack
As we honor those who have served our country and made the ultimate sacrifice, it is also heartening to see the military right a wrong. Chris Davis brings us the moving story of a Purple Heart ceremony two decades in the making. It’s worth a watch.
A heartfelt thanks to all who bravely serve.
– Carrie Sharp
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A new Tennessee law aimed at protecting utility customers from the growing energy demands of data centers will take effect in July.
The legislation comes as more than 60 data centers power artificial intelligence and other cyber operations across the state, with about one-third located in the greater Nashville area. As the race to build and power AI infrastructure accelerates nationwide and globally, Tennessee lawmakers say they’re working to ensure ratepayers are not saddled with the added costs of serving these massive facilities.
“We want to have data centers. But we want to put guardrails around that to protect our ratepayers,” said state Rep. Ed Butler, R-Rickman, during a legislative committee hearing in March.
Under the new law, data centers must pay for any new infrastructure required to support their operations, including substations and other power-related upgrades. Utilities are prohibited from passing those costs on to residential and business customers.
“In the rural areas they’re putting a lot of these. And we have had a lot of increased utility bills,” said state Rep. Dennis Powers, R-Jacksboro, during the same March committee hearing on the legislation.
Powers questioned if data centers could be contributing to ratepayer costs. That question wasn’t clearly answered. Regardless, legislators voted the measure through, and Gov. Bill Lee signed it into law to help prevent that from happening.
“If there was a substation that was needed to be put in to provide power for this data center, then the data center would pay for the substation,” Butler said during the hearing.
As communities across Tennessee consider proposals for new data centers, and new laws to regulate (or contain) them, some local leaders remain opposed to bringing the facilities to their areas.
“I don’t think they fit in Robertson County, and definitely not in my community,” said Cedar Hill Mayor John Edwards, who is proposing a two-year moratorium on data centers in his city.
Electric providers and utilities are also preparing for future demand. The Tennessee Valley Authority reports data centers currently account for about 18% of its industrial power load, a figure that’s predicted to potentially double by 2030.
The new law also allows utilities, including TVA, to establish a separate customer or rate class specifically for data centers, providing an additional safeguard against shifting costs to other customers.
As energy demand continues to surge, state lawmakers say the goal is to ensure Tennessee stays competitive, while families and businesses do not see higher electric bills because of data center expansion.
Data center advocates, meanwhile, say many facilities generate much of their own power on-site and use advanced cooling systems that require little or no water.
If TVA moves forward with creating a separate customer or rate class for data centers, FOX17 will continue to follow those developments.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Sometime during the top of the second inning of Tennessee softball’s matchup with Texas Tech, the ABC broadcast cut out due to technical difficulties.
According to the broadcast, a power outage at Devon Park was responsible for the technical difficulties. Viewers on ABC instead got to watch “Squeeze Play” with whip-around coverage of NCAA baseball regionals.
The broadcast didn’t return until the last out to end the third inning.
The No. 7 seed Lady Vols (48-10) are playing No. 11 seed Texas Tech (58-7) on May 30 for a spot in the Women’s College World Series semifinals.
Viewers missed out on Karlyn Pickens sitting down the Red Raiders in order and then a fantastic diving catch by second baseman Emma Clarke in the third inning.
Tennessee also loaded the bases in the bottom of the third inning, but Clarke popped up to the first baseman, who then collided with Clarke on the baseline in order to make the catch to end the inning.
A win would send Tennessee to its third WCWS semifinals appearance in the last four seasons. A loss would drop it into an elimination game against No. 8 seed UCLA on May 31 (7 p.m., ABC).
The Lady Vols will also face their former third baseman Taylor Pannell, who transferred to Texas Tech after a breakout season for Tennessee in 2025.
Tennessee upset No. 2 seed Texas, the reigning national champions, with a 6-3 win to open the WCWS on May 28.
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
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