The MTFOA officials, and the coaches, who have been honored for a lifetime of service to Middle Tennessee football.
Bob Heriges
Class of 1987
John David Scobey
Class of 1994
Junior Ward
Class of 1997
Ray “Hoss” Fuller
Class of 2003
Vic Francescon
Class of 2010
Melvin Black
Class of 2014
Butch Burnette
Class of 2017
Joe Griffith
Class of 2017
Thomas “Shaky” Kain
Class of 2017
Joe Shapiro
Class of 2017
William Gupton
Class of 2018
Shannon Little
Class of 2018
Billy Still
Class of 2018
Cliff Willis
Class of 2019
Do you know of an MTFOA official who has gone above and beyond on behalf of the MTFOA and scholastic football officiating? If so, you should nominate them today for the MTFOA Hall of Fame. Just like the TSSAA Hall of Champions, nominees must exemplify the highest standards of sportsmanship, ethical conduct, and moral character.
There are some required qualifiers for nomination and enshrinement into the MTFOA Hall of Fame:
Cliff Willis learned he had been selected for the MTFOA Hall of Fame in a surprise visit at his hospital bedside at TriStar Centennial Medical Center, with family and friends there. MTFOA Commissioner Junior Ward told WKRN that Willis is “so special to all of us.” He was named to the Class of 2019.
Source: Julia Palazzo, WKRN. Read the full story
Video: Cliff Willis Honored With MTFOA Hall of Fame Induction (1:51). Watch on Vimeo
Official
Born: August 20, 1921 · Died: June 20, 1967
Official
Born: October 7, 1922 · Died: May 11, 2008
Official
Born: August 5, 1941
Official
Born: May 30, 1924 · Died: April 24, 2021
Official
Born: May 22, 1931 · Died: January 12, 2024
Official
Born: January 14, 1936
Administrator, Official
Born: August 24, 1952
TSSAA and MTFOA Hall of Fame inductee, and former football, basketball, baseball, and softball official Edwin Ray “Hoss” Fuller was surrounded by friends, family, former coworkers, and fellow officials, while being honored at East High School on Sunday, March 24, 2019. “Hoss”, as he is affectionately known, had bestowed upon him the State of Tennessee’s Colonel Aide de Camp award. This award was approved and signed by Tennessee Governor, Bill Lee.
The Colonel Aide de Camp award is given to a deserving Tennessee citizen for outstanding achievement and bestowed only at the request of a member of the Tennessee General Assembly.
Ray served in the Army in World War II and was a member of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. He was part of the force that invaded Germany on D-Day. In the now-famous picture below, Ray can be seen with his fellow soldiers listening to then Allied General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Ray started as a TSSAA official in 1955 and officiated over 7,500 games in college, high school, junior high, and junior pro combined. Ray was a member of the Mid-TN Basketball Officials Association and also worked numerous playoff games in football, including the 2001 TSSAA State Finals. Ray has been inducted into the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame. He received the David Scobey Award in 1984 from the Mid-TN Football Officials Association and was the 2008-2009 recipient of the Hank Thompson Lifetime Achievement Award.
The MTFOA is sponsoring a scholarship in Ray’s name called the “Ray “Hoss” Fuller Scholarship.” The scholarship will pay for three of our local high school players to attend the “Food City Border Bowl” which is an annual All-Star game played in Gatlinburg, TN between 6 different states.
Photos from the award ceremony are in the Ray “Hoss” Fuller Award Ceremony album, on the Photo Albums page of the website.
Carlton Flatt was born on April 22, 1943, in Nashville, Tennessee. He attended Cumberland High School, where he lettered in football, basketball, track, and baseball. After graduation, he went to Austin Peay State University on a football scholarship, where he became a senior captain and led the 1964 Austin Peay football team to an 8-1-1 record after being only 1-9 the previous season. Flatt was named to the 1964 All-Ohio Valley Conference team as a defensive back, and as the quarterback, he was chosen by the OVC coaches as the Offensive Player of the Year. He also received an Honorable Mention Little All-American in 1963 and 1964. Consequently, he was inducted into the APSU Sports Hall of Fame in 1981.
After graduating from APSU in 1965 with a degree in mathematics and physics, he became a football graduate assistant for two years while working on a master’s degree in mathematics at Tennessee Technological University. After obtaining his graduate degree, he became a full-time professor and football coach for one year. While he was at Tennessee Tech, he was mentored by Coach Wilburn Tucker, who was the head football coach. Flatt’s next stop was two years at Battle Ground Academy as a math teacher and defensive coordinator before heading to his permanent home at Brentwood Academy.
In 1970, Coach Flatt became the athletic director, head football coach, and head of the math department at Brentwood Academy. Coach Flatt built the Eagles’ program, where he became one of Tennessee’s all-time winningest high school football coaches. He was the head coach at BA for 34 years retiring with an overall record of 355-68-3 which was the best all-time record in Tennessee at that time. Among the active coaches in 2006, he became the eighth-winningest coach in the nation.
His teams went to the state finals 20 times in Coach Flatt’s career and won 10 state championships. USA Today has polled his teams nationally in several seasons with the highest ranking at No. 6. Sports Scholastic America ranked Brentwood Academy’s football program as the fifth best in the country for the decade of the 1990’s.
He and his wife Judy have three daughters - Grace Ann Holbert, Lisa Berry and Lara Dawson. All three daughters were football cheerleaders at Brentwood Academy. Currently, Coach Flatt and Judy have seven grandchildren.
The ceremony and Coach Flatt through the years. Special thanks go to Mike Organ with the Tennessean for the images.