Brint Adams
There is a good chance that anyone who either participated in or attended a running event during the mid 1980’s through 2002 caught a glimpse of Brint Adams, as he was most likely there organizing or volunteering his time to ensure it was done professionally. His footprint spans track & field, cross country and road races on every level, from teaching kids as young as 4-year olds about track to officiating college and USATF National meets. Brint also actively contributed to KTC from 1985 to 2002 by serving in numerous roles for a number of years including two as KTC President, fifteen on the Board of Directors, eight as Budget Director, nine as a LDC member, nine as State Records Keeper, four as Race Director for several races and eighteen as a race volunteer.
Brint was an active part of the KTC road racing community and he put his heart and soul into it ensuring that races were organized and run efficiently and professionally. Brint’s son Bob can attest that, for every race Bob ran as he was growing up, Brint was there early enough to help set up the course, manage the finish line and help tear down afterwards where he recruited his son to help as well. Brint was awarded the Ginny Canfield Memorial Award – KTC Long Distance Program in 1998 for his outstanding contributions to the road racing community.
Brint’s contributions didn’t stop with road racing. He was also one of the pioneers for several youth programs that were just getting underway, ensuring that each expanded into new communities and continued to grow in the future. Two such highly successful programs involve the KTC Summer Youth Track & Field Program and the Middle School Cross Country and Track and Field Programs. Both were fledging KTC projects when Brint started out and he simultaneously held the titles of Farragut Site Director for the KTC Summer Youth Program and the Farragut Middle School Cross Country and Track & Field Coach for nine and ten years respectively. Within ten years, Brint helped grow the program from that first Farragut school to 25 middle school teams and ultimately all became part of the Knox County MS athletics program. In addition to helping coach other children, he also involved both of his sons, Bob and Brad, as well as his daughter, Ashley, in both the summer youth and middle school programs.
Brint also took pride in being a Track and Field official at all levels. He has been a USATF Track & Field official for more than 21 years and has worked hard to attain the highest certification level as field official for discus, shot put, hammer throw, and javelin. He has officiated at the USATF Outdoor Nationals and the Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville for a continuous 17 and 19 years respectively and he continues to officiate other track meets annually. The Robert Neff Service Award – KTC Track & Field Official was awarded to Brint in 2000.
On June 27, 1996, Brint had the honor of carrying the Olympic Torch through part of Knoxville to celebrate the Atlanta Games. He also was honored to officiate at the 2004 and 2008 USOC Olympic Trials.
Donnie Graham
Donnie Graham was a star track athlete at Powell High School, winning the Lobetti Award as East Tennessee’s top schoolboy trackman in 1965. He participated in the KTC Youth program starting in the fifth grade, representing KTC in many local and regional summer meets. Graham ran and placed in the first Vol Classic as a junior at Powell and won the Vol Classic 100 yard dash as a senior.
Graham was recruited to run at the University of Tennessee where he specialized in the 100/220/440 yard dash and the sprint relays. Graham’s UT freshmen relay team set freshman school records in the 440 and 880 yard relays. For four years he was an important part of UT’s SEC Championship Track & Field teams and continued as a student coach for one year. Graham graduated from UT in 1970 and followed up with a Masters Degree from UT in 1981.
Graham began teaching and coaching track and football at West High School in 1970. From 1978 to 1980, Graham coached track at Bearden Junior High School. For the next 19 years he was the track coach at Bearden High School. In 1999 he was transferred to Halls High School where he served as Assistant Principal and Athletic Director, Interim Principal, and Principal until his retirement in 2005. From 2008 until 2011 he has served the Knox County School System as Interim Assistant Principal at Karns High School and then at South Doyle High School.
Graham was on the KTC Board of Directors in the 1990’s and served as VP before his job requirements in administration called him away in 1999. He was also on the KTC committee that originated the KTC Expo road race.
Graham was an early member of the KTC/Tennessee Officials group and is probably the only known person to participate in, or officiate, every KTC Vol Classic track meet from the start until 2010. Graham has been a primary starter for the KTC Officials since the group’s inception. The starter is perhaps one of the most difficult officiating responsibilities as it requires a lot of experience. He holds a Master Official certification from USA Track and Field (USATF), the governing body of track and field in the United States. This is the highest level for certified USATF officials and is reserved for those officials who are qualified to serve as lead officials on a national level. USATF recently honored Graham as an Outstanding Official for the Olympiad – 2009-2012. He also earned the honor as starter for the TSSAA State Track Championships for 30+ years. As a Master Official, and representing the Knoxville Track Club, Graham has worked NCAA National Championships, numerous SEC Conference track and cross-country championships, the AAU National Junior Olympics and the Mobil National meet. He has been the starter at conference championships for the Big South, Southern, Atlantic Sun, and ACC conferences.
Graham is the recipient of numerous other achievement and service awards including Lifetime Achievement from the University of Tennessee/Track Officials for the Sea Ray Relays in 2008 and the Robert Neff Award in 2003. His community involvement and leadership includes membership in eight different professional organizations and active roles as an officer or board member of numerous other organizations such as VP for Tennessee Association of Physical Education or Department Chair for East Tennessee Education Association Physical Education.
Donnie Graham is one of those unique members that started in the youth KTC track meets in the 60’s and continued to serve and contribute to the KTC and community for years after.
Hayes and Joyce Hunter
Hayes and Joyce Hunter have been active volunteers for the Knoxville Track Club for more than two decades. The duo have staffed many finish lines, served as on-course monitors, and have been a valuable presence for track and field competitions at the University of Tennessee as well as local high school levels.
In the Footnotes Magazine back in 2005, Greer Fox wrote, “In 1972 Joyce and Hayes began helping with the youth track program at Webb School where Joyce was head of the Math Department. At the time there was no track program for girls, so Joyce volunteered to organize it, and subsequently served as the girls track coach for the next nineteen years.” Joyce was selected KIL Coach of the Year in 1978. Joyce Hunter served as a member of the KTC Board of Directors during the 1990’s including two years as Vice President. Both Joyce and Hayes were the race directors of the KTC Fireball 5K in 1995, 1996 and 1997.
The Hunters are widely recognized as outstanding USATF Master Officials specializing in the vertical jump events. The Master Official certification from USA Track and Field (USATF), the governing body of track and field in the United States, is the highest level of certified officials, reserved for those officials who are qualified to serve as lead officials on a national level. They have represented the Knoxville Track Club Officials at many major NCAA competitions including NCAA Division One National Championships across the United States, from Knoxville to Sacramento, and from Idaho to Louisiana and North Carolina. They have also officiated at NCAA Division I Track & Field Championships held at the University of Buffalo, the University of Texas, and at Drake University in Iowa. Their knowledge and skills are so great that they usually serve as Chief Judges for these events. Hayes and Joyce have also officiated NCAA Division Two National Championships in addition to ACC, SEC, Atlantic Sun, and Southern Conference Championships. As KTC Officials, they have represented the Knoxville Track Club and its excellent programs on the national scene since 1993.
The Hunters have been recognized on numerous occasions for their outstanding contributions and were the recipients of the Robert L Neff Award for Outstanding Service in 2001. In 2004, they were awarded the Canfield Award for KTC Volunteers of the Year and for 2007, the University of Tennessee Track and Field staff presented them with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Induction into the Knoxville Track Club Hall of Fame is fitting for two such outstanding contributing members of the club.
Eddie Reymond
Eddie Reymond joined the KTC in 1999. It wasn’t long before Reymond was deeply involved in the KTC under the guidance of Allan Morgan.
Reymond, through his business The Health Shoppe, started sponsoring KTC races in 2000 and has been a sponsor for one of KTC’s major races for each of the last eleven years. His sponsorship began with the River Run and for the last nine years it’s been the New Year’s Day 5K. Reymond has directed the New Year’s Day 5K for the last nine years as well. Reymond has also volunteered and worked many finish lines over the years. His Health Shoppe has helped support KTC team trips to the Florida Keys Relay; Hood to Coast Relay; Bourbon Chase, and others.
For his community involvement, Reymond directed the West Hills 5K for four years, with proceeds benefiting the West Hills Community Park and Greenway and has co-coached the Bearden Middle School Cross-Country team for the last four years. Reymond and his son were frequent volunteers for the KTC Greenway mileage marker project.
In 2010 The Health Shoppe/Knoxville Performance Lab was the main sponsor for the Hal Canfield Mile Race. Reymond continuously promotes volunteerism among his 35-member Health Shoppe staff; they all have been involved at some point in almost every aspect of our club especially being a huge backbone of the Knoxville Marathon. Reymond has donated gift certificates from his business to a majority of the KTC races as well as non-KTC races.
Reymond was on the Long Distance Committee for four years and the KTC Board of Directors for five years. He suggested several ideas which were adopted and are in place today such as the point system for the Grand Prix contest, volunteer awards and the team competition. Reymond oversaw the team competition for the first three years and the winner’s trophy is named the Eddie Reymond Cup.
Reymond has helped well over a thousand athletes from different sports, including Olympic and pro-athletes, with nutritional advice and guidance. All four of the recent young finalists for the Footlocker National Cross-Country Championships in San Diego were athletes that he worked with on nutrition. For his business, he hires post collegiate athletes and accommodates them with their training schedules so they may reach their full potential. Reymond also suggested and helped develop a KTC post-collegiate aid program for local talent trying to reach the next level in track and field as well as cross-country. With the launch of his new Knoxville Performance Lab, Eddie has brought possibly the best cutting-edge training and testing facility in the south right here to the Knoxville community.
Last, but certainly not the least, Reymond’s greatest contribution to the success of the Knoxville Track Club was in 2004 when he proposed The Knoxville Marathon. Prior to that, the KTC had a tight budget and a yearly struggle to maintain quality programs. Reymond co-founded the marathon with Zane Hagy. As its first director, Reymond spent over 1000 volunteer hours making the inaugural Knoxville Marathon a huge success. He remains a key member of the Marathon Advisory Committee. The continued and increased success of the Knoxville Marathon under the guidance of Jason Altman, among others, has placed the KTC on solid financial ground and enabled KTC to establish several programs and gifts to the Knoxville community such as the gift of mileage markers on all 35 miles of City of Knoxville and Knox County Greenways. In addition, marathon funds have supplemented the KTC Youth Athletic Program which had over 7000 local participants in 2010 and hundreds of kids were also able to participate in Knoxville Marathon programs, like the Kids Mile. As a result of Reymond’s determination and tireless efforts to establish The Knoxville Marathon, the Knoxville Track Club is in a much better position to serve our members and our community.
Marty Sonnenfeldt
Marty Sonnenfeldt came to Knoxville in 1975 from the Netherlands to join Stan Huntsman’s successful UT track and cross-country programs. Marty’s impact was immediate as he helped the VOLS to the 1976-77 SEC Cross-Country Championship and the 1976-77 SEC Track and Field Championship. Individual honors won by Marty during his time at UT were All-SEC in Cross-Country (1977), the Six-Mile run (1976) and the 10,000 Meters (1977). He also finished in the top 15 at the 1976 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 10,000m run.
After graduation, Marty continued to run competitively in local KTC road races through the late 1970’s into the 1980’s, winning most of them and setting course records which still stand today. Marty chose to remain in Knoxville and launched a successful 15 year career in the orthopedic implant and medical equipment industry. Marty wanted to serve his community and realizing the important role that sports can play in molding the lives of young people, he decided to volunteer to take over the KTC Youth Athletics Program in 1987. After 14 years of volunteering his time to the KTC Youth Athletics Program as its director Marty left the business world in 2000 to become the full time Director of the Knoxville Track Club’s Youth Athletics Program (YAP).
During his tenure as YAP Director, with the support of the KTC and contributors, Marty took a good local program and elevated the program to another level. Today, the YAP serves 7000 area children ages 5-18 and is recognized as one of the best and most comprehensive youth Track & Field and Cross-Country Programs in the United States. The YAP accomplishments are numerous and span many, varied programs which include elementary, middle, and high school. For instance, the program’s Outdoor Competitive Track & Field Team has produced 320 AAU All-Americans, 57 National Champions, and 12 National record holders. Two YAP athletes have gone on to make the U.S. Olympic team and in 2004, seven of KTC’s current/former event specialty coaches qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials with three making the U.S. Olympic Team and two, Tim Mack and Justin Gatlin, becoming Olympic Champions.
But one of Marty’s best accomplishments was helping to found the “Adopt-A-Kid” Program, a KTC program that helps to provide funding through track club members and donors for kids that are not able to afford program, travel, entry or equipment fees for KTC events and programs. The program has raised over $90,000 since 2000 to help kids in need participate and excel in the areas of track, indoor track and cross-country.
Marty was a board member of the Knoxville Track Club from 1984 to 2008. Some of his many other accomplishments include Co-Founder of the Greater Knoxville Triathlon Club (’84), member AAU and USATF, National Level Certified Track and Field Official, former Knox County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Member, Director of the Volunteer Track Classic (oldest meet on Tom Black Track) since 1995, developed the first state cross country championship for Middle School aged kids in 2005 and is the current meet director for the state meet, co-directed the first prize money race in Knoxville – the Artfast 5K, directed the first running race to finish in Neyland Stadium – the Tri-Delta 5K and opened Knoxville’s first running specialty store – Phidippides in 1979.
Marty and his wife, Betty, also a former UT Lady Vol track athlete, have been married for 31 years and have two children, Matthew, 21 and Daniel 17. Both sons have participated in the YAP program up to 14 years and have garnered many awards in their own right as well. KTC members and our many sponsors are extremely proud of Marty’s outstanding contributions to the young people of the Greater Knoxville Community.
Max Springer
Max Springer began running at age 64 which goes to prove it is never too late to make a new start. He was a member of a noontime physical fitness class available to UT faculty and staff when it was suggested by a Dr. Halley that the group train to enter the first KTC Expo to be held that spring. Springer ran in that initial Expo race and every Expo, except one, over the next thirty years. Also at Dr. Halley’s suggestion, Max ran three miles every other day for those thirty years.
Springer, who passed away just ten days before his 96th birthday, still holds three World and three U.S. records of the ten he set. Max was a shining example of the KTC spirit. After being diagnosed with cancer and undergoing chemotherapy in 2006, he immediately bounced back nine months later to compete at the National Senior Olympics and the USATF National Championships in 2007. In August 2009, Max set two American records at the National Senior Olympics in Palo Alto, California, just two months before his death. In total, he won 32 USTAF National Championship titles and placed in the top three twelve times at the WMA World Championships at distances from 200 to 5000 meters, plus the long and triple jumps. The WMA World Championships in which Springer competed were: Gateshead, England in 1999; Carolina, Puerto Rico in 2003; and San Sebastian, Spain in 2005. Springer also has 16 Tennessee state records in road racing and numerous Tennessee Senior Olympic honors. Max represented the Knoxville Track Club by proudly wearing the KTC jersey in all of these state and championship races.
Max was known nationwide in the Masters running world. He was inducted into the USATF Masters Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2006. He is in the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame as well. In addition, he served the club as a KTC/UT track and field official for many years.
Springer passed his love of running to his granddaughters, Alison and Audrey Springer-Wilson, and they have continued the family running tradition in their home state of Michigan. Max Springer was truly an inspiration.
Jerry Wrinkle
Jerry Wrinkle graduated from Carson-Newman College in 1956 and received his Masters Degree from Peabody College in 1959. He began his coaching career as assistant football coach at Lakeview High School in Catoosa County, Georgia in 1956 and in 1959 Jerry started the school’s track program.
In the fall of 1959, Jerry became assistant football coach and head track coach at Fulton High School, his alma mater. In his first year as track coach, Fulton High won the News-Sentinel Relays and the state district championship, and went on to be runners-up to Oak Ridge in the state regional and to Nashville East in the T.S.S.A.A. State Championship. Jerry directed the State decathlon in spring of 1960.
Jerry was one of the original founders of the Knoxville Track Club. He and Hall of Fame member Charlie Durham organized the first group of athletes that competed as the Knoxville Track Club, taking them to Greenville, SC in 1962 to win their first AAU team victory at Furman University, where they met future UT track coach Chuck Rohe.
Jerry Wrinkle was part of the first slate of officers for the 1963 KTC as Chairman of the Membership Committee and Secretary/Treasurer along with Hal Canfield, President; Charlie Durham, Program Director and Coach; and Chuck Rohe, Executive Director. Jerry is one of nine living members of the original 50 KTC members in 1963.
Jerry and Charlie worked closely with UT track coach Chuck Rohe, spending many late, late nights in his office, assisting with planning and preparation for events related to UT and the KTC. They also provided transportation to out-of-town meets for UT and KTC athletes. According to Jerry, Chuck never slept and didn’t realize that there were some people that did.
Jerry served as the head finish judge for the UT track meets, which included the SEC and NCAA Championships. He was a key factor in the planning and preparation for the first Southern Interscholastic Championships, a high school meet which later became known as the Volunteer Track Classic. Though it was run on an old cinder track the first few years, the S.I.C. drew high school teams and several hundred athletes from eight states. Jerry was director of the meet the first five years. By 1985 the Volunteer Track Classic had 2,530 boys and girls competing from sixteen states and Canada.
When Jerry had to give up the directorship due to work responsibilities, he continued his leadership within the KTC by helping Charlie, Chuck and others with planning and preparation for various track and field events, and officiating in those events.
As a charter member and based on the many years Jerry devoted to establishing the KTC and gaining the KTC national recognition at the time, he is a most deserving inductee to the KTC Hall of Fame.