Jason Altman

Jason has done wonders developing the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon into a major regional event. Taking over as Race Director in 2006 ahead of its third year, the event has nearly tripled in participant size. He’s actively pursued sponsors, media coverage, and promoted the event all across the southeast. He leads the Marathon Organizing Committee and the supporting tasks associated with 18 years of staging the event including the venue, budget, course (and numerous adjustments), pre-race preparations, local volunteer and police support, and the myriad of other tasks involved in putting on the marathon. His demonstrated flexibility to changed conditions (moving the event finish from Neyland Stadium to World’s Fair Park, separating the Kids Mile/5k and Marathon/Half-Marathon to different days), and pivoting to a virtual event in 2020 keeps improving the event.

His efforts with the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon are one of the main reasons the KTC remains out of debt every year.

Athletically, Jason is a tremendous ambassador for the KTC. He has won many KTC races including the Strawberry Plains 10K twice, Summer Solstice 8K twice, KTC EXPO 5K, and the inaugural Farragut 5K. Outside of KTC races, he has won four half marathons (7-Bridges Half Marathon, Chickamauga Battlefield Half Marathon, Asheville Half Marathon, and State to State Half Marathon in Ohio  and Indiana) and has won five marathons. He is the only athlete to have won the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon 4 times and claimed victory at the Kiawah Island Marathon in 2016, all while wearing KTC gear. He’s also represented KTC five times at the Hood to Coast Relay, helping the team to top 3 finishes each time including winning 1 st place overall in 2011 and a Masters Championship in 2023. Finally, he has set state age group records for the 2-mile distance and 8-mile distance.

Keith Gemeinhart

Keith Gemeinhart’s contributions to the KTC are almost too numerous to count. His tenure in the club included both significant athletic achievement and tremendous volunteerism that grew the club over the 2 decades when he was a member.

Athletic Achievements

  • Won multiple road races throughout his time in the KTC, including the Strawberry Plains 10k and Millhouse 15k.
  • Keith finished in the Grand Prix top 10 multiple times (at least 3)
  • Won the Masters Division of the Blount County Triple Crown multiple times.
  • Boston Marathon Qualifier

Keith’s Service to the KTC really stands out.

  • Served as the KTC’s Tuesday Night Track workout coach, mentor, advisor, ambassador from January 2006 through January 2015.
  • Directed the Calhoun’s 10-miler
  • Served on the Long Distance Committee (now the Road Race Committee) for many years
  • Served as the Runner’s Market Team Captain and was on the Team Competition Committee for multiple years
  • Volunteered at more races that I can count
  • Keith twice led committees to oversee the KTC website redesign (December 2007 and October 2012). On these committees he served as technical lead for the website implementation, collaborating with Michael deLisle to create the website pages. He also organized and archived race results, Grand Prix standings, and Footnotes publications. The KTC website was selected as the Top Large Club Site for 2009 by the Road Runners Club of America. Keith also supported Michael (in Michael’s webmaster role) as a technical advisor from 1999 – 2015.
  • Though it is no longer operational, Keith designed and implemented the KTC’s interactive web-based race results database that linked runners, races, and results. Before the wide-spread use of RunSignup, this was the go-to site for all race results associated with the KTC.
  • Keith was the Summer Youth Track Program Site Director at Central High School from 2010 – 2014.
  • Outside of the KTC, Keith also coached the Thackston Elementary School Cross Country Team and Running Club. He is currently coaching middle school and club cross country in Center Grove, Indiana.

Beyond his accolades, Keith was an active friend to countless members of the KTC. He was always out on the Saturday morning group runs, leading a posse of fellow runners on the streets around Knoxville. An early advocate of GPS technology, Keith had many of us running a final lap around parking lots to take sure we got just the right mileage back in the days when “it was close enough.”

Charles Lobetti Sr.

Charles Burns Lobetti Sr (1909-1962) was a beloved coach, record-breaking highschool track star, founder of the Knoxville Track Club with his good friend Charlie Durham, volunteer track coach, and Knoxville’s Homicide Captain. He was a 1928 graduate of the Knoxville High School and captain of the KHS Trojans’ track team. In 1935, he joined the Knoxville police force and soon advanced to traffic sergeant. He spent a brief time as a U.S. Navy Shore Patrol Specialist in Thompkinsville, NY when he received his Honorable Discharge in 1945. He returned to Knoxville as Police Captain of Detectives and Homicide Captain. He retired from the force in 1960 but rejoined active duty to become the Knox County’s Chief Deputy Sheriff until his passing in 1962.

Charley was the oldest of 10 first-generation Italian-Americans and big brother to Pete Lobetti who owned the White Star Bus Lines that would bus General Neyland and the UT Vols to their games. The Lobetti Landing community and Lobetti Road off of the Schaad Road extension are named after his family and their Lobetti Vineyards. Lobetti’s mother was awarded for sending the most full-blooded children (8) to the Great War where several saw active duty. Charley and his siblings were well-known around Knoxville for their dedicated civil services.

From 1955-1958, Captain Lobetti volunteered as the assistant track coach at East High School (now known as Austin-East) where he helped his only son Charles “Bud” Lobetti Jr. achieve a 2nd place finish on a 2-man team as a decathlon all-star at the state track meet. His son, Bud, followed in his dad’s footsteps, excelling in the high jump, volunteering as a track coach at local high schools, and coaching the KTC Youth Series for several years. Captain Lobetti never let anyone pay him. He wouldn’t even consider it. He said, “I didn’t pay anybody and I won’t take any money.” Until he passed away at the young age of 53, Captain Lobetti helped with local track programs. He participated in the management of area high school and college meets. He was also the track  official for the high jump at the Southeastern Invitational Meet at Evans-Collins Field.

As a high school athlete, he used his 6’3 “man-sized Joe Friday” frame to his advantage in the high jump and broke the Southern Conference High School Record with a height of 6’2 1/10”. Lobetti jumped as high as 6-5 in practice at KHS and consistently reached 6-2. However, his records are not recognized by TSSAA which wasn’t organized until after his graduation in 1928. He was invited to the Olympic Trials in Atlanta in June of 1928 with Coach Britton, The University of Tennessee’s Track Coach at the time, and placed 2nd in the High Jump. A logistical error failed to get him further in his Olympic attempts. His high school high jump record stood for 30 years until his son Charles “Bud” Jr. swept up all his state records for high schoolers.

May 5, 1928, Thirteenth Annual Ander Path Classic by University of Tennessee at the Shields Watkins Field Stats:
High Jump 6’2 1/10” (New Southern Record)
Broad Jump 20’7”
Discus 103’6
2nd place 12-pound shot put.
2nd place 120 high hurdles
He earned 21 points at that meet making him the High Point Man of the Meet

May 8, 1927, Knoxville High Track Team won the 9-A State Track Meet

May 10, 1927, He led the Knox High Track & Field team to win the Southern Prep
Championship and the Annual University of Tennessee Interscholastic Meet. They won the Sewanee Meet held at Sewanee the week prior.

June 2, 1928, placed 2nd in the high jump with a 6’5 jump at the National Interscholastic Meet in Chicago.

In 1963, KTC established a Charles Lobetti Sr. Memorial Trophy honoring the late
coach. This award was given to the outstanding field event athlete in East Tennessee each year at the KTC Track & Field Awards Banquet. That award unfortunately stopped being recognized in the mid-1990s. Although his memorial trophy is no longer recognized, his legacy lives on as a dedicated coach, civil servant, and beloved father.

Kathy Nash

Kathy moved to Tennessee in 2010 and made it her mission to become involved in the community.

  • Certified Track Official (National Level) for USATF
  • Member of the Foothills Striders
    • Running Chair from 2012 to 2014
    • Served on the Scholarship Committee from 2012 to 2015
    • Chair of the Scholarship Committee from 2016 to Present
  • Member of the 900-Miler Club (Hiked every trail in the Smoky Mountains 3x/Reverse)
  • Member of the Half Fanatics
  • Member of the 100 Half Marathons Club
  • Member of the Knoxville Track Club (KTC)
    • Received the Allan Morgan Award in 2020.
    • Received the Ginny Canfield Memorial Service Award in 2022
    • Volunteer at local running and track events.
  • Member of the American Volkssport Association (AVA) and the East Tennessee Wanderers (ETW)
    • Webmaster for ETW from 2011 to Present
    • Website won the first place award at the 2015 AVA Convention.
    • Website won second place at the 2017 AVA Convention.
    • Photo won third place at the 2021 AVA Convention.
    • Photo used for the cover of the AVA’s Starting Point Book in 2023.
  • Placed in the top 5 at the National Senior Games for the 1500 meter racewalk event in 2017.

She is a top volunteer, encourager, and constant presence at all the races. She is a ray of sunshine to anyone new who is trying to become a runner. She serves countless hours at early morning registrations, is a friend to everyone in the running community, and is a walking bulletin board for KTC to everyone she meets. She is a true example of a member who serves the community. She is very dedicated to promoting KTC. At the 2023 Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon, she waited for the last runner to cross the finish line, even though the race was officially closed down. This is typical Kathy Nash. She didn’t draw
attention to herself, she just wanted to be a friendly face to congratulate those last runners who had met their goals.

In addition to accumulating dozens of service hours she has given to local  races, she is an accomplished athlete in her own right. She places in her age division almost every race and runs a variety of short and long distances. Kathy has completed 150 half marathons, 10 marathons, 1 50k, and more 5k, 10k, etc  than she can keep count of. She often placed in her age group.

Kathy’s service to KTC is unmatched. She volunteers at all races, promotes the membership benefits, and is a walking bulletin board for KTC to anyone she meets. She is a true example of a member who serves our community. Kathy is willing to do anything and everything to make the club successful, and we are better because of her. She might not have a lot of money to give, but since she retired she does have time to give, and so she does just that.

Coach BE Sharp

B. E. Sharp was the founder of the Webb School and Fulton Athletics Programs in the 1950s and established both their football and track teams. He was also a founder of the Knoxville Track Club. In 1958, he was the East Tennessee representative to the state track committee. In 1960, he served as the Knoxville Interscholastic League President. In the mid 1940s, he patented the Decathlon Meter to “correct the inaccurate measures of gymnastic exercises, and to give a common unit of measure (foot or foot-pound) to many events.” The first pentathlon measured with the Decathlon Meter was in April 1947.

For over 30 years, Coach Sharp was a beloved math teacher, head football coach, athletic director, and track coach for several area schools. As a teacher,  he always insisted that his students “learn something new every day.” He began his teaching and coaching career in the 1920s at Tellico Plains High School while still a student at East Tennessee State College. He later taught math and  coached football and track at Knoxville High School from 1936 to 1951, Fulton High School from 1951 to 1958, and Webb School from 1958-1969 when he was forced to retire at the age of 70. Within just 2 years at Webb School, he  produced an “A” Division Champion Football team and a KIL Champion track team. Through strong leadership, perseverance, and personal guidance, Coach Sharp transformed inexperienced boys into skilled athletes.

Coach Sharp had the original tracks built at Fulton and Webb School during his tenure. He was so proud of the cinder track he built at Fulton High. Back then, all-weather tracks were unheard of. Coach Sharp had fresh cinders placed on the Fulton track before every season and sent a roller out to pack them down. To him, it was the best track in the state, and treated it as such. When all the  teachers and students were away from school for Spring Break, Coach Sharp would invite his teams to stick around and help maintain the track with him.  This was not just a time for team building. Coach Sharp would roll up his sleeves, assign tasks, and start working on the track’s tedious maintenance. Those who chose to work over their Spring Break never felt it was mandatory to be there; his boys just wanted to be around him.

During his coaching career, he led a dozen championship track and football teams. He was a key figure on the football coaching staff when his Knoxville High School football team won the state championships in back-to-back seasons from 1942-1944. The 1950 Knoxville High School track team won the state championship defeating Whitehaven High School of Memphis who were long-time state champions. His boys’ track team won the mile and 880 relays for their state title. During KHS’s regular season, KHS defeated top schools like Oak Ridge and Chattanooga High winning the Knoxville relays and East Tennessee meets. From 1955-1957, Webb’s track team placed in the top 4 in the state meets. In 1968, his Webb track team was runner-up for the Midsouth Championships in 1968. Upon retirement, he began teaching and coaching again at Knoxville Catholic High. He did not make it to the regular season of track while coaching at Knoxville Catholic High before his passing in the fall of 1969 while attending the South-Doyle vs. Fulton football game at Fulton. With only a half-minute left before the game was over, he passed away doing what he had done most of his life: watching his beloved high school athletes compete.

After almost 70 years, his track athletes still speak fondly of Coach Sharp and will always remember their post-season invitations to Coach Sharp’s home on Adair Drive for strawberry shortcake. His daughter Betty will always remember him as the best daddy ever. Up until 1992, KTC recognized the Boy’s Track Coach of the Year with the B.E. Sharp Award memorializing Coach Sharp’s long-time legacy.

Coppley Vickers

Coppley was one of the original 1960 KTC AAU Track runners and is now KTCs last living founder. Coach Rohe recruited Coppley to Furman University. Then, Coach Rohe invited Coppley and several other Fulton High track men to compete in an AAU Olympic Development meet he was sponsoring at Furman University. Coach Rohe told them they had to run for an AAU club team, so under the guidance of Tom Siler the Knoxville Sports Editor, they formed the Knoxville Track Club. Coppley transferred from Furman University to the University of Tennessee when Coach Rohe left Furman University to coach at UT. Due to the NCAA transfer rules, Coppley was deemed ineligible and had to sit out his first year at UT. To maintain his competitive edge, he competed for the KTC at major Indoor track meets in the United States.

His 1st  high school track event was the mile at Baylor University. He beat the mid-south mile champion with a time of 4:36 which was 2 seconds off from the state record. His senior year at Fulton High, he led the Fulton track team to a 2nd  place finish at the State Track Meet. He was barely edged out in the last 10 yards by about 6 inches in the Winnipeg Invitational mile by the Canadian National Champion.

During college, he was the 1965 Captain of the University of Tennessee track & field team, All-SEC 5 times. His fastest Mile at UT was 4:09. He set the SEC indoor 2-mile record at 9:00.2.

Coppley credits Coach Jerry Wrinkle for encouraging him to run track his senior year of high school. During his junior year, he had the 2 nd  fastest mile time in the State. He was running against the fastest miler in the state named Faulkner during the regional meet. His coach was the football coach who would say “get out front and stay there.” During that regional meet, Coppley went out at a :58 (1:56 half-mile pace) and got way out in front. He came through the 880 in 2:07. Faulkner caught him on the third lap and they raced stride for stride and came through the third lap in 3:06  (60-second third lap). Faulkner passed him on the back straight away of the last lap, but collapsed and fell off the track in the last curve. Faulkner got a full scholarship to Texas based on the 3 lap time of the mile with a time of 3:06 despite not finishing. Coppley fell 10 yards out from the finish line and crawled across the finish line in last place. They took Coppley to
the hospital in an ambulance because they thought he had a collapsed lung. He swore he’d never run again. Jerry came to the hospital and said “Coppley, you need to learn how to pace.” I’ll teach you how to pace if you will come back out for track and you’ll be ok.” Jerry became his track coach his senior year of high school. He hammered pace into him and encouraged Coppley stick with track. PACE STAYED WITH COPPLEY and Coppley owes all his track success to Jerry and Coach Rohe.

Coppley signed up a year and a half in advance for the Marine Corps after watching Billy Mills, an American Indian, who won the 10K at the 1964 Olympics. He planned to train for the 1968 Olympics with the U.S.Marine team at Quantico. Unfortunately, Coppley was deployed to Vietnam in September of 1966. When he returned from Vietnam to base, he still wanted to run track and attend the Olympic Trials for Track and Field. After speaking to Senator John Duncan, the senator personally contacted commanding officers at the Marine Corps requesting that Coppley be assigned to Quantico to train for the 1968 Olympics. Two weeks after that, Coppley was chewed out by his Commanding Officer who told Coppley he was not going to Quantico. His dreams were crushed. Luckily just a week later, Coppley got orders to go to Quantico to train for the Olympic Trials. Unfortunately, he placed 3 rd in the all-service meet. Athletes had to place 1 st or 2 nd to qualify for the Olympic Trials. The two finishers who beat him made the olympic team.

Todd Williams

Todd attended UT from 1988-1992. He was All-American and part of an Outdoor Track National Championship Team. After UT, he went on and trained for both the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Teams in Knoxville under Coaches Doug Brown and George Watts. While here in Knoxville, Todd would be the guest speaker for several KTC Youth programs. He was also at the official opening of the iconic Knoxville Runners Market. Todd won the KTC EXPO and still to this day owns the course record. At the time, Expo was one of the premier road running events in the southeast. Todd stayed in Knoxville until roughly 2003. He is still the American record holder in the 15k.

Todd Williams was the premier 10,000 meter runner in the United States for nearly a decade. For much of the 1990s, Mark Croghan (and Marc Davis) defined American male distance running in the steeplechase, Bob Kennedy at 5000m, and Todd Williams at 10,000m. However, Williams was not the next great one coming out of college as he never won an NCAA title, but did run 28:18 and 13:41 in college. He burst onto the professional scene by winning the US national cross-country title in 1991 and used that to springboard himself to the sport’s top. His professional accolades include 4 US 10,000 meter titles (including 2 Olympic Trial victories); 4 US #1 rankings at 10,000m; 10th, 7th and 9th place finishes at the 1992 Olympics, 1993 World Championships, and 1995 World Championships respectively at 10,000m; 2 US XC titles; a 2:11:17 marathon debut; a still standing US record for 15k (42:22) at the Gate River Run; and a 9th place finish at the 1995 World XC Championship when all the studs in the world raced each other in one race.

Honors–
#7 at World Championships: 10K time of 28:30.49 in Germany in 1999
2x National Champion: 1st place Half Marathon 1:04.24 in West Virginia in 1999, 1st place 10K 28:46.58 in Georgia in 1996
National Indoor Champion: 1st place 3000 meters short track 7:50.49 in Georgia in 1997

Personal Bests
1500 M 3:42.18
Mile 4:09.03
3000 Meters 7:43.86
3000 Meters short track 7:44.73
2 miles 8:14.58
5000 Meters 13:19.50
5000M short track 13:38.99
10,000M 27:31.34
15K Road race 42:22
10 Miles road race 47:46

20KM 1:02.49
Half Marathon 1:04.24
25KM 1:17.15
Marathon 2:11.17