Gaddis, Wright named to Tenn. Secondary Sports Hall of Fame
A pair of coaches with area ties will be inducted into the Tennessee Secondary Sports Hall of Fame.
Joe Gaddis and Jody Wright will be inducted on Monday, April 8, at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. The induction begins at noon (ET) at the Student Union and will the ceremony will honor the new class as well as the past inductees.
Gaddis, now the athletic director at Oak Ridge High School, was a high school football coach for nearly five decades. He was a head coach at seven schools over 39 years. He served two stints as head coach at ORHS and guided the Wildcats to a state championship in 1991. Under his guidance, Oak Ridge was also the 2020 Class 5A runner-up.
Throughout his career, Gaddis won 334 games, compiling a lifetime record of 334-126. He had a career record of 296-105 in the Volunteer State.
His coaching career began in the 1970’s and over that time he has won the A.F. Bridges TSSAA Region 2 Male Coach of the Year. He has also been recognized as the East Tennessee Coach of the Year twice.
He was also named Coach of the Year and East and Middle Tennessee in three different decades with three different teams. He is also a member of the Tennessee Football Coaches Hall of Fame. He was inducted to the Oak Ridge High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.
Wright, a graduate of Lake City High School and Clinton resident, is an institution at Knoxville’s Fulton High School.
Wright has guided the Falcons to four state championships and 20 appearances in the state tournament.
He has been Fulton’s boys head coach for 38 seasons. Arriving at the North Knoxville school in the early 1980’s, Wright has turned Fulton into a powerhouse program. The Falcons entered the 2023-24 campaign as the defending Class AAA State Champions.
During his illustrious career as head coach of the Falcons, he has amassed more than 800 wins. In addition to the four state championships, he has guided the Falcons to five consecutive runner-up finishes.
Wright has been named District Coach of the Year 20 times and State Coach of the Year (2008, 2023). He was named Knoxville Interscholastic League Coach of the Year 10 times.
He’s also the athletic director at Fulton and a member of the TSSAA Board of Control. The gym at Fulton has be christened Jody Wright Arena.
Joining Gaddis and Wright in the 2024 Class are Bernard Childress (longtime TSSAA administrator), Phil Clark (Bartlett High School, coach), Glenn Falls,(a coach in Nashville), Jerry McCarter (an official from Powell), Steve Trussler (an official from Manchester) and the late Chris Snoddy (contributor from Nashville).