The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame 2023 class includes a star-studded list of sports icons with the inductions of Teresa Lawrence Phillips, Eric Berry, Keith Bulluck, Mike Fisher, Tim Harris, John Henderson, Tianna Madison, the late Carl R. Moore, Zach Randolph, Loren Roberts, Les Robinson and Stephen B. Smith. The Class of 2023 honorees include Hendon Hooker (Tennessee Football), Josh Heupel, Danny White and Donde Plowman as 2023 Tennesseans of the Year.
Other honors include a celebration of the 65th Anniversary of the Oak Ridge 1958 National Champion High School Football Team, the Memphis Grizzlies, Jerry “The King” Lawler, Hany Mukhtar (Nashville SC), Mya Jones (Memphis Soccer), University of Tennessee Baseball and Middle Tennessee State University Women’s Basketball. The honors will be formally presented as part of the Hall’s 2023 Banquet Saturday, July 22 at the Omni Nashville Downtown. Tickets available at www.tshf.net.
Former Tennessee State Athletics Director and head women’s basketball coach Teresa Lawrence Phillips
served TSU for 31 years as women’s basketball coach, administrator, and Director of Athletics. She arrived at TSU as the head women’s basketball coach in 1989. From 1989-2000 she led the Tigers to their first Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships, while also leading the Tigers to their first NCAA tournament appearance. She won 144 games in 11 seasons, winning back-to-back OVC titles in 1994 and 1995, and was twice named OVC Coach of the Year.
After her coaching career concluded, Phillips became the full-time Athletic Director in 2002 and held this position until she retired in 2020. A few of her TSU athletics accomplishments include launching the first official TSU athletics website, building an indoor practice facility, securing the NCAA pilot grant, and serving as the men’s head basketball coach for one game in 2003.
While A.D., TSU won 12 OVC Championships, including five indoor track and field championships, three outdoor track and field championships, two volleyball titles, and one women’s basketball championship. As the head women’s basketball coach at Fisk University, the Bulldogs went 62-38 under Phillips and won two conference titles in five seasons. She was the WIAC coach of the year in 1987 and 1988.
She was the first African American female student-athlete at Vanderbilt and went on to play three different sports. As a senior in 1980, she was awarded the first-ever Athlete of the Year Award. After wrapping up her playing career and graduating from Vanderbilt in 1980, Phillips joined the Vanderbilt coaching staff in 1981 and stayed on staff until 1984, winning the women’s NIT tournament in 1984.
In 2003, Sports Illustrated named her one of the 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports. In 2014, the Women’s Final Four named her one of the 10 Legends in Women’s Basketball in Tennessee. She was inducted into the Vanderbilt Hall of Fame in 2017 and the OVC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2021.
The Hall offers free admission at their downtown Nashville location, 501 Broadway inside the Bridgestone Arena building, Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
