Jerry Summers: Chattanooga s Pro Football (1963-1966) Thursday, May 20, 2021 - by Jerry Summers
Jerry Summers
Local businessman Charles O. Ragan, Sr., had visions of making Chattanooga a hot bed of professional football when he created the Chattanooga Cherokees in 1962.
Ragan believed that the high interest in both high school and college teams in Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia could be developed into professional football at one level below that of the National Football League (NFL).
The Cherokees played three seasons in the semi-professional Southern Football League in 1963-1965 and then merged with the North American Football League in 1966.
The team was comprised of many former high school and college players from the Chattanooga area with University of Chattanooga players being a large component of the 40-man roster.
Jerry Summers: Chattanooga s Law School Thursday, May 13, 2021 - by Jerry Summers
Jerry Summers
With the proliferation of new law schools in Knoxville and Nashville, Chattanooga is the only large Tennessee community that does not have a law school.
Such was not the case from 1898 through 1960.
The school was begun as the Law Department of Grant University, predecessor to the University of Chattanooga, and was housed in a building that capped the Hill overlooking the University between Oak Street and McCallie Avenue. It was later torn down to be replaced by the brick buildings of the University.
Robert Pritchard, author of the treatise on Wills and Administration of Estates which was the legal authority on said subjects, was the first Dean of the school.
Peggy Evans Thomas Thursday, May 13, 2021
Peggy Evans Thomas, 98, passed away peacefully on May 5, 2021.
She was born March 22, 1923, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to the late Theodore I. Evans, Sr., and Faith Elliott Evans. Although she spent nearly her entire life in Chattanooga, her family lived in Georgia for part of her youth, and she earned a diploma from Montezuma High School in Montezuma, Ga., in 1940, when students were graduated after 11th grade. She then returned to Chattanooga for an additional year of secondary school and attended Chattanooga High School, graduating with the class of 1941. It was there that she met the love of her life and husband of 40 years, Richard C. (Dick) Thomas, who preceded her in death in 1989.
Jerry Summers: Howard P. Sompayrac, Jr., - The Great Dissenter (1928-2009) Monday, May 3, 2021 - by Jerry Summers
Jerry Summers
Although the title “The Great Dissenter” was applied to Justice John Marshall Harlan of the United States Supreme Court, for his strong solitary dissent in the landmark decision of Plessy v. Ferguson on May 18, 1896, that upheld racial segregation, Hamilton County has also had a “great dissenter.”
Prior to the creation of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the “privatization” of the Hamilton County Workhouse in 1983, the care and incarceration of inmates was at the antiquated jail on Walnut Street and the workhouse farm in Silverdale.
Jerry Summers: Carter Schoolfield Was A True Warrior In Support Of His Clients Thursday, April 29, 2021 - by Jerry Summers
Jerry Summers
Carter H. Schoolfield was born on June 16, 1936 and died on September 23, 2020 at his home on Signal Mountain, Tennessee.
He was the son of Julia McReynolds Schoolfield of Pikeville, Tn., and Scott Raulston Schoolfield of Chattanooga. His mother was a descendant of one of the early settlers of Bledsoe County in Pikeville, Tennessee in a family which included lawyers, judges, and a Congressman as one of the most respected families in the Sequatchie Valley.
His father, Judge S. Raulston Schoolfield was one of the most talented trial lawyers in the Chattanooga area and also was one of the most controversial and colorful members of the Bar and Judiciary.