2025 Sports Hall of Fame Inductees
Bo Hardegree
Bo Hardegree, who grew up in Jackson, is honored for his
accomplishments as a professional and college football coach and his success as
a high school and college athlete.
A star quarterback and state-champion tennis player at
Jackson Central-Merry High School, Hardegree signed a football scholarship with
the University of Tennessee in 2003. After graduation in 2007, he was a student
assistant coach at UT, a graduate assistant at Duke, and an assistant coach at LSU
before going to the pros.
Hardegree, 40, began his coaching career in the National
Football League in 2014 with the Denver Broncos and has coached with the
Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, New England Patriots, Las Vegas
Raiders and Tennessee Titans, where he is presently the quarterbacks coach.
“I had a great foundation in Jackson, and a lot of good
people helped me get to this point in my career,” Hardegree said. “It’s all
about opportunities and making sure you are ready for those opportunities when
they come along.”
The son of Jim and Adair Hardegree, Bo was born in Union
City while his father was an assistant football coach at Tennessee Martin. The
family moved to Jackson in 1986.
Hardegree’s football career began at Tigrett Middle School,
where he played quarterback for Coach Randy Franks on an undefeated team.
Hardegree played quarterback at North Side High his freshman year and at JCM
three years, all under his father, who was head coach at those schools.
His senior season at JCM, the 6-foot-5 Hardegree was
co-captain and completed 63 percent of his passes, throwing for 23 touchdowns
and 1,869 yards. The Cougars were unbeaten in regular-season play and advanced
to the state semifinals. Hardegree was first team All-State and All-West State
and Region 7-5A’s most valuable player. He had a 21-4 record as a starting
quarterback in high school and passed for 3,586 yards and 41 touchdowns.
He also had a stellar tennis career in high school, losing
only twice in singles in four years. He won the state Class AAA singles
championship as a junior and finished second in doubles as a freshman. He was
highly ranked in the South by USTA. After his senior football season at
Tennessee, he joined UT’s tennis team late and was unbeaten in singles and
doubles at the No. 3 position in the regular season.
Hardegree was on the All-SEC Academic Team all four years at
Tennessee, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and had a
3.9 GPA. He intended to go to medical school and be an orthopedic surgeon, but
UT assistant head coach and offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe asked him to
try coaching.
“I did, and it was like, ‘Wow, I kind of like this,’”
Hardegree said. “I think Coach Cutcliffe saw a lot of drive in me. I asked the
right questions in meetings and showed that I was always prepared and knew what
was going on.”
After working as a student assistant for the Vols, he went
with Cutcliffe to Duke in 2008 as a graduate assistant coach. He earned his
master’s degree in liberal arts at Duke, where he had a 3.85 GPA.
“I was still thinking about med school if I decided I didn’t
like coaching,” Hardegree said. “But situations and opportunities happened for
me, and I knew I wanted to stay in it.”
After three seasons at Duke, he joined LSU’s staff under
former Tennessee defensive coordinator John Chavis, who was defensive
coordinator for Les Miles at LSU. Hardegree worked with the defense his first
year and the offense for two years.
He was 29 and decided to interview for an opening with the
Denver Broncos, where Peyton Manning was quarterback in 2014. Adam Gase was
Denver’s offensive coordinator, and he interviewed Hardegree.
“His preparation, work ethic and intelligence were above any
other candidate that we interviewed for our quality control coaching position,”
Gase said. “That was the start of my relationship with Bo … He represents
everything good about the coaching profession.”
Hardegree was offered a job to remain at Denver in 2015,
when Manning and the Broncos won the Super Bowl. But he chose to be loyal to
Gase and followed him to the Chicago Bears for a season and then to Miami,
where Gase was named head coach. Hardegree was his quarterbacks coach three
years. And when Gase became head coach of the New York Jets, Hardegree joined
him as an offensive assistant two seasons.
In 2021, Hardegree got a call from the New England Patriots
to join Bill Belichick’s staff as quarterbacks coach and work with rookie Mac
Jones, who led all rookie QBs in passings yards and touchdowns that season.
In 2022, Hardegree was hired as quarterbacks coach for the
Las Vegas Raiders. He was suddenly promoted to offensive coordinator in 2023
when the Raiders fired their general manager, head coach and offensive
coordinator after a 3-5 start.
Hardegree promptly put together a 5-4 record as a play
caller and was 3-1 in the division. Highlights included a franchise-record for
points scored in a game with a 63-21 win over the Chargers, and a Christmas Day
upset of the Chiefs, 20-14, at Kansas City. The Chiefs have not lost at home
since that game.
In 2024, when good friend Brian Callahan became head coach
of the Tennessee Titans, Hardegree agreed to be his quarterbacks coach.
“It was a chance to join my home-state team and be around
family for a change,” Hardegree said. “We have a lot of work to do, but we’re
addressing all of the issues and waiting to see what happens in the April
draft.”
Hardegree has been married to Lauren Hardegree eight years.
She is a radiologist from Miami. They have a 3-year-old daughter, Isabella, and
are expecting a baby boy in June. His brother Bill Hardegree, a former USJ and
Tennessee Martin quarterback, still resides in the Jackson area practicing law.
Paula Fuller
A Madison County native, Paula Fuller is honored for her
accomplishments as a basketball player and administrator.
A 6-foot forward, she was a four-year starter and two-time, Jackson
Sun All-West State basketball player at West High School in the Denmark community,
graduating in 1979.
She started her college career at Jackson State Community
College, where she was all-conference, all-region and honorable mention
All-America. Fuller finished her playing days at Memphis State, earning
All-Metro Conference honors as a senior when the Lady Tigers won the Metro
title and made it to the NCAA Sweet 16.
Fuller, 63, is the daughter of Bobby and Dorothy Fuller. She
has two sons, Bobbye and Damonn Fuller. Damonn is head boys basketball coach at
South Side High.
Paula grew up on a farm in the Mercer community surrounded
by relatives of all ages. Her grandmother had a large front yard, and the
cousins wore out the grass playing basketball on a make-shift court.
“My uncles used scrap lumber to make backboards, and they
nailed them to trees,” Fuller said. “So we had two goals and played full court.
We had iron goals, but I don’t remember having nets on the goals. We played so
much, I’m sure the nets wore out and weren’t replaced.”
From childhood on, Fuller played basketball with and against
her cousins and uncles, male and female. She learned to be quick and tough
against family competition and developed a passion for the game.
She attended Blairs Elementary, an all-black school in the
Blairs Chapel community, before integration moved her to previously all-white
Mercer Elementary in the fourth grade. It was there that Fuller got to play on
her first indoor wooden basketball court.
“During PE, they had us playing basketball,” she said. “I
grabbed the ball and took off down the court, just like I always did playing
the boys in my grandmother’s front yard. The teacher yelled, ‘No, no, no. Girls
play half court.’ Well, I was embarrassed and couldn’t understand why we didn’t
play like the boys and college and the NBA on TV. But those were the rules for
girls back then.”
Fuller played 6-player, half-court basketball throughout
high school. There were three forwards and three guards on each side of a
center line, which they weren’t allowed to cross. Only forwards could shoot the
ball. Fuller’s class was the last to use those rules in Tennessee. They were
changed to full-court play for girls in the spring of 1979.
Fuller played for Coach T. Willie Tyson at West Junior High
School and for Coach Sam Greer at West High, where she helped her team win four
straight district titles. Her sophomore season the Lady Tigers advanced to the 1977
Class A state tournament, losing to Pickett County, 44-43, in the first round.
Fuller scored 15 points. Pickett County went on to win the first of its four
consecutive Class A state championships.
Fuller was the District 15-A MVP her senior year, averaging
28 points and earning second-team Sports Writers All-State honors. Her dream
since childhood was to play college ball at Memphis State, but she chose to
postpone that opportunity.
“Coach Mary Lou Johns had players like Linda Street at
Memphis State, and she told me I probably wouldn’t get much playing time as a
freshman,” Fuller said.
“I didn’t want to sit the bench, so I stayed home and
played for Coach Marvin Williams at Jackson State Community College. It was one
of the best decisions I ever made.”
Fuller teamed with Bolivar’s Diane Jones, Fayette-Ware’s
Helen Malone and Covington’s Debra Grandberry to make history at JSCC. The Lady
Generals won the junior college state championship two years and placed third
in the national tournament with a 23-1 record as sophomores in 1981. Fuller
averaged 10 points and nine rebounds. Fuller, Jones and Grandberry signed with
Memphis State.
“It was a dream come true,” Fuller said. “And it was so
exciting. We had about 85 in my class at West and good fans at Jackson State,
but when I got to Memphis State there were so many people. We had big crowds,
and I got to travel to cities and countries I would have never gone to
otherwise. It was just a great experience.”
Fuller averaged 8.4 points, four rebounds and two blocks a
game while shooting 83 percent from the free-throw line and 45 percent from the
field. She had a career high 21 points and 11 rebounds against Tulane.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in business and marketing in
1984 and worked for Nielsen Media Research 14 years and Federal Express before
returning to Jackson State as a recruiter of students 26 years ago. She
oversees JSCC’s recruiting office today.
“There aren’t very many things I would change in my life,”
Fuller said. “I’ve been super, super blessed.”
Jake Overbey
Jake Overbey, a Jackson native,
is honored for his accomplishments as a college and high school baseball player
and for his stellar football career at University School of Jackson.
The son of Michael and
Regina Overbey, he was a three-year starter at quarterback at USJ and the first
Jackson player to win the TSSAA Mr. Football honor twice (2009, 2010). He was a
finalist three times.
“It was a great honor to
be nominated as a sophomore and to win Mr. Football my junior and senior year,
but I certainly could not have done it alone,” Overbey said. “Football is a
team game, and it takes a mixture of great people to win football games.
“From the linemen
protecting me, to the receivers getting open and catching passes, to the
coaches getting us prepared with a game plan, it takes more than just an
individual to win football games. I am grateful to have won Mr. Football, but
much more grateful to be on a winning team with my teammates enjoying a win on
a Friday night.”
At USJ, Overbey passed for
8,408 yards and 103 touchdowns and ran for 21 TDs. In 2009 he had 44 TD passes,
which ranks sixth for a single season in the TSSAA records. In three seasons as
the starting quarterback, he led USJ to a 29-6 record and a state runner-up
trophy. He completed 62 percent of his career passes.
Overbey, 32, played for
Mickey Marley, who was the head football coach at USJ from 1989 to 2015 and is
now the USJ Football Alumni Coordinator.
“It was my honor and
privilege to have had the opportunity to coach Jake Overbey,” said Marley, a
2012 Jackson-Madison County Sports Hall of Fame inductee. “Jake was one of the
best football players I’ve ever coached. As a quarterback, Jake had an innate
ability to make big plays happen. Jake was an outstanding teammate and could ‘rally
the troops’ when necessary. Not only was Jake a great player and teammate, he
was, and is, a greater person on and off the field.”
Overbey’s talents were not
limited to the football field. He was a three-year starter at shortstop at USJ
and was named all-state, all-region and all-district in baseball in 2011. His
senior season he batted .400 with 10 home runs, 28 doubles, and 54 RBI while
scoring 56 runs. The winner of the Most Valuable Player award in the West
Tennessee All-Star game, Overbey traveled throughout the nation playing with
the Memphis-based Elite Dulin’s Dodgers.
Asked if he favored
baseball or football, he said, “That is a tough one to answer. I played
baseball from a very early age through college. There were a lot of games and
memories that I made along the way. For instance, playing shortstop at Ole Miss
while my brother (Preston) was playing second base was an all-time highlight.
“Football was completely
different though. It’s hard to beat the intensity and the emotions that you get
playing football. Football seemed to come more naturally to me, and I love the
strategy of reading and exploiting defenses. The positions I played in both
sports were leadership positions, and I always enjoyed that responsibility. I
would say it is a tie. I just love to compete. Now, golf is my challenge.”
Overbey was a 10th round
draft selection by the Philadelphia Phillies in Major League Baseball, but he
chose to sign a Southeastern Conference scholarship with the University of
Mississippi.
“I was fortunate to be
picked by the Phillies out of high school, but I never expected to have that
hard of a decision to make,” Overbey said. “The decision to go play alongside
my brother at an SEC baseball powerhouse like Ole Miss was what ultimately made
that decision. It was a dream come true for our entire family. Preston and I
are so close in age that I started out by playing up in age so I could be on
Preston’s team. I did not know how special that was for us until we got to
college and were able to continue being teammates in the SEC.”
Preston Overbey was
inducted into the Jackson-Madison County Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.
“He made it easier for
me,” Jake said. “I was lucky to have a brother like Preston who I could watch
go through all the things someone has to do to become a D1 athlete. From the
recruiting process, also being drafted, the training, the grades, etcetera. I
was able to watch and learn from him, and it gave me a sense of being one step
ahead because I felt like I had already gone through it.
“He helped me in a lot of
ways, and all I had to do was watch and wait for my turn. I owe much of my
sports success to Preston because we always competed to be the best we could be
and not worry about competing against others, and by watching his hard work
ethic and discipline.”
Overbey left Ole Miss, returned
to the football field and lettered when he transferred to Tennessee Martin for
one season. But in 2014 he transferred to the University of Memphis where he
played his last two baseball seasons.
“Once I was eligible to
play baseball at the Division I level again, I finished my career and earned my
bachelor’s degree at the University of Memphis,” he said.
Overbey and his wife
Hillary have a 3-year-old daughter, Elaine. He is a financial advisor with Voya
Financial in Jackson.
Josh Aldridge
Josh Aldridge, a native of
Jackson, is honored for his accomplishments as a collegiate football coach and
as a football player at Harding University and Jackson Christian School.
The son of Steven and June
Aldridge, he was a two-time, all-state defensive end at Jackson Christian and
helped the Eagles become the 2006 Class 1A state champions when he was a junior.
Jackson Christian is the only Jackson school to have won a football state
championship since playoffs began in 1969.
Aldridge, 35, earned his
bachelor’s degree at Harding University, where he realized he wanted to coach
football.
"I grew up around a
courtroom and always thought I wanted to be a lawyer or work in the judicial or
justice system," Aldridge said. "Law school was at the front of my
mind, but I quickly figured out just because you're good in school doesn't mean
you like it."
"I looked around for
leaders who impacted people's lives, and my position coach
(at Harding), Paul Simmons, was the best leader I had ever seen. I knew that's
what I wanted to do and made that plan early in college."
Aldridge begins his 13th
year as a collegiate coach. After a two-year stay as a defensive assistant at
Auburn University under head coach Hugh Freeze, Aldridge is the new defensive
coordinator at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.
"Josh is extremely
knowledgeable, and his work efforts have carried over with him, only increasing
with every staff he's been a part of," Freeze said. "Josh has
identified himself as a leader with many necessary qualities of determination
and hard work ethic. He is passionate about the game of football and about his
role in a position of leadership."
"In addition to his
football coaching abilities, Josh displays outstanding attitude and
commitment," Freeze said. "He is committed to the game and the
betterment of those around him.”
Aldridge followed Freeze
to Auburn after coaching four seasons (2019-2022) at Liberty University in
Lynchburg, Va., where he served as Freeze’s defensive line coach and defensive
coordinator. He was the interim head coach when Liberty played in the 2022 Boca
Raton Bowl.
In 2021 he was a nominee
for the Frank Broyles Award, which is presented annually to the top college
assistant football coach.
Previously, as the defensive
coordinator at Lenoir Rhyne University in Hickory, N.C., he helped lead the
Bears to a national No. 1 ranking in turnovers caused and a No. 9 ranking in
scoring defense during a 12-win season.
At the University of West
Georgia in Carrollton, Ga., from 2014 to 2017, he worked as the defensive line
coach and recruiting coordinator. West Georgia won the Gulf South Conference
championship in 2015.
"Recruiting is the
same as it's always been,” Aldridge said. “The motivation to get them to your
school has just changed. With the transfer portal, it has unfortunately given
those who are having to fight through tough times or those who are at the top
of the mountain an easy way out to believe the grass is always greener."
“I think more than ever,
young men need even more leadership to navigate through this current state of
college athletics. They're being treated as professionals/adults without
necessarily having the maturity or experience to handle it properly."
During his time at UWG,
the school earned three Division II playoff berths, back-to-back 12-win seasons
and two NCAA Playoff Super Region 2 Finals.
At Ouachita Baptist in
Arkadelphia, Ark., Aldridge was the defensive line coach after working as a
defensive graduate assistant at Lindenwood in 2013.
Aldridge was a four-year
starter at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. He was a team captain and twice selected
as All-Gulf South Conference. A finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy -
recognized as the Heisman Trophy for academics - he ranks fourth all-time at Harding
in sacks and tackles for loss and second all-time in blocked kicks.
At Jackson Christian, he was
the 2006 Region 8-1A Defensive Player of the Year after recording 141 tackles,
including nine sacks, during the state championship season.
"What I remember most
about that year was that we started our season at two (wins) and three (losses)
and really had to come together as a team," he said. "During our
playoff run, we had our backs against the wall on a fourth down and converted
for a touchdown to beat Lake County. After we won that game, we dominated in
the semifinals and state championship."
Brian Stewart, who coached
Aldridge in three sports at JCS, said Josh has the heart you wish every kid who
competes would desire to have.
"I have never
witnessed an individual with more self-discipline and drive than Josh,"
Stewart said. "Jackson Christian won a state championship because he was
the catalyst - a leader, a warrior ... He inspired all around him to be better.
Josh was an absolute dominate high school football player who overachieved
because of his mentality. Nothing has changed."
During his Eagles career, Aldridge
made more than 300 tackles. His senior season in 2007 he led the team in
tackles, tackles for loss and sacks. He was Class 2-A All-State, All-West State
and the Region 8-2A Defensive Lineman of the Year.
Tony Shutes
Tony Shutes is honored for his 34 years as a head basketball
coach at University School of Jackson (30), Jackson Central-Merry (1) and
Jackson Christian (3).
In 30 seasons as girls basketball coach at USJ his teams won
22 district championships and seven regional titles. The Lady Bruins played in
20 substate games and 10 state tournaments, advancing to the state semifinals
five times and the finals twice.
At press time, Shutes had 649 victories as a head girls
basketball coach, averaging 19 wins a season. This year’s Jackson Christian
team, his third, clinched a second consecutive 20-win season in tournament
play. Last year’s 20-win season was the school’s first since 2014.
Shutes played basketball at Bells High School in Crockett
County, where he was all-district and all-county his senior season in 1978. He
tried to play at Jackson State Community College, but a prior knee surgery
ended his playing career.
“It just wasn’t the same, and I knew I couldn’t pursue a
future as a player,” he said. So he focused on becoming a coach.
He had to work to pay his way through Union University and
couldn’t spend time as a student assistant with the basketball teams. But he
hung out with the players at school and read everything he could about great
coaches like John Wooden. He was also mentored by one of Union’s legends.
“The guy who really took me under his wing was Coach David
Blackstock,” Shutes said. “For some reason he felt I could do it, and he helped
me get through school and after I graduated.”
Shutes worked at K-Mart and the Jackson YMCA, where he
coached T-ball, flag football and Saturday morning youth basketball. He was
eventually named the YMCA’s Youth Sports Director in 1984, a position he held
until 1987. That’s when Jackson’s two private schools, Old Hickory Academy and
Episcopal Day School, merged to become USJ, and Shutes was offered a job.
He became the elementary school’s physical education
teacher, coached middle school girls and boys basketball, started the USJ
soccer program, and coached girls and boys golf for five years.
“When I took that USJ job in 1987, who would have ever
thought I would be there half my life,” Shutes said. He was still taking
classes and doing independent study at Union, where he earned his bachelor’s
degree in PE and secondary education in 1989.
“It was a journey,” he said, laughing.
In 1989-90 and 1990-91 Shutes was assistant coach for USJ’s
varsity basketball teams. He was named head coach in the fall of 1991 and
coached both girls and boys that season. But his second year he asked to just
coach girls basketball, which he did until he left in 2021. He taught
elementary PE all 30 years at USJ.
“In my PE classes I could see that we had some competitive
girls who were going to be good basketball players,” Shutes said. “And I just
enjoyed coaching girls. Back then I was so young and excited, and I tried to
soak up all the knowledge I could. I really studied a lot, watching coaches’
tapes and going to clinics in Memphis with big-name speakers.”
In 1994 and 1995 USJ’s girls were eliminated in the substate
by Gleason. But in 1996 they won the region in overtime at Harding Academy,
which had four girls who played at D-I schools. USJ hosted Lake County in the
substate and won, advancing to the state tournament for the first time.
Shutes’ USJ teams played in state championship games twice,
losing to Trenton Peabody in 2005 and to North Pointe, MS in 2017. He was named
district coach of the year numerous times.
After leaving USJ, he agreed to start the girls basketball
program at the new Jackson-Central Merry. “But during that season, I realized I
just didn’t have the time or energy to do what they needed done in building a
program,” Shutes said.
His focus is taking care of Stephanie, his bride of 14
years, and their son Zavior, who is 11. Stephanie was an All-American and NAIA
National Player of the Year in 2005 when Union Coach Mark Campbell won his
first national title. Stephanie has a chronic illness, and Shutes wants to be
available for her needs.
Shutes, 64, thought his coaching days were over. But Jackson
Christian approached him about coaching its girls team as a part-time position
with no teaching responsibilities. Shutes accepted and led the team to its
first state tournament appearance.
“When I first started coaching, I was in it for the wins,”
Shutes said. “But the older I got, the most gratifying thing was the
relationship with players. I finally got on social media, and it’s been great
being able to keep up with players and their kids and families. It’s a real
blessing.”
Inductees are selected from nominations solicited from the public. Recommendations, including biographical information, records and photographs are to be sent to:
Jackson Madison County Sports
Hall of Fame
PO Box 10085
Jackson, Tennessee 38308
You may also submit nominations online using this form.