Seventh class to be inducted Friday prior to football game
By Steve Williams
This is the seventh year for Halls High School Athletics’ Road to Fame to be honored. Jerry Julian started the recognition in 2019 with the inaugural class including a “dandy dozen.”
A ten-member board of directors now oversees the yearlong process which begins with taking nominations February through April. Only four nominees are now chosen for each class.
This year’s inductees will be recognized at the Halls stadium prior to Friday night’s game against William Blount.
No Es in scorebook by Amanda’s position
Amanda Haynes Comparato never made an error when she played softball at Halls High School back in the 1990s. Yep, she had a 1,000 percent fielding average! And of course the former Lady Red Devil was a four-time recipient of the Golden Glove Award.
Amanda did make an error in her four years at first base at Lincoln Memorial University and finished with a .988 fielding average. She was human after all!
“She adjusted quickly to the college game and positively impacted the teams she played with every time she walked on the field,” said longtime LMU coach Ritchie Richardson. “Her high energy and enthusiasm, great attitude, and mental and physical toughness were characteristics she brought with her from Halls High School.”
Comparato was a 3-time All-KIL and All-Region player plus 2-time All-State at Halls.
She ranked fifth in LMU history with 31 homeruns, eighth in RBI (109) and ninth in hits (182). A four-year starter for the Railsplitters, she earned All-Gulf South Conference honors three times.
Amanda also was an All-Academic performer all four years in college. She received the B. Frank Turner Award for the most distinguished combination of athletic performance, academic success, and community involvement.
She was inducted into the LMU athletes’ Hall of Fame in 2018.
Rutherford became a big supporter of Halls athletics
Dale Rutherford grew up in Jefferson County, but spent most of his life in the Halls community and was a fan of Halls High.
He played football at Maury High, a small school which consolidated with Dandridge, Jefferson, Rush Strong and White Pine to form Jefferson County High School in the 1975.
Dale went on to play quarterback at Carson-Newman College and is in the C-N Hall of Fame. He also played baseball for the Eagles.
Rutherford got into teaching and coached football at Gibbs High School.
He moved to Halls and sold sporting goods out of his car and then opened Dale’s Sports in Halls in 1985.
He serviced the Halls Community Park and Halls High for over 30 years with his wife Teresa, who also worked in the store.
If you were at a Halls game in any sport, you would likely see him in the stands. And for many years he ran the clock for the Halls basketball games.
Rutherford was a huge supporter of Halls athletics at all levels. If your team needed a sign for their field or an ad for their program, you could count on him to buy one. If a kid couldn’t afford a glove or a pair of cleats, Dale would make sure that kid got them although most people didn’t know about that.
Rutherford, who passed away this year on April 7 at age 77, will always be remembered fondly by his family and many friends.
It is with gratitude for his service to Halls that he will be inducted into the Halls High School Road to Fame. To accept on behalf of Dale at the induction will be his wife Teresa and son Russ.
Mynatt continues giving to Halls’ youth and community
The awards Jake Mynatt earned through his playing days as a football player were probably enough to get him nominated for Halls High’s Road to Fame, but he didn’t want to stop there.
A three-year letterman, Mynatt’s awards got more impressive his junior and senior years. He earned All-Region and All-KFL honors as a junior and senior and also received honorable mention on the All-State team as a junior.
In his senior campaign in 2004, Jake made the Class 4A All-State team and was named Old Spice Player of the Year.
Mynatt signed a football scholarship with Austin Peay State University as a running back and played at APSU as a strong safety, free safety, and kick returner.
Over 15 years past his playing days, Mynatt has been using his passion for sports and his skills as a leader to help build up the youth of the Halls community. He is continuing in the footsteps of his father, John Mynatt (Halls High Class of 1974), who was also heavily involved in coaching baseball and basketball in the community.
Jake has a heart for helping each youth athlete he encounters to become the best that they can be on the field and off the field. He instills kindness, compassion, a teamwork attitude, and fun in the kids he coaches.
People like Jake are invaluable to the betterment of the community. By ensuring that these children are accepted and given the opportunity to be a part of a team, they will develop not only athletic skills, but social and life skills as well.
Jake has also helped restore the Halls Community Park by hosting park clean-up days. Under his leadership, the funds for the park were also increased to $100,000 in a single year which allowed the purchase of new scoreboards, new bathroom amenities, new batting cages, and updated football safety equipment.
1986 was a special year for Wayland
Coaching Halls High’s 1986 boys’ state champion golf team ranks as the highest achievement on David Wayland’s list in a busy career that included coaching golf 18 years, football 11 years, baseball four years and wrestling four years.
Wayland also was named the state’s Golf Coach of the Year.
As a high school athlete himself, David lettered three years in football and baseball (1959-1961).
After high school, he played football and wrestled at Maryville College three years.
Wayland also served in the U.S. Army in Europe from 1966-1969. He earned his Master’s degree at UT-Knoxville in 1974.
In addition to his state title team at Halls, he had four regional champion teams and six district champion teams.
Wayland’s 18-year match record was 362 wins and 131 losses.
Dave also had success in girls’ golf with a regional champion team in 1987 that placed eighth at state. His 1988 girls team was region champs and sixth at state. He had one state individual qualifier in 1991 and one in 1997.
