By Steve Williams
Not every fire turns into a blaze. Some begin with a spark and never get going. Others are tiny and blow out quickly like a candle on a birthday cake. All fires, though, have a chance to be big and productive and clear paths for others.
The latter was like Lisa Myers in the world of sports, and specifically, high school sports. She played and coached for a long time and earned the title “Legacy Trailblazer” from the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association.
Galen Johnson struck the first match when he brought Lisa with him when he became the first principal at William Blount, the new high school in Blount County in 1979-80.
Lisa had been at Porter High for three years until that school was consolidated with other small high schools in Blount County. At Porter, she played 6-on-6 basketball and was a guard. That was the only sport Porter had.
In her only year at William Blount, Myers was a senior post player and part of the first team to shoot a basketball in its gym and the first to letter and captain four sports. She also was a member of the first girls basketball team in school history to play full-court basketball (5-on-5) and compete in the state tournament.
After her graduation from William Blount, she played college ball until she had an injury at UNC-Asheville. After college, she started working at UT hospital before deciding to teach and coach on the high school level. Mike Asquith offered her a position at Doyle High, which later became South-Doyle.
Lisa coached basketball and softball and helped with track, too. Later on, she did the announcing for baseball coach Robbie Howard’s games for 14 years.
Myers taught for 26 years in all at South-Doyle.
The fire has begun smoldering now as Myers has been teaching U.S. Government, Economics and Personal Finance at Hardin Valley Academy for 15 years and plans to retire next December.
“For me, teaching is like coaching in that you’re walking across the room all through class,” she said.
Myers is in her 41st year of teaching in all.
After retirement, she plans to keep watching sports and fish as she lives on the lake.
And Lisa won’t be alone as she lives with her son Skylar and granddaughter Evie, who is 7 months old.
The TSSAA Trailblazer Award recognizes outstanding contributions in high school sports. This award is given to individuals who have made significant impacts in promoting sportsmanship, leadership, and community involvement within Tennessee high schools.
What does Myers cherish about her career?
“The connections you make,” said Lisa Myers. “Not only the kids, but their parents, their brothers and sisters, cousins and their friends and the very fact that ninety-nine percent of the time everything was good and it was positive. And I received a great education in Blount County schools and I know the kids that we had in Knox County received a good education.
“It was like there was an invisible hand. Somebody was always pushing you to do better. You don’t go backwards. You keep going forwards. And I hope I instilled that. Not only with the athletes, but the kids that were in my class. We don’t quit. We do our best. Any job worth doing, it’s worth doing your best. When you teach, you coach. I walked up and down the front of the class. I coach all day long. What I cherish the most is all the acquaintances I’ve met along the way.”
