By Steve Williams
The eighth class of Halls’ Road to Fame may be the smallest with three inductees, but it still stands out as one of the best with pride, talent and toughness.
Starting off, Morgan Schaller is loaded with pride.
“What I am most proud of is being able to represent the incredible tradition of Halls High School athletics,” said Schaller. “Growing up in this community, I was able to see the dedication of the coaches and the hard work of players that came before me. It is truly an honor to be recognized with some of the greatest athletes that have been a part of the strong athletic traditions at Halls.”
Morgan, a member of the Class of 1998, was a two-sport standout in golf and softball. A three-year starter and four-year letterman, she had a career .362 batting average. In addition to that, she was All-District as an infielder and outfielder and All-KIL her senior season.
In golf at Halls, Schaller was a 3-time state qualifier and her highest finish at the state level was a 13th-place showing. She also was a 4-time All-KIL player and a 3-time KIL Golfer of the Year.
Morgan continued to rack up high honors in golf at the college level, where she played at Tusculum on a scholarship. A 4-year letterman with the Lady Pioneers, she had 22 top-20 finishes and earned first place honors one time.
To top off her collegiate career, she was a 3-time honoree on the All-South Atlantic Conference team and twice was on the SAC All-Conference tournament team.
Andy Loy was a teammate of Herschel Walker
Loy had quite a career at Halls and provided the toughness for this year’s Road to Fame.
“I’m most proud of being able to take what I learned growing up and playing football in Halls and see how far I could go with it,” said Andy. “I had the opportunity to leave Knoxville, play football at the University of Georgia, and eventually a starting position at outside linebacker.
“There were some injuries and setbacks along the way that could have easily changed things, but I kept pushing myself and was able to accomplish more than I probably thought possible when I started.
“No matter where football took me, I was always proud to be from Halls and represent the community I grew up in. After being away for 20 years, I ended up coming back home, which makes being recognized by Halls Road to Fame that much more meaningful.”
He competed in football and track for the Red Devils from 1978 to 1981 and was All-KFL and team captain in ‘81. He also was the 14th ranked senior in the state that year.
His head coach in football was Bruce Lussier, while Eddie Courtney was his defensive coordinator then.
On the track team, he competed in the shot put, high jump, 440 relays, and 880 relays and finished third in the state in the shot put.
He played his college football at Georgia under Vince Dooley and was a 4-year letterman. He also received SEC All-Academic honors in 1985.
Herschel Walker, one of the all-time great running backs, was a sophomore when Andy was a freshman. The older generation will remember Herschel running over Tennessee safety Bill Bates in a game in Knoxville, and Andy, a freshman, was at the game and saw it, too.
Loy now works for the United States Beverage Company and is the Regional Sales Director – South.
Ryan Hall climbed from preps to pro in golf
Ryan Hall was talented in golf in his four years on the Halls High team and played on the TSSAA state championship teams in 2016 and 2017 under Coach Bill Warren.
“I am most proud of the opportunity that Halls provided me to be a professional golfer, and later the owner of Hall Insurance Advisors,” he said.
In college, he played four years of golf at the University of South Carolina and holds the school’s lowest career scoring average.
Hall also made the 2021 All-SEC 1st team and had four tournament victories plus was a 2021 Ping first-team All American. He had a world amateur ranking of 17th in 2022.
On the professional scene, Ryan competed in 47 events in the PGA and Korn Ferry. He tied for 6th place in the 2025 Knoxville Open and tied for 10th place in the 2025 Boise Open.
Hall had $267,000 in earnings as a pro. He may not be through either. Ryan told this reporter he might try to get back on the pro tour.
Tommy Noe, one of the nine members of the Board of Directors for the Road to Fame, pointed out that “Ryan was really excited about it. I think Andy was kind of excited about it, too. He was trying to find a place where he could buy a Halls cap.”
Other Board of Directors members were Doug Polston, Jerilynn Carroll, Jim McManus, Chris Vandergriff, John Vandergriff, Stephney Sayne, Scott Cummings and Ted Williams.
Jerry Julian originated Halls’ Road to Fame in 2019. The first class had 12 members and the second class had seven. After that, five classes each had four inductees until this year’s class of three.
