Buddy Fisher, former Vols captain and high school coach, dies

Buddy Fisher, captain of the 1963 Tennessee football team and a successful high school coach in the Knoxville area, died Aug. 21. He was 75.

His full name was Claude Maxwell Fisher, but just about everybody called him Buddy. 

Mr. Fisher, who wore No. 85 for the Vols, came to Tennessee from Maxwell, Va. He lettered three years for the Vols (1961-63) at right end. Playing at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, he led the team in receiving his senior season with 12 catches for 242 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 20.2 yards per catch.

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“I got to know Buddy through the show as he would stop at my remotes,” Knoxville radio personality Tony Basilio said. “Buddy was a bright light for Christ in my life. A couple of years ago, we had something break in our studio. Buddy surreptitiously walked up to me, handed me $200 cash, and said ‘I want you to have this.’ I've never told a soul about this random act of generosity until now, but I have to brag on this guy and let you know the kind of man we lost.”

Mr. Fisher played for Bowden Wyatt in 1961 and 1962 and Jim McDonald in 1963. He was a starter during his senior season and named captain.

"I was so surprised," Fisher told the News Sentinel at the time. "I figured Jerry (Milchin) and Mallon (Faircloth) were the guys to do the job."

The 1963 season was the last for Tennessee’s famed single-wing formation made famous under Gen. Robert R. Neyland and Wyatt.

It was a season of high drama off the field. Wyatt had been let go in June that year, with considerable wrangling among the coaching staff about who would be his successor.

McDonald was named head coach, while Bob Woodruff was named athletic director. As things turned out, Woodruff got the better deal. The season also was marked by ongoing media speculation about who the new head coach in 1964 might be.

On the field, the 1963 team knocked off Richmond in the season opener, lost close contests to Auburn and Mississippi State, lost decisively to Georgia Tech and Alabama, and defeated Chattanooga and Tulane, before losing to Mississippi and winning over Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

The Vols finished 5-5 overall, 3-5 and eighth in the SEC. Mr. Fisher had touchdown receptions from Hal Wantland against Tulane and from Faircloth against Kentucky.

He gave pro football a try after college, but left the Dallas Cowboys after a shoulder injury slowed him in training camp.

"They had 30 free agents and four or five high-dollar draft picks in there, so the writing was kind of on the wall anyway," he told the News Sentinel. "They cut 10 people on the first day of workouts. I hurt my shoulder later in the week and just decided to come back to UT."

Mr. Fisher returned to UT as a student and to coach the ends of the freshman team under George McKinley before joining the Tennessee High staff as an assistant.

From there, he went to Morristown East under coach Rex Dockery and helped guide the Hurricanes to a state championship in 1969.

After the departure of Dockery, Fisher was the coach at East for a brief stint before spending the next seven years as an assistant at Doyle, Oak Ridge and Bearden.

He took over a struggling Carter program in 1977 and built a winner.

Mr. Fisher was named KFL Coach of the Year in 1981 by the News Sentinel for leading Carter to nine consecutive victories, including five shutouts. In his 10th year at Carter in 1986, the Hornets were 10-0 in the regular season and he was named KFL Coach of the Year again.  

He made the move to Farragut the next year and remained there for nine seasons until 1995. He was named KIL Coach of the Year in 1993.

He was inducted into the Farragut High School sports hall of fame in 2015.

Mr. Fisher compiled a 72-29 record at Farragut and was 134-79 in his career.

Mr. Fisher also coached girls basketball at Bearden; among the players during his time there was Tennessee women's coach Holly Warlick.

Services are set for Monday, Sept. 28, at Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel, 6200 Kingston Pike at Deane Hill Drive, in Knoxville. The family will receive friends from 5-6 p.m., with services to follow.

Tom Mattingly is a freelance contributor. Deputy sports director Phil Kaplan contributed to this story.