Former Chattanoogan Dan Shoemaker is in his third year as head football coach at Wartburg Central, which will host Boyd-Buchanan in a Class 2A quarterfinal tonight.
“I grew up in Lookout Valley and played football there for Gary James,” said Shoemaker, whose mother (Jo) and uncle (Buddy Armstrong) still reside in Lookout Valley.
He also had a brother (Phil) and a cousin (Chuck Gaston), who played at Lookout Valley for Bill Price, now Signal Mountain’s head coach. Shoemaker said Gaston was named to the all-state team.
Shoemaker was a 5-foot-7, 185-pound offensive tackle and noseguard for a Yellow Jackets team that also included David Dinger, an option quarterback who now is the school’s baseball coach and an assistant to football coach Tony Webb.
“My mom and his mom were in each other’s weddings,” Dinger said. “He was a good football player, but he wasn’t nearly as big as he is now.”