Dr. John Farr, president of the Greater Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame, will receive the organization’s highest annual honor at its March 1 banquet at the Chattanooga Convention Center.
Farr, a former champion wrestling coach, will receive the Fred Gregg Jr. Award for longtime service and dedication to sports.
In addition to the new class of inductees, to be announced later, other special awards will go to Skipper Fairbanks, Peggy Thomas, Serge Foster and Roger Hodnett. McCallie School swimmer Sean Ryan will be honored as male athlete of the year, and University of Tennessee runner Phoebe Wright is the female athlete of the year.
Fairbanks will get the Walt Lauter Lifetime Achievement Award for his years of work with boxers, high school and middle school athletes and the Red Bank Dixie Youth Association. Thomas, receiving the Betty Probasco Lifetime Achievement Award, developed the physical education curriculum, taught dance and coached several sports at GPS, where she served 1953-88 as athletic director.
Polk County football player Foster and former Bradley Central multisport standout Hodnett are co-winners of the Allan Morris/Jim Morgan Award for overcoming adversity. Foster returned to the Wildcats after having a leg amputated, and Hodnett has prospered despite a wrestling injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
The banquet will start at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $35 apiece and are available by calling 875-9282.