Former LaFayette (Ga.) High School and University of Tennessee football standout Paul Careathers died on Labor Day in a local hospital. He was 64. Careathers was a schoolteacher and coach in the Chattanooga school system for 12 years after his 1975 graduation from Tennessee, and he served more than 20 years as youth minister at New United Missionary Baptist Church, where his funeral service will be held Saturday at noon. He was a running back for the Volunteers, with 125 rushing yards against Georgia Tech in a 1973 game, and their leading kickoff returner in 1974. The family will receive visitors from 6 to 8 tonight at Taylor Funeral Home.
Softball
* Chattanooga native and University of Tennessee softball pitching coach Marty McDaniel will be part of Armstrong State’s final Athletic Hall of Fame class on Dec. 7. The Savannah, Ga., school is giving up its name in consolidating with Georgia Southern. Tickets for the induction ceremony in the Armstrong Center on campus are available for $40 through becky.smith@armstrong.edu. McDaniel already is on ASU’s softball Wall of Fame for his success in starting the program between working for Ralph Weekly at UTC and rejoining him and wife and co-head coach Karen Weekly with the Vols in 2005. A star baseball catcher at Central High School and Chattanooga State, McDaniel was part of a leading local men’s fastpitch family and converted himself into a softball pitcher. He parlayed his knowledge into great success with the Lady Pirates and then with Tennessee, helping the Vols win 710 games for an average of 54 per season in his 13 years on staff. They set a national record for shutouts with 51 in 2005 and led the NCAA in earned run average and strikeouts in 2007. The 2017 Vols pitchers had a 1.98 ERA despite relying mainly on a sophomore and a freshman. “We knew Marty was going to be a great coach when he first joined our staff at Chattanooga,” Ralph Weekly said in a Vols release. “When he left to start the program at Armstrong State, he quickly built them into a Division II national powerhouse. We were fortunate to recruit him back to our staff at Tennessee in 2004.” McDaniel had a 276-82 record at Armstrong, which he took from nonexistent in softball to a No. 1 national ranking in three years. The Pirates went 51-7 in 2000.
Golf
* Former Central High School, Cleveland State and Lee University golfer Josh Coley is in a four-way tie for second place behind Knoxville’s Ryan Greer after the first round Thursday of the 30th annual Tennessee Mid-Amateur Championship. Greer shot a 5-under-par 67. Coley, now based in Mount Juliet, matched the 68s of Jackson’s Jeff Reuter, Collierville’s Matt Cooper and Franklin’s Dan Crockett at Spring Creek Ranch in Collierville. Former Walker Valley and Lee standout Hunter Vest is among 11 tied for 15th at 73, and Chattanooga resident Seth Brandon share 26th at 74.