Q. What former Chattanooga Lookout led Tennessee to a second-place finish in the 1951 College World Series?
A. S.W. “Cy” Anderson was head coach for the 1951 Volunteers, who won Tennessee’s first Southeastern Conference baseball championship and made its first appearance in the College World Series, finishing second to Oklahoma. It would be Tennessee’s only Series appearance until 1995. According to Baseball Reference, Anderson played 15 seasons of minor league baseball, spending time with the Lookouts from 1919-23 and again in 1925-26. His best Chattanooga season was 1921, when he hit .317 with 14 homers. Anderson was born in 1896 in Trion, Ga., and died at the age of 85 in 1982 in Dahlonega, Ga. J.B. “Ace” Adams, a member of the 1951 Vols, credited Anderson with much of the team’s success during a 1995 interview with Chattanooga Times Hall of Fame sportswriter Larry Fleming. Adams said Anderson always had his team prepared. “We knew every situation: when to steal, when not to steal, when to bunt, when to hit and run,” Adams said. “I got a lot of the baseball knowledge I later used in my own coaching from Anderson.”
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