The Tennessee Sports Writers Association announced its newest Hall of Fame class on Thursday and among this year's inductees will be Times Free Press sports columnist Mark Wiedmer, as well as Tommy Bryan (Lebanon) and Teresa Walker (Associated Press). Those three will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 9, 2020, at Cumberland University.
A native of Hopkinsville, Ky., Wiedmer has spent 35 years at the Times-Free Press after starting as a graphic artist. He was so poor on his first day at the paper, Valentine's Day of 1983, he borrowed money from his new boss to buy his wife a Valentine gift. Wiedmer transitioned to writing after filling in for a co-worker who became sick while covering a high school district baseball tournament.
Within two years, Wiedmer took over the UT-Chattanooga basketball beat and has been a columnist since 1987. Over that time, Wiedmer has been a two-time TSWA Sports Writer of the Year, won several Green Eyeshade Awards, as well as awards from the Football Writers Association and totaled more than 75 writing awards. He covered 28 straight Final Fours between 1988 and 2015, as well as two Super Bowls, six Masters, 14 Kentucky Derbies, one Olympics, two U.S. Opens and two PGA championships. He's also covered 31 Area 4 Special Olympics in Chattanooga.
Mark Wiedmer