The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Athletics Department and the Office of Alumni Affairs recently announced its Class of 2015 inductees into the UTC Athletics Hall of Fame. Over the next two weeks, GoMocs.com takes a closer look at each of the honorees and their impact on Chattanooga Athletics.
Our first is the late David Fussell. Fussell was a three-year letter winner for the Mocs baseball team, and considered one of the best to ever suit up at UTC. He was drafted by the San Diego Padres in 1969, but it was his career as a catcher for the Mocs that he is best remembered.
UTC last fielded a baseball team in 1983, and over the years, batting averages, home runs and hits have been difficult to document, but the accounts of those who played with him are as clear as if it were yesterday.
Current Hall of Famers Pat Woolsey (1967-70) and Tommy Sparks (1968-71) both laud Fussell as the reason for Chattanooga's early success in baseball. Although there were teams in the pre-World War II years of the University of Chattanooga, the first official baseball season was 1967.
“I went there to play basketball,” said Woolsey, who was a freshman on the first baseball team. “There was an announcement in the fall that they were going to start baseball. We all knew each other from playing summer ball and high school ball and the talent level that walked in that room for our first team meeting was unbelievable. David was the most talented of them all. His being there was what catapulted our early success.”
Fussell was a sophomore on that first team, having spent the previous year as a college freshman, fresh off a state championship at Brainerd High School. That first team, coached by Don Shaver, went 8-0.
“After that 8-0 season, Coach Shaver went out and started scheduling SEC teams,” continued Woolsey. “We beat Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia, and David was a huge part of every bit of that. We had good pitching and good players, but David could have caught for any team in the country. I just think it was amazing that a catcher of that ability back in 1967 was at the University of Chattanooga and just happened to be there.”
Sparks recalls the Mocs 3-2 win over Tennessee on April 16, 1969, when Fussell picked off two runners in the late innings to preserve the win. “In the seventh inning, I had a man on second and he picked him off from behind the plate,” recalled Sparks, who is in the UTC Athletics Hall of Fame as one of the best pitchers in school history. “In the ninth inning he picked off another one that helped up win the game.”
“He had an unbelievable arm,” added Woolsey. “When we would take infield, I had to be real careful on his throws to third. He threw the ball so hard and had such a quick release that he was a weapon.”
“As a pitcher, he took control of the game,” continued Sparks. “I never had to worry about what pitch to throw or where to throw it. All I had to do was to execute. He knew exactly what was going on with every position and every pitch. I found out how much I appreciated that when I became a junior and he wasn't back there anymore. He was a great captain and great leader. He knew everything about pitching, and he ran the whole deal.”
“I played at a very high level of baseball in the Cape Cod Summer League,” said Woolsey. “I played against some great catchers and one of those was Thurman Munson. I can honestly say that David Fussell was as good, or better, than any catcher I ever saw play the game at that time.”
Sadly, Fussell passed away in October, just before the Class of 2015 was announced. He served the University long after graduation, as a member of the UC Foundation Board and as president of the UTC Alumni Association.
“He was a leader, he was a great guy and everybody respected him,” said Woolsey. “That first team that went 8-0 would not have happened without a great catcher. He just happened to be in school. He did not go off to play ball anywhere. He just came to Chattanooga.”
Here is a quick look at some of the other big wins the Mocs enjoyed during Fussell's era.
April 6, 1968 – Beat Georgia Tech 5-4 in Atlanta.
March 15, 1969 – Beat Kentucky 4-0 in Chattanooga
April 12, 1969 – Beat Georgia Tech 8-5 in Chattanooga
April 16, 1969 – Beat Tennessee 3-2 (10) in Chattanooga.
