New APSU scholarship to honor legendary basketball coach Ben Fendley
October 8, 2013
Clarksville, TN – For 34 years, if you wanted to play basketball at Clarksville High School, you had to first survive the grueling practices of that school’s legendary coach, Ben Fendley. The U.S. Marine Corps and Korean War veteran knew what his players were capable of achieving, so he made sure they went home exhausted each night.
“You had better be prepared to give him everything you had in practice every day, or there was no place for you on his team,” Wayne Pace, former CHS player and former chief financial officer and executive vice president for Time Warner Inc., said. “Practice was brutal; games were the treat.” [Read more]
Memories of Mickey – Remembering Mickey Fisher Part 2
July 3, 2012
Part 2 of a 5 Part Series
Clarksville, TN – Mickey Fisher came out of Clarksville High School as one of the best basketball players Clarksville had ever seen. We had come to expect that he would play college ball somewhere, and with the history his family had with Austin Peay State University, the assumption was that he would play in Clarksville. According to his mother, Myra, he had been offered a scholarship to Jacksonville, but chose to stay in Clarksville and play for the Governors.
It was a delicate situation with his father, George Fisher, still coaching at APSU, and his mother working there as well. Myra Fisher told me, “We hoped it was alright, and that people didn’t see it as a problem, but Mickey knew that he wasn’t going to get any favors, and would have to work hard and earn his spot on the team.”
Memories of Mickey – Remembering Mickey Fisher
July 2, 2012
Part 1 of a 5 Part Series
Clarksville, TN – My memories of Mickey Fisher began when I returned to Clarksville Tennessee in 1971. There were only three high schools in Clarksville at the time. Clarksville High School, Northwest High School and Montgomery Central High School.
I started dating a cheerleader at Northwest, and since I didn’t go to high school here, I immediately hated Clarksville High School, (my girlfriend told me to).
When Northwest and CHS played each other, the entire city shut down, and everybody went to the game. I saw Mickey play a few games, but only when they played Northwest.
