Willie Hudson

Willie Hudson played basketball, baseball and football at Freed-Hardeman College.  He was a start in basketball but earned most of his laurels while coaching basketball at Linden (Tenn.) High School.

Hudson was part of a quasi-dynasty with the Lion basketball squads.  In '34 and '35, the teams finished as runners-up in the Mississippi Valley Conference.  The '35 team was undefeated until the final MVC tournament game.  Hudson was named the most valuable player of the tournament and led the team in scoring that year.

Hudson finished his education at Abilene Christian (Texas) University and began his coaching career in Linden in 1939.  His first season foreshadowed things to come.  That first Hudson team went 30-4 and won two games in the state tournament before losing in the quarterfinals.

He coached boys basketball until 1961, a total of 22 years.  He set many state records, including one that will never be broken die to a change in the state tournament format.  His teams won the state championship in 1955, 1956, and 1957 when all schools, regardless of size, competed for one state crown.  Tiny Linden took all comers for three years running.

Coach Hudson received many awards during his career.  In 1956, as co-coach of the South All-Star team he guided the South to victory in the North-South All-Star game in Murray, Ky.  He was inducted into the TSSAA Hall of Fame in 1983.  In 1964, the Tennessean began giving the top mid-state coach the Willie Hudson Award.