[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 9478]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF JOHNNY MAJORS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN S. TANNER

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 26, 2010

  Mr. TANNER. Madam Speaker, I rise today alongside our colleague Mr. 
Shuler, to recognize the lifetime accomplishments of our friend, former 
University of Tennessee football coach Johnny Majors.
   Johnny is from a remarkable football family in Lynchburg, Tennessee. 
His father Shirley was the patriarch of a family of Tennessee football 
royalty. He was the head coach at Sewanee, the University of the South, 
for 21 years and had five sons who played college football.
   Johnny and his brother Joe played high school football for the 
Huntland Hornets, where their father coached, and their sister Shirley-
Ann was a cheerleader. The team won the state championship in 1951. 
Johnny, along with two of his brothers, Bill and Bob, would all go on 
to play for my alma mater, the University of Tennessee. His brother 
Larry played for the University of the South at Sewanee.
   His brother, Joe Majors, a close friend of mine, was the starting 
quarterback at Florida State University and also played for the 
University of Alabama. He was an accomplished attorney; a former member 
of the Tennessee State House of Representatives, and a well-respected 
and popular figure on Capitol Hill. Everyone who had the pleasure to 
know him or work with him, as I did, was saddened when he passed away 
in 2007.
   Johnny Majors stayed with football all of his life. In college, he 
was a triple-threat tailback at the University of Tennessee. Johnny was 
an All-American and runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in 1956. He played 
for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League for one year 
and then moved on to several coaching positions.
   Johnny was head football coach for the Iowa State University 
Cyclones for five seasons before taking over the football program at 
the University of Pittsburgh, where he helped win the National 
Championship with the Pittsburgh Panthers in 1976 and was honored as 
the National Coach of the Year.
   Luckily for our alma mater, Johnny Majors decided to return to the 
University of Tennessee in 1977. While there, he reached remarkable 
success in the 1980s and early 1990s by winning three SEC 
Championships--in 1985, 1989 and again in 1990. His time there included 
one particularly noteworthy season in 1989, when the Majors-led Vols 
followed a 5-6 season with an 11-1 season, the largest turnaround of 
the year. Johnny retired from NCAA coaching after the 1996 season.
   Over the years, Johnny Majors has been recognized as a self-less 
player and a capable, dedicated leader. He was admitted into the 
College Football Hall of Fame in 1987, where his biography reads, ``Few 
who have followed college football over the years will soon forget the 
gridiron magic created by a certain skinny tailback. . . Even [his] 
name had a special ring to it. It wasn't Jones or Smith or Thompson. It 
was Majors. . .. In his senior year Majors led Tennessee to an 
undefeated season, He ran, passed, punted, and even blocked. He was one 
of college football's best punters.''
   Johnny and his wife Mary Lynn live in Knoxville, where he is still 
known not only as a former player and coach but as a leader in the 
community. Mary Lynn, a remarkable and talented woman in her own right, 
and my wife Betty Ann have become friends over the last few years. The 
Majors' collective contribution to our state and nation are an 
inspiration to all those who know them.
   One other thing: Coach Majors, as President of the Nike Coach of the 
Year Clinic, has promoted and assisted the United States Marine Corps 
in coaching clinics across America. Johnny Majors is a dedicated 
patriot.
   Madam Speaker, I also want the House to hear from our colleague, Mr. 
Shuler, who had the honor of playing for Coach Majors at the University 
of Tennessee.

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