Floyd to enter Carson-Newman Hall of Fame

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  • Jay Floyd with a Carson-Newman national championship trophy.
    Jay Floyd with a Carson-Newman national championship trophy.
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A Hart County football alumnus will soon have his name inked into his college’s  hall of fame.
Jay Floyd was recently tapped for induction into the Carson-Newman Athletics Hall of Fame.
Floyd, who was a two-time All-American and three-time all-South Atlantic Conference selection and is now Hart County school superintendent, was among seven athletes selected for induction this year.
The 1988 graduate was an anchor on the offensive line at Carson-Newman, where he earned a national title and a national runner-up trophy with the Eagles. He was also an assistant coach at the school after graduating and won a national championship with the team.
Floyd said he had incredible teammates and mentors, including head coach Ken Sparks, who Floyd says is the reason he went to Carson-Newman.
“What an honor that other people would think of you, it’s just really humbling,” Floyd said.
Competing for national titles in 1986 and 1987, Floyd paved the way for 7,236 rushing yards in his final two years with the program.
“I’ve just got some really great memories and just incredible people,” Floyd said. “It was a time in my life that God really shaped me and gave me a lot of strong Christian men He surrounded me with.”
Floyd, a 1982 Hart County graduate, was among the top 25 prospects in the country in high school before he attended the University of Georgia where he blocked for Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker and competed for a national title in the 1983 Sugar Bowl.
He later transferred to Carson-Newman.
The seven new members to the Carson-Newman hall of fame will be inducted in a ceremony on Feb. 26 in the Stokely Memorial Building on Carson-Newman’s campus in Jefferson City, Tenn. Should COVID-19 prevent a banquet from being held, the induction will be conducted virtually.
“I’m looking forward to it. I’ve got a couple of my really great friends that are being inducted as well,” Floyd said.
Those friends include former teammate Mike Schlecter (1989) and coach Charlie King (1957).
“I really appreciate all the people that supported me along the way,” Floyd said. “It takes a lot of people to encourage and support you and I definitely had support along the way.”