Reedy Sears was one of the University’s greatest two-sport athletes during the University’s early years (1930-42).
The rural Williamson County native’s grade-school education occurred in a one-room school house. To be able to continue his education he had to live away from home, first at Theta School in Maury county before graduating from Franklin High School, where he played basketball, in 1939.
After his graduation, he came to Austin Peay and developed into a star wide receiver for the football team in the late 1930s-early 1940s while being a talented 5-9 guard for the basketball team from 1939-40 to 1941-42.
In 1940 he was considered the team’s best wide receiver with Marshall Toombs, who also is in the APSU Athletics Hall of Fame. A year later as the team’s primary wideout, he caught six touchdown passes. In fact, during the contest against Tennessee Wesleyan that season he scored three of the team’s four TDs in a 24-6 decision while on the receiving end of passes. The three TD receptions stood as an APSU single-game record until Harold “Red” Roberts, another APSU Hall of Fame member, broke the mark with four against Murray State in 1967.
On the basketball court, Sears was a member of the 1939-40 19-0 basketball team that also featured Hall of Fame members Toombs, J.B Hatley and Dayton “Country” Ward. In 1940-41, Sears was the team’s third-leading scorer until missing the final six games with illness.
A year later, Sears was the team’s leading scorer with 230 points, a 12.1 scoring average. That point total ranks fifth best during the Austin Peay Normal Era (pre-World War II). In that season, with the score tied 39-39 against Tennessee Tech, Sears was fouled as the game ended. He calmly walked to the line to hit the game-winning free-throw for the victory.
In the Feb. 6, 1942 All-State issue, Coach Bo Brown called Sears, “one the five best players” he ever coached.
Off the field, Sears was voted President of the Junior Class for 1941-42. However, when the World War II broke out in 1942, Sears withdrew from school and enlisted in the Army Air Corp. On his 26th mission, he died in action on Oct. 17, 1944. His aircraft was shot down over Cologne, Germany. He was killed by ground fire while either parachuting from his disabled plane or trying escape capture.
He was buried in Germany. However, in 1952, Sears’ remains were brought back to Franklin, where he was buried at the Greenbrier Cemetery.
Sears is the second former Governors standout to enter the Hall of Fame from the Honors category, reserved for those former athletes who competed at least 50 years ago.
