Reprinted from The Paris Post-Intelligencer (see below)
HUTCHESON HAILED AS ONE OF COUNTY'S GREATEST SCORERS
Editor’s note: This is the third installment of a five-part series by Post-Intelligencer sports editor Tommy Priddy that tells of the accomplishments of the 2002 inductees to the Paris-Henry County Sports Hall of Fame.
Today’s biography is about former Grove High School basketball Standout Linda Hutcheson.
No discussion of the strength of girls’ basketball in Henry County from the late 1950’s through the mid-1960’s would be complete without talking about Grove High School’s Linda Hutcheson.
Hutcheson began playing basketball in junior high at Grove in 1959. She moved up to the high school team in 1962 and twice was an all-lake Conference performer. The league disbanded prior to her senior year.
While playing for Paris-Henry County Hall of Fame coach Lamar Roberts at Grove, Hutcheson was a three-time All-District team selection and was All-Region in both 1963 and 1964.
She led the Lake Conference in scoring with an average of 34.1
points a game in 1963. In 1964, she was second in the state in scoring with a 32 points a
game average.
'Hutch' takes a jumper
She had a region tournament record of 56 points at Martin and led the Grove Blue Devilettes into the TSSAA state tournament.
Hutcheson established a state tournament scoring record of 40 points with 19 field goals in the state tournament game.
Former boys’ coach Charles Homer Spain, another Paris-Henry County Sports Hall of Fame member, remembers Hutcheson’s basketball prowess by saying, "She was without a doubt one of the finest scorers to play in this county."
Hutcheson was a Miss Basketball selection at Grove and named Most Athletic her senior year. She was nicknamed "Hutch" and some referred to her as "Hutch on the Hill" in reference to her school’s location.
After high school, Hutcheson played for an Amateur Athletic Union Team sponsored by the Nashville Business College. That Team won the AAU national championship in 1965 in Gallup, New Mexico. She received a gold medal for her play in the 1965 tournament.
She was picked to play on a ten-player U.S. national team that toured the Soviet Union, France and Germany. She has told friends that one of her biggest memories is playing in Russia during the height of the Cold War.
Reprinted from THE PARIS POST-INTELLIGENCER
Paris, Tennessee
Monday, April 1, 2002 Edition
© Used by permission ~ The Post-Intelligencer retains full rights
Photo from the personal album of Linda Hutcheson