Bob Stewart has been a vital part of the sports landscape of Fannin County for more than 50 years. His body of athletic work as a player, coach, baseball umpire, football and basketball official, organizer, administrator and as hands-on athletic director with the Fannin County Recreation Department has earned him membership in the Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class of 2020.
Bob grew up in McCaysville and began his career as a player at McCaysville Elementary School and West Fannin High School. At West Fannin, he was an all-around athlete participating in baseball, track and field, football and basketball. As a senior in 1961-62, Bob earned a starting guard position on the basketball team and, playing in the backcourt with fellow FCSHOF member Mike Hartness, averaged 9 points per game. He played his best basketball in the Region 3AA Tournament in 1962 and was instrumental in helping the Yellow Jackets win the Region title with wins over Calhoun, West Rome and North Whitfield in the title game. Bob played a sound floor game, defended tenaciously and scored at a 10 point-per-game clip in the tournament. He and Hartness were named to the All-Tournament Team in recognition of their outstanding play. That team went on to win the first State Tournament game in the history of the school, a 56-39 victory over Elbert County.
After graduating from West Fannin, Bob played basketball at Truett-McConnell for two seasons. He then returned to the Fannin/Basin area and landed a job with the Tennessee Copper Company.
The game of slow-pitch softball was quite popular and very competitive in the Fannin County/Copper Basin area in the early 1960s. Bob Stewart and some of his friends and acquaintances founded a softball team in the summer of 1964. A variety of potential nicknames for the team were suggested and one member of the group said ‘what about the Zots’. He explained that ‘zot’ was the sound that the aardvark in a popular comic strip made when sucking up an ant. The nickname was adopted unanimously. Little did the players know that the Zots would become legendary in Fannin/Basin history as one of the dominant teams in the area for more than 50 years.
Bob held down the third base spot for the Zots during most of his 35 years with the club. Many local observers who witnessed Bob play the game describe him as the best fielding third baseman ever to perform in the area.
Music was an important part of life in the Stewart family. Bob’s father E.P. ‘Slim’ Stewart was a native of Louisville, Kentucky where he and his four brothers, Al, Gene Jay, Bill and Redd, were professional musicians. The brothers had their own radio show in Louisville in the years leading up to World War II. Brother Redd would gain fame as a country music songwriter and has been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Some of the songs that he wrote or co-wrote are the ‘Tennessee Waltz’, ‘You Belong to Me’ and ‘Slow Poke’. Redd joined Pee Wee King’s group called the Golden West Cowboys and, following the end of World II, Redd became the lead singer of that group replacing Eddie Arnold who had elected to pursue a solo career.
Mary Evelyn German was a native of McCaysville who sang with a local group. Her group won a talent contest and one of the prizes was a trip to Louisville to sing on the Stewart Brothers radio show. She and Slim hit it off and were married in October of 1942. They moved to McCaysville where Slim gained honest employment with the Tennessee Copper Company. It was into this musical environment that Bob Stewart was born in 1944. He quickly learned to play multiple musical instruments and discovered that he has a decent singing voice.
In addition to forming the Zots softball team in 1964. Bob Stewart also organized his first band called the Twilights. The Twilights became one of the most popular local bands and performed at numerous venues in the North Georgia and Southeastern Tennessee area for years. Bob was a member of other groups throughout the years and has been the Coordinator of the popular local Pickin’ in the Park endeavor since 2013.
Bob Stewart coached youngsters at all age levels in competitive athletics in the area for more than 40 years. He was instrumental in establishing the Tri-Counties Junior Basketball Program in 1977-78 and coached the Epworth junior varsity basketball team (ages 10 through 12) to the championship in their age division. He also coached several youth baseball teams including the Copperhill Braves in the Dixie Youth League in 1968.
Bob began officiating local baseball, football and basketball games in the mid-1960s. In 1987 he registered and qualified with the TSSAA (Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association) and began officiating basketball and football games for that group. He worked as a TSSAA football official for 27 years until his retirement in 2014. During that period he was selected to officiate Tennessee football state playoff games 12 seasons. He was named as the Tri-State Football Association Official of the Year in 2007. In football contests, Bob as generally given the assignment of Umpire. The Umpire is stationed behind the defensive line and linebackers which means that he is in the middle of the action on most running plays. It is a dangerous assignment, not for the faint of heart. In a 2014 playoff game Bob found himself too close to the action and was knocked cold in a collision with a big linebacker. He decided then and there that he should call it a career to protect his 70-year old body from further damage.
The Tennessee Copper Company shut down most of its operations in 1987. The Company that had been the life-blood of the area for a century was gone. Bob Stewart had served as a safety engineer at the Company for his final 13 years there and was able to land on his feet when he was hired by Maytag as a safety inspector. He retired from Maytag in 2004.
Shortly after his retirement from Maytag Bob Stewart met fate head-on when he encountered Bernie Hodskins in a local retail business. Hodskins was the Director of the up and coming Fannin County Recreation Department and asked Bob if he knew any local sports-minded individuals who might be interested in joining the Recreation Departmet as Athletic Director. The job was a natural for Bob and he signed on with the Department and worked out a schedule that would permit him to handle his duties at the Rec Center Complex and continue his TSSAA officiating duties as needed.
Bob remained with the Fannin County Recreation Department until his retirement from full-time duties in late 2018. He continues to devote a good deal of time to the Department, however, on a part-time basis.
Bob Stewart and Kathy Hensley met at the Teen Canteen in Copperhill and were married in 1966. They have two grown daughters, three grandchildren and one great grandchild. As of this writing, Kathy Stewart serves as the Mayor of the town of Copperhill, Tennessee. Bob prefers athletics to politics and leaves the statesmanship duties to his spouse.
