Mark Wiedmer started work at the Chattanooga News-Free Press on Valentine’s Day of 1983. At the time, he had to get an advance from his boss to buy a Valentine gift for his wife. Mark was hired as a graphic artist but quickly moved to sports, where he oversaw prep football for a time, won the “Pick’ em” box in 1985 and took over the UTC basketball beat the following year. By 1990, he was the newspaper’s lead sports columnist, a title he still holds today after a couple of Tennessee Sports Writer of the Year awards and a box full of other honors. He joined the staff of the Chattanooga Times Free Press when the Free Press and Times merged in 1999.
Mark hails from Hopkinsville, Ky., and graduated from Centre College.
Contact Mark at 423-757-6273. or mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.
Recent Stories »
So how do you hate LeBron James now?
With 200 yards to go in Saturday's Preakness Stakes, Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another looked like yet another pretender, apparently unable to do so much as win two legs of his sport's holy grail, much less become the first Triple Crown winner in 34 years.
The news first arrived in February. Chattanooga sports greats Gibby Gilbert II and Zan Guerry would be officially inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame this Saturday in Nashville.
Poor Florida State. The Seminoles aren't feeling the love they thought they'd receive from the Atlantic Coast Conference when they joined America's Cockiest Conference back in 1991. Duh.
The vast majority of this newspaper's subscribers live in Tennessee. Because Memphis is the largest city in Tennessee, it could be argued that we should all be Memphis Grizzlies fans whenever the NBA playoffs begin and the Griz are in the mix.
"Buckle up." Christie Baughman never failed to deliver that order to her son Tony whenever he slid into a car, either as a driver or a passenger.
Two months have passed since Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams' failed public pursuit of future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning.
The first media questions to Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt during the team's annual caravan stop in Chattanooga on Wednesday understandably focused on his surgically repaired right knee.
Could it be that the Atlanta Hawks have been playing possum against the Boston Celtics in the opening round of the NBA playoffs?
Just in case you didn't already know this, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning will complete perhaps the most cherished triple crown in professional football when he speaks to this newspaper's Best of Preps banquet at the Chattanooga Trade and Convention Center on June 7.
