Vanderbilt athletic director and vice chancellor Candice Story Lee will become only the fifth woman to receive the National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame Middle Tennessee Chapter’s top award at the organization’s 2026 banquet on Feb. 22.
Lee, a former Vanderbilt basketball standout, will receive the Fred Russell Distinguished American Award at the 57th annual banquet at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs. She is the first woman to receive the award since 2019.
After David Williams retired in 2020, Lee became the SEC’s first Black female athletic director and, over the last five years, has elevated the Commodores‘ sports programs to unprecedented heights, including:
Lee also oversaw a $300 million campaign that paid for upgrades to FirstBank Stadium and Hawkins Field, an indoor football facility, and new basketball operations.
After playing at Vanderbilt, Lee began her career in athletics administration in 2002, first as an academic adviser and later as compliance director under Williams. She was promoted to senior woman administrator in 2004.
The women before Lee who received the Fred Russell Distinguished American award were Frances Carter (1976), Martha Ingram (2006), Margaret Rhea Seddon (2016), and Mari Linfoot (2019).
Former Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers will be presented with the C.R. Bickerstaff/Bill Pace University Scholar-Athlete award at the National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame banquet. Stowers won the 2025 John Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end and the William V. Campbell Trophy as college football’s premier scholar-athlete.
Longtime TSSAA assistant director Richard McWhirter will receive the Roy Kramer Contribution to Football award. McWhirter, a former basketball and softball official, joined the TSSAA in 2010 and currently serves as assistant executive director, overseeing the middle school division as well as high school football, cross-country and track and field.
Nate Fleming is a former Battle Ground Academy interior lineman who signed with Vanderbilt and will receive the Bob Sullins Inspiration Award.
Other award recipients include Montgomery Bell Academy’s Porter Ragle (Admiral William P. Lawerence), Providence Christian Academy’s Cooper McFarland (Joe L. Worden/Jack Redgren Courage), Stratford’s Jaxyn Law (Jim Barrom Spirit), Eagleville’s David Harrison (Harold “Cotton” Clark/Scott Brunette Spirit), Rob Hosier (Rick Regen Community Volunteer), Greg Morgan (Art Demmas Outstanding Official), and Terrance Malone (Bonnie Sloan Courage).
The James “Boots” Donnelly University Scholar-Athlete honorees are Eli Stowers (Vanderbilt), Christian Thomas (Tennessee Tech), Parker Hughes (Middle Tennessee State), Braelen Perry (Tennessee State), Boston Follis (Cumberland), Buck Hardin (University of the South.
If you have an item for Midstate Chatter, contact Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
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