Ralph Lee Hatley Sr. (April 3, 1913 – October 14, 2001) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and player. He served as the head football coach at

Memphis State University } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...

from 1947 to 1957, compiling a record of 60–43–5 in 11 seasons. As head coach, he led the Tigers to their first bowl appearance, a 32–12 victory in the 1956 Burley Bowl over East Tennessee State. A standout lineman under

Robert Neyland Robert Reese Neyland (; February 17, 1892 – March 28, 1962) was an American football player and coach and officer in the United States Army, reaching the rank of brigadier general. He served three stints as the head football coach at the Univ ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

from 1933 to 1935, Hatley also served as head coach at two

high schools, Dyersburg High School in Dyersburg, Tennessee and Christian Brothers High School in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

as well as an assistant coach at the

University of Tennessee at Martin The University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin or UTM) is a public university in Martin, Tennessee. It is one of the five campuses of the University of Tennessee system. UTM is the only public university in West Tennessee outside of Memphis ...

Early life

Hatley was born in

Trenton, Tennessee Trenton is the county seat and fourth largest city of Gibson County, Tennessee, Gibson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 4,264 at the 2010 census, down from 4,683 in 2000. History Trenton was established in 1824 as a county se ...

on April 3, 1913, and raised in

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States ...

. He starred as a player at Jackson High School before heading to

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

to play for legendary coach

. With the Volunteers, Hatley was an offensive lineman and a captain for the 1934 Tennessee Volunteers football team and also was selected to the all-SEC team that year. He was a teammate of Cecil Humphreys, who would later serve as athletics director at Memphis State who hired Hatley as head football coach.

Coaching career

After graduating from the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

, Hatley embarked on a coaching career, first at the

in 1936. From there, he returned to

west Tennessee West Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions (Tennessee), Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that roughly comprises the western quarter of the state. The region includes 21 counties between the Tennessee River, Tennessee and Miss ...

and took over as head coach at Dyersburg High School for four years before moving to Memphis to take the head coaching position at Christian Brothers High School. After Memphis State University did not field a football team from 1943 to 1946 due to the events surrounding

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, athletics director Cecil Humphreys turned to Hatley to lead the football program. One of his first moves as head coach was to name Billy Murphy as an assistant coach. Hatley's first Tigers team in 1947 had 38 freshmen, but still managed to earn a 6–2–1 record. In 1949, Hatley's Tigers outscored their opponents 385-87 throughout the season and led the nation in total points scored for the season. In 1949, Memphis State finished 9–2 and set a then-school record with 21,000 in attendance to watch the team play Ole Miss. Hatley hired Ken Donahue as line coach in 1951. During Hatley's tenure as head coach, Memphis State graduated 98% of its football players. In 1956, Hatley's Tigers made their first bowl appearance in school history in the final playing of the

Burley Bowl The Burley Bowl was a postseason college football bowl games, bowl game played from 1945 through 1956. It was held each year on Thanksgiving (United States), Thanksgiving Day in Johnson City, Tennessee, at the city's Memorial Stadium, which was dem ...

, a 32–12 victory over

East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 count ...

. Hatley retired as head coach after the 1957 season with a 60–43–5 record. He retired as the school's winningest head coach and remained so until he was surpassed by his successor in 1967.

After coaching

After retiring from coaching, Hatley was named chair of Memphis State's health, recreation and fitness department. He served as president of the Tennessee College Physical Education Association and was honored for his service with awards from the College of Physical Education of the United States and State of Tennessee Health and Physical Education Association. Hatley died on October 14, 2001, at age 88.

Personal life

Hatley was married to the former Ruth Wahli. Hatley's son, Ralph Lee Hatley, Jr., starred in football at Memphis State in the early 1970s before becoming a well-known

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

actor in the Memphis area.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatley, Ralph 1913 births 2001 deaths American football guards American football tackles Memphis Tigers football coaches Tennessee Volunteers football players UT Martin Skyhawks football coaches High school football coaches in Tennessee People from Jackson, Tennessee People from Trenton, Tennessee Players of American football from Tennessee