Today's star players and championship athletic program didn't get there without a lot of help from Union's rich sports heritage, established by a 175 years of Union success stories.

Ironically, many of Union's most famous sports stories come from the football program that ended in 1952.

In 1923, Native American Joe Guyon was hired as Football Coach of the Union Bulldogs. Before coming to Union, Guyon earned the reputation as one of the best Native American athletes in America, second only to Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe. Guyon played for Carlisle, the legendary Native American school, and then moved on to Georgia Tech. At Georgia Tech, he became a two-time All American tackle. Guyon was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in Notre Dame, Ind. and the National League Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Union was the first coaching post for the legendary Paul W. "Bear" Bryant. In 1936, Bryant came to Union as assistant to A.B. Hollingsworth. After getting his coaching feet wet in Jackson, Bryant went on to become one of the winningest football coaches in history at the University of Alabama. Just two years before Bryant, the Union football team clobbered the University of Mexico in Mexico City with a score of 32-6. The game drew 10,000 spectators.

From 1941-43, James Casey Jones played for Union and became the school's only All-American in football. Jones led Union to the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association title and was chosen as the starting quarterback for the South in the annual North-South game. Jones was also honored in the Associated Press' little college All American squad for the 1941-42 and 1942-43 seasons.

Charlie Homer Spain is the first and only Union graduate to be drafted into the National Basketball Association. Spain was recruited by the Minneapolis Lakers at the end of his senior year at Union. He graduated in 1952 with a bachelor of science. During his four years at Union, Spain played for menās basketball coaches Turney Ford and Robert Jelks. Though recruited heavily by other colleges as a senior at Clarksburg High School, Spain recalls Ford being the only coach to promise him four years of scholarship in spite of Achilles tendon problems. Spain battled the painful condition throughout high school; it ended his professional career early in his first season with the Lakers. Under Fordās and Jelksā leadership, Spain was named high scorer in the Volunteer State Athletic Conference twice during his college career and VSAC All Conference for three years. After the Lakers, Spain taught and coached basketball at Grove High School in Henry County, Tenn. Today he lives in Paris, Tenn., and gives motivational speeches to professional insurance conferences and athletic banquets.

In more recent history, Bob "Bull" "Cyclone" Sullivan made it to the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1984. A former Union football player, Sullivan was described by SI writer Frank Deford as "the toughest coach there ever was" for his old-fashioned discipline and passing attack technique he used during his career at East Mississippi Junior College in Scooba, Miss.

In 1993 Union All American infielder Luis Ortiz was called up to the major leagues by the Boston Red Sox. Ortiz was called up after being drafted in the eighth round by the Red Sox.