By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Nine people will be inducted to the Union City High School Hall of Honors in halftime ceremonies of Friday night’s home-opening football game against Martin Luther King (Memphis) High School.
The honorees earned entry into the prestigious group via either making all state in their particular sport or playing for four years in college.
Heading this year’s list of inductees is Austin Jernigan, who met that criteria in two sports (football and track). A 2018 UCHS graduate, Jernigan was a member of the Tennessee Sports Writers Association Class 2A All State football team as an offensive lineman in 2017.
Before graduating the following May, he recorded a second-place finish in the discus in the Small Division State Track Championships in 2018.
The Hall of Honors is somewhat of a family tradition for the Jernigan family as Austin’s grandfather, Tommy; his father, Wright; his aunt, Jenny; and his brother, Tristian, are all already in the elite fraternity.
Justyn Johnson, meanwhile, finished runner-up in the shot-put in 2018 to also earn All State honors and inclusion in the Hall of Honors.
The Top 3 finishers in each state track and field event are designated as All-Staters by the TSWA.
Fullback Trey Jones and center Colton Quick, from UC’s fourth state football championship team in 2017, will also be honored after being chosen All State in their respective senior seasons. Quick, along with Jernigan, anchored an offensive line that paved the way for Jones’ record-setting season and the Tornadoes’ triple-option rushing attack.
Kaleb Craig, a standout fullback on last season’s Purple and Gold squad with more than 2,300 yards rushing, will give this year’s HOH class four football players.
Two past UCHS baseball standouts will also be honored in Peyton Edwards and Jared Woodward.
Edwards was a two-time choice for All State honors as a junior and senior and signed a scholarship at Freed-Hardeman University, where he is beginning his freshman season. He won 24 games on the hill in a Union City uniform.
Woodward shined both on the mound and at the plate in 2018 when he helped the Tornadoes to the program’s most-ever wins in a season and its first state tournament appearance in 23 years. An All Stater in his final prep campaign, Woodward signed to play at Three Rivers Community College and is a sophomore there this year.
Past UCHS girls’ basketball coach Eddie Suiter will also be inducted. Suiter led the Lady Tornadoes to their only modern-day state championship in 2013-14 when Union City went undefeated (37-0) and the Class 1A title. The Twister girls made the state tournament three straight seasons during one juncture of his nine-season UC tenure and he led the program to 173 victories during that time.
Raven Fair, who was a standout on a couple of Suiter’s teams, rounds out this year’s HOH Class. She completed her four-season playing career on the next level at Shorter (Ga.) College.
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