Chris Dortch and students in his narrative nonfiction class in Lupton Hall. Dortch, a member of the UTC faculty since 2018, will be inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame in April. Photo by Angela Foster.
Not many professors will claim to have “street cred.”
Then again, Chris Dortch isn’t your typical instructor.
Dortch, an adjunct faculty member in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Communication since 2018, has been a sports writer since 1978. He was a college basketball beat reporter at four newspapers, and his work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, NBA.com, The Athletic, Lindy’s, Athlon’s, the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and SEC Sports.com—among others.
For the last 26 years, he has been the editor and publisher of the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, considered a “must-have” for college basketball reporters and editors as part of their regular season and NCAA tournament preparation.
He has published six books, played a sportswriter in the movie “42” and served as a commentator on the NBA draft for NBA TV and Fox Sports South.
And he’s about to be inducted into the United States Basketball Writers Association’s Hall of Fame.
Yes, Dortch has street cred.
“He’s clearly someone who has accomplished a lot in his field, but it’s not something that he brags about or is condescending in any way,” said UTC senior Josh Price, a communication major from Hendersonville, Tennessee. “He presents in a way that makes us want to go up there with him and he provides plenty of avenues for us to reach what he has reached.
“He’s made it clear that he doesn’t have to be a professor, but he just genuinely loves it. He wants to help people, and it’s been super impactful for me. I don’t consider him my professor; I consider him my life coach.”
Britain Jones, a psychology major with a minor in communication, initially signed up to take Dortch’s sports writing class on the recommendation of one of her sorority mates.
She was like, ‘He’s a great professor, don’t worry about it. Even if you’re not into sports, do it,’” said Jones, a senior from Hernando, Mississippi. “After the first day of school, I called my mom after class and said, ‘This is going to be so cool.’
“The first day of class, he said, ‘I’m going to be the best professor you’ve ever had, and if I’m not, then let me know what I need to change.’ He actually was the best professor I’ve had and has started to convince me a little bit more to pursue a career in writing.”
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Dortch, previously a 2022 inductee into the Tennessee Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame, has been writing about sports since graduating from East Tennessee State University in 1978. After stints at the Kingsport Times-News and the Johnson City Press, he was a columnist and beat reporter for the Chattanooga Times from 1987 to 1999, covering Tennessee basketball and golf.
Chris Dortch
While his path to sports writing was straightforward—“I grew up knowing what I wanted to do, even from age 5,” he said—his path to the classroom almost never came to be.
On Dec. 16, 1984, a twin-engine chartered airplane carrying Dortch and members of the East Tennessee State University basketball team crash-landed at Walker County Airport in Jasper, Alabama.
The plane burst into flames after the 33 people onboard were evacuated, leaving the craft gutted, according to witnesses.
Dortch was not injured.
“You survive a thing like that, and you just feel like there’s got to be a reason,” Dortch said. “I just thought the reason was, ‘I need to help people,’ and I didn’t want to waste a second of the time that I won back.
“Since then, I’ve tried to help young journalists get jobs.”
While building his own career, Dortch worked closely to mentor aspiring sports writers. He also dabbled in teaching at the college level, both at ETSU and in the spring of 2009 and 2010 at UTC.
In 2018, he was approached by UTC Department of Communication Associate Lecturer Billy Weeks about taking a regular turn in the classroom to teach sports writing. “We talked about it over lunch and it was a done deal.”
Since that meal, Dortch has added a second career, this one of the non-tenure-track faculty variety, by teaching a sports writing course at UTC every fall and spring semester—until now.
This semester, he is teaching narrative nonfiction, a genre using storytelling techniques such as character development, plot and location to portray real-life events, experiences and information. Think Truman Capote, Tom Wolfe or Jon Krakauer.
The technique, Dortch said, appeals to him because “I like film and books and short stories and stuff.”
After first being introduced to the technique by a writing coach during his Chattanooga Times days, “I started learning all I could about narrative nonfiction,” he recalled. “I wouldn’t say it’s been on the back burner, but it’s been something that I’ve just really delved into over the last couple of decades or so—and I got to the point where I felt I was qualified to teach it.”
He said the communication department is testing the course as a special topic this spring, “and we’ll see where it goes.” Almost all of the students in the narrative nonfiction class had Dortch for sports writing, so they knew what to expect from him.
“He allows me to be honest,” said Jones, in her second straight semester with Dortch as an instructor. “During that sports writing class, I maybe wrote one essay on sports; he allowed me to talk about what I wanted to talk about.
“He gives us full creativity and I really appreciate that.”
Price took sports writing in spring 2023 and jumped at the opportunity to have Dortch again.
“When I heard he was teaching another class, I was like, ‘I need to be there,’” Price said. “One of my favorite quotes that he said a year ago when I had him the first time was, ‘You know you love writing the story when it’s hard to stop.’ Writing assignments for him, it’s tough to stop.”
Dortch said that teaching and being a working journalist has helped his own writing.
“I think I’m writing better than I ever have in my life,” he said, “and it’s because I’ve been able to study what I make them study—some of the great writers in sports.
“I don’t feel like I’m God’s gift to the profession, but because I’m a working journalist, I can bring back stories from pounding the pavement to these kids and say, ‘Here’s how I did it. You may want to think about doing it this way.’ I think that gives me some street cred with them.”
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When Dortch was notified by USBWA President Brendan Quinn and USBWA Executive Director Malcolm Moran that he was selected for the organization’s Hall of Fame, “they were almost giggling at how excited I was.”
“I’m sure everybody that gets this is appreciative, but I don’t think you’ll find anybody that’s more appreciative of it than I am,” Dortch said. “It’s just sort of a validator of … you spend your whole life doing something and you’re proud of the body of work that you’ve left behind.
“For it to be recognized like that—and some of the best basketball writers in history are in (the USBWA Hall of Fame)—yes, it’s big, and I’m pretty excited about it.”
Dortch and three other Hall of Fame honorees will be recognized at an April 8 luncheon in Glendale, Arizona, the Monday of the NCAA men’s basketball national championship game.
“I’m sure we’re all going to be cheering and clapping when he returns,” Jones said.
Price laughed when asked if the recognition would change Dortch.
“I don’t think anything is going to change much because, in my mind, he’s already a Hall of Famer,” Price said. “Being a professor, a friend, a life coach, a mentor, he’s already in Josh Price’s Hall of Fame.”
Learn More
UTC Department of Communication
UTC instructor elected to Tennessee Sports Writers Hall of Fame
Senior psychology major Britain Jones on Chris Dortch: “The first day of class, he said, ‘I’m going to be the best professor you’ve ever had, and if I’m not, then let me know what I need to change.’ He actually was the best professor I’ve had and has started to convince me a little bit more to pursue a career in writing.”
