In 2024, Dennis Waters returned to campus as a member of the UTC Police Department. Photo by Angela Foster.
There is nothing more satisfying for a football placekicker than watching a ball soar through the uprights.
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Police Department Corporal and former Mocs kicker Dennis Waters explained that the moment is almost instantaneous.
“When you make contact with the ball, you know if it’s going to go or not,” Waters said.
The Mocs football team’s current placekicker, Jude Kelley, recently surpassed Waters (40) in career field goals made.
“I’m sure the kicker they have now, Kelley, who’s very, very good, will tell you the same thing,” Waters said.
1988 football headshot.
On Oct. 24, Kelley kicked a school-record 57-yard field goal against Western Carolina University. Coming into the 2026 season, Waters had recorded two of UTC’s seven 50-plus-yard field goals, both from 52 yards.
Waters learned to kick barefoot and used his ingenuity to simulate how kicking would feel in games.
“When I was a kid, I built some wooden goalposts in my front yard when I was probably around 10 or 11 and just started kicking,” Waters said. “I didn’t know the first thing about it. Self-taught and never played soccer, I just got out in the front yard and learned how to kick. I used a piece of PVC pipe as my tee when I first started.”
The Chattanooga native attended City High School before joining UTC’s football team in 1985.
“I walked on my freshman year,” Waters said. “I wasn’t even supposed to be at practice until the season started, but I was down on the practice field kicking one afternoon. A couple of coaches saw me and told me to come on in when the other players came in. I came in in August back when we had two-a-days.
“I did kickoffs my freshman year, then between my freshman and sophomore year, Head Coach Buddy Nix had a school here for kickers on the former Chamberlain Field. He sent me to that and it was very, very helpful. It was one of the best schools for kicking, and he sent me through that since they hosted it. Between my freshman and sophomore year is when he offered me the scholarship.”
Dennis Waters kicking a game-winning field goal against Furman University on Sept. 26, 1987. Photo courtesy of the University Echo through UTC Special Collections.
Waters studied criminal justice, a field he’d been passionate about since childhood, and knew he wanted to become either a police officer or a professional kicker.
“I don’t know why or how,” he said. “Everybody tried to deter me, but here I am 33 years later still doing it.”
Waters played from 1985 through 1988. During his senior year, his wife gave birth to their daughter, Nikki, who later followed in her father’s athletic footsteps, playing on the UTC softball team from 2010 to 2011.
After his daughter was born, Waters decided not to return to school that spring and began working to support his family. He spent 14 years with the Chattanooga Police Department and another 16 years with the Soddy-Daisy Police Department before returning to campus in 2024 as a member of UTCPD.
“Dennis has been a great addition to the UTC Police Department,” said UTC Deputy Chief of Police Matt Holzmacher. “He brings many years of supervisory and investigative experience and a commitment to encourage and train other officers with fewer years in law enforcement. We are grateful that Dennis decided to return to UTC after serving in law enforcement roles across Hamilton County during his career.”
As UTC prepares for its Homecoming game against Mercer University on Nov. 7, Waters said Homecoming week “brings back a lot of memories.”
“My final Homecoming here when we played on Chamberlain Field was against ETSU and I kicked four field goals in that game,” he recalled. “We blew them out. That was a fun time. That’s the only one I remember because it was my senior year. I mean, there were others, but it just meant another day that I had to go out and perform.”
For Waters, the biggest differences since he was a student on campus have been the new facilities.
“I did go downstairs in the arena to look at their dressing room compared to ours,” Waters said. “Oh Lord, huge difference. Theirs looked like NFL dressing rooms and ours were literally nothing. We had wooden benches and stuff to hang your pads and helmet.”
While campus has changed, Waters still holds onto memories of his time as a student-athlete and now attempts to show students that he was once where they are.
“We try to show the kids here that we’re just like them, just older,” Waters said. “It’s fun to work down here; it just brings back memories.”
Cpl. Dennis Waters brings over 30 years of experience to UTCPD.
Learn more
