KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A legendary figure in the Fulton community, Bob Black, died Monday after a years-long battle with Alzheimer's, his daughter Kelley Black Seymour announced. He was 80 years old.
"My dad, our hero, 'Coach Bob Black,' entered into the Gates of Heaven this afternoon," Kelley Black Seymour said in a post on Facebook. "Many know he had suffered with Alzheimer's the past few years. He recently had a rapid decline in his condition."
Black served as a teacher, football coach and administrator for over 50 years, and Fulton's football field was renamed "Bob Black Field" in 1986.
The 1960 Fulton graduate returned to his alma mater to coach in 1965. Bob Black served as the head coach of the Fulton Football team for two years from 1969-1970. He got to coach his son, Rob Black, when Rob was on the team in the 1980s and then coached alongside Rob when the two were on the Falcons' coaching staff in the 2000s.
He was inducted into the TSSAA Sports Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.