Herschel Lynn Greer

Herschel Lynn Greer (1906–1976, born in Dickson County, Tennessee), was a prominent businessman and the first president of Vols Inc., an ownership group organized in 1959 for the purpose of keeping the Nashville Vols minor league baseball franchise in city-state|Nashville|Tennessee.

Greer worked in the financial sector, co-organizing Guaranty Mortgage Company in 1940. He served as its President and Chairman of the Board until 1969. In January 1959, Greer and thirteen other Nashville businessmen, including country music star Eddy Arnold, formed Vols Inc. The company sold 4,876 shares of stock at $5 each. Vols Inc. was successful in keeping the team in Nashville from 1959 to 1961. The Southern Association, of which the Vols were members, collapsed in 1961, and as a result the team did not play in 1962. In 1963 the Vols played one season in the South Atlantic League, which would be their last. The team had a debt of $22,000 that could not be paid, forcing the ownership group to surrender their franchise to the league. This was the last year that professional baseball was played at Sulphur Dell, the home of the Vols.

Greer died in 1976. Two years later, in 1978, Larry Schmittou brought the Nashville Sounds, an expansion team of the Southern League, to Nashville. The Greer family donated $25,000 for construction of the team's new stadium. The new ballpark was named "Herschel Greer Stadium" in his honor.

References

*"Herschel Greer Stadium." [http://www.nashvillesounds.com/clubhouse/default.asp?pageId=183 "The 2008 Nashville Sounds Media Guide".] 2008: 180.
*Nipper, Skip. "Baseball in Nashville". Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2007.