The Early Years

Born on October 6, 1877 in Milton, Florida, Hubert Frederick Fisher was the third head coach at the University of Tennessee and later served as a member of the United States House of Representatives.

From a young age Fisher was both academically and athletically gifted, first attending the University of Mississippi in Oxford, and then moving on to Princeton University.

At Princeton, he played on the college football team whilst completing his Master of Arts degree.

Having achieved great success playing college football, he became the head football coach at the University of Tennessee, following in the footsteps of Gilbert Kelly. Both Kelley and Fisher played college football at Princeton before taking up the position of head coach for the Volunteers.

Coaching History & Timeline

Fisher coached at the University of Tennessee for two seasons, starting in 1902, after graduating from Princeton.

He had a great first season, with both of the Volunteers’ opening matches going with out losing a single point. Their first victory was against King University where they won 12-0, followed a week later with a win against the Maryville Scots, beating them 34-0.

His first loss as Head Coach came against renowned Vanderbilt University on October 25, 1902. The Volunteers lost this game 5-12, but quickly bounced back winning their next four games. Their talent as a team, and his talent as a coach was exemplified again, only dropping sixteen points in total over these next four games. This included going two straight games against Sewanee and Nashville without dropping a point.

The last game of the season was a bad loss to the Clemson Tigers, but it still meant that Fisher coached the Volunteers to an overall strong record for the season. Also a strong feat was the fact that Fisher and his team won all their away games for the season.

1903 was Hubert Fisher’s last season at Tennessee, and unfortunately it was a losing one, finishing at 4-5 overall. Having started the season so successfully with consecutive wins, again without dropping points, against Maryville University and Carson-Newman, the Volunteers failed to score any points in their next two matches. Their first two losses were difficult to comprehend, losing 0-40 against Vanderbilt and 0-24 against South Carolina.

It was a real all-or nothing season for Fisher, as during the last two wins, the Volunteer’s went 10-0 and 11-0 against Nashville and Georgia Tech. However, they also lost their remainder matches 0-5, 0-17 and 0-24.

Compared to the first season as Head Coach Fisher’s second and final season was disappointing, especially having lost two home games without scoring a single point.

Fisher left the University of Tennessee at the end of this second season, taking up the position of Head Coach at The University of Nashville for just one season in 1904.

Yet again, he and his team had a strong start, beating the Tennessee Docs 21-0 at Peabody Field on October 8, 1904. But, this didn’t last with the next four games consisting of one tie and three losses. Similar to his final season coaching the Volunteers, the losses at Nashville were brutal, with the Garnet and Blue team unable to score a single point until their next win against Central University.

Life After Coaching

After a few years as a Head Coach, Fisher tapped into his academic skill set and passed the bar in 1904. Having moved to Memphis at this point, he successfully obtained a position at one of the most prestigious law firms in the city, Carroll and McKellar.

Fisher gradually moved into politics, becoming a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1912. This was followed by him becoming a member of the Tennessee Senate between 1913 and 1914, and then he served as the United States District Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, for three years.

His political career went from strength to strength and he served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 10th congressional district of Tennessee between 1917 and 1931.

After suffering from deafness, Fisher retired from politics and moved to Germantown, Tennessee where he went into the nursery business.

While in New York for a reunion with his Princeton classmates, Hubert Fisher passed away suddenly from a heart attack on June 16, 1941.