Kingsport is a small city hidden in Sullivan County in Tennessee, USA. With a population of approximately 44,000 people, Kingsport was designed and planned by John Nolen of Cambridge earning the name of garden city. As a result of this plan the city is organized into a well rounded structure containing separate areas for residential areas, churches, commerce zones and industrial zones. It was this city that popularized traffic circles and built a school system based on a model developed by the Columbia University.
The populace of this area has a combination of African Americans, Whites, Asians, Native Americans and Hispanics. There is a school district that goes by the name of Kingsport City Schools and houses one preschool, one high school, seven elementary schools, one alternative school and 2 middle schools. Together with these schools, Kingsport also offers eight private academies. Although there are no colleges or universities that are housed in Kingsport, The University of Tennessee, the East Tennessee State University as well as the Northeast State Technical Community College have their branch campuses in this area.
The East Tennessee State University along with the University of Tennessee are the two universities that have an active athletics and sports arm. As Kingsport is really a small city the people take interest in most of the college sports plays there as well as in the nearby areas. East Tennessee State University or ETSU as it is also known as is a part of the Tennessee Board of Regents system of colleges and universities and has a functional medical school, a college of pharmacy and is also credited with the title of being one of Americas best value colleges.
The athletic team in the college goes by the name of the Buccaneers. They participate in the NCAA Division I Atlantic Sun Conference. They have been successful in winning a number of titles both in the mens and womens categories. The leading sports this college plays are baseball, basketball, football, tennis, track and field, softball and golf.
The University of Tennessee is headquartered in Knoxville and contains nine undergraduate departments together with eleven graduate departments. It possesses a student population of more than 28000 students from over fifty states within the United States and from 100 foreign countries. The University of Tennessee carries with it an illustrious football tradition and is also considered the states highest center of learning aside from being the primary economic propellant.
The University of Tennessee continues to be champions in football taking part in the Southeastern Conferences eastern Division. They have longstanding sports rivalries with the Universities of Georgia, Kentucky, Florida, Vanderbilt and South Carolina. They’ve also won several National Championships and feature some very prominent names such as Peyton Manning who has been the Super bowl Champion and NFL athlete Reggie White.
These two were a few of the few athletes who began their careers at the University of Tennessee campus. Their womens basketball team has also been consistent winners of the NCAA Division I titles and are arch rivals with Georgia, LSU and Vanderbilt.
All of the news on the sports action that surrounds these colleges is brought to Kingsport by the Kingsport Times News. This local paper is among the major publications of Northeast Tennessee and has been in publication since 1916 with an average daily circulation of 44,000 copies.
