Belmont basketball's all-time leading scorer Joe Behling going into Tennessee Sports HOF

Belmont basketball’s all-time leading scorer Joe Behling going into Tennessee Sports HOF

Posted by author February 26, 2025 Sports

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Joe Behling, a three-time NAIA All-American and Belmont’s all-time leading scorer, has been inducted into the Tennessee State Sports Hall of Fame.
Behling led Belmont to its first national tournament appearance in 1989, scoring a school-record 58 points against Lipscomb.
Jalyn Holcomb, a former Riverdale star, became Lipscomb University’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing Jenna Bartsokas’s record of 1,411 points.
Holcomb also set the school record for 3-pointers made in a game with nine against Queens.
“Burro Run,” a book by Richard Herzog about Hillsboro’s 2003 state championship football season, is now available in paperback.

Joe Behling started late but finished great.

After waiting to join the Hillwood basketball team in his senior season following a late growth spurt when he went from 5-foot-11 as freshman to almost 6-6, Behling walked on at Belmont with just one year of experience on the court.

Then after being a part-time starter as a Belmont freshman, Behling became the Bruins’ first player named NAIA All-American three times (1988, 1989, 1990) and the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,823 points.

Behling has now been named to the Tennessee State Sports Hall of Fame after becoming only the second player in Belmont history to have his uniform number (54) retired.

Behling was the NAIA National Player of the Year his junior season after scoring 1,071 points including a school-record 58 points against rival Lipscomb in a game that earned Belmont its first berth in the national tournament.

Behling joins Ron Slay, Derrick Mason, Chris Woodruff, Deon Grant, Doug Mathews, Stephen Gostkowski, Larry Kenon, Priscilla Gary Sweeney, the late Ronnie Robinson, the late Phillip Clark, Tony Allen, Elston Turner, George Pitts and Bob Brown in this year’s hall of fame class. The full class will be released in the coming weeks.

The induction ceremony will be July 19 at the Omni Nashville Downtown. Table and sponsorship opportunities are available at tshf.net.

As a senior at Belmont, Behling played in the legendary Belmont-Lipscomb Battle of the Boulevard game that was moved to Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gym because it had become so popular. He scored a game-high 45 points in the game played in front of 15,378 fans.

“Joe Behling was a dominant force on the court for Belmont and helped shape the program’s legacy,” Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame executive director Brad Willis said. “His scoring ability and impact on Belmont basketball make him a deserving inductee.”

Behling played professionally in France and Argentina and in the CBA under former Middle Tennessee State coach Bruce Stewart before his career was ended by a knee injury.

Behling, who is now a Metro school teacher, is also in the Belmont Athletic Hall of Fame and the NAIA Hall of Fame.

Former Riverdale star Jalyn Holcomb becomes Lipscomb women’s basketball all-time leading scorer

Jalyn Holcomb became Lipscomb University’s all-time NCAA Division I leading scorer by scoring 12 points against Bellarmine on Feb. 13.

It gave the former Riverdale star and daughter of former MTSU and NFL quarterback Kelly Holcomb 1,412 career points. She surpassed Jenna Bartsokas, who scored 1,411 points from 2007-11.

In the following game Holcomb, a senior, set the school record for 3-pointers made in a game with nine vs. Queens. She had 30 points in that game.

Holcomb became Lipscomb’s all-time leading 3-point shooter earlier this season surpassing Anna Bowers, who had 207 from 2008-12.

Book on Hillsboro’s 2003 football state championship available in paperback

“Burro Run,” a historical fiction book written by Richard Herzog about Hillsboro football’s 2003 Class 4A state championship run, is now available in paperback.

Herzog was the defensive coordinator on Ron Aydelott’s staff when the Burros went 14-1 including a 21-0 win over Morristown West in the BlueCross Bowl Class 4A championship game. Other’s on the staff included Jay Gore, Mose Phillips, Terry Hemontoler and Ty Finch.

The Burros became only the third Metro Public Schools program to win a state championship since Overton in 1981 and Pearl-Cohn in 1996 and 1997.

The 225-page book is available at Dorrance Publishing.

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