Few can rival the resume of former Central High football player and coach Rick Barker. After a stellar career as a tackle at CHS in which he was named First Team All West Tennessee and Honorable Mention All State, Rick attended the University of Chattanooga on a football scholarship. While there, he became a four-year starter at defensive tackle from 1963-67, and was elected captain of the team during his senior campaign. In 1971 he served as a graduate assistant football coach at the University of Southern Mississippi before returning to Central High as head football coach in 1972. Over the next several years he went on to serve in administration at the school while fulfilling a variety of coaching duties. 

R.C. Johnson was a teacher and coach for 46 years, many of them during the 1950’s and 1960’s at Central High School in Savannah. During his career, Coach Johnson took eight boys’ basketball teams and one girls’ basketball team to the state tournament. In 1963 he led both the boys’ and girls’ teams from Central High to the state tournament, one of his most impressive coaching feats. In 1992 he was inducted into the TSSAA Hall of Fame, and in 2000 he was named one of the Coaches of the Century. Coach Johnson passed away in February 2001.