Herschel Lynn Greer | |
---|---|
Born | August 24, 1906 |
Died | (aged 69)[1] Houston, Texas, U.S.[2] |
Occupation(s) | Founder of Guaranty Mortgage Company President ofVols, Inc. |
Herschel Lynn Greer (August 24, 1906 – March 19, 1976)[2] was a prominentbusinessman and the first president of Vols, Inc., an ownership group organized in 1959 for the purpose of keeping theNashville VolsMinor League Baseball franchise inNashville,Tennessee.[2]
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, includingcountry music starEddy Arnold, formed Vols, Inc. The company sold 4,876 shares of stock at$5 each. Vols, Inc. was successful in keeping the Nashville Vols in the city from 1959 to 1961. TheSouthern Association, of which the Vols were members, collapsed after the 1961 season. The team did not play in 1962. In 1963, the Vols played one final season in theSouth Atlantic League. 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 atSulphur Dell ballpark, the home of the Vols, before it was demolished in 1969.[3]
Herschel Greer died from cancer on March 19, 1976, in the M.D. Anderson Research Institute inHouston, Texas. He was 69 years old. He is buried in Nashville’s Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum.[2]
Two years later, in 1978,Larry Schmittou brought theNashville Sounds, an expansion team of theDouble-ASouthern League, to Nashville. The Greer family donated $25,000 for construction of the team's new stadium. The ballpark was namedHerschel Greer Stadium in his honor. It served as the home of the Sounds from 1978 through 2014, after which they left the stadium for a new stadium,First Tennessee Park, built on the site of Sulphur Dell.[4] Greer Stadium was demolished in 2019.[5]