The TSSAA Spring Fling will once again take place in Rutherford County this year. It is truly a one-of-a-kind event that involves high school athletes throughout Tennessee; all of whom visit and often stay the night in our community while participating in various sports.
TSSAA is the only high school athletic organization in the United States to have a seven-sport, Olympic-style spring sport championship tournament for baseball, softball, track and field, team and individual tennis and soccer.
This year marks the 28th Anniversary for the Spring Fling.
The events will take place May 25th through the 28th. The Spring Fling is expected to draw 30,000 visitors into our community and have an economic impact on Rutherford County of $3.5 million.
History of Spring Fling:
It was Middle Tennessee State track and field coach, Dean Hayes and Merrill Eckstein, president of the Greater Chattanooga Sports & Events Committee that in the early 1990s convinced TSSAA Executive Director Ronnie Carter to pursue organizing the spring sports championships into a one-week, single-city event. Carter was keen to the idea, but the thought of finding a single city with suitable venues for all the sports seemed impossible.
Carter felt it was only fair to invite cities statewide to bid on the event. In 1993, the cities of Clarksville, Nashville, and Chattanooga made proposals to the nine-member TSSAA Board of Control and the City of Chattanooga was awarded the 1994 Spring Fling.
The initial three-year contract was eventually extended for a fourth year. Seven cities bid for the event in 1997 and Chattanooga was selected to host for an additional five years, beginning in 1998.
In the spring of 2003, Spring Fling moved to Memphis. After a three-year stint in Memphis, Spring Fling moved to Murfreesboro in 2006 and has remained there to this date.
