Few men are fortunate enough to labor in a career they love for their entire working life, especially when that career orbits around a beloved sport. Bill Dupes in one of those men and the sport is football.

There can be no doubt Bill Dupes loves football and football loves Bill Dupes. For any relationship that prospers for 60 years is ample proof of mutual love. And that's how long Bill Dupes has played and coached football. Thus on Feb. 19, 2010, at Nashville's Renaissance Hotel, coach Dupes will be inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. This will be the fourth Hall of Fame for Bill Dupes. 

He was chosen to the Tennessee Tech Hall of Fame in 1979, to the Austin Peay University Hall of Fame in 1999 and to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2003. In addition Coach Dupes received one of four 1994 Amateur Football Awards from the East Tennessee Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.

As Dupes' record shows, and as his teammates and players will attest, each is a singular and well-deserved honor.

Dupes retired in 1998 after 44 years on the sidelines and practice fields guiding young men in that rigorous game that teaches so much about life.

A story in The Advocate & Democrat told of his retirement from Sweetwater High School that year and said that, "after the end of this school year, Coach Dupes will be hanging up his whistle and putting away his play books and will begin his retirement."

In that story Coach Dupes is quoted thus; "It's hard to quit something you've spent your life doing, especially when you like it."

The coach's words, "hard to quit," proved to be prophetic and the following season he was on the sidelines and practice fields once more. Coach Dupes volunteered at Sweetwater High for three years and then spent another three as an assistant at Knoxville Catholic High.

This means Dupes spent a half-century as a football coach.

Four years as a player at Sweetwater High, 1943-1947; one year at Tennessee Military Institute, (TMI); four years at Tennessee Tech, 1948-1952; and one year of Army play adds 10 years to compile the 60-year relationship between football and Dupes.

Speaking of his upcoming induction into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, coach Dupes said, "This honor is very humbling and it's a really good feeling when people appreciate what you do."

Asked about special memories from his long time in football Coach Dupes related the following.

"I've been fortunate to work with some really good people - they are just as responsible for this honor as I am. And I've had very good athletes and good assistant coaches and that goes a long way toward the success I have had. And I've been around good coaches and that helped a lot as well. 

"Coach Wilburn Tucker gave me my first football job when I was young. But when I got started in this business, I got to watch practice with people like Bear Bryant at Alabama, Blanton Collier of Kentucky and the Browns and Tommy Protho of Tennessee and UCLA. I got to sit around and talk with them. I really enjoyed that, and saw and learned the things they did. They had such good athletes I thought I could not use the things they did, but it turned out I could.

"In college today it seems coaches think they must be enemies, but in my day we were good friends. Not on the field, but afterwards and I always enjoyed that."

Dupes described as a highlight of his career the coaching of Bonnie Sloan, a defensive tackle at Austin Peay.

"I recruited and signed Bonnie Sloan out of Isaac Litton High School in Nashville," said the coach. "Bonnie was an outstanding young man, a terrific athlete who excelled in football and academics in spite of a handicap. Bonnie Sloan was deaf."

Bonnie Sloan, a 6 '5" 260-pound defensive tackle, was drafted in the 10th round in 1973 by the National Football League's St. Louis Cardinals and was the first deaf player in NFL history.

Another fond memory for coach Dupes is his years at TMI. "I had lots of fun there and I really enjoyed helping get scholarships for all those good, young men," Dupes said.

One of the most special memories for coach Dupes is the 1993 Sweetwater Wildcat AA state championship team.

"When that group came in as freshmen I told the other coaches, 'This group can win it all.' And they did. We played an eight-game freshman schedule with them almost always against bigger schools. That meant lots of them played on Monday and again on Friday in the varsity game."

Assisting Dupes at Sweetwater that year were Steve Berrong, Mickey Berrong, Rex Rhodes and Bobby McKinnon. Of them Dupes said, "They did a really good job."

That 1993 AA championship, Sweetwater's third after consecutive Class A titles in 1971 and 1972, came with a 10-6 victory over West Tennessee's previously undefeated Milan Bulldogs on Vanderbilt University's Dudley Field. The Cats won that game with defense, a Bill Dupes trademark.

Senior defensive back Jamey Upton, named outstanding defensive player of the game, intercepted two passes and made a touchdown saving tackle late in the fourth quarter. Sweetwater held the Bulldogs at the 12-yard line after that but went three and out. 

On their ensuing possession, Milan threatened again but Cats' linebacker Jon Campbell made a leaping, one-handed interception with 1:08 to play to seal Sweetwater's victory.

Sweetwater's lone touchdown in the contest came after one of Jamey Upton's interceptions when Jeffery Upton threw a strike to Jeremy Parker in the end zone even though the Cats only had 10 men on the field. Gary Godin's extra point and 23-yard field goal accounted for Sweetwater's other points.

Bill Dupes started his relationship with football as a freshman at Sweetwater High in 1943 and started all four years at a time with no classification when schools of all sizes competed with one another. A tailback and linebacker, Dupes was captain of the Wildcats, All-East Tennessee and honorable mention All-State.

Playing in the 1947-48 season with TMI in the Post Graduate Program, Dupes won recognition on the All-Mid-South defensive team. 

After refusing a scholarship offer from UT, Dupes played at Tennessee Tech University from 1948-1952, where he started three years and was captain of the defensive team his senior year. A fullback, offensive guard and linebacker, Dupes was chosen All-Ohio Valley Conference on defense and was received honorable mention Little All-American in 1952.

After four years in ROTC at Tech, Dupes received a commission as a second lieutenant in the Army and served two years. As a player and coach of the base team Dupes was an all-conference linebacker. Some players on that team went on to the NFL.

Dupes' first collegiate coaching job was as a graduate assistant at Tennessee Tech in 1952-53, a team that played in the Tangerine Bowl and were co-champs of the Ohio Valley Conference.

Next came the Army service, followed by graduate assistant coaching position in 1955 at Tennessee Tech while Dupes completed a master's degree at George Peabody College in Nashville. Tech won the Ohio Valley Conference championship that season.

As an assistant coach at Tennessee Tech from '56-'62 Dupes helped guide the Golden Eagles to Ohio Valley co-championships in 1958 and 1959, and to the Tangerine Bowl in 1960. The Golden Eagles were conference champs in 1960 and 1961.

Dupes did double duty from 1956-1962 when he served as head track coach at Tech. His team won the Kentucky AAU meet in 1958, the Piedmont Relays in 1962 and never finished lower than second in the conference.

Dupes took his first collegiate football head coaching job at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., for the 1962-63 season. He took that team from a 0-10 record in 1961 to 6-4 in his season there.

From 1963-1972 Bill Dupes was head football coach at Austin Peay University. Chosen as Ohio Valley Conference coach of the year in 1964, Dupes took the Governors to a number three national ranking. During his tenure at Austin Peay 12 players made Little All-American and three went to the NFL.

In 1990 Dupes was honored by one of his former players, John Ogles, who gave Austin Peay $100,000 to establish the Bill Dupes Endowed Scholarship Fund.

Bill Dupes came home to Sweetwater as vice-president of TMI in 1976. He coached the TMI high school team for one year and then served five years as the post graduate coach.

In those five years under Dupes, TMI won 52 games and lost just five while playing Division 1 freshman teams including Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt and Auburn. The most memorable of those 52 wins is a 13-10 victory over Notre Dame.

At TMI Dupes coached five All-Americans, including Dale Jones of Tennessee fame and helped more than 200 players gain scholarships to colleges and universities.

Bill Dupes' longest and final head coaching position began in 1983 at his alma mater, Sweetwater High School.

Coach Dupes led the Cats with tremendous success in his 15 years at their helm and guided them to that 1993 AA Tennessee state championship. He was selected as the Tennessee AA coach of the year that same season.

Coach Dupes is also well thought of outside the football world. That is evidenced by a certificate of appreciation from the City of Sweetwater in 1998 and by a joint resolution by the Tennessee House and Senate in that same year.

The first portion of that resolution well describes coach Bill Dupes. It reads; "Whereas, the Tennessee General Assembly is proud to recognize the service rendered by our highly successful coaches, who work hard, provide exemplary motivation and train athletes to be good citizens...."

All-star player, championship coach, with more than 300 wins, four times chosen for a Hall of Fame and honored by city and state. All synonymous with Bill Dupes.