Bennie Jennings
Bennie Jennings was done with being a public law enforcement officer the way he was done helping out high school sports.
Which is to say, absolutely not at all.
Jennings, a former Lincoln County High School star football and basketball player, retired months back from the Tennessee Highway Patrol, after 26.5 years of service and rising to the role of Lieutenant for Criminal Investigations the last seven years.
But Jennings is again on the cusp of public service, set to be chief of police for Fayetteville beginning in October.
He’s still at area high school football fields every Friday night, and finding his way to various other local sporting events as time allows.
Jennings is also this month’s TSSAA Distinguished Service Award winner for his years of assistance in organizing, providing and overseeing security for myriad TSSAA State Championships events.
“It was important to me because I played sports growing up,” said Jennings of his desire to perpetually lend a helping hand for those state title events. “Here in Lincoln County, I think we lost just five games in those three years total from 1982 to ’85, and we were state champions in 1982 in football.
“But just my love of sports, that’s just the way of my life. Seeing what it means to our communities. Keeping my kids involved and getting them involved. Even today, I still go to high school games.”
A University of North Alabama Hall of Famer who had professional football stints with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Bucs and World League’s Sacramento Surge, Jennings through his decades of public service always carried with him lessons from his days playing sports.
Lessons he says continue today to transcend time and locations.
“The No. 1 thing was unity; it didn’t matter about race or anything,” Jennings said. “If you played a team sport, everybody loved everybody. That’s the great thing about coming back home, because all my high school teammates, we’ve kept up with each other over the years. We’re all still like brothers. We talk often, I’ve got to get over to Giles County, David O’Connor, head coach there, graduated and played football together here. Don Thomas, who is his principal, played football and graduated with us here.
“Even after 40 years, if I needed anything at all or anyone needed anything, all you had to do was call. Just call and we’ll be there for each other. Teams that win championships together, you have to have unity, you have to be close.”
Jennings, who also raises beef cattle, points to his humble beginnings on his grandparents’ farm, as well as the tireless work ethic of his parents, as to why he’s not too interested in slowing down these days or staying in retirement.
“My mother (Jane Vance-Jennings) was a chef and cooked and cleaned houses, my father (Bennie Jennings Jr.) was a construction worker, always had to be gone two to three weeks at a time for work because there wasn’t really anything around these parts, and then when he came home, he also always worked on the weekends,” he said. “I was raised on my grandparents’ farm (Annie and James Rufus Buchanon), and it was a working farm with chores for everybody.
“If you didn’t help, you didn’t eat. I can remember from the time I was 6 or 7 being taught how to milk cows and by 7 or 8 I was on my own milking them.”
The work ethic seemingly is ingrained in the Jennings family DNA at this point. His son, Jauan, is a star wideout with the San Francisco 49ers after a standout-career at Tennessee – made most famous by Jennings’s game-winning Hail Mary catch in the Vols’ 2016 win at Georgia.
But he’s also shown a propensity for remembering his roots and helping give back; earlier this year, Jauan Jennings made a significant donation to his prep alma mater, Blackman High School, to aid the school’s football and cheerleading programs.
“There are no words for it, because that’s just something I’ve always known and tried to instill in my kids, to always do the right thing and give back,” Bennie Jennings said. “Especially when Jauan came back this year and gave the football and cheerleading squads money ($10,000) to help them operate.
“It gives me chills to think about it. Because you never forget where you came from. I’ve often thought about this a lot, I’ve been all over the state and been around in work and in school, and whenever I’m asked where I’m from, I proudly say Lincoln County or Fayetteville, Tennessee. I always had a desire to come back and help out in the community. That’s why I am where I am today, because the community and everybody pitched in.”
TSSAA proudly salutes Bennie Jennings for his years of service and contributions at TSSAA events and student-athletes.
