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Three former University of Tennessee football players are among 10 2008 inductees into the Blount County Sports Hall of Fame.

Lon Herzbrun, Larry Johnston and Todd Upton will be honored at an Oct. 27 ceremony at the Airport Hilton along with Kim Bledsoe, James "Punky" Dalton, Tim George, Mike Matzek, Gene Reynolds, Sandy Sherlin and Jerry Thompson.

Herzbrun played guard at UT 1955-57 and returned to coach Vols linebackers Steve Kiner, Jack Reynolds, Jackie Walker and Jamie Rotella 1969-1976. He was Fulton High School's head coach 1963-1968.

Johnston looked like he would be one of Herzbrun's star linebackers, but a knee injury cut short the playing days for the former Maryville High School star. He went into boxing after 1968 and compiled a 25-3 record.

Upton was a star lineman at Alcoa High School and a starting guard at Tennessee in 1984 before an injury ended his career.

Bledsoe was the all-time leading scorer at Friendsville High School and is the girls' basketball coach at Maryville High School.

Dalton coached Alcoa High School to a Class 2A state championship in 1989 and was athletic director at Alcoa 1993-1999.

George turned a standout career at Alcoa High School into a football scholarship at Carson-Newman College. He was MVP of the NAIA National Championship game and was a third-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals for whom he played one year.

Gymnastics is where Matzek made his mark, participating with Stanford University 1984-1988. The Maryville High School grad was an All-American on the rings in 1988 and qualified for the Olympic Trials.

Reynolds was a three-sport athlete at Maryville College and played minor league baseball in Kingsport and with the Knoxville Smokies in the early 1950s.

Like Bledsoe, Sherlin was a basketball star at Friendsville High School and played at Hiwassee College and Tennessee Wesleyan.

Thompson was a three-year letterman at Maryville High School and played football at Middle Tennessee State University 1975-1980. He coached Maryville to a state baseball title in 1989 and was Maryville athletic director 1996-2007.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Blount County native, is the featured speaker at this year's induction ceremony.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.