(Photo: Mike Organ / The Tennessean)
Nashville coach who created polka-dot uniforms dies
Mike Organ
morgan@tennessean.com
January 10, 2016

Longtime Metro coach Bill Brimm, who was known for creating Madison High's famous polka dot basketball uniforms, died Sunday afternoon. He was 92.
     Visitation will take place Saturday at Madison Middle School, formerly Madison High School, from 10 a.m. to noon. The funeral is at noon.
     After graduating from Central High (where he was three-sport star), Tennessee Tech and Peabody College, Brimm began his coaching career in 1949 at Goodlettsville as a football assistant under Bill Harris.
     He replaced Harris for two seasons as the head coach at Goodlettsville before leaving to become the head coach at Madison when it opened in 1953.

Coach Bill Brimm designed Madison's basketball uniforms, which featured 168 polka dots on each one. (Photo: Mike Organ / The Tennessean)
     Brimm also coached basketball and baseball at Madison through 1970, winning Nashville Interscholastic League championships in all three sports.
     In 1960, Brimm designed Madison’s orange, black and white basketball uniforms with 168 polka dots on each one, including the socks. His intent was to confuse the Rams’ opponents.
     The design made national news, and a story was written about it in the March 14, 1960, issue of Sports Illustrated.
     Brimm’s 1961 Madison basketball team advanced to the state tournament. His football teams participated in nine bowl games including the Clinic Bowl and won 28 consecutive games during one stretch.
     The football field and basketball court at Madison were named in honor of Brimm. He was inducted into the TSSAA Hall of Fame in 1999, the Tennessee Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2014 and is a member of the National Football Foundation and Metro Nashville Football Coaches Association halls of fame.
     He coached through the 1970 school year and then ended his teaching career as a guidance counselor at McGavock High in 1974.

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 and on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.
 

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