Assistant Sports Information Director
Chris Cannon (Maryville College, ’12)
Chris Cannon begins his seventh season with the Scots in 2020-21 after joining the Maryville College athletic staff full-time during the 2014-15 academic year.
Cannon served as a student-assistant within the Maryville College Athletic Communications office from 2008 through 2012, as he also served as a work-related assistant for the college from 2012-2014, keeping statistics for football, basketball and volleyball. Since joining the staff full time, Cannon has aided the department in graphic design, statistics and stories for mcscots.com.
This LaFollette, Tenn. native was honored by CoSIDA in the summer of 2020 during the organization's 2019-20 CoSIDA Publications & Design Contest. He won first and second place nationally in the infographic athlete/award feature across college divisions Shannon Reagan's USA South Player of the Year and CoSIDA Academic All-America Team graphics. Cannon also placed 10th in the same category with his 700-win graphic for Wall of Fame Coach Randy Lambert, while his 2019 women's volleyball poster finished first within the district and eighth nationally for the fall/winter/spring posters within the college division.
Cannon came to the college from the LaFollette Press in Campbell County, Tenn. He served as Sports Editor at the newspaper for more than two years, showing a growth in the section from an average of three pages to an average of ten. For the 2013 year, Cannon helped to lead the LaFollette Press to 15 Tennessee Press Association awards, including the top award in the state — General Excellence. Cannon won eight awards, including first in Best Sports Coverage, Best Feature Photo, and Best Feature Section.
During Cannon’s time as a student at Maryville College, he majored in Writing & Communications, while serving as the photography editor for the Highland Echo during his senior year. Cannon interned at the Blount Today, covering Maryville College athletics, as well as local high schools. In 2010, Cannon was awarded the Ken Kribbs Award — an award given to exhibit dedicated service towards the preservation of the History of Maryville College Athletics.
Before graduation in 2012, Cannon wrote his thesis entitled “History of Maryville College Basketball: The Randy Lambert Era.” The 220-page thesis covered more than 25 of Lambert’s 38 years of coaching at Maryville College.
In his spare time, Cannon enjoys nature and wildlife photography within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He's been honored and published in numerous publications, including being named the 2020 Outstanding Photographer of the Year and 2020 Best in Show with the Camera Club of Oak Ridge.
Cannon and his wife, Elizabeth, reside in Oak Ridge, Tenn. They are expecting their first child in April 2021.
