Sophomore pitcher Hollis Fanning started for the Vols Tuesday against Tennessee Tech at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
The 6-foot-7, 220-pound Hollis is blind in his left eye.
He came to the Vols from Tullahoma High School in Tullahoma, Tennessee. Phillip King served as Fanning’s head coach at Tullahoma from 2017-19 before going to Warren County High School in the same capacity in 2020.
King discussed how his former pitcher has battled through an eye injury in high school to now pitching in the Southeastern Conference at Tennessee.
“I got a phone call from his dad and they were out clipping some fence wires,” King told Vols Wire of when Fanning’s eye injury occurred. “Sure enough he was not wearing protective goggles and he clipped a wire. That wire kind of flipped back and completely pierced his eye. It was fairly traumatic, obviously.”
King said Fanning’s character and determination following an unexpected injury has helped him be successful.
“All of sudden he cannot see out his left eye,” King continued. “Talking back and forth with his parents quite a bit, over his surgeries and things like that, to his credit where a lot of kids would take that as something devastating, and life changing in a negative way.
“The character and the type of kid that he was, and still is, he just kind of took it and ran with it to do the best he can being blind, working on his craft and be the best pitcher he can be.”
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