Kingsport is a small city tucked away in Sullivan County in Tennessee, United States. With a population of around 44,000 people, Kingsport was created and planned by John Nolen of Cambridge earning the name of garden city. Owing to this plan the city is organized in a well rounded structure containing separate areas for residential areas, churches, commerce zones and industrial zones. It was this city that popularized traffic circles and built a school system based on a model developed by the Columbia University.

The populace of this area features a mix of African Americans, Whites, Asians, Native Americans and Hispanics. They have a school district that goes by the name of Kingsport City Schools and houses one preschool, one high school, seven elementary schools, one alternative school and 2 middle schools. Along with these schools, Kingsport also boasts of eight private academies. Even though there are no colleges or universities that are housed in Kingsport, The University of Tennessee, the East Tennessee State University as well as the Northeast State Technical Community College have their branch campuses in this area.

The East Tennessee State University along with the University of Tennessee are the two universities that have an active athletics and sports arm. As Kingsport is a small city the people take interest in many of the college sports plays there as well as in the surrounding areas. East Tennessee State University or ETSU as it’s also called is a part of the Tennessee Board of Regents system of universities and colleges and it has a functional medical school, a college of pharmacy and is also credited with the title of being among Americas best value colleges.

The athletic team of the college goes by the name of the Buccaneers. They participate in the NCAA Division I Atlantic Sun Conference. They’ve been successful in winning a number of titles both in the mens and womens categories. The main sports this college plays are baseball, basketball, football, tennis, track and field, softball and golf.

The University of Tennessee is headquartered in Knoxville and contains nine undergraduate departments along with eleven graduate departments. It has a student population of more than 28000 students from over fifty states in the USsa and from 100 foreign countries. The University of Tennessee carries with it an illustrious football tradition as well as being considered the states highest center of learning aside from being the primary economic propellant.

The University of Tennessee continues to be champions in football participating in the Southeastern Conferences eastern Division. They have got longstanding sports rivalries with the Universities of Georgia, Kentucky, Florida, Vanderbilt and South Carolina. They have also won several National Championships and boast of some very prominent names including Peyton Manning who has been the Super bowl Champion and NFL athlete Reggie White.

These two were a few of the few athletes who began their careers at the University of Tennessee campus. Their womens basketball team has also been consistent winners of the NCAA Division I titles and are also arch rivals with Georgia, LSU and Vanderbilt.

All the news from the sports action that surrounds these colleges is delivered to Kingsport by the Kingsport Times News. This local paper is one of the major publications of Northeast Tennessee and has now been in publication since 1916 with an average daily circulation of 44,000 copies.