Charles Fant

Charles Henderson Fant, Class of 1991, is the son of Alfred and Melda Fant. He is the youngest of three children. His siblings are Mary Bennett Phillips (class of 1984) and Phillip Eugene Fant (Class of 1989). He is married to Vanderbilt Alum and corporate attorney Traci Dunn Fant. The Fant's have three boys, James Ryan 16 and twins Samuel and Solomon who are 9 years old.

While at Goshen High School, Charles was an All-State Athlete in Football, Basketball, and Baseball, as well as serving all four years as the Class of 1991 Student body President.

Upon graduation, he was awarded scholarships and played college football at Vanderbilt University. He played quarterback, wide-receiver, and special teams. His Vanderbilt teams won 19 games in his four years in Nashville. He graduated in 1995 with a B.A. Degree in Human and Organizational Development. He started a financial services. Between 1998 and 2007, he served as the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Boyd-Buchanan High School. He was the Offensive Coordinator for seven years and holds a 76-41 Overall Record, 26-4 In Region with 30 Points per Game. The Boyd Buchanan teams made the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association Playoffs in all ten seasons with one Semi-Final, two State Runner-Ups, a State Championship in 2003, a Mr. Football Winner in 2003, and 21 players who received scholarships to play college football.

From 2008-2010, he coached at Ringgold High School under legendary Head Coach Robert Akins, where he was the quarterback coach and also coached the defensive secondary for one year. During his three years at Ringgold, the teams were 17-14 and one of his players signed a scholarship to play at Ole Miss. His 2010 defensive secondary was in the top 5 in defensive scoring with 36 points off interceptions and fumble recoveries for touchdowns.

In April 2012 Charles became the Head Football Coach at Notre Dame High School, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is entering his 6th season with the Irish. He started as the offensive coordinator for Notre Dame in 2011. His offense averaged 31 points per game, which was one of the top 20 in scoring offenses in Tennessee. He has been coaching high school football for 18 years. He was a volunteer assistant coach for 14 years before selling his financial services business to become a teacher and coach at Notre Dame in 2012. He has coached in 212 games overall. His record as a head coach at Notre Dame is 47-18. Before taking over the Notre Dame program, only three teams in the previous 120 plus years had won nine or more games in a season. In the last two years, teams have helped eleven student-athletes be awarded scholarships to various colleges and universities totaling over 1.6 million dollars.

Charles teaches Personal Finance and computers at Notre Dame High School.

In February 2017 Coach Charles Fant was voted in as the Vice President of the Southeast Region for the Tennessee Football Coaches Association.

Charles has served on the board of the Distinguished Young Women of Tennessee scholarship program since 2002. He has been Chairman of the Board for the past two years. He and his wife, Traci, continue to be active within the program and assist other states in judging their respective scholarship programs. Charles and Traci have helped over 200 young women receive college scholarships to continue their education through the DYW program.

He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors (January 2002 to present) for Tennessee’s Jr Miss program. This program is tied to America’s Junior Miss program and is a competition that awards scholarships to young women.

Charles remains active within the church. He is a musician who plays piano, keyboard, drums, and saxophone for the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church Choir in Cleveland, TN.

Charles Fant was nominated by Mary Butts, Class of 1969