Kingsport is a small city tucked away in Sullivan County in Tennessee, United States. With a population of approximately 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 comprising of separate areas for residential areas, churches, commerce zones and industrial zones. It had been this city that popularized traffic circles and built a school system based on a model developed by the Columbia University.

The population of this area has a combination 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 offers eight private academies. Even though there are no colleges or universities which 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 region.

The East Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee are the two universities with an active athletics and sports arm. As Kingsport is really a small city the people take interest in most of the college sports plays there as well as in the nearby areas. East Tennessee State University or ETSU as it is also called is a part of the Tennessee Board of Regents system of colleges and universities and it has a functional school of medicine, a college of pharmacy and is 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 have 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 has nine undergraduate departments together with eleven graduate departments. It has a student population of more than 28000 students from over fifty states in the United States and from 100 foreign countries. The University of Tennessee has an illustrious football tradition and is also considered the states highest center of learning apart from being the main 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’ve 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.

Both of these were some 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 on the sports action that surrounds these colleges is brought 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 having an average daily circulation of 44,000 copies.