Emary B. "Jitney" Blankenbecler, Jitney as he was affectionately known, was born in Coeburn, Virginia and moved to Kingsport when he was very young.

He excelled in academics and athletics while a student at Kingsport High School (now Dobyns-Bennett High School) from 1921-1926. He was the president and valedictorian of the Class of 1926.

Jitney was the first Eagle Scout in Kingsport in 1920 and his scout masters were Allen Dryden, Sr. and S.K. Lindsay, who influenced his life profoundly.

He was a veteran of World War II and served as commander of the American Legion, receiving the American Legion Distinguished Service Award.

He became a popular figure in the community and was elected mayor of the City of Kingsport from 1949 to 1951. Jitney was also a part of the Santa Train for more than 50 years.

The student council members elected him as grand marshall of the Dobyns-Bennett Homecoming Parade in 1989 because he was known as the "Ambassador of Downtown Kingsport". He gave to his community, not only in his early life, but throughout his life.

Emary B. "Jitney" Blankenbecler passed away at home at the age of 92 in September 1998.

Robert Gale "Bobby" Cifers was born in West Carters Valley of Kingsport on September 5, 1920. He graduated from Dobyns-Bennett High School in 1940 where he began a legendary athletic career.

He was a two-time national scoring champion in football and was recognized as the Athlete of the Century by TSSAA in Track and Field. From 1941-1943 Bobby was a standout running back and punter for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and led them to victory in the 1943 Sugar Bowl over Tulsa.

He was inducted into the U.S. Army Air Corps where served from 1943-1946. During the war, he played football for Randolph Field in 1944 and the Army Air Forces Training Command Skymasters in 1945. He was the first-round draft choice of the Detroit Lions and during his rookie season, Bobby set a single-game punting average record. Still holding the NFL record for single-game punting average as of April 2013. He went on to play with the Pittsburgh Steelers and would end his NFL career with the Green Bay Packers in 1949.

After football, he was vice-president of Cifers Construction Company in Chattanooga. Prior to his retirement he was a real estate appraiser in Chattanooga. In 1985 he was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and in 1988 was inducted as a charter member of the Northeast Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.

Bobby had three brothers, Bill, Ed Cifers (who was a 2012 DBHS Hall of Fame Inductee), George and three sisters.

Robert Gale "Bobby" Cifers passed away on July 1, 2001

Stanley M. Johnson was an outstanding high school basketball player while at Dobyns-Bennett. In 1955 he and his close friend, Colonel Brue Wilder became members of the Dell Sports Magazine Coaches and Sports Writers American All-Stars Team.

In 1960 Stanley graduated from East Tennessee State Univeristy with a degree in English. He then attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and received a masters degree in Church Music and a masters in Religious Education. During his studies at Southwestern he served two churches as a part-time music director and youth leader.

Any time he saw a need, he responded. This became a pattern of Stanley's life. He taught music lessons without ever accepting payment for the service. He offered his time to pick up children after school and transport them to church where he taught many of them to play guitar, clarinet and in addition, taught voice lessons. To enhance the music lessons provided he made arrangements with a piano/organ teacher to come to the church to teach students after school, increasing the opportunity for more children to learn music.

He worked diligently to find part-time jobs for young people, especially disadvantaged ones. His family knew that almost every holiday celebration would have to start late or end early because Stanley was delivering food and toys to needy families in the community. He never left a duty to someone else; that was who Stanley was.

Stanley passed away in November 1997.

Cecil Puckett graduated from Dobyns-Bennett in 1947. There is a very rare 16 mm of the Dobyns-Bennett/Knoxville High School football game on YouTube from October 26, 1945 with Cecil Puckett playing his heart out.

Harry Wright, Class of 1949 said in an interview, "On the faith of Georgia Tech football, that Cecil and Bobby Cifers were two of my heroes." He continued, "Cecil was probably the best all-around athlete to come out of D-B; just a super guy in every way. I'd go out of my way to meet him in the hall anytime so I could just to say, 'Hi Cece.'"

Cecil graduated with a bachelors and a medical degree from the University of Mississippi. After college he went on to receive many accolades from his peers. For two years Cecil was assistant football, baseball and basketball coach at Tennessee High School. At Dobyns-Bennett he was a health and physical education teacher for seven years. Cecil served for 14 years at Robinson Middle School as assistant principal and activities director and two years as assistant principal at Sevier Middle School.

In 1983, Cecil received the Kingsport Times-News Award for "Distinguished Service to Others and to the Community." In 1985 he received the Outstanding Educator Award which is presented by the Superintendent of Schools and Board of Education. Also in 1985 the Mayor of Kingsport proclaimed October 18 as Cecil Puckett Day!