Howard Bayne, 75, was a force for Tennessee from Dayton during the basketball program's 1960s growth

Howard Bayne, who went from Colonel White High School to an intimidating force for the University of Tennessee basketball team in the 1960s during a period of the program’s growth, has died. He was 75.

Bayne went to Tennessee to play for coach Ray Mears out of Colonel White High School. Mears himself went to Tennessee after coaching at Wittenberg University.

Bayne was a resident of Eaton at the time of his death on May 14.

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A 6-foot-5 forward, Bayne played three varsity seasons for Tennessee from 1963-66 and averaged 7.8 points and 7.7 rebounds, according to a report in the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel. During those three seasons, the Vols went a combined 54-21 and set the foundation for a growth in popularity and an expansion of the Stokely Athletics Center the season after he left the program, the News Sentinel reported.

Bayne was born in Dayton on July 28, 1942, according to his obituary.

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"Howard was the greatest intimidator I have ever had on a basketball team,” Mears said of him, according to Bayne’s obituary. “When Howard went after the basketball there weren't too many people who felt like arguing with him."

“His great loves were his grandchildren, horses, the Great Smoky Mountains, and he had a passion for the art of the deal,” his family wrote in his obituary. “An entrepreneur, he thrived on building businesses which ranged from real estate and development, to antiques, to raising award-winning barrel racing horses, to music publishing.”

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