Remembering Bill Tipps

(Guru's note: There are posts above this or will be depending when you are reading)

By Mel Greenberg

A week ago it was mentioned here about the passing of longtime AAU girls basketball official Bill Tipps.

As it turns out his niece Linda K. Harris, who used to work with the Guru at The Inquirer, is actually back in Philadelphia and she sent along the funeral notice although since the funeral itself has come and gone those particulars will be deleted here.

Anyhow here is a little more on Bill.

Bill F. Tipps, 83, of Tullahoma, Tennessee, died Sunday, October 23, in Huntsville, Alabama. A Tennessee native, Mr. Tipps was the son of the late Ernest Floyd Tipps and Lillie Brown Tipps, and had been married for more than 50 years to the late Ann Tolley Tipps. He ran Motlow College Ancillary Services and formerly owned and operated Speedee Pantry, a convenience grocery store in Tullahoma, alongside a Jiffy Dip ice cream shop and miniature golf course, which he also owned.

Mr. Tipps was a longtime volunteer for AAU Girls Basketball and had been Chairman of AAU Girls Basketball for many years. He was a member of the nominating committee of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, and was on the Olympic Selection Committee for Women's Basketball. In 1991, he was elected to the Women’s Basketball Volunteer Hall of Fame.

He is survived by one son, Randy Tipps, of Winchester, Tennessee, and one daughter, Gail Tipps, of Huntsville, Alabama; and two brothers and two sisters. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society.

-- Mel