Burrall Paye
Burrall Paye is a retired coach with 37 years of experience. He began his coaching career at Whittle Springs Junior High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he coached boys’ basketball and baseball. Both of Paye’s teams (basketball and baseball) won the district and regional championships his first year. Prior to Paye’s tenure, Whittle Springs had never had a winning record in any sport. After nine years, Burrall moved to Powell Valley High School in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, where he coached both boys’ and girls’ basketball. During his eight years at Powell Valley, Paye’s teams won 24 different championships, including an undefeated state championship in boys’ basketball and an undefeated regional championship in girls’ basketball (girls did not play beyond the regional level at that time). In 1977, Paye moved to William Fleming High School in Roanoke, Virginia. During the next 18 years, William Fleming would advance to the regional semifinals or beyond 17 consecutive times, winning 25 different championships, including five regional championships and seven trips to the state final four. During Paye’s career, his teams won 764 games, losing only 196. His teams won 64 different championships, earning the coach 42 different coach of the year awards, including state coach of the year (twice) and the National Federation Interscholastic Association Outstanding Coach of the Year award. He has coached in the annual all-star game in Virginia nine times. Since his retirement in 1996, Paye has continued to teach basketball through his writings and his clinics. He has spoken at most of the major basketball clinics in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Latin America. He was the featured speaker at the National High School Association annual convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1987. He has written 10 full-length basketball books and hundreds of articles for national basketball magazines. Paye graduated from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, in 1958 and received his masters degree from the University of Tennessee in 1965.
