Tennessee State University historian and Former SID Stephens dies
from various media and TSU reports
Kindell Stephens, a longtime prominent Tennessee State athletics department employee, died Wednesday after a lengthy illness.
Stephens, 64, celebrated his 30th year at TSU last summer. A stand-out basketball player at Fisk University, Stephens came to Tennessee State during the glory days of the “Big John” Merritt Era and served as the sports information director and “Voice of the Tigers” on TSU radio broadcasts for many years.
Stephens worked closely with many coaches and TSU athletes, coining many of the colorful nicknames associated with Tiger greats such as Joe “747” Adams and “Jefferson Street” Joe Gilliam. Stephens had become a historian, of sorts, for TSU athletics and at the time of his death he was completing a book on Tennessee State University athletics.
Visitation and funeral arrangements have not yet been made.
"There probably has not been one athlete that has come through Tennessee State over the last 25 years who did not know and love Kindell,'' TSU Athletics Director Teresa L. Phillips said. "He was a historian of TSU athletics. We lost a gem in Kindell because inside his head was the history of TSU athletics. We'll miss him so much."