| Sources |
- [S47] Sevier County, Tennessee and its Heritage, Sevier County Heritage Book Committee, (1994, Don Mills, Inc.), 347.
- [S51] The Seymour Herald, (www.smokymountainherald.com), 21 Apr 2009.
SHS grad wins national debate
By Kimberly Hood
Former SHS student and freshman at the University of the Cumberlands (UC) Seth Stoffle can lay claim to a title few people obtain but many covet – a national championship.
Stoffle and debate partner Katie Riley were recently named the Christian College National Champions after winning the Novice Duo Parliamentary Debate at the Christian College Forensics National Invitational Tournament at Biola University in California. The duo took 1st place after shutting out top-seeded Bethel University (Minn.) in the semi-finals and then going on to defeat Pt. Loma University (Calif.) for the championship.
Six members of the UC debate team qualified for the tournament and as a team the UC debate team finished 2nd in the nation in the Division II Debate Sweepstakes. The tournament was comprised of 152 students from 25 different Christian colleges around the country. Each student at the competition qualified for the tournament based on outstanding performance during the fall semester debate season.
In addition to the first place finish at the Christian College National Championships, the Stoffle/Riley duo also took Runner-Up in Duo Parliamentary Debate at the Pi Kappa Delta National Tournament at LSU-Shreveport and received the Superior Team Award in the Novice Dui category. The “Super Bowl” of college debate, the Shreveport competition hosted 81 teams from colleges across the nation including large schools such as Bowling Green, Transylvania, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Ohio State.
Again, six members of the UC team competed, and they combined enough points to take 8th place at the national tournament.
And while his success might imply a lifetime of grooming for such debates, that isn’t the case.
As a graduate of the SHS class of 2008, Stoffle headed off to UC on a track scholarship. The debate team wasn’t in the original plan, but after meeting Coach Jay Bourne who is the son-in-law of the long-time SHS wrestling Coach Jim McGinley, things just sort of fell into place.
“It started out as me just trying to pick up all I could to pay for college… I had a lot of ties with Jay and we really hit it off, so I decided to give it a shot,” Stoffle said.
According to Stoffle, who has only been debating for six months, the closest he got to preparing himself for college debates were 4-H speeches.
“I competed in a couple of 4-H prepared speech contest. I did fairly well and got a couple of awards. I started in fourth grade with Mrs. Oaks. I didn’t want to do it at all, but she talked me into, and I ended up sticking with it for a few years. 4-H definitely helped me get over some of my fears of public speaking,” Stoffle said.
As an English major who plans on attending law school after graduation, Stoffle feels like aside from being something he enjoys and giving him extra scholarship money, the debate team will help him in the long run.
“Organizing my thoughts, getting other people’s opinions, making sense of them and then being able to form a counterpoint and making sense of it to someone else will definitely help me in law school,” Stoffle said.
Stoffle also gives credit for his success to his partner Riley, who also had no prior debating experience.
“Katie was great. I got to bounce a lot of stuff in round off her. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to learn with,” he said.
Stoffle is the son of Bobby and Pam Stoffle of Seymour.
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Groom's Name Bride's First Name Bride's Maiden Name County Date of Marriage File #
STOFFLE BOBBY R PAMELA C [NOT GIVEN] KNOX 03-22-1986 08551
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1990 - (34 years)
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