1999 Inductee Joe Lancaster

Raised in the farming community of Lancaster, Tennessee, Joe Lancaster graduated from Gordonsville High School.

He and his twin brother, Jim who was inducted into this Hall of Fame in 2000, attended Tennessee Tech University on a football scholarship where they both excelled. But following their first year in the athletic program, when Joe was offered a letter to join the college’s varsity team, he said he would only play for the team if his brother, just a little bit older, was also accepted.

Upon graduation, Lancaster married his college sweetheart Betty Inman of Ten Mile, Tennessee. The two were married for 65 years before her passing. Lancaster then began his career as an agent with the Farm Bureau in Smith County.

In 1954 he moved to Columbia to become the company’s first sales manager. After 43 years with the company, he retired as CEO of Tennessee Farmers Insurance Company in 1994.

Throughout his life, Lancaster took on a long list of volunteer roles and responsibilities, contributing to betterment of Maury County and the state as a whole.

He spent his time volunteering and serving on boards for the Boy Scouts, First Farmers and Merchants Bank, Maury Regional Hospital, Maury United Way and the National Association of Independent Insurers. He also served on the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and was the first non-attorney to hold a seat on the Tennessee Judicial Selection Commission.