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Wlaf1450A NOTE FROM THE GRAND ON CENTRAL: “There is so much good going on in our community, and I want to share all this good with you every Monday here on WLAF in hopes that you will start your week in a grand way making each week a Grand Week,” said Olivia Lobertini, owner of The Grand on Central.
By Jim Freeman
LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- The youngest licensed barber ever in the State of Tennessee has retired. Ray Beeler passed his barber license test 70 years ago at the tender age of 17 and began cutting hair in 1956.
Beeler was a sophomore at Maynardville High School in 1955, and there was an issue going on with the school buses. “Dad drove our only car to work to his barber shop near the University of Tennessee campus, and I didn’t have a way to school. Dad just told me why not enroll in barber college, and when the buses start running again, you can return to high school,” said the younger Beeler. “Heck, I was enjoying barber college so much, I stayed,” added Beeler.
After a year’s apprenticeship, Beeler became a master barber at age 19. “I went to Nashville both times to pass my tests two years apart,” said Beeler.
Beeler started at a shop in Downtown Knoxville on Union Avenue, and he later ended up at a shop near the UT campus. “But I was actually cutting hair at three and four different shops a week. When a regular barber took his day off, I’d work out of his chair,” said Beeler.
After working for six years, Beeler was drafted in 1962. He served and came back home to cut hair.
Long before legendary Tennessee Vols Basketball Coach Ray Mears coined the phrase “Big Orange Country”, Beeler opened the Big Orange Barber Shop near Neyland Stadium. “They registered that slogan, but I was grandfathered in,” said the 87-year-old Beeler.
In 1968, Beeler sold the Big Orange Barber Shop and opened his shop in La Follette on the bus station-Richy Kreme corner, Central at 9th. He stayed there until 1979 when he opened on North Tennessee Avenue, his last shop.
Beeler glows when he says he met a lot of nice people along the way. “I cut Earl Lawson’s hair for more than 60 years; more than 50 years for George Ellison,” said Beeler.
Over that 70 years, Beeler cut a lot of hair and shaved many a face, but Vols legend Johnny Majors and Gen. Carl Stiner may have been the most famous customers he ever had. “Back during his playing days for the Vols, Johnny’s regular barber was busy, and he sent him to my open chair. I shaved him with a straight razor and told him he had more nerve than I did, because I was just out of barber college,” said Beeler.
“I can’t tell you who my very first customer was in 1956, but I can tell you that Kent Younce was my last,” said Beeler. That was in August of 2026.
A NOTE FROM THE GRAND ON CENTRAL: “There is so much good going on in our community, and I want to share all this good with you every Monday here on WLAF in hopes that you will start your week in a grand way making each week a Grand Week,” said Olivia Lobertini, owner of The Grand on Central.
For bookings, email Olivia Lobertini at ohlobertini03@gmail.com. Check on avails HERE. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-09/14/2026-6AM)