Bill Boner

This article is about Bill Boner, the Tennessee educator and politician. For South Bend Mayor, Washington State businessman and politician, see William H. Boner.

Bill Boner
3rd Mayor of Metropolitan Nashville
In office 1987 – September 27, 1991
Preceded by	Richard Fulton
Succeeded by	Phil Bredesen
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 5th district
In office January 3, 1979 – October 5, 1987
Preceded by	Clifford Allen
Succeeded by	Bob Clement
Member of the Tennessee Senate
In office 1976–1978
Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from the 52nd district
In office January 7, 1975 – January 4, 1977
Preceded by	Ernest M. Fleming, Sr.
Succeeded by	Ernest M. Fleming, Sr.
Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from the Davidson 3rd district
In office January 5, 1971 – January 2, 1973
Preceded by	Walter Morgan
Succeeded by	district county seat abolished
Personal details
Born	William Hill Boner (1945-02-14) February 14, 1945 Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	Middle Tennessee State University (B.S.) Peabody College (M.A.) Nashville School of Law (J.D.)

William Hill Boner (born February 14, 1945) is an American educator and former Democratic politician from Tennessee. He was the third mayor of the Metropolitan government of Nashville and Davidson County, serving from 1987 to 1991. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives, as the Representative from the 5th District of Tennessee, from 1979 to 1988.

Biography

Early life

In high school, Bill Boner was a basketball player and tennis player for the East Nashville Eagles. On March 13, 1962, his team won the state championship. The Tennesseean wrote that Boner "emerged as the biggest hero" of the game, noting that he "crammed 18 points through the nets within a period of 6 minutes and 48 seconds in the second quarter," adding that the opposing team "lost because of a Boner." He was elected student body president for the 1962-1963 school year, his senior year. He was also elected governor of Boy's State despite not planning to run until the last minute. He and his teammate missed part of the basketball season that year due to injuries from a car accident. A cheerleader from the nearby Glencliff High School cheerleader was critical condition. Nonetheless, he was selected for the first team All-Nashville in 1963. Boner attended Middle Tennessee State University, where he was elected president of the freshman class and played basketball. He participated in campus life, including a panel on religion, and gave a presentation called "Decision-Making in Personal Life" at a church's study series called "Moral Man and Moral Society". After university, he became the manager of a Shell station in Smyrna. On February 1, 1969, he became the basketball coach for Trevecca Nazarene College and took on a teaching role in the physical education department. During his first year coaching, the Tennessean called the team "loveable losers" for its remarkably poor performance.

Congress

Several other persons had also decided to challenge Allen, a long-time Nashville political figure who appeared to be in declining health and who seemed vulnerable. Shortly before the deadline for candidates to withdraw from the race, Allen suffered a massive stroke. All of Allen's opponents except Boner withdrew from the race, apparently out of concern for "kicking a man when he's down." When Allen died on the day after the withdrawal deadline, Boner was virtually unopposed for the nomination, facing only a write-in campaign that went nowhere. This was tantamount to victory in November, as the Republicans had lost interest in a district they hadn't won since 1874. He was reelected four times with no substantive opposition.

Boner's tenure in Congress was largely uneventful. He established a reputation for a staff devoted to excellent constituent service, and otherwise as a moderate Southern Democrat backbencher, whose largest legislative accomplishment was a bill recognizing "National Sewing Month", something which subsequent opponents would later point to with glee. In 1986, he came under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for his close relationship with a government contractor.

Mayor

In 1987, Nashville Mayor (and former Fifth District Congressman) Richard Fulton was prevented from running for a fourth term. Boner quickly jumped into the race, seeing an opportunity to come home, and also to end the investigation. He was opposed by a large field, notably managed health care executive Phil Bredesen. Boner won the first round, but came up short of a majority. Under the Metro Charter, Boner faced runner-up Bredesen in a runoff. Boner won, largely by emphasizing that he was a Nashville native and Bredesen was a Northerner (he was born in New Jersey and grew up in Upstate New York). He was the last native-born Tennessean to serve as Nashville mayor until David Briley became mayor in 2018.

Appearance on The Phil Donahue Show

During his term as mayor, Boner made a controversial appearance on the October 15, 1990 episode of The Phil Donahue Show.

Boner appeared on the show with Traci Peel, a country singer in Nashville. The couple were engaged, making their romance controversial, as Boner was still married to his third wife. It was reported that Peel had previously told a Nashville reporter that the Mayor's passion could last for seven hours. At one point in the Donahue appearance, Boner played harmonica, while Peel sang "Rocky Top".

Boner and Peel would eventually marry and then divorce after Peel caught Boner cheating two years into the marriage.

After term as mayor

Boner opted not to seek reelection for a second term, the only mayor not to do so from the creation of the Metro government until Megan Barry did not seek reelection in 2019 after resigning from office in 2018. Following retirement from political office, Boner briefly became a businessman, owning a pallet factory in Tompkinsville, Kentucky, and then becoming a restaurant franchisee in Atlanta.

Boner eventually returned to the Nashville area, becoming a social studies teacher at Franklin High School in Franklin, Tennessee. Sources had said that Boner had become a driver's ed instructor for the Williamson School System, and was "honest and open about the fact that he screwed up in office."

In 1995 and 1996, Boner hosted a nightly hour-long television interview show on Nashville's WNAB called Prime Talk.

Boner is reportedly retired and living with his wife, Kay, in Franklin, Tennessee.

Sources

• United States Congress. "Bill Boner (id: B000615)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Appearances on C-SPAN