[8] Boner attended Middle Tennessee State University, where he was elected president of the freshman class and played basketball.

[12] On February 1, 1969, he became the basketball coach for Trevecca Nazarene College and took on a teaching role in the physical education department.

[13] 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.

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.

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.

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).

[17][18] 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.

[17] 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.

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