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MIAUTIGER
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« on: August 23, 2011, 03:04:53 EDT » |
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What's the background? Family were UT fans? You're an alumnus? Pushed into it by friends? And who was your first UT hero?
For me, I grew up in Alabama around my Dad's side of the family, 99.9% of which were rabid, mentally deranged bammer fans. A few of them even talked to the Bahr on a regular basis. They tried to get me on their side. They took me to the Bahr's gravesite the day after he was buried and made me pay homage to him while they beat their chests and wailed uncontrollably. They were fizzleing crazy.
I became an Auburn fan just to piss them off. And one Vincent Bo Jackson became my first Auburn hero when he went over the top to beat those nasty rednecks. I was true Orange and Blue from 1983 on (my family moved to Alabama from Florida just before this).
I always find it interesting how people chose sides and teams.
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Bammer suxes! That is all!
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EmerilVOL
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« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2011, 03:14:27 EDT » |
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What's the background? Family were UT fans? You're an alumnus? Pushed into it by friends? And who was your first UT hero?
For me, I grew up in Alabama around my Dad's side of the family, 99.9% of which were rabid, mentally deranged bammer fans. A few of them even talked to the Bahr on a regular basis. They tried to get me on their side. They took me to the Bahr's gravesite the day after he was buried and made me pay homage to him while they beat their chests and wailed uncontrollably. They were fizzleing crazy.
I became an Auburn fan just to piss them off. And one Vincent Bo Jackson became my first Auburn hero when he went over the top to beat those nasty rednecks. I was true Orange and Blue from 1983 on (my family moved to Alabama from Florida just before this).
I always find it interesting how people chose sides and teams.
I am a UT Fan cause my Dad brought me up right and introduced me to the ghosts of Vols past...from Neyland to George Cafego and the boys to Peyton Manning and Tee Martin to today's future stars I have always wanted to emulate a certain RB ffrom Crossville TN who was my first hero in Orange to a large degree. Yes I am speaking of the Crossville Comet Mr Curt Watson. I have met Curt (I went to high school with his sister) and always thought Curt was the best fullback/rb for short yardages that has ever played at UT. He got behind Chip Kell and got you that yard when you needed it. |
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I made this post and I approved it. EmerilVOL  |
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ReVOLver
Admins
Heisman
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« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2011, 03:27:40 EDT » |
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Dad is a fairly rabid UT football fan and that's where I got it from. My first game was 1983 vs LSU. The hook was firmly set the night of January 1 1986. To a 10 year old kid, Miami was IT and we smoked them.
Over the years I developed a burning passion for it that he didn't have. For him it has always been something to pass the time and bond with me. My childhood will always bring memories of me, dad, and John Ward.
My first UT hero was RB Johnnie Jones. After that QB Tony Robinson and WR Tim McGee.
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"I think this is the most important non-important thing in the world." - Actor and Tennessee fan David Keith on Tennessee football
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Stogie Vol
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« Reply #3 on: August 23, 2011, 03:31:44 EDT » |
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Maybe you started this thread because you are wondering what YOUR story will be when you become a Vol fan?
I really know no other way than being a UT fan. Like Emeril, my daddy brought me up right, I guess. My first UT hero was Johnnie Jones.
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10EC
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« Reply #4 on: August 23, 2011, 03:36:31 EDT » |
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As what would be the lakebed for Tellico lake was being cleared of debris, they pushed trees into massive piles and allowed anyone to come and gather as much firewood as they could cut and carry. That Fall, we must have made 20 trips back and forth from our house to those piles. I remember listening to John Ward call a UT/Bama game which we lost in a close one. Ever since then, it has been about the crisp East Tennessee mornings in October when you just "feel" football. Oh, and beating Alabama.
Oh, and my first hero was Craig Puki. MLB in the mid 70s. I thought his name was uber cool.
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Inspector Vol
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« Reply #5 on: August 23, 2011, 03:41:18 EDT » |
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Well growing up in rural West TN were you spent most Saturdays working it was listening to John Ward on the radio. TV broadcast were rare and the time to sit and watch rarer so listening to him and watching my older brothers react to it I learned we are from Tennessee and as a proud Tennessee boy I didn't want any other state to beat us so my love for the Vols was born. Listening to Ward describe the artful dodger, he painted a picture of the game. I learned what a pirouette was from John Ward.  |
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VOLMAN
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« Reply #6 on: August 23, 2011, 03:59:08 EDT » |
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the Vols, at the time you were lucky if UT was TV once/twice a year. He never attended UT, or any college for that matter, so it was a state pride thing for us...us (Tennessee Volunteers) against them (The Enemy). I loved it and still do!
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VinnieVOL
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« Reply #7 on: August 23, 2011, 04:05:58 EDT » |
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Dad graduated from UT in the early 60's, and he's been rabid ever since he attended his first game there. My dad's always been the type to pour himself into fully whatever he's involved in. As many here know, he's not missed a UT home game since he was a freshman there in the late 50's. So that's his and my thing together. So naturally, growing up there was no other way. Once as a young boy, after watching the movie "Rudy" I walked up to my Mom and said "I wanna play football for Notre Dame" and she silenced me with her hand and said "you better not let your Dad hear you say that".  He even found his father's diary, and it has journal entries about going to games in the first half of the 1900's. I was simply born bleeding orange. |
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LouisVOL
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« Reply #8 on: August 23, 2011, 04:53:39 EDT » |
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By the grace of God!
From an old timer, my first in person UT game was the 1959 LSU game, Billy Cannon, #1, defending National Champs, etc. Therefore, my first heroes were Jim Cartwright and Bill Majors. Coach Majors later recruited me (lightly recruited) and was at my high school game on Oct 1, 1965. I remember to this day what a thrill it was to shake his hand. The next game was bama (yes, we had off week before bama even back then, I am sure bama fans complained about it since that has become part of their tradition) and that was the infamous Snake to the chains pass that allowed us to get out of B'ham with a 7-7 tie. Two days later, Coach Majors, Bob Jones, and Charlie Rash were in the crash that cost all three their lives. The next game was Houston with Warren McVea, the black cross game, and all I remember is we won, but there was no joy. Later Charlie Fulton went down against Ole Miss, and the legend that is the Swamp Rat began. Dewey Warren is one of my favorite Vols to this day. At the Georgia Tech game, I had a visit, and my Vol Hostess later became my first wife (not every Vol memory has a happy ending). In Jan 1999, I called my Dad and my first words were "I didn't know if it would happen in my lifetime". His were, "I just hoped I would live long enough to see another one". My hope is that we both live long enough to see yet another. But if we don't, doesn't matter, we are Vols!
By the grace of God!
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101stDad
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« Reply #9 on: August 23, 2011, 04:57:49 EDT » |
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Born just across the river from Neyland Stadium in November of 1958. I really am a Volunteer by birth.
I grew up 4 miles from Neyland, and went to games there (sitting on the hill next to the old temporary green bleachers) when I was about 6 years old. I began selling watered down Cokes in those old nasty waxy paper cups at about age 8 just so I could get in to the stadium. I "graduated" in to selling those hot dogs that they made on Thursdays before games - the ones that had just a little dab of chili on them and a packet of Guilden's brown mustard inside the paper wrapper. I sold those rancid until about age 14, when we finally got season tickets and I didn't have to be a vendor to get inside the stadium.
I have had my own season tickets since 1983. I haven't been to as many games personally in the last 10 years or so, since I have been broadcasting high school football on Friday nights and doing a Saturday morning radio show. My tickets do get used every game, however, and I pull for the Vols just as hard from my recliner in front of the big screen as I do from section T when I am there in person.
Although I never went to UT (attended a juco in North Carolina then Western Carolina University) I am still a born and bred Volunteer, and always will be.
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MIAUTIGER
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« Reply #10 on: August 23, 2011, 05:00:33 EDT » |
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Maybe you started this thread because you are wondering what YOUR story will be when you become a Vol fan?
Blech.....no way. I mean, I like the Vols, especially with your mutual hate for all things bammer. But Vol orange does not look good at me at all. I actually started the thread to get ideas on sneaky ways you guys may use to corrupt my little girls' minds. I have to be vigilant in my protection of their brains, especially since I will be down there.  |
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Bammer suxes! That is all!
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Inspector Vol
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« Reply #11 on: August 23, 2011, 05:13:30 EDT » |
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Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated. Your child will have friends that are Vol fans. She will have sleep overs where they will sing Rocky Top and cheer GO VOLS! Seeing the true color of Orange all around her she will slowly be indoctrinated into the Vol faith. As a good Auburn parent you will try to keep her from it but as nature would have it she will rebel against her parents and embrace the THE GREAT VOL NATION as her own.  Blech.....no way. I mean, I like the Vols, especially with your mutual hate for all things bammer. But Vol orange does not look good at me at all. I actually started the thread to get ideas on sneaky ways you guys may use to corrupt my little girls' minds. I have to be vigilant in my protection of their brains, especially since I will be down there. |
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Volznut
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« Reply #12 on: August 23, 2011, 05:14:12 EDT » |
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We moved to the US in 1978 from India. I was 9 at the time. My dad, who is a physics professor, got a 2 year visiting professor position at UT. We lived in the Laurel apts in Ft Sanders area. I noticed kids throwing around a football, but I had no clue what the sport was. remember we moved in September, so I saw Saturdays were always crazy, with lots of people in town wearing orange. Being from India, I knew sports like Cricket, soccer, and field hockey. So I watched some games on TV, and tried to play it with some school friends as well, but still did not understand the game for a while. I wanted to go to a UT game, but my parents were struggling to make ends meet and couldn't afford tickets. The late 70's were tough times.
Long story short, my dad's 2 years were over, we moved to Mexico in 1980. We came back in the summer of 81 and my dad got a job in Morristown, and a local college sponsored his green card. In 1982, I was invited to my first game by a friend's dad and it was the 1982 Alabama game. Nice game to be introduced to the big orange, although I started being a fan of UT by the beginning of the 1982 season, and followed them the whole year.
I didn't really develop a full understanding of the intricacies of the game till I was in college. I became an American in 1989, long after I was a Vol fan.
Went to UT in 1986-1991.
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« Last Edit: August 23, 2011, 05:18:20 EDT by Volznut »
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eVOLved
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« Reply #13 on: August 23, 2011, 05:16:52 EDT » |
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As my handle states I am an eVOLved fan. I couldn't care any less about sports in Jr. High and High School. My parents were/are not big sports fans, thus I was not. If I ever went to any sporting event, it was with a friend's family.
The first college football game I attended was in Oxford, MS in 1999. Ole Miss was hosting Vandy. It was a high scoring, close game, that Ole Miss eventually lost. That same season I was in a band that was invited to march in the Fiesta Bowl parade. Little did I know Tennessee would be playing, making UT the second college football game I ever attended. At the time, I was still not into sports. It took a girl (and her father "a fairly rabid UT fan" and her brother who "over the years developed a (deeper) burning passion") to eVOLve me to the fan I am today.
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RipleyVol12
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« Reply #14 on: August 23, 2011, 05:19:54 EDT » |
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My dad and grandfather have always been diehard love fans so I get it from them. I think one of my proudest moments is when my dad said he thought he was a bad football fan til I came around still makes me smile. My hero would be Al Wilson the way he played on defense just dont see that anymore. GO VOLS!  |
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EmerilVOL
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« Reply #15 on: August 23, 2011, 05:21:42 EDT » |
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What's the background? Family were UT fans? You're an alumnus? Pushed into it by friends? And who was your first UT hero?
For me, I grew up in Alabama around my Dad's side of the family, 99.9% of which were rabid, mentally deranged bammer fans. A few of them even talked to the Bahr on a regular basis. They tried to get me on their side. They took me to the Bahr's gravesite the day after he was buried and made me pay homage to him while they beat their chests and wailed uncontrollably. They were fizzleing crazy.
I became an Auburn fan just to piss them off. And one Vincent Bo Jackson became my first Auburn hero when he went over the top to beat those nasty rednecks. I was true Orange and Blue from 1983 on (my family moved to Alabama from Florida just before this).
I always find it interesting how people chose sides and teams.
Repeat after me.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....UT Orange is the best color on earth.....Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil.........Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil..... |
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I made this post and I approved it. EmerilVOL |
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tnflower
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« Reply #16 on: August 23, 2011, 06:09:28 EDT » |
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This will sound like a crazy reason, but I'm a female, so crazy is okay. When my husband was in Viet Nam, he asked me to send him the week-end sports pages so he could see how UT was doing. After looking for the items to send him, I found myself being pleased when UT did good because it meant I would have something positive to send him. When he came home, we watched all the UT games together and he would tell me how much he appreciated the articles I had sent. Been a fan ever since. Believe it or not, Johnny Majors was Mr Football to us, and he's the one I remember the most from those days.
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Model 12
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« Reply #17 on: August 23, 2011, 06:09:49 EDT » |
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Grandfather graduated UT in 36. Parents graduated UTM in 61 (dad played BB and was always a fan). I graduated Missouri-Rolla in 87 and was never a fan. Growing up in West TN, a lot of us had a bit of a backlash against UT, so I was more Memphis State and Oklahoma...until 1990. I was in STL working when my father in law came up with a pair of tix to the UT-ND game, so my "Auburn 87" buddy and I drove down for the game and I was hooked forever. My first "hero" was born at that game in the form of Andy Kelly. DAMN THAT INT IN THE SOUTH END ZONE!!!! Became a season ticket holder in 92
Wasn't forced on me...totally by choice. So much so that we moved back to Tennessee, partially to go to games! Oh how I love the Big Orange game experience.
Looking like my HS senior daughter is becoming a strong UT lean (Ole Miss and Auburn are giving me and my bank account a scare). She's been in PP, row 6 since before her first birthday.
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RIPLEYVOL
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« Reply #18 on: August 23, 2011, 06:24:21 EDT » |
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I've always like the VOLS since I was a kid but....Jeremy Lincoln's unforgettable block in South Bend sealed the deal! That was the life changing play that made me bleed orange!
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MIAUTIGER
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« Reply #19 on: August 23, 2011, 07:08:28 EDT » |
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Sorry, Emeril. All I heard was "Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....." then there was something unintelligible that I could not understand.
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Bammer suxes! That is all!
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BigOrange Maniac
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« Reply #20 on: August 23, 2011, 07:36:54 EDT » |
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Revolver's and 10EC's experiences are quite similar to my own, particularly 10EC's.
Revolver likes to give me hell because I'm curmudgeonly when it comes to change. It isn't that I'm a curmudgeon; it's that I'm a hopeless nostalgic. (If being nostalgic in and of itself makes one a curmudgeon, I guess that defines me.) Like Revolver, memories of my childhood revolve around three things: my father, John Ward and UT football.
But for those of us who grew up in rural East Tennessee, it's really much more than that. Around here, you're a Tennessee fan just because you're an East Tennessean. If you're a housewife who doesn't know the difference between a touchdown and a fumble, you still don the orange on Saturdays in the fall and become a vocal supporter of the Vols. That's not so much different than what you find within certain radiuses of other schools across the country, except it is. Around here, there are no other major D-I schools. There are no pro teams. Tennessee football is IT. And that's what makes our fan base so rabid. It's very similar to football in Alabama and basketball in Kentucky.
Still, I guess it goes back to the fact that we cut our teeth on Tennessee football. The first game I actually remember was in the late 1980s, riding with my parents in the Cumberland Mountains above Anderson County. The fall colors were peaking and Dad was always a dedicated foliage-watcher. As we bounced along old coal haul roads high above the Tennessee Valley, John Ward's voice came in loud and clear from the radio station in the valley below.
I don't know how many Saturdays we spent doing that, but it was plenty. There were Saturday afternoons lounging across my grandmother's easy chair, eating apples stolen from the orchard out back while John Ward called the action on an old AM radio that was missing the knob to change the frequency. Saturday afternoon football games in the front yard, where we pretended we were Jeff Francis, Reggie Cobb, or Alvin Harper as the radio played from the front porch. John's voice would pick us up — "45, 40, 35, 30" — as we broke free for our own touchdown run, racing for the big oak tree at the end of the yard that served as our goal line.
Later, there were deer hunts where we'd come out of the woods and eat our lunch of saltine crackers, Vienna sausages and Beanie Weanies at my grandpa's battered old Dodge Ram pickup and listen to part of the game on the radio before heading back in. I remember old coal trucks bouncing along the road where we were parked, as the coal boom was just dying in the mountains of the Cumberland Plateau, and those drivers would have the game playing on their radio, too; the sounds of John and Bill calling the action drifted through their open windows.
On one occasion, our math class took a trip to UT. Some buddies and I slipped away from the rest of the group and headed to Neyland Stadium. None of us had ever been to a game before. We wanted to see what a place that would hold 95,000 people looked like. As luck would have it, the gates were open, as workers prepared for the next day's game. We decided to head down to the field and grab a blade of grass, just 'cause. We almost got to the bottom when a big, burly guy yelled at us. We were busted. Except we really weren't. He sounded mean, but once he found out that we were just seeing Neyland Stadium for the first time, he led us on a tour of the place. It wasn't until I picked up my Football Time magazine a few weeks later and saw his picture inside that I realized we had been given a tour of the stadium by John Chavis.
I remember being at a fall festival in Oneida with my grandmother. She made crafts and sold them. The festival coincided with Tennessee's muzzleloader season for deer, so my grandfather would be hunting and she needed my help setting up and taking down her displays. The highlight of the festival was a steam train arriving from Chattanooga, loaded with people who would ride up the Norfolk-Southern Railroad, enjoying the colors, and stop at the festival for a couple of hours to eat and shop before heading back down the tracks. I had my Walkman on, listening to the UT-Alabama game. I lost count of the number of people walking by who stopped me and said, "What's the score?" So is it a given that if a 13-year-old kid has a Walkman on that he's listening to football? If it's the Third Saturday in October in East Tennessee, it is. (Tennessee lost that one 24-19 when Andy Kelly was intercepted late in the game.)
I was a senior in high school when Peyton Manning held his press conference. Me and a buddy were sitting in the back of our U.S. Government class with my radio. We took the ear phones off the head set and he had one pressed to his ear while I had the other pressed to mine. When Manning said those famous words — "I've made up my mind; I don't expect to ever look back. I'm staying at the University of Tennessee" — we jumped and hooped and hollered. Our teacher just looked at us and shook his head and grinned. (Then he took his own headset off and slipped it into the drawer.) Someone got on the intercom system and announced that Peyton Manning had just announced his intention to come back for his senior season. Applause and cheering erupted up and down the hallway. When does a college football player's press conference interrupt a school day? When it's football in East Tennessee, it does.
Somewhere along the way, it became engrained in me. It wasn't forced on me...but it was inevitable, just the same.
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VinnieVOL
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« Reply #21 on: August 23, 2011, 07:59:37 EDT » |
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I was a senior in high school when Peyton Manning held his press conference. Me and a buddy were sitting in the back of our U.S. Government class with my radio. We took the ear phones off the head set and he had one pressed to his ear while I had the other pressed to mine. When Manning said those famous words — "I've made up my mind; I don't expect to ever look back. I'm staying at the University of Tennessee" — we jumped and hooped and hollered. Our teacher just looked at us and shook his head and grinned. (Then he took his own headset off and slipped it into the drawer.) Someone got on the intercom system and announced that Peyton Manning had just announced his intention to come back for his senior season. Applause and cheering erupted up and down the hallway. When does a college football player's press conference interrupt a school day? When it's football in East Tennessee, it does.
My story of that day is quite similar.. I believe I was in U.S. history class and I think I was a jr. in hs. And the pandemonium at my hs was quite similar.. we ran out in the hallways and were high fiving. I also get chills when I watch the video of that press conference. The looks on everyone's faces in the audience was priceless. Grown men looking like they were 8 years old and had just received a red rider bb gun for Christmas. |
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MIAUTIGER
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« Reply #22 on: August 23, 2011, 08:28:50 EDT » |
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Somewhere along the way, it became ingrained in me. It wasn't forced on me...but it was inevitable, just the same.
If this board had a Star and HOF feature, this post would most certainly qualify for both. Good read, BOM. |
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Bammer suxes! That is all!
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EmerilVOL
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« Reply #23 on: August 23, 2011, 08:30:46 EDT » |
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Sorry, Emeril. All I heard was "Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil Alabama's Nick Saban is the Devil....." then there was something unintelligible that I could not understand.
Orange is good Orange is good |
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I made this post and I approved it. EmerilVOL |
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droner
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« Reply #24 on: August 23, 2011, 08:36:55 EDT » |
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In the Gator Bowl at the end of the 1966 season, UT played Syracuse. One of the Syracuse players, could have been Floyd Little, said something about that they were disappointed not to be playing a great team but were happy to playing a "good" team like Tennessee. That ticked off my father. He didn't go to UT, didn't even go to college, but that made him mad for a northern school to be talking that way about a southern school. He always liked UT but for no reason really. So I started paying attention and I became a fan.
I followed the Vols and my fandom was solidified in the first game of othe 1968 season. UT vs. UGA, first game on the artificial turf.
But deciding to go to school at UT was almost an accident. I was considering South Carolina, UNC, UGA and (101st Dad will love this) Clemson. One day at high school one of my friends asked me why I didn't consider UT since I really wanted to go some place a good distance away. (Yes, I know it's only a trip of less than 3 hours from Greenville, SC to Knoxville but back then it was a good 4 hours or more.) The problem was that UT required the ACT and the ACT and SAT weren't interchangeable in those days. I had already taken the SAT so I took the ACT, applied to UT and that was that. Almost half of the college bound kids out of my very large HS senior class were dividing between USC and Clemson. I wanted something new. And big.
Semi-humorous story: My Dad said I could go anywhere but South Carolina. He said it was a big party school. So when I decided to go to UT, that was fine with him. The night before I left for college we ran into a girl who was a junior at UT. I asked her did she have any advice. She said "bring an umbrella and be prepared to party." The look on his face was priceless. He really didn't know.
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