November 1959: A memorable Homecoming Day triumph
By Tom Mattingly
The day was Nov. 7, 1959, when LSU came to town ranked No. 1 in the nation. The Tigers had not given up a touchdown in 38 consecutive quarters, and, on this day, the streak would reach 40.
The game came a week after eventual Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon’s historic Halloween night punt return earned LSU a 7-3 win over Ole Miss. That game was barely over before Tiger coach Paul Dietzel began worrying about the game in Knoxville, a venue where his teams had never won during his time at LSU, Army, and South Carolina.
It was Homecoming Day, with the temperature dropping into the 20s and LSU having to send out for extra gear. A crowd estimated at 47,000 showed up, including members of the 1914 SIAA championship squad led by head coach Zora Clevenger. The Vols were 4-1-1 coming in, with a loss to Georgia Tech and a tie with Alabama marring their resume.
While LSU had dotted the Vol schedule infrequently over the years, Tennessee fans still had the 1959 game circled prominently on their calendars. The Vols had already knocked off No. 3 Auburn in September, and this was a chance to show that Tennessee was “back” after 1958’s 4-6 record.
The week of the game, Knoxville radio personality Bill Ross penned a prophetic ode: “LSU, who are you? You won’t be first when the Vols get through!”
The game was a classic case of LSU letting the underdog Vols hang around until the guys in orange took advantage of two major breaks in the third quarter. There was an interception linebacker Jim Cartwright (Athens) returned for a touchdown. Then followed a fumble recovery by fellow linebacker Ken Sadler (Livingston), leading to a touchdown run by fullback Neyle Sollee (Jacksonville, Fla.). The quick explosion of points excited the capacity crowd.
Cotton Letner, a native of Ten Mile located south of head coach Bowden Wyatt’s Kingston hometown, knocked home the winning extra point, just as he had booted the winning field goal weeks earlier against Auburn.
Dietzel’s worst fears were realized as the Tigers went home on the short end of a 14-13 score. The Vols stopped Cannon on a two-point conversion try early in the final stanza and held on the rest of the way. Bill Majors (Sewanee), Wayne Grubb (Athens), and Charlie Severance (Knoxville) made the play at the northeast corner. Sports Illustrated ran a photo of “The Stop” the next week. Many Vol fans consider this the most famous defensive play in school history.
Urban legend exists that the failed two-pointer cost LSU the game. Not so. LSU had three possessions afterward, one in Tennessee territory and two near midfield, but could not overcome the deficit. In 1987, Charley McClendon, a 1959 LSU assistant, said it was a no-brainer to go for two. Looking back, there was considerable time left, plenty of time to get back to the end zone or kick a field goal.
The win over LSU was the last win of the decade of the 1950s, as the Vols dropped their final three games, to Mississippi (37-7), Kentucky (20-0), and Vanderbilt (14-0), who won in Knoxville for the first time in 22 years. A 5-1-1 team quickly became a 5-4-1 team and the famed “Gay Street wolves” were in full force.
Wyatt had told Knoxville Journal sportswriter Ed Harris that the Ole Miss game would be the Vols’ worst defeat the week after their greatest victory. Kentucky had been a thorn in the Vols’ side the entire decade with a 6-3-1 advantage, even after the Vols had opened the decade by winning in 1950 and 1951. Vanderbilt won twice in the decade, in 1954 and 1959.
The decade had started out strong, with a 29-4-1 record from 1950-52, in Gen. Neyland’s final three years at the Vol helm. In 1953 and 1954, Harvey Robinson found out quickly that following a legend was not the way to fame and fortune.
The clamor had been great for Neyland to bring Wyatt “home” for the 1955 season from coaching stints at Wyoming and Arkansas to rebuild Vol fortunes. Bowden had won conference titles at both schools and would win one in 1956, his second year.
Things had gone rapidly downhill after an 8-3 mark in 1957, to the point that there would be intense debate over the state of the program, the end of the Wyatt years, and the demise of the single-wing.
Deep in their hearts, however, thoughtful Vol fans wished that things overall had turned out better for Bowden Wyatt, the native son with the movie star good looks and captain of one of the school’s finest teams in 1938. Wyatt, a two-time selection to the College Football Hall of Fame, had said he was coming home to the job he had always wanted.
For two Saturdays in 1959, however, the Vols stood tall and pulled off two improbable upsets. It would only be a few years later when victories over Auburn and LSU, among others, would not be considered upsets. To Vol fans, who have considered success on the gridiron a divine right, that would have been the best news of all.
