By Tom Mattingly
The last weeks of December 1969 constituted significant moments in the history of Tennessee football. If you’re so inclined, cast a glance toward North Florida and remember how things transpired.
The final game of the Doug Dickey coaching era in Knoxville (Sept. 19, 1964 – Dec. 27, 1969) came at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville.
SEC Champion and No. 11 Tennessee was squaring off against No. 14 Florida in one of those infrequent games against their rivals from the Sunshine State, the first such contest since a 20-0 Vol win in Gainesville Nov. 12, 1955.
The final Dickey worksheet at Tennessee was 46-15-4, with two SEC titles (1967, 1969), five bowl games, and the Litkenhous national championship in 1967. The 1969 SEC crown is, however, one that Vol fans rarely mention in the context of the school’s championship history. It’s almost as if it never happened.
That day, Knoxville News-Sentinel sportswriter Marvin West saw things come full circle. He was there at the Southern Railway Station in Knoxville very early in the morning of Dec. 1, 1963, when Dickey arrived. He also reported on the final chapters of the Dickey years in late 1969 and early 1970.
“Tennessee faithful were shocked,” wrote West. “Thousands were insulted. It was unthinkable that anybody would walk out on the Volunteers.”
Dickey had found five current or eventual All-American selections on campus when he arrived—Steve Delong (1964, having already been honored in 1963), Frank Emanuel (1965), and Paul Naumoff, Austin Denney, and Ron Widby (honored in 1966).
He and his staff brought in 13 more—Bob Johnson (1966-67), Richmond Flowers and Albert Dorsey (1967), Charles Rosenfelder (1968), Steve Kiner (1968-69), Jimmy Weatherford (1968), Chip Kell (1969-70), Jack Reynolds (1969), Jackie Walker (1970-71), Bobby Majors (1971), Conrad Graham and Jamie Rotella (1972), and Eddie Brown (1973).
Events off the field overshadowed the game, a 14-13 Gator win. Word had leaked that there were behind-the-scenes negotiations for Dickey to go to Florida. One Vol fan put this spin on the proceedings: “It’s hard to win when one team has both coaches.”
“Doug Dickey will have first refusal as the new head coach at the University of Florida,” wrote the Knoxville Journal’s Ed Harris Dec. 23. That news hit Big Orange Country like a sledgehammer.
“Dickey admitted he had discussed the possibility,” wrote Harris. “All statements must come from Florida,” Dickey added.
Would Dickey, a Florida alum and quarterback in the early 1950s, leave the “Garden of Eden,” as legendary Kentucky basketball coach Adolph Rupp once described the Tennessee football program?
Who would be his successor if he did?
Tennessee could have won the game, probably would have, had the Vols capitalized on several opportunities in the Orange Zone and hadn’t given up a blocked punt for a touchdown.
Less than a week or so later, Dickey left.
Bill Battle, a 28-year-old ends coach who had played for Bear Bryant at Alabama in the 1960s and had been on staff since 1966, was Woodruff’s choice.
There were those, including Col. Tom Elam and school president Andy Holt, who wanted John Majors, then at Iowa State. When push came to shove, however, Battle got the call. Holt had told Elam, “Your vote is my vote,” but the crafty Colonel, ever the believer in the chain of command, reluctantly ended up backing Woodruff’s decision.
The Vol program thus survived the harrowing end of the 1969 season (losses to Ole Miss and Florida and narrow victories over Kentucky and Vanderbilt) well enough, rolling to an 11-1 record in 1970 under Battle.
Ironically, Tennessee and Florida were scheduled to play that year in Knoxville. In one of the most anticipated games of that era of Tennessee football, the Vols won decisively, 38-7, with many Vol fans at the South end of Neyland Stadium giving Dickey a standing ovation as the Gators left the field.
What is the lesson from all this?
There often appears to be another (and better) “Garden of Eden” somewhere else.
That wasn’t the case for Dickey at Florida, however.
“When I went to Florida, there was a lot of dissension among the Florida people about how all this had transpired,” said Dickey. “The press and supporters had been split between Ray Graves and Steve O’Connell. It was not a happy scene, and I was the victim.”
Graves was from Knoxville and had coached the Gators since 1960. He had been captain of the 1941 Tennessee team. O’Connell was university president. O’Connell wanted Dickey, but there were also a significant number of UF supporters who wanted to keep Graves or promote veteran assistant coach Gene Ellenson.
Dickey got a second chance to positively impact the Tennessee program in 1985 when Woodruff retired, and Doug became athletics director, helping lead another significant chapter in U. T. athletic history.
Few men ever get one chance to have such an impact. Doug Dickey earned two chances and made the most of each of them.
No one knew all of this Dec. 27, 1969, when Tennessee played Florida in the Gator Bowl. Seldom has one game and its aftermath had such an impact on the Vol football program.
