By Tom Mattingly
This season’s clash between Tennessee and Georgia Tech is not that far away, set for Sept. 12 in Atlanta at historic Grant Field. Having that game on the Tech campus is a major salute to the tradition of the series.
There was a time when Tennessee and Georgia Tech clashing on the gridiron was a classic Southern football rivalry – even years played in Atlanta, odd years in Knoxville. Tennessee fans savored the trip to Atlanta and helped the game become an instant sellout.
These games always seemed to have a special “feel” to them, with Tennessee’s orange and white matched against Tech’s white and old gold.
You could go back to 1956 (Tennessee, 6-0), 1957 (Tennessee, 21-6), 1960 (Georgia Tech, 14-7), 1961 (Tennessee, 10-6), 1964 (Tennessee, 22-14), and 1965 (Tennessee, 21-7) for examples.
Adding to the mystique of the series was the head coaching rivalry between former Vols Bobby Dodd at Tech and Bowden Wyatt at Tennessee in earlier years or later battles between Tennessee head coach Doug Dickey and Dodd, by then a grizzled veteran.
The 1956 game was ranked as the No. 2 game in collegiate history by UPI in 1961, surpassed only by the 1935 Ohio State-Notre Dame game. Vol assistant coach Jim McDonald had played in the 1935 game for Ohio State and was on the Vol sideline in 1956.
The two teams, No. 2 Tech and No. 3 Tennessee, battled intently all day. The only tally came after two passes from All-American tailback John Majors to All-American split end Buddy Cruze, which moved the pigskin just short of the Tech end zone. Tommy Bronson’s dive over center put 6 points on the scoreboard a play later. That led to some tense times for fans on both sides of the stadium the rest of the way.
There was a memorable moment highlighting Wyatt’s competitive spirit when he met with the media after the game.
When it was fourth-and-4 at the Vol 28 early in the game, Dodd elected to punt.
“Why didn’t Dodd go for it?” one media type asked Wyatt afterwards.
“Because he wouldn’t have made it,” Bowden responded.
In 1957, it was the Vols, ranked No. 9, against No. 18 Tech. Tennessee showed some flashes of T-formation plays that day, perhaps to Wyatt’s and everybody else’s surprise.
With a minute or so to go in the first half, and the ball on the Vol 2 just outside the South end zone of Shields-Watkins Field, tailback Bobby Gordon went under center and took a knee three times while being “protected” by wingback Bill Anderson, fullback Bronson and blocking back Stockton Adkins. The Knoxville Journal’s Russ Bebb later reported that the play had been rehearsed in Gordon’s dorm room.
Anderson was a co-captain that season (with Bill Johnson) and remembered very little about the game. “I had been bothered by a pinched nerve in my neck for some time, and I was almost out cold. They told me I kept on playing and later scored on a 45-yard reverse. I remember taking a shower after the game when I finally regained my senses. I even had to ask the score.”
The two teams split decisions in 1960 and 1961, with the 1961 game being a major upset on Dodd’s 53rd birthday. Billy Williamson had returned a kickoff 93 yards for a score in 1960 that was a key to Tech’s victory. Tailback Mallon Faircloth had a 22-yard TD pass to John Bill Hudson, and Gary Cannon booted a 31-yard field goal, to highlight a defensive struggle in the Vols’ favor the next season.
In 1964, Dickey’s first season, Tennessee was perceived to be a heavy underdog and trailed 14-3 in the final period before rallying for the victory with a 19-point fourth quarter. Quarterback David Leake led the comeback, tossing a TD pass to Al Tanara. Leake then led a drive culminating in a Jack Patterson TD run. Doug Archibald had an interception return to establish the final score of 22-14.
That gave the Vols a 4-2-1 record, before the team’s offensive inadequacies became glaring in the final three games, all losses to Ole Miss (30-0), Kentucky (12-7), and Vanderbilt (7-0). Things would get better for the Vols in ensuing seasons.
In 1965, the Vols were in the aftermath of the deaths of assistant coaches Charlie Rash, Bill Majors, and Bob Jones in the Cessna Drive train wreck in West Knoxville, but were playing inspired football. Sophomore quarterback Charlie Fulton led a Vol offense that racked up 251 yards rushing, 101 passing.
Harold Stancell had an interception return for the first score, Fulton found Hal Wantland for another, and Stan Mitchell earned a third. That victory helped convince Vol fans that Dickey was building a program to be reckoned with in the SEC and nationally, one that finished in the Top 10 after a rain-swept Bluebonnet Bowl victory over Tulsa.
Whether at Grant Field or Shields-Watkins, these games against Georgia Tech were always something special, with enough “angles” for the most ardent fan.
It has been a great rivalry over the years.
Was there a concept of “immediate gratification” when those teams squared off?
If so, it was immediate… for Tennessee fans.
