By Mark Nagi
Tennessee basketball is a family. Has been for years and will continue to be as long as people are bouncing a ball and putting it into a hoop.
Last month, approximately 45 former players, alumni, and friends attended a Tennessee Basketball Reunion Celebration in Louisville, Blount County. The reunion coincided with the weekend of Tennessee’s game against LSU, which the Vols won 73-63.
This get-together has been an annual event for about a decade.
“We tell a few stories, meet and greet, have fellowship, and have a good time,” said Johnny Darden, who played for the Vols from 1975-1979.
One of the overarching themes of the reunion was looking back at their mentors, including Ray Mears and Stu Aberdeen. Mears was the Vols’ head coach from 1962-1977, and Aberdeen was his top assistant from 1966-1977.
“He (Mears) built the program. He built Tennessee basketball,” said Darden. “Let’s face it. UT was known for football. And it still is. But Coach Mears started the basketball program. The history behind what he has done for the program and for Knoxville. He not only had a passion for basketball, but he also had a passion for it and for the University of Tennessee, the school itself. He wanted the best.”
Those two coaches combined for lots of on-court success at UT. Mears went 278-112 in his 15 seasons in Knoxville. Tennessee also went 182-76 in SEC play during that span, including three conference titles. During most of Mears’s era, only one team per conference could compete in the NCAA tournament. We can only wonder what success the Vols would have had had they gotten more opportunities.
Aberdeen was Mears’ top recruiter, helping UT bring in Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld from New York. Winning those recruiting battles helped Tennessee basketball reach another level.
But those are the wins and losses. Mears and Aberdeen’s impact has been felt for years in more important areas.
“On the court, they were coaches,” said Darden. “Off the court, they treated us like men, and I really respected that and always have and always will. Just learned a lot of good, a lot of valuable lessons from them.”
“Those guys have so much deep respect for one another and admiration for Coach Mears and Coach Aberdeen and everything they learned,” said Randy Webb, who is good friends with these alumni and went to Tennessee from 1975-1979. “(Former Vols) Mike Jackson said that night, he (Mears) didn’t just teach us basketball skills. They taught us how to be a man. One day, he was walking to class, and Mears saw him and said he had a wrinkle in his shirt and needed to go change because he represented the University of Tennessee.”
And that University is better off today because of men like Mears and Aberdeen, and because of the men they led who keep their memory alive.
