By Tom Mattingly
Whenever football fans get together, there’s always a story there for the taking. That’s why many sportswriters always have a notebook and pen or pencil to help punctuate and preserve the moment. In the cases that follow, the stories come quickly.
When things weren’t going well football-wise in the late 1940s, a Vol fan on the elevator at the Biltmore Hotel in Memphis said some disparaging things about Gen. Neyland. His remarks came after a lopsided loss to Ole Miss (43-13, Nov. 8, 1947) at Crump Stadium. “I’ll never pay to see that bunch get beaten again,” he said. The fan didn’t know Neyland was near the back of the elevator, listening intently.
Two weeks later, after a win at Kentucky (13-6, Nov. 22), the same fan patted Neyland on the back and offered more wisdom. “You’re the greatest coach in the country,” he said. Neyland, again listening intently, offered in response, “That’s not what you were saying two weeks ago.”
Just before kickoff of a 2001 game televised by CBS, Verne Lundquist had a colleague thrust a note through the curtain separating the broadcast locations with a specific request. “Get rid of the d— cigarette.” Verne was likely ensuring that nothing extraneous was going to get in the way of his doing the broadcast, particularly a steady dose of smoke.
Speaking of cigarette smoke, there was a time at Kentucky, one announcer’s spotter reeked of smoke. After the game, The Tennessean’s David Climer found the spotter’s wife and told her, presumably in his defense, “Your husband may smell like he’s been in a bar, but he’s really been in the Comcast television booth all afternoon.”
Steve Early of the Vol Network often discussed a mid-1960s Colts-Packers game decided in the Packers’ favor by a Don Chandler field goal. When replayed, that attempt appeared to be wide of the mark.
Vol Network analyst Bill Anderson was on that Packer team. Often on Vol road trips, Steve would, without fail, ask Anderson if that field goal had really been successful. Without fail, Anderson would hold up his right hand and say, “I’m wearing a dang ring, aren’t I?”
A famous coach co-authored a book with a prominent writer in his community. One day, the writer’s obituary appeared in the newspaper, complete with picture. A staffer showed him the obituary notice. The coach’s response was immediate: “Did he die?”
A rookie sportswriter, in search of an angle for a story, pointed in the direction of the setting sun from the press box at the Polo Grounds and posed the following question to legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice.
“Is that west?”
Rice thought for a moment and said, “If it isn’t, son, you have a heck of a story.”
Just as it was when he played quarterback at Tennessee in the 1970s, former Vol signal-caller Jimmy Streater once was featured before a packed house for his funeral service.
The year was 2004 at the Liberty Baptist Church on Hospital Street in his hometown of Sylva, N.C. The church was packed to the rafters not only of his family and friends, but also with the requisite virtues of faith and forgiveness. Everyone there had their own special memories of the small town youth who carried Sylva’s torch to the University of Tennessee, yet always retained the love and adulation of those who knew him best.
In one of the most poignant moments that day, Condredge Holloway, who blazed the trail for the Jimmy Streaters of the world and many others, affixed an Orange and White Lettermen’s T-Club pin on the lapel of Jimmy’s suit, noting that it was one of the most emotionally difficult things he had ever done.
Bob Woodruff had an amazing sense of perspective, a sense of balance in his life. There were times fans would be agonizing over a game that had gotten away. The eulogist at Bob’s funeral said Bob’s response would always be, “There’s always another game.” When fans likewise exulted over a big win, Woodruff’s response would likewise be the same: “There’s always another game.”
Despite the occasional bump in the road, there has always been “another game” or “another season” for Tennessee fans, bringing with it the excitement of upcoming contests at Neyland Stadium or another historic venue.
If you watch and listen carefully, great moments from college sports arrive when you least expect them. You can see or hear some amazing nuggets of eternal verities that can stick with you forever.
