by design | Jul 13, 2025 | Columnist, Mattingly, Stories In This Week's Focus:
‘It was tied when we started’ By Tom Mattingly The tie game is no longer with us, despite some memorable occurrences in games involving the University of Tenn-essee. You might not know that it’s been nearly 30 years since tie games on the gridiron went out...
by design | Jul 7, 2025 | Columnist, Mattingly
Never a dull moment By Tom Mattingly In this business, Vol fans are always asking intriguing questions – whether it’s on the street, in restaurants, via social media, or on the telephone. There was a postal employee in Chattanooga who called one year and asked who the...
by design | Jun 30, 2025 | Columnist, Mattingly
‘A sackful of gimmicks and a burning desire to succeed’ By Tom Mattingly AUTHOR’S NOTE FOR PERSPECTIVE: This story was first written on June 12, 2007, after news broke a day earlier that Ray Mears (Nov. 8, 1926-June 11, 2007) had died in Knoxville. Much...
by design | Jun 23, 2025 | Columnist, Mattingly
‘Often in error, but never in doubt’ By Tom Mattingly Here’s the question for today. What former Vol quarterback played linebacker in a 1963 freshman game at Kentucky (the Vol rookies lost 70-0), redshirted a year later, and then became a Vol quarterback...
by design | Jun 16, 2025 | Columnist, Mattingly
‘R-E-S-P-E-C-T’ By Tom Mattingly There is respect, and then there’s respect. “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” as Aretha Franklin sang so many times over the years. Here’s an example. The Tennessee football team was flying home one Saturday night after a game in the late 1980s...
by design | Jun 9, 2025 | Columnist, Mattingly
‘He made his point clearly and moved on’ By Tom Mattingly During Ben Byrd’s career at the Knoxville Journal (1947-91) and in his other published works, there were precious few wasted words. He made his point clearly and moved on. He was also a tenacious defender of...
