by design | Sep 5, 2023 | Columnist, Mattingly
‘He wanted to report the games and the people involved’ By Tom Mattingly During Ben Byrd’s career at the Knoxville Journal and in his other published works, there were precious few wasted words. He made his point clearly and moved on. He was a tenacious defender of...
by design | Aug 28, 2023 | Columnist, Mattingly
Football under the lights By Tom Mattingly Before the 1972 season, night games were not part of the Tennessee football experience. There were no lights at Shields-Watkins Field/Neyland Stadium, and the Vols played sparingly under the lights on the road or in bowl...
by design | Aug 21, 2023 | Columnist, Mattingly
The most exciting moment of their lives By Tom Mattingly Seldom has one game attracted the attention of the “Tennessee Nation” as did the 1986 Sugar Bowl win over Miami. The 35-7 win, seemingly against all odds, is one of the first games mentioned when Vol fans begin...
by design | Aug 14, 2023 | Columnist, Mattingly
‘Wait ’til you see that run on the newsreels’ By Tom Mattingly Radio play-by-play announcers from a long-ago day, exemplified by Bill Stern and Ted Husing, were quite good in describing a game their listeners couldn’t see. Here’s an example. The venue was the 1951...
by design | Aug 7, 2023 | Columnist, Mattingly
The loyalty of the Vol fan base By Tom Mattingly Sometime in the days before the 2001 Cotton Bowl, Tennessee versus Kansas State, local media personality Tony Basilio stood in the lobby of a Dallas hotel, watching the endless stream of Vol fans dressed in orange and...
by design | Jul 31, 2023 | Columnist, Mattingly
One of the legendary professors By Tom Mattingly Sometimes the names of people you’ve admired greatly over the years pop into your head for no specific reason. That was the case with Jimmy Walls, James Gray Walls, Sr., officially, the professor who taught the...
