by design | Aug 8, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Tom Mattingly Sometimes sportswriters come up with an idea that makes sense years later. The year was 1926. It was a Monday, Labor Day, Sept. 6. The baseball pennant races were in full swing. The football season was set to begin on Sept. 25. A new coach was ready...
by design | Aug 1, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Tom Mattingly When Tennessee and Arkansas squared off in the 1971 Liberty Bowl in Memphis, on Monday night, Dec. 20, the teams had not met in 64 years and shared little in common other than state borders defined by the Mississippi River. Tennessee and...
by design | Jul 25, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Tom Mattingly When you look at the life and influence of Dr. Andrew Joseph Kozar, the one term that does not apply is “one-dimensional.” He was not “just” an athlete, not “just” a scholar, not “just” an author. He was all that … and much more. Kozar, who died on...
by design | Jul 19, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly The solitude of the Sunday after Christmas in 2004 was shattered by the midday phone call from colleague John Painter in Dallas, as the Vols were preparing for the Cotton Bowl game against Texas A&M The message was this: Former Vol defensive...
by design | Jul 12, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly It was a day—Sept. 27, 1980—Auburn fans would like to forget. Tennessee fans, on the other hand, still remember it well. It was Tennessee’s second time to play in Auburn, after years of playing Auburn’s “home games” in Birmingham, at Legion Field. The...
by design | Jul 5, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Tom Mattingly The early years of Tennessee football were not without their share of history-making occurrences. The Tennessee football program was lucky to have survived the 1893 season, the third in school history. The team lost by 56-0 to Kentucky A&M...
