by Tom Mattingly | Apr 5, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly Record-setting performances happen in unexpected places, at unexpected times. It happened in a televised game in the days there were precious few games on the tube. On Nov. 9, in the ninth game of the 1966 season, Tennessee was unranked in AP’s Top...
by Tom Mattingly | Mar 29, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly “It’s not how many years a man has lived. It’s how many people are glad that he did.” That’s the Bob Campbell storyline when you attempted to sum up a life that spanned 72 years and 19 days, one that ended on Nov. 18, 2017. It was a daunting task, but...
by Tom Mattingly | Mar 22, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly Three events in the mid-1960s helped define the era in Knoxville basketball history and the immediate future of the University of Tennessee basketball program. The protagonists in one specific drama were Bill Justus and Jimmy England, who were playing...
by Tom Mattingly | Mar 15, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly There are times in a lifetime of watching and commenting about sports and assessing its impact on otherwise sane and sensible people that the time comes to sit down and rationally consider what the fuss is all about. One dominant recollection...
by Tom Mattingly | Mar 8, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly What March 6, 1967, gave to the Tennessee basketball program, March 6, 1978, took away. Both days” belong” to Ray Mears. On March 6, 1967, Mears was in his fifth season at Tennessee. The Vols won the SEC basketball title, first in 24 years, at...
by Tom Mattingly | Feb 28, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Tom Mattibgly Three significant hires in the early 1960s had a profound impact on the University of Tennessee athletic program and its history. Dr. W. J. Julian, known best as “Doc” or “Doc Julian,’’ and Haywood Harris came on board in 1961, as director of...
