by Tom Mattingly | Jan 11, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly Over the course of the University of Tennessee football program’s history, there are connections that aren’t readily apparent, but they make sense once you realize what they are and how they manifest themselves. These connections go back to the 1930s,...
by Tom Mattingly | Jan 3, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Tom Mattingly The day was Tuesday, June 2, 1998, when a media release about a significant happening within the University of Tennessee Athletic Department was sent out, accomplished on something called a Fax Expander. “MEDIA CONFERENCE SET FOR WEDNESDAY: The...
by Tom Mattingly | Dec 27, 2020 | Columnist, Mattingly, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Tom Mattingly On October 27, 1928, Maj. Bob Neyland was in the midst of his first tenure as Volunteer head coach. The Vols had defeated Alabama the week before in Tuscaloosa, 15-13, led by Gene McEver’s 98-yard return of the opening kickoff. Neyland’s charges were...
by Tom Mattingly | Dec 21, 2020 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly When Tennessee played at Georgia on Nov. 4, 1972, many Vol fans rode to the game on a special Southern Railways train from Atlanta, disembarking near the stadium’s east end zone. Tennessee won, 14-0, and the trip back in the late afternoon and early...
by Tom Mattingly | Dec 14, 2020 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly In the late 1960s and into the 1970s, there was one collegiate game on the tube each weekend, several emanating from Knoxville. ABC had the broadcast rights, and whatever game they chose, that’s what the nation saw, with a few exceptions for so-called...
by Tom Mattingly | Dec 7, 2020 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly Bowl games are fickle creatures, almost two games in one. One team might dominate for a half, and after intermission the other team comes back and makes a game out of it. The 1966 Gator Bowl, No. 22 in the bowl’s history, was such an affair. It was...
