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...
by design | Jun 2, 2025 | Columnist, Mattingly
‘Merely a way to start the game, nothing more’ By Tom Mattingly There’s nothing like the excitement of the opening kickoff. Is it better to kick or receive? Gen. Bob Neyland and Bowden Wyatt always wanted to let the other team have the ball first. There are...
by design | May 27, 2025 | Columnist, Mattingly
‘No hero like the first hero’ By Tom Mattingly AUTHOR’S PREFACE: This story dates to a luncheon held in March 2014 honoring Rev. David McMahan, who had been battling Stage 4 lung cancer and would die six weeks later. Special guests were former Vols John...
by design | May 19, 2025 | Columnist, Mattingly
‘Dominant recollections from across the years’ By Tom Mattingly Here follows a perspective of a lifetime of watching and commenting about sports and assessing its impact on otherwise sane and sensible people. Now is the time to assess what it all means. A...
by design | May 12, 2025 | Columnist, Mattingly
‘Herculean Herman Hickman’ By Tim Mattingly When Tennessee squared off in the Charity Bowl against New York University on Dec. 5, 1931, at Yankee Stadium, it may not have been an officially recognized bowl game (the NCAA doesn’t count this and other...
