December Saturdays to Remember

By Tom Mattingly

Rarely have three consecutive December Saturdays been as significant as Dec. 4, Dec. 11, and Dec. 18 were in 1965, following a successful Tennessee football season.

These were December Saturdays that forever changed the face of Tennessee football, on the field and on the recruiting trail.

It was Doug Dickey’s second season as head coach, following a 4-5-1 campaign in 1964. At age 33, Dickey had compiled an 8-1-2 record following a fallow period between 1958 and 1964 (34-32-4), a time frame with no bowl games and precious few high moments.

What happened over those three Saturdays encouraged Tennessee partisans looking for signs that better days were ahead.

On Dec. 4, the Vols played that classic game with UCLA at the new Memorial Stadium in Memphis, a definite step up from the antiquated Crump Stadium.

Athletic Director Bob Woodruff termed the Bluff City stadium a “neutral site.” UCLA head coach Tommy Prothro, a Memphis native, was skeptical. “Playing Tennessee in Memphis is like playing Notre Dame in Rome,” he said.

Woodruff always laughed heartily when he talked about Prothro’s comments.

With a crowd of 44,495, smallish by today’s standards in attendance but intense with their support of their beloved Vols, the final tally was 37-34, Tennessee. That was a score that had to have shocked Vol fans who learned their football, highlighted by defense and the kicking game, at Bob Neyland’s knee. This was a new day, a beginning of a new era in Tennessee gridiron history.

Things were so hectic that afternoon that no one thought to check out conditions at Knoxville’s National Cemetery, Neyland’s final resting place, to make sure everything was in proper order. There were no 37-34 games in his day.

A quick glance at the history books revealed that the Vols had given up more than 30 points or more only 14 times in 475 games between the start of the 1915 season and the 1965 Vanderbilt game and had lost every one. Seven of Neyland’s Tennessee teams gave up 34 points or fewer in an entire season.

The game had everything you could want, excitement, big plays, drama, and the requisite amount of controversy, all leading to a memorable finish.

Vol quarterback Dewey Warren, playing with two pulled groin muscles but never with a lack of confidence, scored on fourth down on a 1-yard run that seemed to take forever. Somehow Dewey found the end zone, enough so that the official on the spot immediately threw both hands skyward.

It was a game for the ages, a “made for TV game,” in the days before there were such things. Woodruff and UCLA athletic director J. D. Morgan had scheduled what would become an intersectional classic.

Had the game had been played today, Warren’s face and the game tape would have been all over Sports Center. The game and its aftermath would be an “ESPN Classic” the next night. It was that good. It’s still one of the most requested Vol game tapes ever.

The next Saturday was signing day, with the Vols ending up with a class that would help lead the Vols back to gridiron glory.

The Vol performance that season had to have had a positive impact on prep prospects in Tampa, Cincinnati, Kingsport, Jackson, Johnson City, Nashville, and Oliver Springs. That’s where many of the top prospects for the 1966 freshman class were located, and the Vols got them all: Steve Kiner, Jack Reynolds, Vic Dingus, Don McLeary, John Rippetoe, Mike Jones, and Gary Kreis.

There were others, such as Nashville’s Manley Mixon, Wayne Smith, and Bobby Patterson, Chattanooga’s Steve Carroll, Steve Wold of Port Orange, Fla., and Villa Rica, Georgia’s, Herman (“Thunderfoot”) Weaver, so named during his Detroit Lions career by ABC’s Don Meredith. “Dandy Don” thought Weaver’s punts were so high they could bring rain (and thunder).

The signing of a second generation Vol was headline news the next day. His name was Jim McEver, whose father, Gene, who helped kick off all this excitement in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Jim left the squad after his freshman season.

The third weekend sent the Vols to Houston for the Bluebonnet Bowl, and Vol fans had to have been enthused by a 27-6 win over Tulsa, albeit in a game played in a driving rainstorm.

Warren ran for two scores and tossed a 4-yard TD pass to inspirational team captain Hal Wantland. Fullback Stan Mitchell scored on an 11-yard run.

“I remember it was wet as in real rain and mud and soup—a perfect fit for Dewey Warren’s famous nickname, ‘Swamp Rat,’” wrote Marvin West. “Tulsa kept shooting itself in the foot. Tennessee had trouble with stopping the short passing game to Howard Twilley, but Tulsa would lose a fumble or interception, and the Vols would capitalize. It seems Tulsa won the stats comparison.”

It was a bowl game. Vol fans considered it a beautiful day, regardless of the weather. The last bowl game had been in 1957. Vol fans had the feeling Tennessee was “back.” Life in Big Orange Country was good. Neyland Stadium once again was the place to be for Vol fans on Saturday afternoons.

Not before or since have three Saturdays in December been so impactful on the Vol program.