Quickly billed as an ‘ESPN Classic’
By Tom Mattingly
There was a time in college basketball that even the biggest games were not on television. There were, for example, times that both games of the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament were played on Thursday night and, at least in Knoxville, only one was televised.
That stands in stark contrast to today, when nearly every game is on somebody’s network, oftentimes at all hours of the day or night.
That brings us to the old Armory-Fieldhouse and Stokely Athletics Center on campus in Knoxville, home to Vol hoops from the late 1950s through to the mid-to-late 1980s.
The greatest game, by far, ever played within those majestic confines was not seen on live television in Knoxville, or anywhere else, for that matter.
It was the night of Feb. 15, 1975, Tennessee versus Kentucky, Ray Mears matching wits with Joe B. Hall.
Those among the 12,718 fans in attendance somehow survived to tell the tale at church the next morning or the following Monday at the office. More than twice that many fans today will attest to being there.
Had there been Twitter, there would have been tweets all over the Volunteer State and the Commonwealth, and beyond. The message boards would have been jammed.
The Vols were coming off three consecutive SEC losses, but summoned a Herculean effort to win 103-98 over the No. 4-ranked Kentucky squad. It was a game that started at a fever pitch that never diminished until the final horn sounded.
Tennessee trailed only once at 2-0, led 56-44 at the half, and beat back repeated Kentucky rallies to eventually prevail, the first time the Vols had cracked the century mark against the Wildcats.
Fans without tickets or even those hardy souls who also possessed exceptional patience were forced to wait for the 11:30 p.m. WTVK, Channel 26, delayed telecast. Otherwise, John Ward had the call on the Vol Network and across the Vol Network. Cawood Ledford did likewise on the UK Network.
It all happened in the days before ESPN came on the scene, before the Internet, before the daily barrage of “talk radio,” before the emergence of all the other technological marvels we take for granted these days.
Had the game been played and televised today, it would have been quickly billed as an “ESPN Classic,” to be rebroadcast at all hours, day or night.
That season, Kentucky would make it to the Final Four, only to lose in John Wooden’s last game as head coach at UCLA. The whole setup was reminiscent of 1966, when the Wildcats came to Knoxville No. 1, lost the season finale to the Vols 69-62, and then lost to Texas Western in the finals.
The Vols shot 56.8 percent from the floor, Kentucky 54 percent. A look at the names from the box score will indicate the game’s competitive nature.
For Tennessee, sophomore Ernie Grunfeld had 29 points and five rebounds and canned four pressure-packed free throws down the stretch, 11 of 12 overall, to help the Vols hold the lead. Grunfeld was a load for anybody coming off the wing or the high post, ball in hand.
Bernard King, a freshman who averaged a league-leading 26.4 points per game, had 24 points and 20 rebounds. Mike Jackson, another soph, had 24 points. Doug Ashworth had 12 points and nine rebounds. Rodney Woods, a Kentuckian playing the point at Tennessee, had 14 points and 10 assists. Austin Clark played briefly, but no one else left the Vol bench.
There were heroes in blue and white, too. Senior Kevin Grevey had 24 points, with freshman Jack “Goose” Givens, the hero of the Wildcats’ national championship run three years later, adding 20 points and seven rebounds. Senior guards Jimmy Dan Conner and Mike Flynn had 10 each, with nine assists between them. Freshman Rick Robey muscled in 18 points.
The Vols were all over the Wildcats in the first half, knocking in shots from all across the north end of Stokely Center, the end where former U.T. president Andy Holt sat, resplendent in an orange blazer.
Tennessee led by 10 early in the second stanza when Givens led a charge that closed the margin to 74-70, and the chase was on. It was intense, the game in the balance possession by possession.
Jackson and King each had eight points down the stretch to hold off not only Givens, but also Grevey, Robey and the others.
The Vol victory started a five-game run for the Vols against the Wildcats, as Tennessee swept the Big Blue the next two years. Tennessee shared the SEC crown in 1976-77 with the Wildcats as the two teams finished the SEC Campaign at 16-2. The Vols won their final two contests at Memorial Coliseum and their first at a new venue known as Rupp Arena.
The passage of time has not dimmed in the least the memories of a “golden era” of Vol hoops, of “Bernie and Ernie,” Mike Jackson and Rodney Woods, Doug Ashworth and a coach named Ray Mears.
When the games are replayed in the mind’s eye or seen on aging videotape, the memories of a venue called the William B. Stokely Athletics Center are with us forever.
