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University of Tennessee Traditions and History:
VOLUNTEERS:
Just before the Vols go out to the tunnel, and run thru the T, they touch the Vols sign that says:
I will give my all for Tennessee today! The sign is just over
the doorway in the dressing room at Neyland Stadium.
From the time of coach Bob Neyland through the 1963 season, the Vols had their team bench on the east side
of the field, close to their dressing room which entered the field on the 50 yardline. When Doug Dickey became
the Vol coach in 1964, he changed all that. He moved his team's bench to the west side, allowing the Vols to
enter the field just before the opening kickoff through a giant "T" formed by the "Pride of Southland" Marching
Band.
When the Vols moved to the new dressing room quarters under the north stands in 1983, the "T" remained,
forming from north to south instead of east to west. The "T" has occasionally been formed on the road,
most notably at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville and at the
1986 and 1991 Sugar Bowls in New Orleans.
The official mascot is Smokey, a rather pleasant blue tick coonhound that has been on the job since 1953. After a
student poll revealed a desire to select a live mascot for the University-of-Tennessee, the UT Pep Club held a
contest in 1953 to select a coon hound, a native breed of the state.
The students cheered and Smokey threw his head back and howled again. This kept going and soon the whole
stadium was in a roar and UT had found its mascot. The dog is a native breed of Tennessee and a line of
dog used for hunting raccoons. The present Smokey is the nineth in a line of such canines and is appropriately
called Smokey IX. Rev. Brooks of Knoxville supplied UT with the canines until his death in 1986 when his
wife Mildred Brooks and family friends took over the caretakingrole.
"Rocky Top"
"Rocky Top" was written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant in 1967.
The song did not become popular until after 1972 when the Pride of the Southland Band used it for one of
their drills. The football crowd loved the tune and its words; the more the band played it, the more
people wanted it. It has now become one of UT's best-known traditions. Its popularity also extends
beyond the UT Knoxville campus; "Rocky Top" became one of the Tennessee state songs in 1982. Listen
to "Rocky Top". |
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