A Doug Atkins Treat the Night before Kickoff

#3
#3
One of my favorite all time Vols. I was not alive to see him play on The Hill but did see him as a pro and in person. He and my father all ran around in the same crew of drinking buddies when Mr. Atkins would show up in Knoxville. This was the days of Dolly Parton singing on Cas Walker's tv show.
 
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#4
#4
Remy said:
One of my favorite all time Vols. I was not alive to see him play on The Hill but did see him as a pro and in person. He and my father all ran around in the same crew of drinking buddies when Mr. Atkins would show up in Knoxville. This was the days of Dolly Parton singing on Cas Walker's tv show.
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Always heard Mike Ditka was terrified of him .
 
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#5
#5
I'm originally from Doug's hometown of Humboldt and I knew him well. Back in the day when Doug was in town he would come and have coffee with our morning coffee bunch. He could forever more tell some great and funny stories. I will never forget the first time I met him.....He walked through the cafe door and had to duck....sat down next to me at the table and he had the biggest biceps I'd ever seen and a coffee cup in his hand looked like a thimble. We also use to meet up with Doug at pregame parties a lot at the Knoxville Hilton and we'd all ride the shuttle to the game.

I went to the graveside part of his funeral. I enjoyed knowing and spending time with him.
 
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#13
#13
Many of the links provided in the original thread are now inactive, but the data and quotes are still accurate. Here are a few sometimes awestruck, sometimes hilarious comments that expound upon the intimidation factor that Doug Atkins naturally evoked:

Bill Curry (Colts center, 1967-72) on playing Doug Atkins: "This guy is not a regular human being. If we don't irritate him, he will not kill any of us today. So, don't you dare mess with him."

Another Bill Curry observation: "He was, like, from Olympus. If you envision Zeus . . ."

And a third Bill Curry comment: "Doug took two steps, leaped completely over and landed on top of Johnny Unitas. It was just surreal."

Bill Werndl (XX Sports Radio, San Diego): "He was 6-8, 265 lbs., and he was one of the nastiest human beings to ever walk this earth."

Alex Hawkins (Colts' running back, 1959-65): "I saw him eliminate the entire Minnesota backfield. He put Brown and Mason out on two straight plays. And, the following week, he put Hornung and Taylor out with clotheslines on two consecutive plays."

All of these comments are accompanied by NFL highlight film clips of Doug and are excerpted from Top Ten Pass Rushers: Doug Atkins - NFL Videos. This video appears to be no longer accessible.

Incidentally, these film clips show Doug's patented hurdle move that he regularly used in route to the quarterback.
 
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#14
#14
One of the funniest Doug Atkins stories is courtesy of Sgt Nick Fury (The Legend of Doug Atkins.):

"Which brings me to my favorite Doug Atkins story ... one he told me every year we worked together for his annual golf tourney to help Lupus victims. And, forgive me Doug if I get any of this wrong, but it has been 20 years.

The Chicago Bears always held their training camp near a little town in central Indiana on the campus of St. Joseph's College. It was a dry county, the campus surrounded by cornfields, and miles and miles from any city big enough to find trouble. But knowing the situation he was living in for those 8 weeks a year, Doug ALWAYS came prepared ... with plenty of gin and vermouth and a case of olives. Along with his handy 9 mm that went everywhere with him, especially any stadium that might contain pigeons.

This particular training camp had several malcontents, including Mike Ditka, who was quoted as saying "That tight son-of-a-***** throws nickels around like they were man-hole covers. " Of course, referring to George Halas, owner, head coach, GM and contract negotiator. Which prompted Doug to take a more forward and direct approach to re-negotiating his contract. A couple weeks after training camp opened, Doug and a few teammates were putting a serious dent in the gin stash. And Doug was drinking in proportion to his size. The more they drank, the madder they got over their contracts. The madder they got, the more determined Doug was to do something about it. So with all his friends egging him on, Doug storms out of the dormitory, after curfew, jumps into his car, and heads off to Chicago to have a "face-to-face with that SOB". He navigates through the cornfields, winds his way through the suburbs, and faces the traffic of the Big City to find himself on George Halas' doorstep. Still filled with rage, this behemoth man takes his massive fist and starts beating on Hallas' front door, hard enough to nearly knock it off its hinges. In no time at all, the front door opens, and to Doug's surprise, it wasn't George answering, but his wife.

"Well Doug, what brings you out on such a lovely evening?" she asked. Now Doug was raised as a Southern Gentleman, born in Tennessee, played in Tennessee, and never lost touch with those roots. So as politely as possible, Doug said: "'Scuse me Ms Halas, but may I please see that ... I am sorry for the time ma'am ... Is George here?" Seeing he was extremely angry and at some level beyond tipsy, Mrs. Halas invited Doug in, had him sit down, and then asked: "Why Doug, aren't you supposed to be at training camp?" "Yes ma'am." "And isn't it past curfew?" "Yes ma'am." "And wasn't Coach Halas at training camp with you today?" "Yes, ma'am." "Well then Doug, don't you suppose he's still there?" It was not until that exact moment that Doug realized he'd driven all the way to Chicago, while Hallas was sleeping quietly 3 doors down in the dorm. "Well Doug, I'll get you a raise right now. I won't tell George that you broke curfew, saving you a $250.00 fine. You can go tell your teammates you got a raise, and if you hurry, you can be back in bed before they find you're gone."
 
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#15
#15
It is regrettable that the author of this article did not provide a more precise citation for his anecdote, but it is certainly vintage Doug Atkins, nevertheless. "As Marvin West relates in his book, Tales of the Tennessee Vols, Atkins was once ejected from a game at Tennessee. When he refused to leave the field, the referee walked to the sideline and told Neyland that Tennessee would have to forfeit the game if the coach didn't get Atkins off the field. Neyland's response was, "YOU ejected him. YOU get him off the field!"
 
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#16
#16
According to this story from Marvin West, Johnny Unitas wasn't exaggerating about throwing would be blockers at the quarterback:

"If Bofah, being a North Carolina man, had researched Atkins' magic moment as a Tennessee Volunteer, he would have gained understanding. It happened the first of November, 1952, Tar Heels at Shields-Watkins Field. Their fullback, leading a sweep, came at Doug with a cross-body block. Atkins caught this full-grown man with his hands and forearms and threw him, like a log, at the tailback. It was an awesome show of force.

. . . Great quarterback Johnny Unitas saw that same power play in the NFL: "One of Atkins' favorite tricks was to throw a blocker at the quarterback, which does tend to disrupt the passing game."
 
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#18
#18
If any of you watch old western movies, check out "Breakhart Pass". Atkins was in it (very small role)as was Joe Kapp and former pro boxer Archie Moore.
 
#24
#24
Remy said:
One of my favorite all time Vols. I was not alive to see him play on The Hill but did see him as a pro and in person. He and my father all ran around in the same crew of drinking buddies when Mr. Atkins would show up in Knoxville. This was the days of Dolly Parton singing on Cas Walker's tv show.
Click to expand...


I hate I passed on a chance to buy a framed 8x10 of him at one of those antique places on the way to Townsend. A black and white of course with Doug having his right arm out at a 90 degree angle and some smaller guy doing chinups on it. Don't know if it was a trick or not. Looked pretty authentic.
 
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#25
#25
Murray State offered Doug Atkins $400 a month to go to school there. One of Neylands assistants went to Atkins and offered him $50 a month. Atkins said it was enough for beer money so he came to UT. He never saw a penny of the money. Years later he asked Neyland about it. Neyland said sic "I told him not to come back without you. It was you or his job."
 
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