Alabama fan finds Tennessee signed football from 1970s in Florida thrift store

#1
dduncan4163

dduncan4163

Have at it Hoss
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#1
http://www.knoxnews.com/story/sport...nnessee-signed-ball-1970-s-florida/536194001/

The football, very likely autographed by Tennessee players and coaches before or during the 1972 season, had weathered the intervening years and any number of owners and locations where it might have been stored and/or displayed.

Keller wondered how and why the ball had ended up in a thrift store. As a fan, he knew what it might mean and how appreciated it would be in the right hands. After all, the 1972 Vols were on a roll, coming off a series of winning seasons starting in 1965, with big wins, national rankings, bowl games, and two SEC titles over that time frame. That team finished 10-2 and No. 8 nationally.


That lucky devil. I would have s*** myself if I'd come across this. You would have had to pry it from my cold dead hands.
 

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#3
#3
One time I found a 1989 Football Time at my local Goodwill and I damn near cartwheeled out the door I was so happy. I doubt my heart would have survived coming across something like this.
 
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#5
#5
Not at all shocked that a bama fan was shopping at a thrift store. Completely dumbfounded that he could read enough to figure out what it was.
 
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#11
#11
Volbackhomefromtx said:
And Haskell Stanback and Art Reynolds. If the coaches names are on there, could be George Cafego. Of interest to the Bama fan -- maybe -- is his former athletic director and coach of the Vols, Bill Battle.
Click to expand...

Got some of the names listed in the article. Battle and Holloway were 2 of them. There were over 40
 
#16
#16
How could this happen?

The Tennessee fan who cherished that football passed away. The football was lotted along with other possessions disposed of in the estate sale. The thrift store operator could have acquired it along with miscellaneous other items buying the lot.

The Tennessee fan who cherished that football passed it on to younger family member who left it at home while embarking upon college, military service, the Peace Corps, or other voluntary service. While away, his parent(s) had to move and disposed of those items the couldn't or didn't want to take along.

I could cite another possibility, but you get the gist.
 
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#18
#18
dduncan4163 said:
http://www.knoxnews.com/story/sport...nnessee-signed-ball-1970-s-florida/536194001/

The football, very likely autographed by Tennessee players and coaches before or during the 1972 season, had weathered the intervening years and any number of owners and locations where it might have been stored and/or displayed.

Keller wondered how and why the ball had ended up in a thrift store. As a fan, he knew what it might mean and how appreciated it would be in the right hands. After all, the 1972 Vols were on a roll, coming off a series of winning seasons starting in 1965, with big wins, national rankings, bowl games, and two SEC titles over that time frame. That team finished 10-2 and No. 8 nationally.


That lucky devil. I would have s*** myself if I'd come across this. You would have had to pry it from my cold dead hands.
Click to expand...

Wow!
 
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#19
#19
dduncan4163 said:
http://www.knoxnews.com/story/sport...nnessee-signed-ball-1970-s-florida/536194001/

The football, very likely autographed by Tennessee players and coaches before or during the 1972 season, had weathered the intervening years and any number of owners and locations where it might have been stored and/or displayed.

Keller wondered how and why the ball had ended up in a thrift store. As a fan, he knew what it might mean and how appreciated it would be in the right hands. After all, the 1972 Vols were on a roll, coming off a series of winning seasons starting in 1965, with big wins, national rankings, bowl games, and two SEC titles over that time frame. That team finished 10-2 and No. 8 nationally.


That lucky devil. I would have s*** myself if I'd come across this. You would have had to pry it from my cold dead hands.
Click to expand...

That LUCKY B*****D. :censored:
 
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#20
#20
- This is the first of a series of articles on the Tennessee Vols as they report to pro-season camp this week. K N O X V I L L E , T e n n . (UPI)-When fans talk about T e n n e s s e e ' s d e f e n s i v e secondary of the past couple of seasons, they're almost always talking about Bobby Majors. But, if the Vol coaching staff is right, Majors is likely to be missed more as a punter and kick return specialist than as a free safety, which isn't intended to take anything away from the former Vol star. "He was a fantastic football player, no question about that," says Gary Wyant, assistant Vol coach in charge of the defensive secondary. But Wyant hopes to prove this year that he's got five guys back there who could start with just about anybody in college football in Eddie Brown, Tim Townes, David Allen, Conrad Graham and Danny Jeffries. They're all seniors, except for Brown who is a junior. Eddie, who started at strong safety last year, moved over to free safety," says Wyant. "That's his natural position, anyway. He has tremendous knowledge of what we're doing, excellent speed, and probably breaks on the pass as good as anybody we've got around here." Townes, who started the first three games at strong safety last season, will be back at that spot. The Knoxville native is backed up by Gordon Turnage, a fifth-year man who "made himself into a football player," Wyant says. Allen and Graham are both two-year lettermen, both sound football players capable of making the big play. "Conrad has got to be one of the better defensive backs that I've come in contact with," Wyant says. And then there's Jeffries. "He might not be listed as a starter, but he's certainly a starter in my mind," Wyant says. "He's experienced at cornerback and safety and is capable of playing any of the four positions in the secondary. He's a big play type guy, as good as either of the other two at the corners and can play safety with either of the other starters." In reserve are Jimmy Watts, a sophomore from Jacksonville, Fla., who had a good spring at safety; Nick Carmichael, a junior from Atlanta, and Jon Murdic of Franklin, a redshirt with good speed for the safety spot. Wyant is cautious, as practice starts for the fall season, about making predictions about his secondary's performance. There's lots of work to do getting ready for the season opener with Georgia Tech Sept. 9. But with experience at all starting positions, some depth in reserve and guys that play with reckless abandon at every spot, nobody will find the Tennessee secondary easy pickings. Bobby Majors will be missed, but before the end of the season there should be no doubt in anybody's mind that, good as he was, he had lots of help from his teammates in that ball-stealing secondary of the past couple of years.
 
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