This will be a long post because the memory of that game where Ernie G shot the free throws to beat UK at old Memorial Coliseum (memory is failing here thought it was Rupp) is one of my all-time favorite UT wins of any kind, football included. And that is saying a lot for me. I had just graduated from UT and was working in a small town east of Lexington that had a little more than 1,000 people. A place where a UK All-American was born in the 1930's and they had a marker commemorating him, Vernon Hatfield. I drove an old Galaxy Ford with a Tennessee decal across the back window that almost stretched from side-to-side, probably four inches tall or more. Would not be legal today because it would be said to obstruct the view. Not surprisingly, people who didn't know me knew about me because of the car I drove and "that" decal.
One particular person in the office where I was working was perhaps one of the most obnoxious fans of any team I have ever met. He was a big man, over 6'5" and cursed at every breath. His voice was loud and bold and could carry across a long distance. Prior to that game, he told me that he and his friends were going to have a watch party where they were going to watch UK beat some UT behind, of course in different words. I watched the game by myself and was on the edge of my seat the whole time. It was hard to sleep that night because of the excitement of the win.
The next morning before work, I saw on the local Lexington network, and it might have been a national feed where Joe B. Hall was bellyaching about the missed call and Grunfeld's taking the shots. I don't know if it was Hall or someone on the telecast where I first heard "Tennessee cheats". Anyway, I dressed from head-to-toe in orange. Back then, I had one of those orange sport coats. I wore a white shirt and orange tie with orange pants -- this was way, way before the Dooley pants. I went into the office early and to my area in the back before anyone got there.
When my obnoxious co-worker arrived, I could hear him from the front, cursing and bellowing about those cheating Volunteers. He asked if I was there and no one had yet seen me in my office. He came back and looked in at me sitting there all clad in orange. I didn't have to say anything to him because what I was wearing said it all. The expletives deleted from the Nixon tapes (old analogy for an old story) were tame compared to the three-minute tirade of this guy. All I did was smile.
