Father's Day: Share your 1st Neyland experience with your dad.

#1
JayVols

JayVols

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2010
Messages
8,666
Likes
159
#1
I don't remember the exact year, but it was the late '70's. My first game was UT/Bama. We parked on the river where dad locked the keys in the truck. Luckily, we were able to obtain a coathanger from a boat in the Vol Navy and were able to unlock the truck.

When I first laid eyes on Neyland, I though it was the biggest building in the world. My first thought when I saw Shields-Watkins Field, I remember thinking that was the coolest/most beautiful sight my young eyes had ever seen. We sat about 30 rows up the west side of the stadium; right behind the UT bench. It was amazing: the Pride, running through the 'T' , the color orange everywhere, the game, it was all awesome!

Thanks dad for this and every other amazing experience that you shared with me! I love you and miss you so much!

Go Vols!
 
#2
#2
I don't remember too much about my first game. I guess it must've received a lot of hype, with it being Manning's only game against Archie's school. I remember UT being comfortable with everything except for Avery, who ran pretty wild for Ole Miss. We still won by a couple scores. 31-17, if I recall correctly. I was 10, and Dad and I sat in one of the end zones, in the covered seats.
 
#3
#3
My first Neyland experience was the Stoerner fumble Arkansas game. I was 7 and it was wet, cold, and loud. But looking back, I'm glad I can say I was there with my dad.
 
#4
#4
My first seat in Neyland was with my dad on the very top row right below the L in the big V O L S sign..I remember thinking how it felt like I was on top of the Empire State Building, we were so high
Posted via VolNation Mobile
 
#5
#5
My father passed shortly after I was born, but he was a rabid UT fan. My uncle certainly wasn't shy about telling me all the stories they had from their experiences at Neyland, and he took me to my first game when I was 8. It was my father's birthday, and we beat South Carolina like a drum.
 
#7
#7
Dad hated sports. Left when I was 15. Never came back. Found football on my own. Guess that means he did me a favor.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
 
#8
#8
My dad and I were always UT fans but he worked every Saturday so he couldn't find time to take me to a game until I got tickets from Coke Rewards (and I pushed the issue so much).

We went to the Marshall game, September 23rd, 2006. It was the only game the Vols hadn't run through the T since the tradition started. It rained practically the whole game and not just a drizzle. It was like a monsoon and the stadium was probably only have full (if that). I was so disappointed but in retrospect, after we've been to many games since, it was pretty cool having that historic game be my first and have my dad there with me.
 
#9
#9
My first game in Neyland was opening game in 1965 - a win over Army that I attended with my dad and my mom. In 1965 the Vols emerged again as a national force after several sub par years losing only one game that season by one point and ending in the top ten.

The next season I went to my first big game with my dad to the 66 Bama game and sat thru pouring rain in the old North bleachers. It was back and forth with the Vols losing in the end 11-10 on a mised very short FG attempt as time expired. Bama went 11-0 that season with their closest game against Tennessee.
 
#10
#10
The first one I can remember was the '93 Georgia game. At the time we played Georgia earlier in the year and it was early September, night game, amazing atmosphere. We beat the hell out of them that night, 38-6 in front of a packed house. I remember tickets were going for about $100-150 apiece outside the gate, and I thought that was a fortune. Still a lot of money at the time when Neyland only held about 93,000 folks.
 
#13
#13
took my dad to the 2002 fl-tennessee game.

i paid for everything......plane, tix, hotel, etc, etc, etc. made me feel like a grown up because it was the first time i did something like that for him.

thought florida would get killed. insult was added to injury as walking to the stadium it rained. i thought to myself......we're going to be soaked and lose. not to mention there was a stadium full of people salivating over the chance to really drill florida now that spurrier was gone.

casey clausen couldn't get the snap. tennessee couldn't tackle. florida rolled.

lots of fun.
 
#17
#17
Don't remember the exact year, but it was early 90's. We were playing the Akron Zips. It could have been Alabama for all I knew. I'll always remember watching the band march down into the stadium playing Rocky Top that day. We comfortably rolled through Akron, and I was hooked for life.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
 
#18
#18
My first game with my Dad/family in Neyland was in the mid 90's when UT blew out E. Carolina. I remember losing my voice by halftime. For me though one of the earliest things I remember was when I was little and he was listening to this old,cheap radio while the power was out one day after a storm. I remember hearing an announcer count down the yard lines and he would say "Give him six" and my Dad would just go crazy. I think this was during the Andy Kelly years, late 80's early 90's. I just remember those Saturdays watching our team with the volume on the TV down and John Ward on the radio up. I loved watching games with him and still do.
 
#19
#19
PimpVol said:
Never met him. Don't even know him. Screw him. Happy Fathers Day guys.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
Click to expand...

I didn't find out who my dad was till I was 17, and come to find out I wasn't missing much, was raised bye a stripper for a mother who never came home! Quit school at 18, and was homeless trying to find a job... Thanks to a positive attitude, I got a job at "Huntsville moving service (Mayflower) and bought me a truck, nothing special(89 Nissan hardbody) and made my way from there... Now I own my own business here in Huntsville as a hardwood installer/on sight sand and finisher!

And it's because of this, my 2boys are gonna know what it's like to have a daddy!!! Happy fathers day bud...
 
#21
#21
I don't remember the exact year, but had to be mid to late 80s. My father had season tickets as I was growing up. Tennessee was playing Kentucky on a very rainy evening. Neyland had turf then, and I remember some students getting a running start and sliding on the wet turf for what seemed to be 30 yards with a wake if water following them during halftime. As a 6 or 7 year old kid, I thought that was the coolest thing on Earth and would have given anything to do it myself. About halfway through the 4th quarter UT was up big, of course, and my father asked if I was ready to go, so that he could beat the traffic. I turned to him with an angry look and said, "Dad, this is Tennessee football. You don't understand!" My dad never asked again and we left Neyland after the clock read 00:00. My dad brings up that story at least once every football season and we get a good laugh out of it. He still maintains that he created a monster that day. Man, those were the days!!!!!!!
 
Last edited:
#22
#22
Cyclopskiller said:
I didn't find out who my dad was till I was 17, and come to find out I wasn't missing much, was raised bye a stripper for a mother who never came home! Quit school at 18, and was homeless trying to find a job... Thanks to a positive attitude, I got a job at "Huntsville moving service (Mayflower) and bought me a truck, nothing special(89 Nissan hardbody) and made my way from there... Now I own my own business here in Huntsville as a hardwood installer/on sight sand and finisher!

And it's because of this, my 2boys are gonna know what it's like to have a daddy!!! Happy fathers day bud...
Click to expand...

Dropped out and got my first job at A-1 Pennyrile Mayflower here in Nashville in 1997. Also have two boys (3rd on the way). My mom worked a lot and was gone most of the time as well. Very strange coincidence indeed. I also was born on Mothers Day and my mom died on Jan 19 this year. Truly a bad day for me today. Thanks for the well wishes everyone.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
 
#23
#23
My dad was in the military and we never made a game until I was in high school. '01 Vandy was our first game. We sat in G right behind the band. It was an amazing experience, and now we got to every game together.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
 
#24
#24
PimpVol said:
Dropped out and got my first job at A-1 Pennyrile Mayflower here in Nashville in 1997. Also have two boys (3rd on the way). My mom worked a lot and was gone most of the time as well. Very strange coincidence indeed. I also was born on Mothers Day and my mom died on Jan 19 this year. Truly a bad day for me today. Thanks for the well wishes everyone.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
Click to expand...

Hate to hear about your mamma, life kinda has a cycle we can't understand, and there's always something around the corner... Whether good or bad, ya just gotta be prepared... But then again there's nothing that can prepare you for a death.. Especially mamma!!!
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.
Advertisement



Back
Top