First Vol game you remember and your age

#126
#126
esarmstrong said:
First game I saw (on the television) was the Orange bowl, 1968 vs. Oklahoma. First game I attended was 1968 vs. Kentucky.
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Sat on my daddy's lap in the rocking chair working the outside antenna with my little arms. I actually got to tell this to my favorite quarterback, swamp rat. I was never so proud as I was that day
 
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#129
#129
FlyFishnVol said:
I was a freshman, traveling to a PAC-10, did not think I would see the field and BAM! the 1st and 2nd string QBs were injured and CPF looked at me and said: "Steve" (name hidden to protect my identity, get warmed up...........MAN! I was nervous and it showed on the field. I wish I could tell who I am, but that was my most memorable game.

Go Vols!
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Alatoree?
 
#130
#130
Probably 5 or 6. I was in Chicago area of Indiana and loved all things Tennessee from the first time I went to the countryside there .
 
#132
#132
First game I attended was my freshman year in highschool. UT grad took a few of us to Knoxville for the game. I believe it was against Wake Forest....We lost. It was 1959.
 
#133
#133
I started listening on the radio at 10, 1960. The first game that really stuck with me all these years was late in the 65 season, UCLA game in Memphis. It was a great game we won the shootout 37-34. The Dewy Warren years were when I became an avid fan. I would listen to the pre-game and the game then scour the Sunday morning paper reading every article about the game.
 
#136
#136
I don't remember a specific game, but I started listening to Vol football on the radio in 1953 at age 12. George Mooney and Bob Foxx. The first vivid memory of a specific game was Tennessee-Ga. Tech in 1956.
 
#137
#137
Indianrick said:
Mine was Bama 1968 8 years old
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7 yrs old!

Bob Woodruff, Joe Paterno, and the lights at Neyland
Former Tennessee Athletic Director Bob Woodruff was a crafty old dude. I had the privilege to interview him in his office during my undergraduate years at UT as part of a journalism project. I was researching the plans (that were never fulfilled) to retrofit the south end of Neyland Stadium so that the Vols basketball team could play a few selected home games there. This was the mid-1970s when Bernard King, Ernie Grunfeld and Co. were lighting up men’s hoops like a bonfire. The old Stokely Athletic Center was not big enough to hold the excitement of those days. All-night lines for student tickets were becoming commonplace, especially for the big games like Kentucky (that 103-98 war remains the best basketball game at any level I’ve ever witnessed in person).

Bob was finishing up a telephone conversation when I arrived at his office. He told me to wait a few minutes while he attended to somebody else for a few minutes, so I used the moments alone to walk around and look at all the memorabilia within the beautiful wooden bookshelves that lined the walls of his workplace. I couldn’t believe what I was getting to look at — footballs from the 1930s, old orange jerseys, trophies, and plaques. A Vol treasure chest; a young Vol fan’s dream.
first-night-game-at-neyland-stadium_1972.jpg

When we started to talk, he wanted to know a few things about me and what I was doing for this class project. Of course I got into the subject of growing up a Vols football fan, and how I wished that I could have attended the night game against Penn State in 1972. Sitting in Woodruff’s office, I had yet to attend a game under the lights at Neyland Stadium. Night games were a new thing, and a very rare occurrence at that. That 1972 game against Joe Paterno’s team was the first one.
I don’t really remember much else about the interview, except for some rolled-up blueprints that Woodruff laid out on his big desk illustrating the bizarre plans for playing basketball in a stadium named for Robert Neyland. But when I read David Climer’s article in The Tennessean on Monday, it reminded me of that meeting in the Athletic Director’s office — a meeting that I have long forgotten.
joe-paterno-on-sidelines-at-neyland-stadium-1972.jpg
In December 1971, Tennessee had defeated Penn State 31-11. It was “Majors Family Day” for the home season finale, and the game was telecast nationwide on ABC. Vol defenders were excellent, stopping a Penn State offense featuring Franco Harris and Lydell Mitchell . Conrad Graham scored on a 76-yard fumble return for a touchdown. Bobby Majors returned two punts for 82 yards, one for a score, and returned two kickoffs for 113 yards.
Coming into the game, Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions were undefeated (10-0-0) and ranked #4. The Vols victory (Tennessee was 8-2-0 and #12 going into the match) caused Paterno to look for a way out of the rematch scheduled for the following year. The 1972 game was slated for September, and different weather than the December game. As Climer writes,
Paterno sent word that the only way he would follow through with the game was if it was played at night. Otherwise, he’d find a way out of the contract. Paterno knew that night football was considered blasphemy to many in leadership positions at UT who grudgingly clung to tradition.​
Apparently Woodruff had secret plans already in the works for lights to be installed at Neyland Stadium. Just as Woodruff had kept the installation of the new Tartan Turf in 1968 under wraps, much to the chagrin of Vince Dooley, Woodruff wasn’t going to go public with the inevitably of night football in Knoxville. Paterno’s threat made Woodruff want to keep that a secret even more.
The lights went up, and Tennessee beat Penn State 28-21. Oh, how I wish I could have been there. But thinking about it now, my desire made for good conversation with one of the legends of Tennessee football and UT athletics. I’m glad I have that memory. Many night games were to come for me soon enough.
 
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#138
#138
First game I finally got to attend was Mississippi State in Neyland in '86,,lost on Don Smith's 4th qtr run. Before that it was '77 or '78 listening on radio or watching a game on tv( one or two a year back then).
Oh and I was 17 when I finally got to attend a game.
 
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#139
#139
My first game in Neyland was my freshman year in college in 1976 for a game against Clemson. I had grown up in Nashville and had pulled for Vandy and against UT my entire childhood as my Dad was a Vandy grad. However, after sitting on 50 yard line (student section) that sunny fall day in ‘76 and watching UT win on a near-game ending FG to win the game, I was sold as new Vol fan! I had never before experienced the thrill and excitement of a football game like that day. And, every time I go back to Neyland (about once a year), I get that same excitement!
 
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#142
#142
Indianrick said:
Mine was Bama 1968 8 years old
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1967 vs. Vanderbilt in Knoxville. I was 7 years old. Knew then I wanted to go to the University of Tennessee when I "got old." My Uncle Jack and Aunt Virgie took me and my younger brother. I remember men in sport jackets, women in dresses, and the smell of pipe tobacco. Stopped at a steak restaurant in Cleveland on the way home.
 
#143
#143
Tennessee vs Georgia Tech, Oct/1969, 13 years old and mesmerized by the experience of Neyland Stadium,( got
to meet Bobby Scott and Coach Dickey the year before and got a kicking lesson from Karl Kremser )
 
#144
#144
First one I truly remember was 85 Auburn @ 10yo. I know I went to many before that (sold cokes all season in 85) but that one really left an impression. The stadium was rocking, goal posts came down and I had about $40 soaked in Coke in my pocket. How did it get better for a kid that age?
 
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#145
#145
VOLS vs. UCLA, 1968
Bruins were on tv a lot back in the day. I liked their uniform colors on tv but in person the gold was old and dull. Our VOLS drilled their eyes out!!
What I remember most was Janice Joplin with the holding company was the homecoming concert ! Pretty cool day for a high school kid !
 
#146
#146
Colorado State Set 2, 1989. I was 23..

My wife was due in a couple weeks. I was working for the Vol Network Affiliate at the time. So she had a number to call in press box.in case she went into labor to have me paged over the loud speaker. (Forgot about that till OP asked the question) She went into labor two days later on Labor Day. Son was born 36 hours later. Looonnnng labor
 
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#147
#147
First game I remember at Neyland was in 1991 (8 years old). Vols put a beatdown on vandy 45-0.
 
#148
#148
djwes said:
Tennessee vs Utah 1984, 14 years old


I remember all the Jack bottles in the stands after the game
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You reminded me of seeing all the Jack bottles and souvenir cups left in the stands as a kid! The smell came back to me.
 
#149
#149
I was 8-10 so it had to be 59-61. I think it was GA tech or Bama. GT was as big a rival as bama if not bigger then. I remember getting car sick on the ride from Kingsport to Kville . 3+hrs on 11W. I remember Tall men in overcoats and hats. that blocked any view I might have had. and being cold.
 
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