"I am ashamed of being a Southerner"

#1
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Bruleif

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#1
Wait a second before you pull out the muskets and hand grenades! That is part of a quote from a Tennessee native --- and perhaps the best football coach UCLA has ever had, Tommy Prothro.

Prothro was born in Memphis. In many ways he was a football genius. In 1965 after a stunning upset over USC that sent UCLA to the Rose Bowl, the Bruins traveled to Knoxville to play the Vols. The Vols won on a late interception that stopped a UCLA drive.

What got Prothro fuming was that there were apparently several times that the clock was stopped illegally during the winning Vol drive. Plus there was apparently a Vol lateral that was muffed and recovered by the Bruins only to have the officials rule it an incomplete pass. I remember the papers (which my parents tossed into my crib) that carried Prothro's quote in the sports headlines. His full quote was "For the first time in my life I am ashamed of being a Southerner."

So few games were televised back in those days who knows what the truth is. But it caused quite a scandal as I recall.

That undersized Bruin team went on to stage one of the biggest upsets in Rose Bowl history, beating the No. 1 Michigan State Spartans 14-12.

Just thought I would share some of the TN-UCLA lore.

ucla051.jpg




Cheers.
 
#2
#2
No true southerner gives a damn what Tommy Prothro, or Pepper Rogers for that matter, thought.
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#3
#3
Sorry, but I'm having a hard time typing due to the comment that your parents tossed the newspaper comments of Prothro being ashamed of being a southerner into your crib. That must have a bearing on your being here in the preamble of the war between the south and the west. We here in the great state of Tennesee are most assuredly glad to have an historian such as yourself aprise us of the historical data regarding the rivalry between the two schools. All that being said, there should be enough time before the big game for you guys to acclimate yourselves for the ass kicking you are about to receive. Thanks for the history lesson!!
 
#4
#4
bad calls are and were apart of the game. every team benefited from some time to time, so he can get over clock issues and fumble not called.
 
#5
#5
sickemsmokey10 said:
bad calls are and were apart of the game. every team benefited from some time to time, so he can get over clock issues and fumble not called.
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Yes, I totally agree. That was my point. I have no idea if UCLA got mis-treated or not. The real controversy was what Prothro said. It caused quite a stir. Ancient history to most, I suppose, but part of the history of college football nevertheless.

Cheers.
 
#6
#6
Good point. Extra things... always come into play when you have this type of game where you pit conference against conference. So, all Vols fans that believe that the UCLA game wll be a blowout...there might be things to come up unexpectly.....:pirate:
 
#7
#7
volswin08 said:
Good point. Extra things... always come into play when you have this type of game where you pit conference against conference. So, all Vols fans that believe that the UCLA game wll be a blowout...there might be things to come up unexpectedly.....:pirate:
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Fixed...... Go Vols
 
#9
#9
Memphis is the south. It is also part of TN no matter what you east tn natives like to think.
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#11
#11
Midfielder10 said:
Memphis isn't Southern. We don't even like to consider it part of Tennessee.
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Memphis isn't southern? Haha. Now given I do hate Memphis, but it is more "southern" than anywhere east of Nashville in my mind. You're right in that it isn't like most of the rest of Tennessee though. Memphis is basically north Mississippi, Ole Miss country. You don't get more southern than that...
 
#14
#14
csheaton said:
Memphis isn't southern? Haha. Now given I do hate Memphis, but it is more "southern" than anywhere east of Nashville in my mind. You're right in that it isn't like most of the rest of Tennessee though. Memphis is basically north Mississippi, Ole Miss country. You don't get more southern than that...
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Memphis is not 'ole miss country'. Shelby county sends more students to tUT than any other county in tn besides Knox.
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#15
#15
dickens821 said:
Memphis is not 'ole miss country'. Shelby county sends more students to tUT than any other county in tn besides Knox.
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Thats just because Memphis is such a large city. And I didn't mean "Ole Miss country" as far as numbers of college students. I meant it saying that Memphis culture resembles that of north Mississippi or Ole Miss much more so than it does Knoxville and UT's.
 
#16
#16
dickens821 said:
Memphis is not 'ole miss country'. Shelby county sends more students to tUT than any other county in tn besides Knox.
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Thank You! Some of these folks must have never been to Memphis if they think it is Ole Miss country.
 
#17
#17
csheaton said:
Thats just because Memphis is such a large city. And I didn't mean "Ole Miss country" as far as numbers of college students. I meant it saying that Memphis culture resembles that of north Mississippi or Ole Miss much more so than it does Knoxville and UT's.
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Uh. No.
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#25
#25
the only really similar things between Memphis and north Mississippi are the farming industries and that is because the land is so similar, as they are both in the delta.
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