Question about this old Vols logo

#1

ShoalCreekVol

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#1
My uncle was a student at UTK in the late 60s and early 70s. He lived in the dorm that was built into/onto Neyland Stadium. He brought this home from his college days, and gave it to me when I went to college in 89. He passed away about 5 years ago, so this is extra special to me now, but it was already my favorite piece of Vol memorabilia because its simply amazing and somewhat unique. My 14 year old orange-blooded son is begging me to give it to him now.

Curious if any of you know anything about the background or history of this logo? I appreciate anything you can share.

629EA476-1D1F-4AC5-879F-B42FC492FA8C.jpeg
 
#5
#5
I can't say I'm familiar with that. But, it looks like he is in the act of stomping something. It wonder which mascot your uncle would want ground under those cleats. You have yourself a great piece of history there.
 
#7
#7
Very cool plaque. I don't know the origin of the image but I remember seeing it in years past -- maybe it was popular clipart way back when. I don't think it's around much today, although you can still find stickers and such printed with it, or at least variations of it. I did see an old Vols pocket knife on ebay that came in a box with a similar image on it, don't know from what era though.
 
#8
#8
If you could mail it to me I could take a closer look at it and probably come up with an answer😁

Nice piece dude!
 
#9
#9
Take a picture, save to your computer or phone. Use GOOGLE image search. The camera image let's you upload the picture. You might get lucky. Google Images
 
#11
#11
It used to be on my old notebook that I bought at the "Campus Bookstore", corner of cumberland and 17th just by Clement hall.

Later, I was looking for some UT paraphernalia on ebay and found some old notebooks from the 50's with the logo on it (didn't buy it, just stole the .jpg of it). Also, an old decal. So it's old.. goes way back. It's cool. I liked it so much, the summer before my son moved into the FIJI house, we took the time to paint it on the wall of his room. Wonder if it's still there?
 

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#12
#12
Kind of resembles this pre 1900's sketch by Catherine Wiley

Tennessee-volunteers-player-by-wiley.jpg
 
#13
#13
My uncle was a student at UTK in the late 60s and early 70s. He lived in the dorm that was built into/onto Neyland Stadium. He brought this home from his college days, and gave it to me when I went to college in 89. He passed away about 5 years ago, so this is extra special to me now, but it was already my favorite piece of Vol memorabilia because its simply amazing and somewhat unique. My 14 year old orange-blooded son is begging me to give it to him now.

Curious if any of you know anything about the background or history of this logo? I appreciate anything you can share.

View attachment 160930
I have an old keychain with this fellow attached.
 
#15
#15
I have an old tie tack that I retrieved from my father's house after he died. I remember him wearing it when I was little.

I love that logo and use it for an avatar on my biz website builder page. That era of art is attractive to me. I like the UGA bulldog and standing gator from that same era.
 
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#16
#16
Back in the 50's and forward the old Ellis & Ernest drug store on campus had a section in the store devoted to UT decals. Everyone had UT decals on the back windows of their car. For my Chevy, I cut a UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE down to UNIV of TENN. There were lots of options to choose from but this was before the power T. There were lots of UT and Vols though. The OP's plaque is simply one of those window decals installed over a piece of wall hanging wood. Neat though!
 
#17
#17
1966 Program Archive

It looks like UTK started using cartoonish illustrations on the football program covers in the mid-60s. Prior to this time, the Vols' home game programs tended to have realistic illustrations, like a Norman Rockwell style painting. Many of the 1966 covers include a depiction of a player that strongly resembles the one on your plaque. I put a link to the UTK Library's online collection for 1966 above.
 
#19
#19
Okay. I did see orange pants, just not in first post. If Majors was the first to have orange pants issued in 1977, who came up with orange pants on this logo character 20ish years prior? Did we copy Clemson? I wonder if this was a stock image that lots of schools used with their own colors and chest logo? Early clip art?
 
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#20
#20
My uncle was a student at UTK in the late 60s and early 70s. He lived in the dorm that was built into/onto Neyland Stadium. He brought this home from his college days, and gave it to me when I went to college in 89. He passed away about 5 years ago, so this is extra special to me now, but it was already my favorite piece of Vol memorabilia because its simply amazing and somewhat unique. My 14 year old orange-blooded son is begging me to give it to him now.

Curious if any of you know anything about the background or history of this logo? I appreciate anything you can share.

View attachment 160930
I think this was drawn by Bill Dyers back when he used to draw his play by play diagram of every football down for the Knoville News Sentiel back in the 40s -60s. You may want to ask the KNS if they have any details in their records. When my father became too ill to attend football games, he would listen to the games and draw the same play by play diagram on a piece of 8.5 x 11 inch paper. I think my sisters has a foler full of his drawings stacked away somewhere. I hope this is of some valuse to you.
 
#21
#21
I always enjoyed those diagrams but with replay review, making the same play-by-play diagram would be a tough job. Alot of erasing would be going on.
 
#22
#22
My uncle was a student at UTK in the late 60s and early 70s. He lived in the dorm that was built into/onto Neyland Stadium. He brought this home from his college days, and gave it to me when I went to college in 89. He passed away about 5 years ago, so this is extra special to me now, but it was already my favorite piece of Vol memorabilia because its simply amazing and somewhat unique. My 14 year old orange-blooded son is begging me to give it to him now.

Curious if any of you know anything about the background or history of this logo? I appreciate anything you can share.

View attachment 160930
 
#23
#23
the souvenir from my first Tennessee game back in the early sixties was a seat cushion with this logo. The cushion was basically a square piece of plastic foam with this logo on thick paper stock wrapped in a clear plastic film. The plastic foam is gone but I still have the logo. This thread is a reminder that I need to get the logo framed.
 
#24
#24
It used to be on my old notebook that I bought at the "Campus Bookstore", corner of cumberland and 17th just by Clement hall.

Later, I was looking for some UT paraphernalia on ebay and found some old notebooks from the 50's with the logo on it (didn't buy it, just stole the .jpg of it). Also, an old decal. So it's old.. goes way back. It's cool. I liked it so much, the summer before my son moved into the FIJI house, we took the time to paint it on the wall of his room. Wonder if it's still there?

Yeah, i was just about to reply about the notebooks, then i saw your post. A good friend of mine still has his mothers college notebooks from the late 50's. Many are of that design. Obviously she was a utk alum. I was impressed with that image and wondering if it was copyrighted.
 
#25
#25
I found a little info referring to him simply as ā€œVol manā€ Charlie Daniel (no S on Daniel , not the devil went down to Georgia guy) who drew all the old pregame cartoons in the lineup may be the originator of it.My grandparents trunk was full of ponchos and seat cushions from the 60’s /70’s with this guy on them...... this was when I was a kid in the 80’s 😃72A237A2-FD4B-4D1B-B07E-F707A41E0138.png
 
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