I have another random Vol meeting story that ranks up there among my personal favorites, too. In the mid 2000s, I was involved in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and took my "little brother" to a UT basketball game. I don't remember the opponent, but I remember it was COLD. We got to the arena before the gates opened and were standing around with another couple hundred of people or so who were waiting on the ramp on the northeast corner of the arena by the G5 parking lot. We were standing there impatiently waiting for them to open the gates when John and Barbara Ward walked up. The kid with me didn't have a clue who John Ward was, of course, but I grew up idolizing John Ward. I wanted to be a sports broadcaster because of John Ward. A few folks nodded at him and whispered but no one approached him for a minute. They were respecting his personal space, I guess. But I wasn't that polite. Haha! So I went up and introduced myself, and told him I just wanted to thank him for all the memories and all of his years of service to Tennessee fans. He was very gracious. He took time to ask where I was from, what I did for a living, etc. We chatted for a minute, then other folks started coming up. Some just wanted to shake his hand, some wanted autographs. But John took the time to talk to each one of them as if that was the most important moment of his day. That spoke volumes to me, because I had been told by a couple of insiders that John Ward was arrogant and unapproachable. That interaction outside TBA showed me that John was just as humble and personable in person as he came across as being on the radio. And the significance of it was here is a guy who is a legend at Tennessee. At the peak of his career he was the highest-paid person in the athletics department, making more money than Phillip Fulmer or Pat Summit, two legendary coaches. He could have named his seat inside TBA, and he could've been ushered inside a private entrance downstairs way ahead of the one-hour-before-tipoff gate-opening. Yet, here he was in 10-degree weather, standing outside in the cold with the rest of us "common" fans. As it turned out, that's just who John Ward was.
Good gracious, I miss John Ward's voice.