Remember when we didn't play Rocky Top?

#76
#76
My friend's father was on the band the first year that they played Rocky Top in 1972 ( I believe)
 
#77
#77
The walking horse has been back once a year or so. I remember seeing it at homecoming at least once in the past few years.
 
#78
#78
Etownvol said:
UT started using Rocky Top in 1982 I do believe.
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Hmmm ... I wonder what that song was then that I played in the band from 77 to 81. It sure sounded like Rocky Top and I believe the name of the song on top of the sheet music was Rocky Top ... but I could just be mistaken.
 
#80
#80
If we could bring in a real Tennessee Walking Horse and not one of the BS Big Lick Walking Horses that have been tortured and burned to kick their feet up, I'd be all for it. But probably most of us wouldn't even know a real Tennessee Walking Horse's gait if we saw it.
 
#81
#81
There was a puff piece on one of the UT games this year or maybe it was some other sports show (can't remember) about Rocky Top. There is some inn in Gatlinburg where the Bryants wrote the song and they have a plaque on the wall in the room where it was written. In the piece, they said that the Bryants gave UT the rights to play Rocky Top for as long as they liked.
 
#82
#82
I think they do the horse thing at Homecoming. It is a Tennessee thing and would be nice to have at more games. The horses are pretty and really can excite the crowd with their performance. I saw a man jump very high when he saw the horse making his way toward him. A prime example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hope to see a horse prance on Saturday.
 
#83
#83
I also remember on upper decks anywhere. You dressed up for football games and impromtu pep rallys were held on campus that moved to downtown....No Rocky Top but lots of fun and good memories....That is a perk of getting older.
 
#84
#84
foreverorange said:
didn't rocky top as another fight song start in the early 80's or late 70's?
I know it's not our original fight song.
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Technically, I don't think it's our fight song even now. I believe "Down the Field" is the fight song. At least that was the case in the mid-90s when I was in the band.
 
#85
#85
the cannon on the hillside was cool. iirc someone got hit in the face with debris from it and they stopped using it.

years ago i met a guy at a pregame function in circle park who claimed to have been the first or one of the first QB's to wear the orange back in the 20's.
 
#86
#86
Bleed-Orange said:
My dad is an old UT alumni and we got into the discussion about the Black Uni's and the outcry from the "traditionalists". He said the entire discussion is laughable and went through a list of traditions that used to be and others that are new. Among the things he brought up were:

1. The UT band didn't play Rocky Top.
2. The north end zone didn't have stands.
3. There was a cannon on the hill above the north endzone that was fired when we scored.
3. Our traditional "orange" uniform used to be almost a gold color.
4. We used to have a Tennessee walking horse on the field before the game.
5. There wasn't an upper deck.
6. UT didn't have a QB. We ran the single wing. He watched the first time a qb took the field.

I knew about a few of these, but I had no idea the band didn't play Rocky Top. Anyone else have memories like these?
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The cannon is a new one on me, but I always figured there should have been something like that, given the military nature of our mascot.

I think Rocky Top came to be played in the early to mid 70's. It was not written until 1967 or so.

My Dad has also told me he remembers UT games before they played Rocky Top, but it is really hard to envision UT games without it!

Walk around campus with your pops sometime. The last time he and I were up for a game, he stopped dead in his tracks about 100 feet SW of the corner of Andy Holt Avenue and Phillip Fulmer Way; then he told me that he was standing on the exact spot he was when he heard from his Frat brother that JFK had been assasinated.

Pretty nifty stuff.
 
#88
#88
CPA said:
I remember when fans used to wear "church clothes" to UT ball games. Thanks heavens those days are long gone!
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I disagree, when you go to a cathedral you should always show respect by dressing well.
 
#91
#91
My wife and I were actually talking about the walking horse while watching the game Saturday. We were watching the game with some friends (USCjr fans) and talking about pregame traditions. She thought it was one of the coolest parts. When did they stop doing it? If she saw it, it was within the last 10 years.
 
#92
#92
I disagree, when you go to a cathedral you should always show respect by dressing well.

This is about how fans used to dress at UT games not church. Totally misunderstood what I was saying.
 
#93
#93
They stopped having the horse when they pulled up the tartan turf and put down grass, (something about the horse damaging the grass).
He gets to damage the grass at the homecoming game only.
 
#96
#96
KCVol14 said:
I was at UT from 1972-76, have been going to games since 1964. At some point after 1972 the band starting playing Rocky Top and it was an immediate hit. As for becoming the "unofficial" fight song, I don't think it was planned, it just happened over time. During that time the end zone was not enclosed, there was an orange and white UT on the hill, and a cannon that was fired after each score. I've always wondered where that cannon is now, it's not something you just throw away, it would be neat to display it outside the stadium even if it's not fired.
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Like I posted, the cannon was manned by one of the fraternities, so surely they still have it.
 
#97
#97
The KA's have the cannon. Our national office made us fill the barrell with cement to make it inoperable. We were always told that someone got hurt when firing it at games.
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#99
#99
Anybody remember when they let fans actually tear down field goal posts, those were the days...
 
#100
#100
raynochonspeed said:
What is so 'military' about Smokey?
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I am talking about the "Volunteer". See generally the Battle of New Orleans/Chalmette Battlefield and Andrew Jackson.

I guess that may be considered by some as the nickname rather than the mascot.

Ummm... maple bacon glazed donut.

The only thing that would make that better is if it were chocolate.
 
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