Ron Widby passed away

#26
#26
Widby always brings back memories of my high school basketball coach responding to players wanting to play multiple sports. He discouraged it. Someone brought up Widby. The coach responded: Widby is a good baseball player, fair basketball, fair football. That's when I knew teachers could lie.
 
#27
#27
feathersax said:
Likely the best multi-sport athlete in Tennessee history. Condolences to family & friends. We have lost another Vol legend.
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Dang. I remember watching him punt for the Cowboys when I was a kid. I had no idea then he would be an icon for my alma mater one day.

That would be Condredge. If the calendar allowed it he probably would have also been on the basketball team. I watched him play numerous times at Lee in Huntsville in all three sports. He was the best player on the field/court in every game I saw.
 
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#29
#29
golfballs said:
What happens when kids play a bunch of sports as a kid. Develop a lot of different skills. Granted he was a gifted athlete.
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Sadly kids today play their sports on a video screen instead of actually going outside. I have a neighbor with 4 children and I swear for the first year we didn't even know they had kids....they never came outside. Sad.
 
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#32
#32
1972 Grad said:
Way more than reliable, and an even better basketball player for the Vols.
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Saying he was better with the round ball can start a "war of words". He was as good a punter as football has ever seen. His kicks usually were nearly as high as they were long. AND they were usually as long as he wanted them to be. Saw him play (on TV) a few times on the basket ball court. Could shoot as well as most anyone he had to play against. Was really smooth.
 
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#33
#33
ArdentVol said:
Failed to remember that Hendrix was called Spook
do remembder way he played at bottom of 1-3-1
seemed like all Knoxville HS's used that defense. That spot that Hendrix played was a killer to play
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And Widby made a living from the corner. I guess playing against the 1-3-1 in high school and college made the corner the place to be for him. Widby made a lot of what would be 3 pointers today from deep in the corner. His senior average would have been even higher than 22 ppg.
 
#34
#34
Stu-Aberdeen-Ray-Mears-Ron-Widby-Jerry-Parker-and-Jim-Cornwall..jpg


I heard enough about this man from my dad to know he was something special. Great athlete. Great technician in every sport he tackled.
 
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#36
#36
ZZ13 said:
Dang. I remember watching him punt for the Cowboys when I was a kid. I had no idea then he would be an icon for my alma mater one day.

That would be Condredge. If the calendar allowed it he probably would have also been on the basketball team. I watched him play numerous times at Lee in Huntsville in all three sports. He was the best player on the field/court in every game I saw.
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Both men were awesome.
 
#37
#37
wmcovol said:
Widby was the star of the 1967 BB SEC championship team along with Tom Boerwinkle. Bill Justis & Billy Hahn were soph guards. Tom Hendrix was the other starter. They went to NCAA back when only 16 teams went and there was no seeding. Vols lost opening game to Dayton by 1 or 2 pts. Dayton went to the finals vs UCLA. Different times back then.
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I remember listening to that game. Still hate Dayton to this day.
RIP Ron Widby.
 
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#38
#38
OrangePlasma said:
I remember listening to that game. Still hate Dayton to this day.
RIP Ron Widby.
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I'm not sure if I remember correctly, but it seems like Billy Justus had a long streak of free throws made snapped in that game. Seems like he shot something like 92% from the FT line that year.
 
#39
#39
HollowaytoSeivers said:
I remember being a kid watching the Cowboys and finding out that Widby had played at Tennessee. He was probably the first punter I ever liked.

I know he lettered in football, basketball, and golf. What was the other sport in which he lettered?
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First baseman on the baseball team, I'm thinking. Good hitter.
 
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#40
#40
wmcovol said:
Widby was the star of the 1967 BB SEC championship team along with Tom Boerwinkle. Bill Justis & Billy Hahn were soph guards. Tom Hendrix was the other starter. They went to NCAA back when only 16 teams went and there was no seeding. Vols lost opening game to Dayton by 1 or 2 pts. Dayton went to the finals vs UCLA. Different times back then.
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Dayton had that game taken away later due to violations re Don May. Game was in Evanston, first UT game I ever saw. Went with my Dad, Class of 49, I started at UT in fall of 1967.
 
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#41
#41
wmcovol said:
Widby was the star of the 1967 BB SEC championship team along with Tom Boerwinkle. Bill Justis & Billy Hahn were soph guards. Tom Hendrix was the other starter. They went to NCAA back when only 16 teams went and there was no seeding. Vols lost opening game to Dayton by 1 or 2 pts. Dayton went to the finals vs UCLA. Different times back then.
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I remember it well!
 
#44
#44
onthehill71 said:
Dayton had that game taken away later due to violations re Don May. Game was in Evanston, first UT game I ever saw. Went with my Dad, Class of 49, I started at UT in fall of 1967.
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You started the same year I did. Where did you live?
 
#49
#49
onthehill71 said:
Rich folks lived in Presidential.....
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LOL! That is what my brother said, but he had lived in The Zoo for 2 years before I got there, and didn't want to leave. He stayed there for all 4 years. If you ever saw a student sitting out front with a gun case on a Saturday morning, that was my brother. He was waiting to be picked up to go hunting.
 
#50
#50
1972 Grad said:
Best story that I ever read about him was when he was on the U.T. golf team and shot an even par round at Beaver Brook. 9 birdies and 9 bogeys. Hard to believe.
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Me and some more friends used to bat golf balls around in the grass with him just for fun. Just dug a few holes in the ground over where I worked.
 
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