My dad sold popcorn to get in games as kid at old alumni gym which predated Stokely if that tells you anything. Plus later as young adult he was climbing over fences to get in the football games before the stadium looks like it does now. During that period he found out through marriage like his second cousin was married to Head Coach Bowden Wyatt. I was raised practically in Stokely and Thompson Boling Arena and most Saturdays in Neyland. There was no escaping my attachment to UT.
Another fun fact. My dad married my mom who was from Detroit in 1956 well he moved up there for a couple years after they married 9 to 10 years later because my moms parents health so circa 1965 ,1966 but then became homesick for Vols home games and Knoxville in general. Well he attended Pistons games in Detroit and they had some injury issues and needed a forward. The security wasn't what it is today. So my dad being a Vols fan had a friend he knew that played at Tennessee walked into the main office for the Detroit Pistons and introduced himself and told him he knew a physical forward that played at the University of Tennessee named Bobby Hogsett. Long story shortened the man said well we definitely looking for a player to help out as we are shorthanded. He wanted Mr Hogsetts contact information. He at this time was a teacher at school and couldn't believe he got a call from Detroit to try basketball professionally and accepted the tryout. He told my dad "Charlie thus has to be a joke, I can't believe this Thank you so much!" He made the team in 1966, didn’t play much but he is in history books for pro basketball. Sadly later he took a job as a bank manager and some man came in to argue a bad debt and shot him dead i want to say he was in his 40s when he died.
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