Without saying your age, who was your favorite player when you first started watching football?

[nate from decatur]

Larry Seivers

 

[johnsonbrewer]

George Gipp

 

[BUCCnVOLfan]

My Dad got me into sports. I remember him always talking about Gale Sayers, Walter Payton, and Jerry Rice.

I grew up on Brett Favre and 2-sport-Primetime.

 

[thistime]

College: Condredge Holloway

Pro: Alan Page

 

[rsm]

Fran Tarkenton and Joe Kapp

 

[PEPPERJAX]

I’ll start, Condredge Holloway.

Thanks for starting this thread. Add Alvin Harper as well.

 

[1972 Grad]

Fran Tarkenton and Joe Kapp

Joe Kapp could throw some ugly passes, and I remember seeing him after the NFL, doing some acting.

 

[DFWVolFan]

Andy Kelly

 

[OrngeJuiceJones]

Carl Pickens

 

[feathersax]

Bart Starr (NFL) & Steve DeLong (Vols). Before that, David & his slingshot.

 

[SaintLouieVol]

Johnny Unitas
Yes, I’m old!

 

[munsterlander]

Are you talking about the Gregg Jones (Tennessee High Bristol, who was from SW Virginia) that played with Spiva? There was another later U.T. Gregg Jones that was black.

That's right. I was a few years behind him at Tennessee High. He didn't get quite as much press as Spiva, but he was a monster.

 

[VFL1127]

Shuler!

 

[ArdentVol]

in no particular order:
whit canale
hal wantland
steve delong,
steve kiner
dewey warren
walter chadwick
in early 70s
The Artful Dodger
10 years after
Reggie White

 

[Seattle Hillbilly]

Curt Watson.

But listened to the radio on the porch with my dad more than watched. Good old days indeed.

 

[VolPack22]

Hard for me to choose one. Peyton, Al Wilson, Jamal Lewis and Peerless Price.

 

[Vegas_Ferguson]

College: The magnificent Stanley Morgan. Still have the 21 jersey packed away somewhere.

NFL: Ken Stabler. Ghost to the Post left an impression.

 

[dirytkirby]

Jimmy Streater

 

[1972 Grad]

That's right. I was a few years behind him at Tennessee High. He didn't get quite as much press as Spiva, but he was a monster.

I knew him very well. He used to call on me as a basket salesman for years. I retired 6 years ago, so I haven't seen him since then. I can only imagine how intense he would be on a football field.

He had a linebacker mentality. He was still in great shape the last time I saw him. He looked like he could still play, and he was probably getting close to 60 when I last saw him. If I'm not mistaken , Gregg had 20 or 21 tackles in a game. What town in Virginia did he come from? He wasn't originally from Bristol. I'm thinking it was some little coal mining town like Honaker or Dante or something.

 

[1972 Grad]

in no particular order:
whit canale
hal wantland
steve delong,
steve kiner
dewey warren
walter chadwick
in early 70s
The Artful Dodger
10 years after
Reggie White

You go back a ways, like me.

 

[HangUpAndListen]

Andy Kelly

 

[508mikey]

Archie Manning

 

[Orangeburst]

Jarrett Guarantano

 

[BruisedOrange]

My first time seeing a live football game was Doug Dickey's Vols vs. Boston College in 1964. From that day on I followed Paul Naumoff's career, through the NFL.

The first time I actually watched a football game on TV was with my grandfather on Thanksgiving Day, 1961. One team was obviously smaller* than the other team, so I started rooting for the underdogs--and they won! I was hooked, and started following that little team whenever they were on TV (back then only 1 NFL game was televised per week).

* Youngsters won't know this: on a black & white cathode ray television, dark phosphors are literally smaller than the white phosphors on the screen. So naturally--and literally--the dark-jerseyed players all appeared smaller than the white-jerseyed team.

Oh. That little team of underdogs I started pulling for had a fullback named Jim Taylor and a quarterback named Bart Starr. I watched them every Sunday they were on TV... including the Championship Game in which they beat the Giants 37 - 0.

Yeah.

My "little underdogs" were the Green Bay Packers of Vince Lombardi. What a way to start a love affair with football!

 

[GreyWolf1129]

Condredge.