A Letter from the Editor: The Heart of a Volunteer

On August 31, 1996 Neyland Stadium entered a new era, the upper deck on the North Side of the stadium was closed in which, at the time, made Neyland one of the largest stadiums in the country. I was five years old, that Saturday night beneath the lights, a passionate love affair with College Football and the Tennessee Volunteers, which, aside from one with Jesus, has been a grander part of my life ever since. There was a young, talented quarterback wearing Orange that night named Peyton Manning. I saw Manning play twice as a Volunteer, the second time would be his final appearance as a Volunteer at Neyland Stadium a year later against Vanderbilt. The following season in 1998, I witnessed one of the greatest miracles in Tennessee football history, Arkansas quarterback Clint Stoerner stumbled then fumbled, and gave the Vols the chance to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat in route to a perfect season and a national championship.

Once again, on January, 4th 1999, I was there for the National Championship game in the Fiesta Bowl. I saw the Volunteers beat the Florida State Seminoles 23-16 and be crowned national champions.

I was there when John Higgens hit a half court shot to beat Georgia Tech in Atlanta during the Buzz Petersen era. I saw Todd Helton hit a monster home run over 500 feet when he played baseball for the Vols and led them to the College World Series.

College sports are different in the South. In a strange way, the teams we follow/support/love become a part of us, like no professional team will ever be able to. We don’t have a large number of big cities in the South with a plethora of professional sports teams to lend our hearts to. I’m from East Tennessee where the closest NFL team is the Tennessee Titans who are 4 hours away, and when I was born, they didn’t exist. The Atlanta Braves are the baseball team of the south, but they’re also 4 hours away. NHL? Not even close. NBA? If they’re not disputing over money, the closest team when I was growing up was the Charlotte Hornets, and they moved.

Where I’m from, there is the Tennessee Volunteers. That’s it. I’m 20 now, and I attend the University of Tennessee, which only spurned my allegiance and dedication to the team. If they weren’t before, they were undoubtedly my team now. And that’s what has given me the grit to stay true to them even through the darkest hours, and I’m not just talking about football.

The last couple of years have been the worst in Tennessee athletics history. It started with football, Lane Kiffin came and went, leaving behind a “tire fire” of violations, a mess of a roster, and a fan base that felt betrayed. After a dismal football season which included two games in which the Volunteers left the field victorious only to have to come back onto it and lose.

The basketball team, which had been the saving grace, fell to pieces before our eyes, culminating in an embarrassing first round massacre by Michigan and the subsequent firing of Bruce Pearl.

The baseball team only added to the woes, finishing it’s third straight losing campaign and firing manager Todd Raleigh.

Athletic Director Mike Hamilton resigned and thus the entire cast of characters for UT’s major Men’s athletics changed from 2008 t0 2010. That kind of unbalance pays it’s toll on a program.

(I don’t want to discredit Tennessee’s other sports. The Volunteers have excelled at swimming & diving, tennis, track and field, women’s soccer, volleyball, golf, and other sports, but the major sports, and the public face of Tennessee has fallen from national relevance).

During those rough times, we looked to our only champion left on Rocky Top, Pat Summit. Early this fall, Coach Summit was diagnosed with early onset dementia, a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease. Suddenly, sports didn’t matter all that much. Coach put on her brave face and said “There’s not going to be any pity party and I’ll make sure of that.” In her own way, she said, I won’t let this change me, and I’m prepared to fight this tooth and nail.

Volunteers in Knoxville, in Tennessee, and all across the country rallied behind Pat. On October 8th, Tennessee had a home football game against the Georgia Bulldogs in Neyland Stadium. Between the first and second quarter, a video played on the Jumbotron. Vol fans all recognized that this was a “This is Tennessee” feature, which usually portrayed something about the University and the things that made it great. This video featured Pat Summit, and when the crowd realized it, 100,000 plus all stood and roared as if Tennessee had just scored. When Coach Summit appeared on the screen standing in the North Endzone, the stadium got louder and louder, even Georgia fans stood for the ovation.

Sometimes sports become more than just a game. I don’t mean in the sense that you should have  radical (even militant) support for your team. That’s a negative side effect (see Harvey Updkye). I’m talking about moments in sports that inspire people, that stir something inside you that’s greater than a mere game. Pat Summit’s story, I think, reminded us all of what it means to be a Volunteer. While these may be tough days for Tennessee as far as success goes on the field, seasons come and go, Tennessee will win again. But the heart and soul of it all will never leave. Coaches and leadership positions change, players graduate and move on, we win games, we lose games, but the heart of the Volunteer doesn’t change.

May we never forget that. May we always remember that there are much greater things in life than sports, but the games we love speak to those greater things inside us all. They instill the values of teamwork, devotion, fellowship, and support when the going gets tough. In a college sports world that’s come undone with scandal after scandal, we have to remind ourselves of the most important things in life and in sports, and that’s the values that they teach us, and how they play a part in shaping us into the people that we are.

On this website, we’re Volunteers. We love any team that takes the field wearing Tennessee Orange. This website will be a place for  all sports fans, but we’re going to talk about the Vols, that’s our main focus. Original Content, analysis, creative and fun posts, and commentary will be our main outlets, but we want to encourage you, as our readers, to get inVOLved, to become a part of our community. Because, at the end of the day, it’s for you. Our website is only as prevalent as those who are involved in it.  We will have our fun bashing Alabama, Florida, and whoever else we might be playing, but at the end of the day, we’re all sports fans, I encourage our readers to be classy in victory, and gracious in defeat. A little trash talking, and fun poking are all in good fun, but there is a line that we never want to cross. We, as a community, seek to have nothing but respect for our own, and other fans. I implore you to always be the classier fan, even when the other guys aren’t.

That’s what we’re all about, marveling in the wonder of Tennessee Athletics and enjoying life on Rocky Top, wherever that may be. We’re excited to start this journey, and thankful to many people for making it possible. Here’s to many singings of Rocky Top all across Volunteer Nation. Go Vols.

Sincerely,

Sam Scott