Disney: Silent Era (1923-1928)
Tennessee: Early success and World War I era (1911-1925)
Now we get to the eras in which Tennessee football and Walt Disney animation truly took off. After the end of Laugh-O-Gram, The Walt Disney Company was founded, initially as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studios, in 1923. Disney and his brother Roy ran it. The “Alice Comedies” and then “Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit” were part of this era.
“Alice Comedies years closely resemble the Vols’ years still in the SIAA during this time. They really began as a program in 1911, with the hire of Zora G. Clevenger. Under Clevenger, UT saw its first major success, going 6-3 in 1913 and then going 9-0 and winning their first championship, the SIAA title, in 1914.
Following Clevenger, John R. Bender was there in 1916 and then 1919-1920. He also won an SIAA title, sharing it with an 8-0-1 record. Then there were the World War I years from 1917-1918, in which the Vols didn’t field an official team, but the club teams went 0-3 and 3-2. UT returned in 1919 to go 3-3-3 and then 7-2. Those years parallel the decline of the “Alice in Chains” series.
“Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit” came along with more success. That parallels the M.B. Banks years on Rocky Top. Banks took over in 1921, and that was the year Shields-Watkins Field opened, which remains UT’s stadium. The Vols also joined the Southern Conference in 1922.
Lasting through 1925, Banks went 6-2-1, 8-2, 5-4-1, 3-5 and 5-2-1. That final year was a year in which he had Robert Neyland on staff. And it would usher in the next era of the Vols, which was also the next era of Disney.