Tennessee football’s most underrated player from 1951 passes away
When anybody talks about Robert Neyland’s final two national championship teams for Tennessee football in 1950 and 1951, defense and the trenches are what stand out. Doug Atkins has his number retired. Bud Sherrod, Ted Daffer, Bill Pearman and John Michels are All-Americans.
To the degree that scoring is discussed, Hank Lauricella, another All-American is the standout name. Bert Rechichar is the famous return specialist. Everybody we just named was either an All-American or has a Wikipedia page.
None of them, however, was the leading scorer on that team. That title rested with tailback Harold “Herky” Payne, who came to UT from Florida and threw for four touchdowns and ran for another 14 in 1951, according to UTSports. Payne passed away at age 92 Tuesday, initially reported by Jimmy Hyams of WNML.
Herky Payne, 92, died of natural causes Tuesday. He was a terrific athlete at Tennessee -- 18 total TDs on 1951 national title team (14 rushing) -- and starter on 1951 UT College World Series team. Great coach, great man. He will be missed by Vol Nation and Knoxville QB Club.
— Jimmy Hyams (@JimmyHyams) March 31, 2021
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Payne wasn’t an All-American, nor does he have a Wikipedia page. In fact, he’s the only player we mentioned from Tennessee football’s 1951 team who wasn’t AP All-SEC. As a back, he had to play second fiddle to Lauricella, who does deserve props for leading the team in both passing and rushing yards hat year and scoring 13 total touchdowns.
This isn’t to take anything away from Lauricella. However, Payne should be mentioned in the same sentence. All the data out there shows he was in 1951 and still remains the most underrated player from that national title team. The guy was second on the team in total offensive yards with 566 rushing and 176 passing.
Originally from Pensacola, Fla., Payne played for UT from 1949 to 1951. He scored 11 total touchdowns on the 1950 national title team. Even in his first year playing, 1949, he had two touchdowns from scrimmage. The guy also doubled as a punter and a returner at times, running a punt return back for a touchdown in 1949.
In addition to playing for Tennessee football, he was also an infielder on the first baseball team in UT history to make the College World Series back in 1951. Rechichar was on that team as well, and those are the only two players we named who were never named football All-Americans with the program.
According to a 2017 Knoxville News Sentinel article by John Shearer, Payne spent time in the minors for baseball and with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL before a non-combat career in the U.S. Army. He returned to East Tennessee to become recreation director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for 13 years.
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After going back to school in the 1970s, Payne ingratiated himself with the local community more by becoming a longtime football and baseball coach at Farragut High School. He is a Tennessee football legend who will be missed. It’s time his name be mentioned in the same breath as Lauricella and Atkins.