ptcarter
Boomshanka! (Google that)
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The effect of John Ward's passing on this fan base has been amazing to witness. My feelings towards him are very personal, yet I see I'm not alone. Even if you weren't born until after he retired, you still (to some degree) get it. That's a tribute to the man.
Me: Born in '57, Graduated from UT in '80. I was blessed to be a student during the Bernie/Ernie years. Those days were pure magic at Stokely.
Yes, this is a football forum, and JW's football calls are legendary. My fondest John Ward memories are of basketball. My Dad loved the Vols, and worked for Werner Von Braun here in Huntsville. During my middle school and high school years, we listened to about every basketball game on the radio. We could (barely) pick up the Fayetteville TN station. Dad would put the game on in the den. He'd sit in his chair, and I'd get a pillow and lay on the shag carpet. He'd get the room dark too. You didn't even have to close your eyes - it was just John Ward painting the canvas with his words.
Gosh- those players became my heros. Widby, Hahn, Croft, England, Boerwinkle, Justis, just to name a few.
So, you ask, where is he going with this thread? What I'd like (and this is the age of the internet, so this could happen), is a complete archive to be available. I'd love to relive not only some of those games, but maybe, on one of those cold winters, sit down and relive an entire season.
I remember a game in 1974. Must have been the VOL classic. Dad fired up the console and UT was playing Temple. John Ward at the helm.. Temple realized the only way to attempt to beat UT was to stall. Stall they did. No shot clock then - final score UT 11, Temple 6.
John Ward was in rare form.
1973-74 Tennessee Volunteers Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Yes there are tidbits out there. Like the UT-Kentucky game with Bernie and Ernie (link follows at the end of the post).
And I'm not just talking about John Ward - Kessling too. Would love to not only hear the broadcasts, but the coaches shows were pretty entertaining too.
There is a site, archive.org, that someone at NASA put the mission control audio out there. One of my other childhood memories was the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs - my Dad was heavily involved in.
I'm just using this as an example - this site has air/ground audio for those early missions, and it's amazing to listen too if you know the stories.
NASA Audio Collection : Free Movies : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive
I'd like to see a UT sports archive in a similar format.
Anybody here have contacts with the VOL network that could relay that request? I'd be curious to know the roadblocks that exist in getting that media available. It'd be great.
I'll end with this. Ray Mears once commented that John Ward's description of basketball defenses was uncanny. He watched some of the replays and said "John knew what the other team was doing before I did". I'd believe it - his basketball play by play was so precise. Here is a prime example of how good he was. UT/KY in stokely with Bernie and Ernie (and I was there)
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPa_nYylf78[/youtube]
Me: Born in '57, Graduated from UT in '80. I was blessed to be a student during the Bernie/Ernie years. Those days were pure magic at Stokely.
Yes, this is a football forum, and JW's football calls are legendary. My fondest John Ward memories are of basketball. My Dad loved the Vols, and worked for Werner Von Braun here in Huntsville. During my middle school and high school years, we listened to about every basketball game on the radio. We could (barely) pick up the Fayetteville TN station. Dad would put the game on in the den. He'd sit in his chair, and I'd get a pillow and lay on the shag carpet. He'd get the room dark too. You didn't even have to close your eyes - it was just John Ward painting the canvas with his words.
Gosh- those players became my heros. Widby, Hahn, Croft, England, Boerwinkle, Justis, just to name a few.
So, you ask, where is he going with this thread? What I'd like (and this is the age of the internet, so this could happen), is a complete archive to be available. I'd love to relive not only some of those games, but maybe, on one of those cold winters, sit down and relive an entire season.
I remember a game in 1974. Must have been the VOL classic. Dad fired up the console and UT was playing Temple. John Ward at the helm.. Temple realized the only way to attempt to beat UT was to stall. Stall they did. No shot clock then - final score UT 11, Temple 6.
John Ward was in rare form.
1973-74 Tennessee Volunteers Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Yes there are tidbits out there. Like the UT-Kentucky game with Bernie and Ernie (link follows at the end of the post).
And I'm not just talking about John Ward - Kessling too. Would love to not only hear the broadcasts, but the coaches shows were pretty entertaining too.
There is a site, archive.org, that someone at NASA put the mission control audio out there. One of my other childhood memories was the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs - my Dad was heavily involved in.
I'm just using this as an example - this site has air/ground audio for those early missions, and it's amazing to listen too if you know the stories.
NASA Audio Collection : Free Movies : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive
I'd like to see a UT sports archive in a similar format.
Anybody here have contacts with the VOL network that could relay that request? I'd be curious to know the roadblocks that exist in getting that media available. It'd be great.
I'll end with this. Ray Mears once commented that John Ward's description of basketball defenses was uncanny. He watched some of the replays and said "John knew what the other team was doing before I did". I'd believe it - his basketball play by play was so precise. Here is a prime example of how good he was. UT/KY in stokely with Bernie and Ernie (and I was there)
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPa_nYylf78[/youtube]