John Ward getting the Insurers of Tennessee ready for the '67 season

[ptcarter]

We've come a long way. This was before Rocky Top was ever played by the band. No jumbotrons, Upper deck only on pressbox side. John Ward who made his fortune in advertising, not calling football (I think he did the procasts for free). A trip down memory lane for those of us gray haired guys.

 

[apevol]

We've come a long way. This was before Rocky Top was ever played by the band. No jumbotrons, Upper deck only on pressbox side. John Ward who made his fortune in advertising, not calling football (I think he did the procasts for free). A trip down memory lane for those of us gray haired guys.

there will never be anything that induces such a flood of memories and nostalgia in me as that man's voice

 

[ConantheVolbarian]

We've come a long way. This was before Rocky Top was ever played by the band. No jumbotrons, Upper deck only on pressbox side. John Ward who made his fortune in advertising, not calling football (I think he did the procasts for free). A trip down memory lane for those of us gray haired guys.

This is cool

 

[kyvol98]

Fall Sunday's as a kid: After church, come home and watch the last part of the Notre Dame playback (Lindsey Nelson on the call) then the Doug Dickey / Bill Battle / Johnny Majors show. Then outside to find a football game to play in.

 

[feathersax]

Thanks for this ptcarter! SO many great memories of John Ward & Tennessee football. He & Doug Dickey were terrific.

 

[ArmchairQB]

Just a bit before my time but this is great. I’ve got a framed Sports Illustrated cover from that 1967 season on the wall in my office at work from where we beat Bama.

 

[Grandpa4]

Fall Sunday's as a kid: After church, come home and watch the last part of the Notre Dame playback (Lindsey Nelson on the call) then the Doug Dickey / Bill Battle / Johnny Majors show. Then outside to find a football game to play in.

Yep, that was my routine.

 

[ptcarter]

Just a bit before my time but this is great. I’ve got a framed Sports Illustrated cover from that 1967 season on the wall in my office at work from where we beat Bama.
View attachment 520186

I sure wish they would both wear their colors like this again. My understanding (and it may be wrong) is that when the games were first broadcast, most had black and white TV sets. Some color combinations when displayed in black and white made it hard to see who was who, so the mandated visitors wear white. That problem is long gone.

 

[savannahfan]

I sure wish they would both wear their colors like this again. My understanding (and it may be wrong) is that when the games were first broadcast, most had black and white TV sets. Some color combinations when displayed in black and white made it hard to see who was who, so the mandated visitors wear white. That problem is long gone.

Very true... Our orange ( somewhat a faded color back then) could hardly be told from the white numbers. It was also hard for the color cameras to distinguish the difference.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Very true... Our orange ( somewhat a faded color back then) could hardly be told from the white numbers. It was also hard for the color cameras to distinguish the difference.

And it wasn’t until the 1/1/1969 Cotton Bowl versus Texas that TN was forced to wear white jerseys.

 

[ArmchairQB]

So true. Now there’s absolutely no reason for uniform color to make a difference if they’re different to start with. I take it for granted now but hi def TVs changed everything. If you can see chunks of dirt kick up off a cleat now, you can tell orange and red apart.

 

[esarmstrong]

I sure wish they would both wear their colors like this again. My understanding (and it may be wrong) is that when the games were first broadcast, most had black and white TV sets. Some color combinations when displayed in black and white made it hard to see who was who, so the mandated visitors wear white. That problem is long gone.

It's not unusual to see games with both teams in color jerseys. USC and UCLA both wear their colored unis now (like they used to do) and Georgia and Florida have worn colored jerseys in their recent past in the "Cocktail Party" game. Would love to see Bama and Tennessee go back to those days and both teams wear colored unis.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

We've come a long way. This was before Rocky Top was ever played by the band. No jumbotrons, Upper deck only on pressbox side. John Ward who made his fortune in advertising, not calling football (I think he did the procasts for free). A trip down memory lane for those of us gray haired guys.

Interesting production. It’s basically a pre-season promo for the 1967 season. Ward (and Bill Anderson) didn’t start calling the football play-by-play live until the 1968 season (the first game on the Tartan Turf versus Georgia). His “call” of that 1966 Army game was edited in later rather than being a live call.

 

[esarmstrong]

Interesting production. It’s basically a pre-season promo for the 1967 season. Ward (and Bill Anderson) didn’t start calling the football play-by-play live until the 1968 season (the first game on the Tartan Turf versus Georgia). His “call” of that 1966 Army game was edited in later rather than being a live call.

George Mooney was still the guy in 1967, although Ward was evidently heavily involved in the production of much of the UT football broadcasts in 1967.