Glad you enjoyed it. I have another story from the late 60's. In the first quarter of my freshman year in the fall of 1967, I had a Spanish Lab with Gary Wright, who was the U.T. placekicker who missed THE FIELD GOAL against Alabama in 1966. The game was played in Knoxville in the rain on the 3rd Saturday in October.
Anyway, Tennessee had a 21 yard field goal to win the game at the end. The attempt was from the right hash mark at a sharp angle. The kick sailed high over the right upright and was called no good. The fans in the North end zone reacted like it was good, and Dewey Warren, the QB and holder on the kick jumped in the air to celebrate the kick. Wright said that he didn't know if it was good or not because he kept his head down. Tennessee lost 11-10 that day, and Wright had a hard time getting over it. They nicknamed him "Wide Wright." To make it worse, he was from Heflin, Alabama and was offered a scholarship to Alabama, but chose U.T. instead.
When I met Wright , in the fall of 67, he was on crutches from catching his cleats in the turf on a kickoff in practice, and tearing a ligament in his knee. Karl Kremser , U.T.'s first soccer style kicker, took over the placekicking duties for that year of 1967. U.T. lost only the first game to UCLA, and the Orange Bowl game to Oklahoma that year, when Kremser missed a 44 yard field goal at the end of the game to lose 26-24.
Wright and I remained friends through that, his senior year, and I went out and kicked with , and held for him when he was preparing for a tryout with the Cleveland Browns. Through Wright I met Herman "Thunderfoot" Weaver, who later punted for the Detroit Lions for years.
Weaver was a tall, lanky country boy from Villa Rica, Georgia, who could punt the football a mile. He, Wright, and I played golf at the old Wallace Hills in the spring of 68. Weaver brought out the cigars, and the 3 college kids smoked cigars, walked around Wallace Hills, and had a heck of a time. I was a pretty good golfer, shooting around par, while those 2 guys weren't too good. I remember on one hole, Weaver drove some par 4 hole and 3 putted for his par. Don't think that he didn't hear about that one from us on the way home.
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