Ray Mears Room is no more at Food City Center

[HotVol]

Now that Thompson-Boling Arena has been renamed Food City Center, there is another less well known rebranding that has occurred. Harper Auto Square is now sponsoring all of the floor seats in the arena, & have also put their name on what was formerly the Ray Mears Room, with murals of the iconic coach & his best players, including Ernie & Bernie, being taken down from the walls.

Shameful! What's next? Taking Lindsey Nelson's name off the baseball stadium? They would sell the name of the football stadium & remove General Neyland if they could.

Discussions are underway to potentially put statues of Mears, John Ward, Ernie, Bernard, & perhaps others outside the arena in sort of an outdoor statuary Hall of Fame to go along with the iconic Pat Summitt statue. Mears & his achievements have long been ignored. Without his success in winning SEC Championships & filling Stokely Athletics Center to capacity for many years, the new arena might never have been built.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Last night was the longest halftime wait for Millionaire Row to go get their free boxes of popcorn that I’ve ever noticed. Most weren’t back in their seats for the start of the second half. No Fulmer sighting either. Maybe he was getting his free stuff in the boxes up top.

Raftery stopped to shake James Haslam’s hand and they carried on for 5-10 minutes with their discussion.

 

[savannahfan]

Now that Thompson-Boling Arena has been renamed Food City Center, there is another less well known rebranding that has occurred. Harper Auto Square is now sponsoring all of the floor seats in the arena, & have also put their name on what was formerly the Ray Mears Room, with murals of the iconic coach & his best players, including Ernie & Bernie, being taken down from the walls.

Shameful! What's next? Taking Lindsey Nelson's name off the baseball stadium? They would sell the name of the football stadium & remove General Neyland if they could.

Discussions are underway to potentially put statues of Mears, John Ward, Ernie, Bernard, & perhaps others outside the arena in sort of an outdoor statuary Hall of Fame to go along with the iconic Pat Summitt statue. Mears & his achievements have long been ignored. Without his success in winning SEC Championships & filling Stokely Athletics Center to capacity for many years, the new arena might never have been built.

This is a great idea. Hope it happens.

 

[cardvolfan]

Now that Thompson-Boling Arena has been renamed Food City Center, there is another less well known rebranding that has occurred. Harper Auto Square is now sponsoring all of the floor seats in the arena, & have also put their name on what was formerly the Ray Mears Room, with murals of the iconic coach & his best players, including Ernie & Bernie, being taken down from the walls.

Shameful! What's next? Taking Lindsey Nelson's name off the baseball stadium? They would sell the name of the football stadium & remove General Neyland if they could.

Discussions are underway to potentially put statues of Mears, John Ward, Ernie, Bernard, & perhaps others outside the arena in sort of an outdoor statuary Hall of Fame to go along with the iconic Pat Summitt statue. Mears & his achievements have long been ignored. Without his success in winning SEC Championships & filling Stokely Athletics Center to capacity for many years, the new arena might never have been built.

Truly sad.

 

[Butch s]

Now that Thompson-Boling Arena has been renamed Food City Center, there is another less well known rebranding that has occurred. Harper Auto Square is now sponsoring all of the floor seats in the arena, & have also put their name on what was formerly the Ray Mears Room, with murals of the iconic coach & his best players, including Ernie & Bernie, being taken down from the walls.

Shameful! What's next? Taking Lindsey Nelson's name off the baseball stadium? They would sell the name of the football stadium & remove General Neyland if they could.

Discussions are underway to potentially put statues of Mears, John Ward, Ernie, Bernard, & perhaps others outside the arena in sort of an outdoor statuary Hall of Fame to go along with the iconic Pat Summitt statue. Mears & his achievements have long been ignored. Without his success in winning SEC Championships & filling Stokely Athletics Center to capacity for many years, the new arena might never have been built.

Hay Ray been….canceled

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Now that Thompson-Boling Arena has been renamed Food City Center, there is another less well known rebranding that has occurred. Harper Auto Square is now sponsoring all of the floor seats in the arena, & have also put their name on what was formerly the Ray Mears Room, with murals of the iconic coach & his best players, including Ernie & Bernie, being taken down from the walls.

Shameful! What's next? Taking Lindsey Nelson's name off the baseball stadium? They would sell the name of the football stadium & remove General Neyland if they could.

Discussions are underway to potentially put statues of Mears, John Ward, Ernie, Bernard, & perhaps others outside the arena in sort of an outdoor statuary Hall of Fame to go along with the iconic Pat Summitt statue. Mears & his achievements have long been ignored. Without his success in winning SEC Championships & filling Stokely Athletics Center to capacity for many years, the new arena might never have been built.

I am totally upset at what is happening with the Universitie's neglect of the accomplishments of our former staff, players, and noted associates of the University. Additional $$$$ are nice to have , but not at the expense of our idols and the accomplishments. I am ready to stop all contributions to the University and doubt I will ever attend another sporting event or another activity sponsored by the University. They need not send me another request for financial sup[ort. Save the few pennies it cost to sent me the letter.

 

[vegasvolfan]

Now that Thompson-Boling Arena has been renamed Food City Center, there is another less well known rebranding that has occurred. Harper Auto Square is now sponsoring all of the floor seats in the arena, & have also put their name on what was formerly the Ray Mears Room, with murals of the iconic coach & his best players, including Ernie & Bernie, being taken down from the walls.

Shameful! What's next? Taking Lindsey Nelson's name off the baseball stadium? They would sell the name of the football stadium & remove General Neyland if they could.

Discussions are underway to potentially put statues of Mears, John Ward, Ernie, Bernard, & perhaps others outside the arena in sort of an outdoor statuary Hall of Fame to go along with the iconic Pat Summitt statue. Mears & his achievements have long been ignored. Without his success in winning SEC Championships & filling Stokely Athletics Center to capacity for many years, the new arena might never have been built.

Sounds like a pretty smart person that not only understands advertising but knows how to generate revenue gave them these ideas and they are going with it. If you want this program to stay competitive or better, it has to be competitive financially. Sounds to me they are doing what they can to honor these figures, but to ensure they are generating revenue where they can. It is said that destruction of a human being can be holding onto memories so much that they don’t make new memories. I would imagine many principles that apply to human beings apply to organizations as well.

 

[turbovol]

Sounds like a pretty smart person that not only understands advertising but knows how to generate revenue gave them these ideas and they are going with it. If you want this program to stay competitive or better, it has to be competitive financially. Sounds to me they are doing what they can to honor these figures, but to ensure they are generating revenue where they can. It is said that destruction of a human being can be holding onto memories so much that they don’t make new memories. I would imagine many principles that apply to human beings apply to organizations as well.

Ha: Yes, let's make new memories of Harper Auto. What is that a car dealer or parts store? You don't take down a Ray Mears plaque or his name over a room just because some cupcake shop is willing to sponsor the room. The greed and money-grubbing in college sports has got ridiculous. Stay competitive? The problem is that nobody knows when to say enough. Yea, there will always be a school, or multiple schools, that will remove a photo of a great former coach and replace it with a photo of a can of soup because the soup company has offered the AD money for the space. And the soup-can school will use the money in some way to enhance a sports/team facility, and other schools will notice, and they figure they've got to do the same to "stay competitive." It's an arms race that never ends--which is what's caused all the absurdities we now see in college sports, which has essentially become pro sports. We will very soon see soup can and hair spray logos on college uniforms, cuz money. It's the cheapening of college sports even as, ironically, college sports are flooded with more and more money.

As for statutes of Ernie and Bernie and Mears, not a good idea, IMO. Maybe Mears, but not the former players. Once you put a statue up of a former player, then people ask, what about other ex-greats. It's a very slippery slope. We don't need statues of former players. If White is clever, he will commission a statue of Mears--and then ask a soup company if it wants to be a part of the statue for a few million dollars--and then we can see Mears--and Summitt too---holding soup cans in their hands. And then every two years, you switch out and have them holding a different product--a hot dog or an ice cream cone with the company logos on them. Making money and staying competitive, baby!

 

[beachvol23]

Now that Thompson-Boling Arena has been renamed Food City Center, there is another less well known rebranding that has occurred. Harper Auto Square is now sponsoring all of the floor seats in the arena, & have also put their name on what was formerly the Ray Mears Room, with murals of the iconic coach & his best players, including Ernie & Bernie, being taken down from the walls.

Shameful! What's next? Taking Lindsey Nelson's name off the baseball stadium? They would sell the name of the football stadium & remove General Neyland if they could.

Discussions are underway to potentially put statues of Mears, John Ward, Ernie, Bernard, & perhaps others outside the arena in sort of an outdoor statuary Hall of Fame to go along with the iconic Pat Summitt statue. Mears & his achievements have long been ignored. Without his success in winning SEC Championships & filling Stokely Athletics Center to capacity for many years, the new arena might never have been built.

The Ray’s room was not accessible to the public anyway

 

[vegasvolfan]

Ha: Yes, let's make new memories of Harper Auto. What is that a car dealer or parts store? You don't take down a Ray Mears plaque or his name over a room just because some cupcake shop is willing to sponsor the room. The greed and money-grubbing in college sports has got ridiculous. Stay competitive? The problem is that nobody knows when to say enough. Yea, there will always be a school, or multiple schools, that will remove a photo of a great former coach and replace it with a photo of a can of soup because the soup company has offered the AD money for the space. And the soup-can school will use the money in some way to enhance a sports/team facility, and other schools will notice, and they figure they've got to do the same to "stay competitive." It's an arms race that never ends--which is what's caused all the absurdities we now see in college sports, which has essentially become pro sports. We will very soon see soup can and hair spray logos on college uniforms, cuz money. It's the cheapening of college sports even as, ironically, college sports are flooded with more and more money.

As for statutes of Ernie and Bernie and Mears, not a good idea, IMO. Maybe Mears, but not the former players. Once you put a statue up of a former player, then people ask, what about other ex-greats. It's a very slippery slope. We don't need statues of former players. If White is clever, he will commission a statue of Mears--and then ask a soup company if it wants to be a part of the statue for a few million dollars--and then we can see Mears--and Summitt too---holding soup cans in their hands. And then every two years, you switch out and have them holding a different product--a hot dog or an ice cream cone with the company logos on them. Making money and staying competitive, baby!

“You don't take down a Ray Mears plaque or his name over a room just because some cupcake shop is willing to sponsor the room…”

Seems like “you” do, because they did. Like it or not, it’s smart business, and college sports has been a business for a long time. Perhaps they should move the wall to the Tennessee Sports HOF and Museum.

 

[Go aeiou]

Get with it. It's been almost half a century since he coached.
The world belongs to Millennials and Gen Zers now.
Things change.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

I don't really like sponsorships and advertisement money but they're also a reality. I feel like this like I do college bowl games. I don't care if a bowl has a sponser in the title but I wish the bowl game had to have an actual name. I.e. The Cheez-It Citrus Bowl >>>>> The Capital One Bowl and the Taxslayer Gator Bowl >>>> The Taxslayer Bowl.

I would have rather them have something like the Harper Auto Square Ray Mears Room.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Danny White is trash. He doesn’t care about Tennessee or its traditions. Just money.

Very mature. Danny White has been a blessing for this university. Would you prefer we return to the days of Dave Hart or Philip Fulmer as our AD? We have arguably the healthiest athletics department in all of college sports right now. It was not that way a few years ago, to be generous with my wording.

This is college athletics now. It's not a Danny White specific mission to destroy Tennessee or our traditions. If you want to compete athletically, you need money now more than ever in the NIL era. If you're not being creative with how to raise funds, you're getting left behind. If you want to be mad at someone, direct your anger at the right people. Thanks to Danny, we've raised enough money to build Tony Vitello a baseball cathedral. I never thought that would be possible at Tennessee. We're also pouring about $350 million into Neyland to renovate it and make it one of the nicest stadiums in the country. I could go on.

Would you rather be competitive on the field or keep "traditions"? It's not like he has ditched any of the traditions that actually matter like Running Through the T. Change happens in life. Adapt or die.

 

[cardvolfan]

Change is here to stay. We either adapt or get left in a cloud of dust from our competitors. We complain when we’re losing in our sports programs, then turn right around and complain during one of the overall greatest periods of Tennessee sports.

Winning is costly, no doubt, but winning has always been harder on the finances. Just as sure as night follows day, winning raises the cost of being a Vol fan.

 

[Butch s]

Now that Thompson-Boling Arena has been renamed Food City Center, there is another less well known rebranding that has occurred. Harper Auto Square is now sponsoring all of the floor seats in the arena, & have also put their name on what was formerly the Ray Mears Room, with murals of the iconic coach & his best players, including Ernie & Bernie, being taken down from the walls.

Shameful! What's next? Taking Lindsey Nelson's name off the baseball stadium? They would sell the name of the football stadium & remove General Neyland if they could.

Discussions are underway to potentially put statues of Mears, John Ward, Ernie, Bernard, & perhaps others outside the arena in sort of an outdoor statuary Hall of Fame to go along with the iconic Pat Summitt statue. Mears & his achievements have long been ignored. Without his success in winning SEC Championships & filling Stokely Athletics Center to capacity for many years, the new arena might never have been built.

It is shameful, we have become a society that feels the need to destroy everything that doesn’t fit the current agenda and “better” ideas

 

[cardvolfan]

It is shameful, we have become a society that feels the need to destroy everything that doesn’t fit the current agenda and “better” ideas

It’s about money. Pretty simple. Has nothing to do with agendas or better ideas.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

It is shameful, we have become a society that feels the need to destroy everything that doesn’t fit the current agenda and “better” ideas

Depends on what we're talking about; sometimes the "current agenda" does need to change because it's outdated.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

It’s about money. Pretty simple. Has nothing to do with agendas or better ideas.

I was about to say, I think this person is trying to lump in things that have nothing to do with this situation. This is all about the benjamins.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

I was about to say, I think this person is trying to lump in things that have nothing to do with this situation. This is all about the benjamins.

The only “agenda” Danny White has is to put Tennessee in the best position to win games in all sports and that requires lots and lots of money. That simple.

 

[Volfan1000]

Now that Thompson-Boling Arena has been renamed Food City Center, there is another less well known rebranding that has occurred. Harper Auto Square is now sponsoring all of the floor seats in the arena, & have also put their name on what was formerly the Ray Mears Room, with murals of the iconic coach & his best players, including Ernie & Bernie, being taken down from the walls.

Shameful! What's next? Taking Lindsey Nelson's name off the baseball stadium? They would sell the name of the football stadium & remove General Neyland if they could.

Discussions are underway to potentially put statues of Mears, John Ward, Ernie, Bernard, & perhaps others outside the arena in sort of an outdoor statuary Hall of Fame to go along with the iconic Pat Summitt statue. Mears & his achievements have long been ignored. Without his success in winning SEC Championships & filling Stokely Athletics Center to capacity for many years, the new arena might never have been built.

Ray Mears was the face of Tennessee athletics. in the late 60's until his resignation in 1977 because of medical issues.

 

[NorCalVol67]

Danny White is trash. He doesn’t care about Tennessee or its traditions. Just money.

 

[coachchia]

Now that Thompson-Boling Arena has been renamed Food City Center, there is another less well known rebranding that has occurred. Harper Auto Square is now sponsoring all of the floor seats in the arena, & have also put their name on what was formerly the Ray Mears Room, with murals of the iconic coach & his best players, including Ernie & Bernie, being taken down from the walls.

Shameful! What's next? Taking Lindsey Nelson's name off the baseball stadium? They would sell the name of the football stadium & remove General Neyland if they could.

Discussions are underway to potentially put statues of Mears, John Ward, Ernie, Bernard, & perhaps others outside the arena in sort of an outdoor statuary Hall of Fame to go along with the iconic Pat Summitt statue. Mears & his achievements have long been ignored. Without his success in winning SEC Championships & filling Stokely Athletics Center to capacity for many years, the new arena might never have been built.

I agree... Coach Mears was a Promotional Expert...
He invented:
1. Halftime entertainment
2. Ball Boy/Girl's
3. Pre Game Run-through
4. Warm up pants
5. Naming University ... "Big Orange Country."
and others I have forgotten...
Many of his teams did not get the publicity they deserved because the NCAA only had 16 teams invited (only conference champs)...

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

I agree... Coach Mears was a Promotional Expert...
He invented:
1. Halftime entertainment
2. Ball Boy/Girl's
3. Pre Game Run-through
4. Warm up pants
5. Naming University ... "Big Orange Country."
and others I have forgotten...
Many of his teams did not get the publicity they deserved because the NCAA only had 16 teams invited (only conference champs)...

6. Orange and white basketballs for warmups.
7. Little Big Orange Basketeers.
8. Unicycle layups by Roger Peltz and Bill Seale.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Ray Mears was the face of Tennessee athletics. in the late 60's until his resignation in 1977 because of medical issues.

Yeah, have heard Dickey had a hard time with it. Not sure if it is true, but it's easy to see how a successful football coach at a football school could be jealous

 

[cardvolfan]

Yeah, have heard Dickey had a hard time with it. Not sure if it is true, but it's easy to see how a successful football coach at a football school could be jealous

Dickey was not the best with interpersonal relationships.