Tell me about Stokely Athletic Center.

[goffvol]

It was 79. Stokely's air handling units (It was not air conditioned) were not running too well that night, and it was humid on campus that day. I don't know if Martin had caught the stomach virus that a few eople I knew had, or if he just came on stage slightly dehydrated. But I was told he damn near had a heat stroke, and was given tseveral units of fluid at UT hospital. Or so said one of the paramedics who hauled him over there.

that was the second time Steve Martin played Knoxville. The first time was just after he was on SNL. He played the student center to about 200 people (tickets were .50). Great show. Was there for both shows although the tickets for the second show were significanly higher. He did get sick and was taken from the back of Stokely in an ambulance.

 

[goffvol]

On a packed day it was awesome....The Crowd Noise would raise the Roof. If it needed quiet you could hear a fly scratch it's leg...Home court advantage. Brother was ejected from game for standing in the Aisle and yelling obscenities' at a ef for an obvious miss called...It was Tight...[/QUOT
Was there for the Bernie and Ernie years. Stood up the entire games! Great experience!

 

[VolnGermany]

Some of my events...

I went to the Elton John and Rod Stewart concerts there too. The funny thing is the price- I remember them being around $20. What a deal!

 

[goffvol]

I also saw Eagles there in November of 1979. The Long Run tour, also known as the Joe Walsh for President tour. Sold out, packed, great concert.
March of 1980 was the John Tate / Michael Weaver Hwt boxing championship. Tate had him beat, but wanted a knockout in front of the hometown crowd. Got too close, Weaver connected and Tate went down like an oak tree. Less than a minute left in the fight. Took several minutes to revive Tate, he was out cold..

Saw a bunch of concerts there and was at the fight. Amazing scene. When you walked through the portal and saw the bright white lights shining down on the red, white and blue ropes and the brilliant white of the canvas it was amazing. After the undercard fights the bright white canvas was a bloody mass. Was sitting right behind Tate on the ropes in the 15th round. Weaver turned Tate's head with the punch and Tate was out cold before he started to fall. took them a while to regain consciousness.

 

[eaglevol]

I was an athletic trainer at Carson-Newman from 1975-79 and in probably 1976 or '77, the C-N JV team went to Knoxville to play the UT JV team at Stokely. After that game, they gave us tickets behind the visitor's bench to watch Tennessee vs Georgia. I don't really remember a lot about the game other than LeVon Mercer was the biggest person I had ever seen up to that time and what a joy it was to watch the Ernie and Bernie Show. Also saw the upset of Kentucky in 1980 and Tennessee losing a close game (75-77) to the Louisville Doctors of Dunk the year they won the National Championship. I was doing grad work at UT for that year.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Big John was either brain damaged from too many blows to the head or was borderline mentally retarded. He was an idiot and I’m not saying that to be mean. He was a barely functional human being.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Keith Jackson

 

[hbjordan]

As others have mentioned the playing floor was Tartan surface which I had never seen or been on before. Since Registration was set up around the concourse when you got to the end of the arena you could ease down to the floor if you were so inclined. I'll never forget stepping on the court after registering as a freshman. It was sort of springy/spongey. All those years I had listened to John Ward call games and never imagined the playing floor felt like that.
Also, like was said, sometimes with student tickets your seats were literally in the rafters. You'd have to duck or look around stuff to see parts of the court. In the mid-80s it seemed like for some games we could get in with just a student id and didn't even have to have a ticket. It might have just been for non-conference or midweek games. Or maybe the ticket takers on the end near fraternity park just had mercy on impoverished looking students.
The coolest part though we're the big pictures on the wall that had great plays and players from across the years. I remember Johnny Butler's run against Alabama was up there. The picture had a dotted line showing his route and little blurbs like, "Butler eludes Taggert at the 45" something like that.
The ROTC was in Stokely when I was in school. Thank goodness for two quarters of the GPA building "History of the Army" class an almost impossible course not to get an A in.
Circle Park was another excellent beat the line drop/add location. Kids today dropping and adding classes on their phones=SOFT.

 

[jim pique]

The indoor track was a ten lap mile.Stomped connected directly to Gibbs Hall,the athletic dorm.It opened in winter of 67.Before,to lift weights for football bb and track athletes,we had to go to section X of Neyland stadium.The weight room was large and there was a steam room and sauna,both large down there.also.Good for relieving muscles and hangovers.

 

[Hallie]

Arnold Zandy used to roam the aisles selling “yummies for your tummies” (aka “Red Hots”). And programs. I’m pretty sure that I have his autograph on a program that Mom got him to sign for me. He ran for mayor of Knoxville several times. The newspaper published candidate campaign expenses. Arnold’s included new soles for his shoes.

Yes I remember him ..

 

[WBO]

Best game I ever saw was in Stokely even though we lost. In the 73-74 season Al McGuire brought a very good Marquette team to Stokley. 3 seasons later he wins the NC. (Tennessee was also very good with it being Grunfeld's first year and Lenny Kozmalski's senior year.

We (3 of my frat brothers and I AND our flasks of scotch) got first row tickets right behind the Marquette bench. (We could practically reach out and touch the players, which would have been immediate expulsion.) We started screaming at McGuire (a NY Irish native) during warm-ups and were thrilled when he started giving it right back to us. For the entire game we're screaming at the top of our lungs and, when not focused on the game, McGuire gave it right back at us (our mothers were a favorite topic). With the game tied they hit the winning shot with time expiring.

McGuire jumps up, holding his index finger up saying they were #1 and then turned to us and gave us an emphatic bird. We all stood and began applauding him. He saw that, smiled and blew us a kiss, then turned and walked off the court.

 

[jim pique]

Also, concerts.there.Elvis,Uriah Heep,It's a beautiful day,Janis Joplin,virtually everyone who didn't go to the Colisium ,went to Stokley.At the time,all the group's went by bus for their tours,with Knoxville an intersect of I-75,and I-40,major north- South interstates,we got to see almost everyone.During lunchtime during the week,there would be pick-up be games of bb played.I played often with Haywood Harris and others.on the Tartan.

 

[Sudden Impact]

i was there for the Ernie and Bernie shows too....the Ky games I stood up the entire games because everybody in that place did also....nobody sat on their hands for big games there....Awesome....I remember quite well the night that Richard was thrown out during a break in the action everybody in Stokley heard every word.....Awesome experience....

 

[Hallie]

My first recollection.. my Dad took me to a game in 1967 .. Vs LSU and Pete Maravuch.. vols won 67-66 .. Rudy Kennard make a shot to win game .. Billy Haun held Pistol Pete .. to 30 points .. lol ... saw many great games there .. names like the Greenfield Gunner Mike Edward's .. Larry Robinson.. the 11-7 with Temple i think ... Duke , Louisville , Kentucky games with Bernard and Ernie and Mike Edward's.. me and my friends sneak in the back door and running up the steps .. taking a defaulted bball with us . Getting the mgrs to put air in it .. shooting hoops on that tarten floor .. having coaches come out after games and talk to us kids .. C M Newton nicest man ever .. bad memories.. watching Big John Tate fall .. I had worked with him at City recreation dept .. gentle giant .. talked to him that week .. and for him to have that fight won .. only to see it go away with one punch .. sad .. the biggest thing I remember was when it was rocking the place shook .. it was exciting .. and the chants of sit Joe sit everytine Joe B Hall got off bench .. selling cokes there .. walking around the floor over and over just to watch the games up close .. not caring how many cokes I sold.. I just had to get in those games.. memories

 

[Weezer]

The original inflatable football practice bubble was across the street to the south (Johnny Majors Blvd). It was later moved to Andy Holt Blvd between the Presidential Court and Tom Black Track.

I always thought that “Tom Black” was a big time donor that owned Tom’s Potato Chips. But the founder’s name was Tom Huston. So I don’t know who Tom Black was although I knew a couple of his descendants named Black.

The Stokely family sold canned beans. They also were the original producers and distributors of Gatorade (Stokely-Van Camp).

Tom Black was a potato chip guy based in Knoxville. He sold his company to Tom's Potato Chips. Just a coincidence on the name.

 

[UTwick]

Saw a few games there back in the day. Saw Pistol Pete play once. Great place.

Gave you a like for Pistol Pete reference. Floppy hair and floppy socks. RIP.

 

[vegasvolfan]

Being a younger fan, I never got to experience Stokely.

Interested in hearing from fans who attended games, concerts, etc. there.

What did you like/dislike about it? What was unique about Stokely compared to other arenas.

I have a big interest in old gyms, arenas, stadiums.

It was loud and rowdy. I remember TBA being packed and obnoxious one game against Kentucky and it reminded me of Stokely on steroids. We won that game. I’ve never heard it like that but it was often like that at Stokely. I wish it was like that all the time. It was like players came to play Tennessee but the fans sorta took over

 

[cardvolfan]

My first recollection.. my Dad took me to a game in 1967 .. Vs LSU and Pete Maravuch.. vols won 67-66 .. Rudy Kennard make a shot to win game .. Billy Haun held Pistol Pete .. to 30 points .. lol ... saw many great games there .. names like the Greenfield Gunner Mike Edward's .. Larry Robinson.. the 11-7 with Temple i think ... Duke , Louisville , Kentucky games with Bernard and Ernie and Mike Edward's.. me and my friends sneak in the back door and running up the steps .. taking a defaulted bball with us . Getting the mgrs to put air in it .. shooting hoops on that tarten floor .. having coaches come out after games and talk to us kids .. C M Newton nicest man ever .. bad memories.. watching Big John Tate fall .. I had worked with him at City recreation dept .. gentle giant .. talked to him that week .. and for him to have that fight won .. only to see it go away with one punch .. sad .. the biggest thing I remember was when it was rocking the place shook .. it was exciting .. and the chants of sit Joe sit everytine Joe B Hall got off bench .. selling cokes there .. walking around the floor over and over just to watch the games up close .. not caring how many cokes I sold.. I just had to get in those games.. memories

Lots of good stuff.

 

[hillbilly]

Balconies were on the end and not the sides. The radio crew sat in a contraption hanging from the ceiling, but over the court. Our seats were beside the steps that led out to the catwalk to the broadcast booth. We got to say hello to John Ward a lot. One highlight for me was getting a program from Mr. Ward from a Volunteer Classic tournament. Karl Malone was on the Louisiana Tech team in the program. The scoreboard lowered to the floor where facilities employees changed out the team name. The Vols and Lady Vols ram through a wood “T” as lineups were announced. Women’s tickets were especially cheap in 1980s and we saw lots of those games sitting on the baseline front row.

 

[UTwick]

My first recollection.. my Dad took me to a game in 1967 .. Vs LSU and Pete Maravuch.. vols won 67-66 .. Rudy Kennard make a shot to win game .. Billy Haun held Pistol Pete .. to 30 points .. lol ... saw many great games there .. names like the Greenfield Gunner Mike Edward's .. Larry Robinson.. the 11-7 with Temple i think ... Duke , Louisville , Kentucky games with Bernard and Ernie and Mike Edward's.. me and my friends sneak in the back door and running up the steps .. taking a defaulted bball with us . Getting the mgrs to put air in it .. shooting hoops on that tarten floor .. having coaches come out after games and talk to us kids .. C M Newton nicest man ever .. bad memories.. watching Big John Tate fall .. I had worked with him at City recreation dept .. gentle giant .. talked to him that week .. and for him to have that fight won .. only to see it go away with one punch .. sad .. the biggest thing I remember was when it was rocking the place shook .. it was exciting .. and the chants of sit Joe sit everytine Joe B Hall got off bench .. selling cokes there .. walking around the floor over and over just to watch the games up close .. not caring how many cokes I sold.. I just had to get in those games.. memories

Maravich

 

[TNnative]

Big John was either brain damaged from too many blows to the head or was borderline mentally retarded. He was an idiot and I’m not saying that to be mean. He was a barely functional human being.

My Dad was a big golden gloves fan. We would go over there 2 or3 times a year to watch them fight. Got to talk to him several times over the years, both while he was in the Golden Gloves program, and after he turned pro. As to too many blows to his head, I don't see that. Until Weaver, I don't think he was ever hit hard. He usually knocked the other guy out early. And no, John was not mentally retarded. If you ever talked to him, he was actually pretty bright. He just got addicted to drugs. Badly addicted. Whether he had a learning disability or not, I cannot say. But I do believe he was stubborn as an ox. Last time I saw him, he was hanging out at Fountain Lanes when another friend and I were over there bowling. That was about three month before he got killed. Think about him what you wish; I liked the guy.

 

[Hallie]

Maravich

Really .. yea I know .. sometimes it displays something I did not type . It was close enough

 

[TNnative]

My first recollection.. my Dad took me to a game in 1967 .. Vs LSU and Pete Maravuch.. vols won 67-66 .. Rudy Kennard make a shot to win game .. Billy Haun held Pistol Pete .. to 30 points .. lol ... saw many great games there .. names like the Greenfield Gunner Mike Edward's .. Larry Robinson.. the 11-7 with Temple i think ... Duke , Louisville , Kentucky games with Bernard and Ernie and Mike Edward's.. me and my friends sneak in the back door and running up the steps .. taking a defaulted bball with us . Getting the mgrs to put air in it .. shooting hoops on that tarten floor .. having coaches come out after games and talk to us kids .. C M Newton nicest man ever .. bad memories.. watching Big John Tate fall .. I had worked with him at City recreation dept .. gentle giant .. talked to him that week .. and for him to have that fight won .. only to see it go away with one punch .. sad .. the biggest thing I remember was when it was rocking the place shook .. it was exciting .. and the chants of sit Joe sit everytine Joe B Hall got off bench .. selling cokes there .. walking around the floor over and over just to watch the games up close .. not caring how many cokes I sold.. I just had to get in those games.. memories

I was at that LSU-Tennessee game too. It was my first time there. Maravich was a great player, but when the Vols won, it went crazy. Good times.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

My first recollection.. my Dad took me to a game in 1967 .. Vs LSU and Pete Maravuch.. vols won 67-66 .. Rudy Kennard make a shot to win game .. Billy Haun held Pistol Pete .. to 30 points .. lol ... saw many great games there .. names like the Greenfield Gunner Mike Edward's .. Larry Robinson.. the 11-7 with Temple i think ... Duke , Louisville , Kentucky games with Bernard and Ernie and Mike Edward's.. me and my friends sneak in the back door and running up the steps .. taking a defaulted bball with us . Getting the mgrs to put air in it .. shooting hoops on that tarten floor .. having coaches come out after games and talk to us kids .. C M Newton nicest man ever .. bad memories.. watching Big John Tate fall .. I had worked with him at City recreation dept .. gentle giant .. talked to him that week .. and for him to have that fight won .. only to see it go away with one punch .. sad .. the biggest thing I remember was when it was rocking the place shook .. it was exciting .. and the chants of sit Joe sit everytine Joe B Hall got off bench .. selling cokes there .. walking around the floor over and over just to watch the games up close .. not caring how many cokes I sold.. I just had to get in those games.. memories

Mike Edwards’ senior year was the year before Grunfeld’s freshman year (1972-73 and 1973-74). John Snow and Rodney Woods were the guards Ernie’s freshman year. Rodney’s senior year was Ernie's sophomore and Bernard’s freshman years. Mike Jackson was in Ernie’s class but rarely played in varsity games as a freshman. Mike Jackson and David Moss were stars of the 1973-74 JV team. Jackson became the off guard King’s freshman year as John Snow had graduated. Austin Clark was the 6th man.

The 1974-75 roster had one of the greatest starting 5s ever, but Ashworth was small for a center. King. Grunfeld, Woods, Jackson, and Ashworth. If only Kosmalski would have had one more year of eligibility that team could have won it all. It was really a 2 guard, 3 forward lineup in an era that large centers/low posts were critical for success. Ashworth would have been an ideal 6th man.

The final score of the Temple game in the 1973 Volunteer Classic was 11-6.

 

[Hallie]

Mike Edwards’ senior year was the year before Grunfeld’s freshman year (1972-73 and 1973-74). John Snow and Rodney Woods were the guards Ernie’s freshman year. Rodney’s senior year was Ernie's sophomore and Bernard’s freshman years. Mike Jackson was in Ernie’s class but rarely played in varsity games as a freshman. Mike Jackson and David Moss were stars of the 1973-74 JV team. Jackson became the off guard King’s freshman year as John Snow had graduated. Austin Clark was the 6th man.

The 1974-75 roster had one of the greatest starting 5s ever, but Ashworth was small for a center. King. Grunfeld, Woods, Jackson, and Ashworth. If only Kosmalski would have had one more year of eligibility that team could have won it all. It was really a 2 guard, 3 forward lineup in an era that large centers/low posts were critical for success. Ashworth would have been an ideal 6th man.

The final score of the Temple game in the 1973 Volunteer Classic was 11-6.

Ok .. I was just going off a memory from way back but I was close on the score .. I remember all those guys you mentioned watched them all play alot .. I can remember watching that 11-(6) game .. I was on front row .. players actually sat down on court a couple times ..