OneManGang
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Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Auburn - 1985
“Where's Bo?”
DATE: 28 September 1985
PLACE: Neyland Stadium
ATTENDANCE: 95,358
FINAL SCORE: UT 38 AUBURN 20
Over the course of my 50+ seasons watching Our Beloved Vols at Neyland Stadium, certain days and certain games stand out like jewels.
There are also certain moments that, to this day, don't fail to bring a smile. Right now, I am thinking of the Vanderbilt game my Freshman year on The Hill in 1975. It was a dismal 17-14 loss on a cold, gray, November day. The Vols seemed hapless and a lot of my fellow students were already back at various bars by halftime. My buddy and I were down in the lower seats of Section F just behind the wooden bleachers that used to be in front of the student section. Those bleachers were largely deserted except for a tall skinny dude with bushy hair. The band was formed up playing the Alma Mater when, with a typical display of the class we've come to expect from them, the Vanderbilt players ran onto the field and THROUGH the band jostling several of the musicians. Boos cascaded down on the Common-hoes. Our hero in the bleachers, who had obviously imbibed of a copious quantity of 90-proof anti-freeze, took a more direct action. He bellowed out, “Hey! You &&%$*ing ^^%%of$##$$es! That's our *(^^&&%ed Alma Mater! Take your &^^^%$$ing helmets off!”
As I said, brings a smile to this day.
This particular September day 10 years later was nothing like that. It was, indeed, one of those early Fall days that you just want to put into a bottle to be trotted out during a cold rain in January or a scorching day in July. Yours Truly was perched on the very top row of the South End Zone Upper Deck alongside my buddy from the Vanderbilt game mentioned above. From there one had a panoramic view of the campus, the stadium, and most of the Eastern Time Zone. Brilliant sunshine lit the scene, touching the trees and bushes just starting to change colors. A high in the mid-70s was forecast and the usual collection of stunners that seem to rise up from the very soil of the UT Campus were on parade. (Heavy sigh)
Hmmm? What?
Right …
Now where was I?
Oh, yeah …
HeadWarPlainsiger Pat Dye brought his Auburn team into Neyland Stadium sporting a #1 ranking and featuring tailback Bo Jackson. Bo was considered the leading candidate for the Heisman. In his first two outings this season His Bo-ness had AVERAGED 248 yards per game.
John Majors had lured defensive whiz Ken Donahue away from Alabama and 1985 was his first year at the helm of the Vol defense. Over the previous three meetings, Bo had averaged 163 yards per game against Donahue's Alabama defenses.
The game was being aired nationwide by ABC. Today, that may not seem such a big deal, but prior to 1985, the Vols had only had FIVE games broadcast across the Fruited Plain from Neyland Stadium. It was a Big Deal.
For their part, ABC sent their top broadcast team of Keith Jackson and former Arkansas HeadHog Frank Broyles to cover Bo's coming out party. Keith Jackson was so gushing in his praise of Bo Jackson that viewers figured at some point he would announce that he wanted to bear Bo's children. He went on to intimate that the Vols and their fans should be thankful that Bo would deign to walk out on the field and actually play the game. Over the years, the elder Jackson's man-crushes on various opposing stars would become the stuff of legend amongst the Vol faithful.
Vol wide receiver Tim McGhee said later, "Some of the guys got to talking, and we got to wondering, with the TV coming to see Bo and all, do you think they might show us? Then we said, 'Nah.' "
McGhee got his share of air time that Saturday with six catches for 163 yards and a touchdown.
Tennessee's swarming defense throttled Bo-ball on Auburn's first possession forcing a punt. Tennessee opened its first drive on the UT 21. On third down, the Auburn defensive front which had been publicly dismissive of Vol QB Tony Robinson's abilities, charged after him as he faded to pass. The onrushing Tigers separated into to two distinct groups opening a huge lane in the middle. Robinson tucked the ball and took that gift and made a dandy run for 39 yards. Tennessee's 79-yard drive was capped by a four-yard scoring run by tailback Charles Wilson. With either his feet or his arm. Robinson accounted for 72 of those yards.
T-Rob wound up his day with 259 yards passing and four touchdowns.
A star emerged at Neyland that day, and his name was NOT Bo Jackson. Keith Jackson was placed on suicide watch.
By half, the Vols were up 24-0 and His Boliness had barely 60 yards. It seemed that every time he touched the ball there were three, four or five guys in Orange shirts eager to introduce him to the turf.
Midway through the third quarter, Auburn's offense was still stymied and Bo had only improved to 80-yards rushing. Bo saw how things were going and Bo acted. He threw in the towel. Claiming his knee was hurting he refused to answer the bell for the Tiger's next series.
A few plays into that Auburn drive, Vol linebacker Dale Jones scanned the Auburn backfield and asked what became a slogan for Tennessee fans for the rest of the year: “Where's Bo?”
Majors called off the dogs in the fourth canto and Auburn somehow came up with 20 meaningless points. The Vols added two touchdowns in the second half for a final score of UT 38, Auburn 20.
It wasn't that close.
Bo “miraculously” recovered from his knee injury to lead Auburn in a 41-0 thrashing of Ole Miss the next week. He ended up the season with 1786 rushing yards and the Heisman Trophy.
The Vols went on to beat Wake Forest but then lost to Florida in Gainesville before meeting Alabama in Birmingham where the Tide defense kneecapped T-Rob ending his season. Dale Jones preserved the Tennessee victory there by batting a Mike Shula pass into the air and then catching the ball as he fell to the ground,
Daryl Dickey was named starting quarterback but Majors refused to go back to the high-flying offense of before and the subsequent tilt with Georgia Tech was a boring ground and field position game that wound up a 6-6 tie.
McGhee and the other Vol skill position players revolted and Monday morning were in Major's office. They stated bluntly that they had NFL aspirations and this “3 yards and a cloud of AstroTurf” crap wasn't going to get it. Furthermore, they pointedly asked that if Majors didn't trust Dickey to run the offense, why was he playing him?
Despite his reputation as a strict disciplinarian, Majors saw the logic of their arguments. The playbook was opened and the Vols stormed their way through the rest of the season. Florida was ineligible to be SEC Champions because, well, Florida. Thus Tennessee was proclaimed SEC Champs and headed to New Orleans to keep a Sugar Bowl date with Keith, Frank, and the mighty Miami Hurricanes.
On New Year's night.
In the Super Dome.
But that is, as they say, another story.
*******
As some of you may remember, after the Pitt game last year I related the story of CMDR Joe “Reb” Edwards whose F-14 Tomcat was damaged after his radome came loose, blew back and shattered his canopy. “Reb” demonstrated a huge blast of what Tom Wolfe termed, “The Right Stuff.” He ignored his injured eyes, leaned out into the slipstream to see, and brought his crippled fighter in for a near-perfect landing on the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69).
Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Pittsburgh
I found that story through a YouTube post by a former Navy F-14 RIO (Radar Intercept Officer or “Guy in Back”), named Ward Carroll. If you haven't visited his excellent YouTube channel, hie thee over and take a looksee.
In any event LCDR Carroll recently posted a picture and captioned it “You May Be Cool, But You'll Never be THIS Cool.”
I know some of you wonder just where in hell I get the ideas for these stories. Well, the answer is from everywhere and anywhere.
This is one of those stories.
My library is more or less divided into sections. World War II is my “bread and butter” and occupies three bookcases with LOTS of stuff just kind of scattered about. Another bookcase has a two full shelves devoted to the Korea War. There you will find an interesting one from D. Clayton James who is Professor emeritus of History at VMI.
The book in question is titled Refighting the Last War: Command and Crisis in Korea, 1950-1953.
No other book in my collection sums up its subject period so well in just the title alone.
Another name for the Korean War would be the “Retread War.”
Both sides were largely equipped with weapons from WWII and used tactical doctrine practiced on those battlefields.
American infantrymen carried the same M-1 Garand rifles, M-1 carbines and BARs they used in WWII. The tankers used M-4 Shermans and M-26 Pershing tanks. In the last year of the war, they were also issued M-46 Patton tanks, but those were simply Pershings with better engines. All of the artillery was WWII vintage as were the machine guns and mortars. Virtually all officers above 1st Lieutenant and most senior NCOs were WWII veterans and some dated back to WWI.
The ultimate retread was the Commanding General of the UN forces in the first year of the war. General Douglas MacArthur had seen action in the Philippine Insurrections of the early 20th Century. Korea was his fourth war.
For the most part, it was the same for the air and naval forces as well. Both deployed many WWII-era fighters and bombers, for instance the Air Force used F-51 Mustangs and B-29 Superfortresses, the Navy carrier wings consisted largely of F4U Corsairs and AD Skyraiders, One notable exception was that both Navy and Air Force fighter squadrons were deploying early jet fighters. The Air Force had first generation F-80 Shooting Stars and F-84 Thunderjet straight-wing fighters used mostly for ground attacks. The stars of the show, though, were the sleek F-86 Sabres which flew against the near-peer MiG-15s flown by Russian, Chinese and North Korean pilots. The Navy and Marines used the F2H Banshee and the F9F Panther, both were first generation jets and used primarily for ground attack and support missions.
Many of these planes were flown by retreads. One of the most notable of those was Air Force Col. Francis “Gabby” Gabreski who scored 28 air-to-air victories (plus three on the ground) driving P-47s in WWII and then flew F-86s in Korea and added 6.5 MiG-15s to his score! (He shared one MiG with another pilot.)
John and Ted were Marine pilots and also both retreads. Both had flown F4U Corsair fighters during WWII. John had flown over 50 combat missions earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses and ten Air Medals. Ted served as an instructor and was with a line squadron getting ready for the invasion of Japan when the Japanese surrendered. Ted went back to his very successful civilian career while John had earned a regular Marine Corps commission and stayed with the Corps.
Ted was still in the Marine Reserves and was called up in 1952 again leaving his civilian career for service in Korea. John had held a variety of training and test pilot slots during the same period.
In February, 1953, John and Ted reported to Marine Fighter Squadron (VMF) 311 “Tomcats” at K-3 Airfield in South Korea. As a Major, John was assigned as Operations Officer but flew his share combat missions. Capt. Ted was his wingman. The two men shared several features. First was a overarching will to succeed at whatever they did. Secondly both shared an absolute devotion to their duty and to their country.
When he initially reported for refresher training in 1952, the Marine detailer asked Ted if he wanted to fly Corsairs as he had in WWII, or transition to the newer F9F jets. Ted asked what was the difference. The detailer started, “Well, in the Panther you roll in on the target at between 350 and 400 knots.” Ted snorted, “Hell, I could do that in my old Corsair!” The detailer patiently continued, “Yes, but you EXIT the target area at 500 knots!”
Ted signed up for the Panther!
During a low-level strike on 17 February, Ted's F9F was heavily damaged by ground fire. He lost his radio and hydraulic pressure and his ship caught fire. John formed up on him and pointed up. They climbed and the thinner air put the fire out. As a tall man (6'3”) Ted didn't want to eject as he knew he stood a good chance of his kneecaps hitting the instrument panel. John also knew this and guided Ted to K-13 Airbase which was the closest field. Ted made a high-speed belly landing whereupon his Panther caught fire again. Ted leapt out of the cockpit and ran as fast as he could from the inferno. He was back flying missions the next day.
Ted ended up flying 39 missions with VMF-311 before a nagging illness grounded him in June, 1953, earning three Air Medals.
John flew a total of 69 missions during his time with the Tomcats. His fellow pilots dubbed him “Magnet A**” for his propensity for drawing ground fire. On at least two occasions he landed with over 250 holes in his Panther. As Ted was heading to Hawaii for medical care, John was told his application for an exchange program to fly F-86s with the Air Force had been approved and he reported to the 25th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. He flew 27 missions with the 25th FIS before the Armistice and shot down three MiGs. He earned a further two DFCs and eight additional Air Medals for his service in Korea.
“John,” of course, is Major (later Colonel) John Glenn, future Astronaut and Senator from Ohio, and “Ted” is the legendary Ted Williams regarded by many as the finest big league baseball player to ever suit up.
And so …
You May Be Cool, BUT You'll Never Be THIS Cool:
Major John Glenn and Capt. Ted Williams in the VMF-311 Ready Room, Korea, 1953 (US Marine Corps)
Williams is making the “shooting his watch” gesture familiar to fighter pilots the world over. Glenn seems to be thinking, “Rookie!”
The two men remained good friends for the rest of their lives.
Ted once said this about John, "There's a real American hero, that guy. He's a great man. In fact, he's my idol."
Upon William's death in 2004, John Glenn said this of his friend, "Ted was an excellent pilot, and not shy about getting in there and mixing it up. Ted may have batted .400 for the Red Sox, but he hit a thousand as a U.S. Marine."
John Glenn launched on his last flight in 2016.
It is not hard to imagine the two wingmen flying through the ethereal skies in their Panthers, comrades forever.
Right Stuff to the bone.
********
So, how did the Vols do against The Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
Pat Dye threw out Auburn's option offense for the I-formation to showcase The Bo. Unfortunately he never considered that the other team might just key their defense to shut down Jackson. He had no “Plan B.” Add to that he employed three different quarterbacks during the game who combined to go 10-of-26 for 100 yards and three interceptions.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!
Stopping Jackson was the biggest break Tennessee could have and they certainly took advantage of that!
3. If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don't let up … PUT ON MORE STEAM!
Once His Bo-ness was shut down, the Vols didn't just put on more steam. They had the equivalent of a boiler explosion.
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
All of Auburn's points came after Majors called off the dogs in the fourth quarter.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
“Where's Bo?” speaks volumes.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
Carlos Reveiz proved a worthy successor to his brother and earned All-SEC honors for the year. Punter Bob Garmon was his usual reliable self.
7. Carry the fight to Auburn and keep it there for sixty minutes,
More like 45, but once Bo was gone, it was more than enough.
