Why are you a Vol fan?

#126
#126
Dad was born in Maryville and played football. But could not afford to college. After HS he left 6 siblings at the house with their mother and joined the Air Force to avoid starving to death.
I was born in Fort Worth (military brat), but moved to Oak Ridge in 6th grade.
We were too poor to go to the UT football games, but I heard they were looking for someone to sell cokes ... so I bummed a ride to Ktown... I sold drinks before the game, and during half time and stood and watched the football game all the rest of the time for 2 seasons during HS years.
Two of my brothers graduated from UT.
Step brother loves all things Orange.
Step mom won't cheer for anybody but UT.
Hey, it's a family affair!
 
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#127
#127
brubaker said:
My mother and father didn't want me after a few years. I was put into a different home that I didn't like. I became withdrawn to the point of not wanting to live. I turned the radio on and heard John Ward broadcasting a Tennessee basketball game. After that I never miss a broadcast. Football or basketball.....It became my outlet and saved my life. So the phrase " die-hard" Tennessee fan has a whole different meaning to me. At 61 years old, I'll always be a VFL. Whether 0 wins or however many...
Click to expand...
Man, can’t imagine what you had to go through, must have been really hard.
 
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#129
#129
while practicing little league baseball our coach had a UT football game coming over the radio. The QB was Dewey Warren and I think the announcer was Lindsey Nelson. Can't really recall who UT was playing but remember the "excitement" of just listening. After Warren came Bobby Scott and I was hooked. Rarely got a chance to see the Vols on TV back in late 60's early 70's and every time it was special until the time came to start making the trek down I-81 -I-40 to Neyland occasionaly. Damn near 55 years now and one thing will never change.......Vol for Life !!!!!!
PS: John Ward started doing the football play by play in '68
 
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#132
#132
at a very impressionable young age I had the treat to attend a game at what would later become Neyland Stadium. The Vols did not play that fall day. The stadium held 45,000 at the time and it was almost full to capacity for the annual game between the Knox Hi Trojans and the Central Hi Bobcats. Back in those days, you were either a Knox or Central fan in a rivalry that was every bit as intense as Tennessee/ Kentucky every year. After experiencing a local high school game in that atmosphere, it was only natural that sights were set on seeing the real thing in that stadium! So I was hooked over 70 years ago!
 
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#134
#134
I am 82 years old have 6 generations of my family who have attended Tennessee. I grew up listening to Tennessee football and basketball on the radio, I attended my first Tennessee football game in 1945. I now have my fathers season tickets which he first got in 1933. I have brother who played basketball at Tennessee and a son who played football at Tennessee. I have a grandson who just enrolled at Tennessee this Fall. Is there any other University other than Tennessee? Well, yes, I also have family who graduated from Vanderbilt, East Tennessee State, Georgia State, Lenoir-Rhyne, University of California Berkeley, Tennessee Tech and Appalachian State, but Tennessee is my University and always will be.
 
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#135
#135
I was born in East Tennessee (Johnson City) and raised in Nashville. My family at that time, were mostly all Vol fans, so it has always been pretty much in my blood.

I remember starting to really follow them when I watched the 1988 Peach Bowl. I remember that next season (1988), we lost the first 6 games in a row until winning the final 5. There was a radio announcer in Nashville that slept on a billboard until they won their first game. I remember pulling for them so hard every week, wanting them to win that first game. I think winning this final 5 really catapulted the next year’s team (1989).

When I graduated high school in 1994, there was only one college that I applied to (UT). I graduated there in 1999 and still watch every single game and fly in for at least one game a year. I have orange or a T on just about everything that I own. Everyone that knows me knows that I’m a huge Vols fan. I guess it kind of defines who I am. Win or lose, I will never cheer for anyone else except for Tennessee.
 
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#137
#137
When I was a kid I knew nothing about football. Had a tough early childhood and football was just not part of it . Then one day - I was maybe nine or ten - I saw a black and white photo in a newspaper taken at a UT game. I remember thinking - have no idea why - that the uniforms must be orange. When I found out I was right I was amazed. I started clipping photos from the sports section and coloring them with colored pencils. Orange for UT, whatever for the other teams in the photos. I really thought there was something special - even magical - about those orange uniforms.
My stepfather came into my life about that time - 1962. He was a big UT fan. We started listening to UT games on the radio. Fox and Mooney called the games. They might not have been John Ward, but they were excellent in their own right. They could make you feel that you were in the stadium.
My stepdad bought me one of those Tudor electric football games for Christmas - the kind that had those angled plastic tabs on the base of each player that vibrated and moved the players forward when you turned on the switch. Of course I painted one team orange and white and took on all comers. No telling how many hours I spent hunched over that green board. I usually played both teams by myself, so the orange and white guys somehow always seemed to find a way to win, lol.
Then Doug Dickey came along and Tennessee was really good. I remember players like Hal Wantland and Charlie Fulton and Austin Denny and Dewey Warren and Richmond Flowers and …. well, the list of names goes on and on, and they all conjure up fond memories of all those wonderful afternoons of Vol football.
I never played football. I was misdiagnosed with a heart murmur which later proved to be nonexistent but which kept me from playing high school sports. But I remained a huge fan.
Didn’t go to UT. Went to Tennessee Tech and studied engineering. But I remained a fierce UT football fan and lived and died with the Vols every Saturday. It’s always been that way and always will be.
For me UT football is not just a sport. It’s something very much like magic that was a big part of turning my life around. Of course, the past several years have been tough to endure, but UT football is still as much a part of my life as ever.

Go Vols! Go Big Orange! Long live Rocky Top!
 
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#140
#140
I’ve often asked myself this exact question, over the last decade +.
Seriously, my blood runs orange! The 85 sugar Vols sucked me in and I’ve never looked back. It helped growing up in Knoxville with an orange blooded dad and papaw.
GBO!!
 
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#142
#142
Went to my first UT football in the Liberty Bowl in 1974. 11 years old. Sold.

Extreme highs (late 80s - 90s) and a wheel-barrow full of lows however.
 
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#143
#143
NO SIR EEE said:
I thought this would be cool to see some good stories.

Mine: I was born in Georgia and have been a lifelong resident here. My father was born and raised in Tennessee. I've been a UT fan since birth you can say.
Click to expand...
I was born at Ft Sanders and grew up in Knoxville.Love the color of Orange 🧡 no other team has our color or nickname.Would never change teams.
 

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#145
#145
I am not a lifelong fan. My grandparents were huge Vanderbilt fans, but that didn't take with me.
I lived on a farm and wanted to be a vet. This was before UT had a vet school. Our vet was an Auburn grad, so I liked Auburn kinda there for awhile.
But I was around UT fans and the football team had Condredge and the basketball team had Ernie and Bernie and so I started loosely following the Vols. Had a #7 jersey in 5th grade that was way better than Kenny Chesney's.
I applied for school at UT, went up for orientation and watched my first live Vol football game UT vs Southern Cal in 1980. Hooked from then on.
 
#146
#146
Have been a Vol fan longer than most. Listened to 1947 Orange Bowl with my brother when I was seven. Heard Hank Lauricella and the 1951 Vols take care of Texas and win the national championship. Saw most of my games free as a child sitting in the grass on a hill when it was open on the East side as a horse shoe. Got to be out on the practice field next to General Neyland during the Bowden Wyatt era when they would let fans watch practice one day a year. Neyland was athletic director and would be out there shouting at the players just like the coaches. Was thrilled to see the Vols as a child and have been one ever since. They are symbolic of the pride we have in our state.
 
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#147
#147
NO SIR EEE said:
I thought this would be cool to see some good stories.

Mine: I was born in Georgia and have been a lifelong resident here. My father was born and raised in Tennessee. I've been a UT fan since birth you can say.
Click to expand...
I was born in Harrriman Tennessee. I grew up to hearing John Wards voice on the radio on Saturdays. My dad was a huge UT fan and he taught me everything a young boy needed to know about football and life.
 
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