Why are you a Vols fan?

#51
#51
I've been a Big Orange fan since conception, which was probably late August 1955. (Dang, that was a long time ago!)

My parents (RIP) were UT alumni of different sorts. My dad got his master's degree there and my mom got her bachelor's degree at UTK. I went to UTK for a year and was in the Pride of the Southland Band. I have passed on my Big Orange blood to my daughter, who is now 16.

I have a younger brother and an older brother who are both Gator fans. They are the black sheep of the family.
 
#52
#52
My father owns his own sound business. They do audio installations in anything from churches to schools to stadiums. Well in 1996 he got the bid for Neyland! He put in the huge cluster of speakers that you see above the press box, all the speakers that are under each level, everything sound related in Neyland, was put in by my father's business, Lowrance Sound Company. Anyway, I was 7 or 8 at the time, going up to neyland, getting to walk all around the stadium, on the pressbox, and eventually got all access passes for home games. My dad was required to be at each home game, basically just to be there if anything went wrong. But it also involved rigorous sound checks through out. If you went to UT and ever heard Kenny Chesney or any other "sound check quality" music being blared the night before games, that was sound check. I have a football signed by probably half of the 1997 team. Peyton, Al, Peerless, Westmorland, but the best was Archie!
So to try and sum it all up, at a young age when I was just waiting for the next thing to become amazed with and idolize, I was on the field at Neyland stadium watching the game and seeing these guys with my own eyes. My most memorable moment, I was standing on the side lines at a game in 98 or 99 I think behind an equipment rack, and Travis Henry, "THA CHEEEEESSSEEEE" came over and laid his helmet down. His helmet is literal an arms length away from me. So I hesitate, look side and side, and just reach out and touch it. At 9 or 10 years old, that was all I needed. That was the coolest thing I had ever done at the time. Sorry for such a long post but UT is a big part of who I am and represents some of the best times I have had, and ever will have in my life. VOL FOR LIFE!
 
#53
#53
Born that way. My family has owned season tickets to football and basketball since 1971 when my grandmother started working for the University.

When my father was a kid he sat next to another kid his same age in Neyland. As time passed my father started taking my brother or me and we would sit to the same man who was now bringing his kid. Soon my brother will be taking his kid and sitting next to the same mans child and grandson/granddaughter. That's what UT is about, it's in your blood and it passes from generation to generation. I've always thought it was really cool and special to be sitting next to the same family my father did 40yrs ago and visually see the torch being passed on. I'm sure thousands of fans in Neyland have similar stories and that's what makes UT athletics, especially football, so special.
 
#54
#54
Mom was in the marching band. Grew up in an orange house but in Florida. Got accepted to UT and went on a campus tour of all SEC schools and fell in love with Knoxville. I was open up until I took a step in Knoxville
 
#55
#55
LEFT TENNESSEE FOR CALIFORNIA WHEN I WAS 9. STILL LOVE TENNESSEE AN THE ORANGE. LOL, PROBABLY ONLY ONE IN CA THAT HAS BLUGRASS MUSIC. SIDE NOTE WENT TO COLT FORD CONCERT GOOD GUY. TOLD HIM THE BULLDOGS SUCK, HE LAUGHED AN SAID DIDNT WE KICK YOUR ASS THIS YEAR. HAD A VOLS HAT ON. DID TELL ME I WAS RASIN MY BOY RIGHT THOUGH. GO VOLS, AN GO TYLER BRAY!!!!
:matrix:
 
#56
#56
BAKOVOLFAN said:
LEFT TENNESSEE FOR CALIFORNIA WHEN I WAS 9. STILL LOVE TENNESSEE AN THE ORANGE. LOL, PROBABLY ONLY ONE IN CA THAT HAS BLUGRASS MUSIC. SIDE NOTE WENT TO COLT FORD CONCERT GOOD GUY. TOLD HIM THE BULLDOGS SUCK, HE LAUGHED AN SAID DIDNT WE KICK YOUR ASS THIS YEAR. HAD A VOLS HAT ON. DID TELL ME I WAS RASIN MY BOY RIGHT THOUGH. GO VOLS, AN GO TYLER BRAY!!!!
:matrix:
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Caps lock is on. No joke.
 
#57
#57
volger said:
Seen more UT games than MU games in the 90's in Mo. Heath Shuler era. Married a Knoxville girl in 04 .Game on.

Now that Mizzou is in the conference stuff cThe Question is why are you a vol fan,not are you a part time vol fan.Sounds like you are going to make nu your team now they are coming to sec.
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#58
#58
zjcvols said:
I love the orange. Rocky top is my only country song in my music player. I love the power T. I love the university. I love that my pappaw introduced me to Travis Stephens 10.5 years ago. I love that I bleed orange.

That's why.
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Again, this guys got it. I love the University of Tennessee more than i could ever imagine. Any shade of orange I see, its Tennessee orange. I wake up day after day and pick which orange shirt ill wear today. I could go on and on. But damn its a waste of breath.
 
#59
#59
I'm a Vol fan because I have so much pride in this wonderful state we live in. I remember when the "Beverley Hillbillies" came on the air and were referencing TN as their home, I was so upset (I think I was 12 yrs old or so), I was going to write the producer of the show and give him a piece of my mind. When I atteneded my 1st FB game, I think Malon Faircloth, (hope I get by the spelling police), was the wingback IIRC. TN played UTC that day and we killed them. I especially follow TN FB, BB, & LV BB, but I want the Big Orange to be number one in all sports, and I pull for all our sports teams to be the best. GBO! now and forever. PS. I have raised my daughter the right way as well, she's all orange and loves Peyton.
 
#60
#60
I was born 25 miles from Knoxville.My Dad is ky fan and there are alot of ky fans here around the tenn and ky border.But my school colors were orange and white and our arch rivals wore blue and white.So it only seems natural that i bleed orange and hate blue.And i have lived in same area for 42 years besides the time i was in the army,and the four months i lived on gulf coast in Guatier Miss.I had a job as a pipe fitter and also was starting an apprenticeship under water welder working at ship yard in pasagoula making around 35 an hour in 1990 but there were no orange colors and no mountains and only hills were at the top of a hole in the ground.I love East TENNESSEE AND THE TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS.
 
#61
#61
I was born in TN, but grew up outside of NOLA. My first UT game was the 1991 sugar bowl against Virginia. My parents come from NC so they are ACC fans, which means they are basketball fans. Some friends of ours from TN came to visit and we got tickets to go with them. I loved watching that game because I was from TN, but wasn't a football fan (I was 12ish).

I moved back to TN in High School. I ended up looking at NC State, UT and MSU for colleges because I was dead set on becoming an architect, and those are/were the preeminent architecture schools in the SE. I got accepted to all of them, and went to UT because I liked the campus better.

Fall of my first semester, I didn't care anything for football but vividly remember listening to John Ward on the radio while I was studying for anthropology. I remember hearing Peyton Manning throw for a touchdown against UCLA, the dorm erupted in cheers. The next thing I know, I am a die hard UT fan...never missed a home game during my time there. Now, as a graduate, I bleed Orange. My sister followed my footsteps, and I get misty eyed when I hear Rocky Top!

EDIT: Oh, it didn't hurt that I was there as a sophomore in 1998 when UT beat Florida and the goal post game down, or during the Arky game the same year. Being on campus during a National Championship season is a wonderful memory!

I will never forget the following year, as an ROTC cadet we competed in the "Ranger Challenge" against 50 schools from around the nation (Vandy, MTSU, Florida, Ohio State, etc) and one of our teams won. We sang Rocky Top at the awards ceremony and got a huge standing ovation from all present. That still gives me chills...
 
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#62
#62
Born in Arkansas. Lived there for 10 years. It's the nastiest and dirtiest place on earth. Moved to TN in 1987 after my grandfather had triple bypass surgery. My dad, brother, and I took over the cattle farm and had 80 momma cows having calves every second it seemed like. We'd be building fences or castrating bull calves or feeding hay or planting wheat while we listened to John Ward call the games. Every now and then we'd get a little time off to go to Knoxville to watch a game. So many memories of UT football and John Ward. Now were season ticket holders and go to all home games. Every year on the way to the mountains we stop by the practice facility and go in before practice and meet as many players as we can before they start practice. I swear TN football good or bad is the best you'll find anywhere in the country. You'll still see flags flying even when were 5-7. No other fans do that. We are the only true fans. We are Tennessee.
 
#63
#63
So many different stories and different backgrounds, but everyone here has something in common...We are all VFL!!!
 
#64
#64
Although I reside in Illinois, my family is all in Maryville. My Dad moved up here to work for Cat when I was tiny. Parents are gone now, and I have been wanting to move back since. However, now we have a Grandson here, and my wife won't leave. Don't blame her, he's a neat little man! My employers have an Eastern Tennessee, Eastern Kentucky territory waiting for me when I want to move, so I'll have a great job when I do. I wear Orange nearly everyday and my Illinois license plates read 3 UTVOL. I have no problem driving 10 hours for football 3-4 times a year, but my wife...:nono:

She'll get over it! Rocky Top!!!!
 
#65
#65
Grew up in East Tennessee listening to John Ward on the radio. Went to my first football game in '78 or '79. I remember going to basketball games in Stokely and hearing the chants of "Sit Joe, Sit"...referring to Joe B. Hall of UK.

I was there in '82 when UT finally beat Bama. I was 10 at then. I used to make replicas of Neyland Stadium out of a deck of cards.

I went to UT from '90-'94. My 2 brothers graduated from UT as well.
 
#66
#66
de3cls said:
When I atteneded my 1st FB game, I think Malon Faircloth, (hope I get by the spelling police), was the wingback IIRC. TN played UTC that day and we killed them.
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Mallon Faircloth was actually the last of the single-wing tailbacks at UT. Mallon & I were fraternity brothers. I had dinner with him a few months ago. He's retired now but looks like he could still play. :)

Dick:)
 
#67
#67
Grew up in KY, but only 10 minutes from the TN state line, so I spent just as much of my time in TN as I did at home. I have a houseboat on Dale Hollow lake, which is in Kentucky water, but I always venture south. I've drank a ton of beer with UT fans on boats, always good times. I have aunts who attended UT and took me to several games for fun. Seeing as how UT was for the most part irrelevant in hoops and focused on football, and UK was irrelevant in football and focused on basketball, I found myself supporting UT from a distance.

So perhaps I'm not a fan, but an admirer. Call it what you will.
 
#68
#68
OldGrandad said:
Mallon Faircloth was actually the last of the single-wing tailbacks at UT. Mallon & I were fraternity brothers. I had dinner with him a few months ago. He's retired now but looks like he could still play. :)

Dick:)
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Thank you for the update. I couldn't remember. :hi:
 
#70
#70
I go to UT. Was not really a college fan at all until I enrolled in 2006. I got my first taste of UT bball when we beat MTSU by 69 points in 07. Then, when T. Smith hit that layup to beat Ole Miss that season, I was hooked. GO VOLS!!
 
#73
#73
I'm 16 years old. I've been a vol since birth and I live in Spartanburg, SC. I'm a fan because my uncle played baseball for this school, and I intend on going there too, just not for baseball.
 
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