As a sales rep for Balfour, Bobby Scott knows his collegiate jewelry. The most valuable piece he's seen?

That's easy - the 1969 SEC football championship ring on his right hand.

Scott went 22-3 as Tennessee's starting quarterback 1969-70. And while he spent more than a decade in pro football, it was those years with the Vols that Scott holds dearest heading into the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame on July 27 at the Knoxville Convention Center.

"I have to give so much credit to the guys I played with,'' said the 57-year-old Scott.

"I was a little better than average, probably, but I played with a bunch of guys that loved to play and loved to win and didn't mind paying the price.''

For Scott, the winning didn't follow into the NFL. He spent nine seasons with the New Orleans Saints, primarily backing up his roommate, Archie Manning.

UT won 30 games in Scott's three varsity seasons (he was Bubba Wyche's understudy in 1968). The Saints won just 39 in his nine years.

"I always wondered what it would have been like to ask to be traded and get in another situation,'' Scott said.

"Archie was the No. 1 draft pick down there. We became great friends and still stay in contact.''

The only time Scott played on a pro team with a winning record was in 1983, when he finished his career with the Chicago Blitz (12-6) of the upstart USFL after a midseason trade from the New Jersey Generals.

When he retired, Scott knew where he wanted to settle down - as close as possible to Neyland Stadium.

As fate would have it, two events re-connected Scott with the UT football family.

One, he landed a post-game gig on the radio broadcast, a position he's maintained in one capacity or another.

"I didn't have to really quit the game cold turkey,'' he said.

The other, his son, Benson, served as UT's holder for kicks 1997-99.

And that's why Scott still wears his 1969 SEC ring.

"I always told Benson I was going to give it to him at some point,'' Scott said with a laugh, "and after he graduated he said he had two SEC championship rings and a national championship ring so I could keep mine for a while.''

Scott wears Benson's Fiesta Bowl watch. Benson, a resident at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, wears the Cotton Bowl Rolex his dad earned after the '68 season.

Robert Benson Scott enrolled at UT in the fall of 1967. Though his hometown was Rossville, Ga., just outside Chattanooga, he was Big Orange all the way.

"I could throw a rock into Tennessee from my front porch,'' he said.

He succeeded Wyche in 1969 and directed the Vols to an SEC title. The only blemishes were the 38-0 "Archie Who?" loss to Ole Miss, and the 14-13 Gator Bowl heart-burner to Florida, the game after which coach Doug Dickey infamously switched teams.

The Vols avenged the loss in 1970, a 38-7 romp, when Dickey brought the Gators to Neyland Stadium.

That afternoon is Scott's favorite highlight:

"We resigned ourselves to the fact he wasn't going to come back to our backyard and beat us.''

The '70 Vols finished 11-1 and Scott walked away with a Sugar Bowl MVP trophy.

Still, he deflects most of the credit to his teammates, among them Curt Watson, Lester McClain, Chip Kell and Don McLeary.

"It's not that we had a bunch of stellar athletes,'' Scott said. "But we had a bunch of guys who loved to play the game and loved to win.

"When you've got that combination and enough talent, you're going to win a lot of ballgames.''

Enough to earn a ring.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276.