Sometimes it’s amazing what you remember, even events from 50 years ago.
In the summer of 1957, our family went on vacation to the Isle of Palms with long-time friends Frank and Tommie Rose and their family. Frank was president of Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., better known as “Transy” in family parlance. They were good folks.
He also was on his way to becoming president of the University of Alabama. One afternoon, he announced that the first thing he would do on taking over in Tuscaloosa was to hire Bear Bryant as head football coach. I had no idea who Bear Bryant was, but all of us would find out. Quickly.
We saw the 1958 Tennessee-Alabama game from Frank’s seats in Section C at Shields-Watkins Field. Tennessee won 14-7, and all was right with the world.
For the record, I have seen 44 of the last 48 games, missing only the 1959, 1961, 1963 and 1965 contests, all in Birmingham. It’s been quite an experience.
With Alabama in crimson-and-white uniforms on one side of the field and Tennessee in orange and white on the other, it was football played the way it was meant to be. The venue didn’t matter.
It’s “Alabama Week” once again, this time at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game moved back to Tuscaloosa in 1999 and has been played there ever since. It’s a magnificent arena, befitting the tradition of the series.
Consider some series highlights.
In 1982, Tennessee was clinging to a 35-28 lead with the Tide moving to the north end inside the final minute. When Lee Jenkins tipped a Tide pass and Mike Terry grabbed the pigskin, Neyland Stadium had never been louder.
In 1993, Tennessee led Alabama 17-9, as the Tide marched to the north end of Legion Field. The decibel level grew as Jay Barker scored on a sneak, and David Palmer hit right end for the tying two-point conversion. Alabama had stolen a tie, and Alabama fans went bonkers.
In 2005 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was moving to the south end, and completed a key third-down pass to get it close. When Jamie Christensen booted the game-winner, Alabama observers said Bryant-Denny Stadium had never been more animated. Even though our seats were high in the upper deck, probably closer to Bessemer than the field, I tended to agree.
Over the years, there was the thrill, for Alabama partisans at least, of being “back,” with a national championship in 1961, Alabama 34, Tennessee 3. This transition came after Tennessee had compiled a 9-1-3 record against the Tide from 1948 through 1960, pitching five shutouts and allowing but 83 points in the 13 games.
There was, for Tennessee fans, the thrill of one of those “inspirational ties,” Tennessee 7, Alabama 7, in 1965. The Tide had a game-winning field goal in its sights, but didn’t win after Ken Stabler lost track of the downs and threw the ball out of bounds. On fourth down. The thrill lasted a couple of days. The deaths of three assistant coaches the next Monday morning shook the Vol program.
Alabama won 11-10 in the rain the next year in Knoxville, before Tennessee won the next four, as the series turned again. Just before kickoff Oct. 19, 1969, a small plane suddenly appeared over Legion Field, unfurling a banner reading, “This Is Big Orange Country.” Tennessee 41, Alabama 14.
In 1971, the series turned again and stayed that way until 1982, when the Vols won their first of four in a row. The streak was keyed by a duo named Jones. Johnnie scored the game-winner in 1983, 41-34 Tennessee, and Dale had a point-blank interception off Mike Shula in 1985 to save a 16-14 Tennessee triumph. Tony Robinson and Andre Creamer made the big plays in 1984.
Alabama then went on another streak from 1986 to 1994 before the events of the evening of Oct. 14, 1995. Peyton Manning hit Joey Kent for 80 yards and a score on the game’s first play en route to a 41-14 win and the series turned in the Vols’ direction … again.
Both teams were hurt by measurements and judgment calls that went against them, Tennessee in 1971 at Legion Field, Alabama in 1984 at Neyland Stadium. Controversies like that are just part of the charm of the series.
The Vols are 10-2 against the Tide since 1995. Nobody really knows where the trend of the series might be headed. One team or the other always seems to have momentum, but it just takes one game to turn things around.
It hardly seems that nearly 50 years have passed since Frank Rose’s news flash and that day in Section C, but there is much more excitement to come, starting Saturday.
Tom Mattingly has experienced the ups and downs of the Tennessee-Alabama football series over the years. He is the author of “The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006” (2006), to be published in second edition in 2008, and “Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years” (1998). He may be reached at tjmshm@comcast.net. His News Sentinel blog is called “The Vol Historian.”
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Comments » 32
thevol writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
snafu14u#241639 writes:
This is the game for me.Been to games in Bama, lived there for a while and had to put up with alot of nonsense.Forget this game being on national TV. Kentucky's win over LSU took care of that.What a goofy year. Go Big Orange. bonzaivol
mikeinknoxville writes:
Ole Miss was robbed of a win yesterday. Saban's new allowance is trickling down to the zebras. This is one game we can't let the refs decide. We have to take it. Go Vols
knoxtenor writes:
I had the opportunity to see many games in the "Jones-Jones" era. We hated 'Bama, but every Vol fan respected the Bear, even in a loss. These days, no more suit-and-tie--business attire, even when that business was beating the socks off an opponent--Southern gentlemen coaches; today, a t-shirt and shorts are often the dress of choice. Come to think of it, there aren't many coaches anymore that command that kind of respect: certainly Paterno and, up until a few years ago, Lou Holtz. But they're holdouts from an older era. (Not to say that all coaches were classy back in the day. That was the era of the infamous incident when Woody Hayes of Ohio State punched an opposing player--and on national TV, no less.)
BuckFama writes:
It doesn't get any bigger than this week.
GO VOLS!!
stevefrommemphis writes:
O.k., all you "legions of the miserable," as Johnny Majors used to say, who routinely hope for Tennessee losses so that you can continue your negative rants .... TENNESSEE IS PLAYING ALABAMA THIS WEEK. WHO DO YOU WANT TO WIN?
waterskier3#226480 writes:
i work with an alabama player that was on the team that beat tn 9-6 in neyland when johnny had an nfl team but found a way to lose that game... I was in the stands and never thought I would be working with a player in that game.... he said tell all the tn fans that game in knoxville was sweeter than the NC they won the following year because they felt if tn would choke that would be a spring board for the team.... and they were right...
if that doesn't rekindle the reason to hate bama nothing will... that was the worst loss in history for me.....
GO VOLS its bama week
govols96 writes:
I was at the 93 game. The TN fans were louder than the AL fans most of the 4th qtr until Plamer made the 2 pt conversion. The tie felt like a loss. I hate the Tide.
Ralph_Crampton writes:
OUR BELOVED VOLS WOULD HAVE MUCH BETTER CHANCE OF WINNING AN NC IF WE HAD PLAYOFF...I PROPOSE A 16-GAME PLAYOFF. C'MON govols96 GIVE YOUR OPINION ON A PLAYOFF...WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE A PLAYOFF FOR THE NC OR A VOTER FROM BEND OREGON, OR A GUY FROM MILWAUKEE TO DECIDE WHO IS BEST?
CoverOrange writes:
Steve, I always want the Vols to win, everytime. I was at the 82 game that broke the streak that Bill Battle built watching Willie streak down the field. I saw Dale Jones intercept Shula. I watched Tony Robinson crumple in agony. I was at the 94 game to watch the freshman sensation named Peyton zip a ball to the back of the endzone to a wide open receiver only to see a Bama hand come out of nowhere to knock it down and break my heart. But, as I keep tellin' my 4 and 7 year old, what I want has nothing to do with what I get. The only thing anyone on here can do is beat the drum louder, either for or against a change in coaching.
orange71 writes:
worst loss: n tx st. biilyb
doctorvol#211700 writes:
Agreed. Sears Woods of the "mean green", and Gary Roach pitching to a N. Texas defensive player. I was 11 and in section W. That was the bad. 82-85, the 41-14 exorcism, and several since-now that is the good! GO VOLS Sat!
doctorvol#211700 writes:
Agreed. Sears Woods of the "mean green", and Gary Roach pitching to a N. Texas defensive player. I was 11 and in section W. That was the bad. 82-85, the 41-14 exorcism, and several since-now that is the good! GO VOLS Sat!
smokedoctor writes:
Im ready to smoke me a SEE-gar, boys.
DennisVols writes:
No matter what might have changed over the years with divison play now creating new rivials. UT-Bama will always be the game of the year for die hard fans of both schools.
I had retired from the Army and was working at the Wendys on Cumberland Ave, while attending UT in'82 when the Vols won that game. IT was NUTS that night. Cars cruised up and down Cumberland till they ran out of gas. I finally closed the store about 3am because there was nothing left to sell.
I have sat through so many rain soaked games against Bama but no one ever complained. After all this was the tradition that college football was built on.
UT-Bama has created the highest of highs and lowest of lows for both school. This was the game each year for so long defined who won the SEC.
Time for another high in UT long storied history with Bama.
GO VOLS
Keeping it Real!!!!
FWBVol writes:
The General said he measured a player by how they performed in the fourth quarter of the Alabama game. Many of the younger posters on this forum consider Florida and maybe even Georgia a bigger game these days, but for those of us who grew up in the 60s, 70s and earlier, this is THE GAME and always will be. Forget the records, it is Alabama week.
The hues of orange and crimson against a graying autumn sky in North Alabama or East Tennessee is something to behold.
I know I've seen old pictures of games when both teams were in colored jersies. If I remember correctly, the reason for teams started wearing white "road" jerseys is for the purpose of television. In the early days of TV, when there was only black and white sets, they had to figure out a way to tell the difference between teams with uniforms that would look alike or very similar on TV.
It would be great to see the Vols lined up in orange on Saturday. Maybe that's something the NCAA and the TV people could work on for the fans.
ncvol17 writes:
Roll Tide, roll....down the nearest toilet bowl.. memories of some sweet Vol wins in the 80's ..even Johnny will watch this one.. oskie oskie..
Hating the TIDE since 1975........
mattingly writes:
I have seen black and white film of Tennessee in orange and Alabama in crimson. You can tell the teams apart. The orange jerseys of the earlier days were lighter than today's and the crimson is darker. Check out the old Sports Illustrateds from 1965-67 to see how it looked. Notre Dame and USC played on the 22nd of October in 1977, the fourth Saturday, when ND warmed up in blue and came out in green jerseys. We played Florida that day, the game with the fight at the end. Both are great series. Don't count on seeing the Vols in orange Saturday. I loved the Grantland Rice analogy in FWBVol's post. I was there, by the way, at the Gator Bowl for Woody Hayes' slugging incident
bloodrunsorange writes:
THE 3RD WEEK IN OCTOBER IS THE GAME OF THE YEAR! I CAN’T BERLIEVE cbs. I WOULD LIKE US IN ORANGE AND THE OTHER one IN off red. TV ISN’T BLACK AND WHITE ANYMORE. GO VOLS! THIS IS A MUST!
DadwasaVol writes:
I'm so old I can say I was at that game with my Dad in 1966, the 11-10 loss in the rain. Tennessee went up 10-0 in the first quarter, then could not hold on and lost the lead, and then missed a chip shot field goal at the end. Alabama had some big dude named Canterbury at fullback that really ran north and south. Only time I saw Bama play was that day 41 years ago.
FWBVol writes:
I don't think the UT-Alabama uniforms were the biggest reason for the dark home and white road jerseys as much as other teams that might have been closer in the deepness (darkness) of their colors even if they were different colors. Think what would happen in the old BW days if Florida and Kentucky were both in blue or if Arkansas and Alabama were both in red. Texas and Oklahoma State have similar shades of orange that viewers might not be able to distinguish on black and white.
todd#529269 writes:
BEAT BAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
perryp1#298222 writes:
UT's defense still needs a lot of tuning up. If defense can hold, UT beats Bama bad. Need Bama in the win column.
Go Vols, Beat Bama!!!!!!!
callen825#321558 writes:
I was at the 11-10 loss in the mid 60's sometime, with my dad...never forgot that one. Take it a game at a time boys.
Ohio VOL.
gohawks1 writes:
Big game Saturday. I hope we R-U-N-N-O-F-T and score about 50+ points on them. I'm about as tired of hearing about Saban as I am about Tebow.
westennvol writes:
I grew up during that 85-94 drought period. Florida was not yet a powerhouse and LSU was a joke at that time. The only game that really mattered every year was BAMA. Some of the greatest/worst games I ever saw were UT/BAMA. 92, we lost our 7th consecutive game barely in Neyland. Bama won NC that year. Might i add by a whole lot more over Miami than they beat us by. 93, i was @ Legion field and saw us squander the lead in the last 2 mins, 01, the shadow of sept 11th loomed as we were all practically strip searched into Bryant-Denny, my 1st game there. Casey "iceman" Clausen led us to a victory in the waning minutes. Last year, 3 picks by Bama wasn't enough to seal the win over the big orange. In my opinion, we have some great rivalries, just like all teams do, but there is something special about this one, you can have UT/UGA or UT/FLA, or UA/Auburn, or even AUB/GA. But based upon my 1st hand eyewitness, UT/BAMA are 3 cuts above those games. Nothing more special, and teams up north have trophies, like axes and oak buckets, but this game is the only one I know where the victors smoke C-igars! GO BIG ORANGE! ROLL THE TIDE RIGHT OVER!
txsvol#372416 writes:
If were were to go 1-11 and the one win was against Bama (isn't that a brand name for a jelly, like KY?), it would be a good year! I was at most of the games in the '60s (so the memories of Section C are real to me, too), except listening to the '66 game on AFN in Germany, and have gotten back for the '93 and '96 games. The rest? I have usually been able to watch on National TV. I'm glad that ESPN Game Day will be showing the game, even if it is an 11 AM start time. Go Vols! Beat Bama!
volintexas writes:
That 75 North Texas State game was awful doctorvol. People can say what they want about that 9-6 game in 90, but the Tide had a talented team that was trying to get on the same page with Gene Stallings, and they got on the same page in his third year by winning the NC. On the 3rd Saturday in October, you throw out the record books and "buckle down the chin strap" because it will be a ferocious display of hitting. Worst defeat in this series: 1972. UT was leading the Tide 10-3 deep in the fourth quarter when we fumbled twice in our territory in the last couple of minutes and Bama won 17-10. That was BITTER. I thought John Ward was going to jump out of the press box after that game.
mattingly writes:
Actually, the 1995 game was played on the second Saturday in October, Oct. 14. That turned out pretty well. The same happened in 1996, when the game was played on the fourth Saturday. The game was also played on the fourth Saturday in 1998 and 1999. The interesting aspect of it all was that the Vols won each of these games. Not only were the '02, '03, and '04 games played on the fourth Saturday, the '05 game was, too. It may have had something to do with the 12-game schedule in these latter years, plus the way the dates fell, getting 12 games in a three-month window and allowing for open dates. The other years may have had something to do with the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina to the conference. Tennessee had an open date after the 1995 game, an open date before the 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005 games. The series is still the series regardless of the date. This is the first game not televised by one of the "national networks." Ever. I'll keep researching this aspect of the series.
VolsFan17 writes:
Stats, records and hype mean nothing in this game. We'd better show up ready to hit someone!!! Go Vols!!! Beat Bama!!!
TStantan writes:
What a great week, I love Bama week. I am also proud that Fulmer has an 11-3-1 record versus Bama. Next year Bama, next year.
Ralph_Crampton writes:
Bama game means very little in this era of college football...college football interests change like everything else these days.
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