STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments (1)
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

More Men's Basketball

• Rocky Top League took off in third year
• 'Little brother' Hall is standing tall
• Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame: Cook was always on target

Share and Enjoy [?]

• 
• 
• 
• 
•  
• 

Get Reprints

Want to use this article? Click here for options!

When Sidney Hankins Jr. operated the clock at a University of Tennessee basketball game at Alumni Memorial Gymnasium in 1944, little did he know that it would be an all-in-the family labor of love for more than 60 years.

Mr. Hankins, who operated the clock for UT basketball 40 years until his son Sidney III took over, died Friday. He was 92.

Operating clocks for UT basketball and also the Knoxville Knights ice hockey team 1961-68 was a labor of love ... and it was in addition to his full-time labor of love as employee and eventually textile superintendent of Standard Knitting Mill. He was employed at the mill for 50 years. Mr. Hankins also served as president of Holston Hills Country Club in 1973.

The Knoxville High School graduate began working at the mill, which was run by his father, in 1933 - a year before he enrolled at UT.

After playing basketball at Knoxville High, Mr. Hankins played freshman basketball at UT. But work at the mill cut into that and he gave up basketball as a player.

However, he coached the Catholic High School boys and girls basketball teams in the 1940s, said Sidney III.

"He also coached the Pepsi Cola women's semipro team which won the Southern Appalachian Tournament in the 1930s," he said.

Somehow, Mr. Hankins found time to play volleyball for the YMCA team, which finished second in the national tournament at Chicago, Sidney Hankins III said. He also was an avid golfer.

Sidney Hankins III began training to succeed his father as electric clock operator at UT when Mr. Hankins anticipated stepping down. Now, Sidney III's son, Joshua, is training to succeed his dad.

Sidney III recalled a couple of stories involving Mr. Hankins as timekeeper.

"Coach (Adolph) Rupp of Kentucky always complained about the poor lighting at Alumni Gym, and one night he wore a miner's cap (with headlight) into the gym," Sydney III said. "He posed for a picture with dad.

"When UT played Georgia Tech one year the clock was stopped for an inbounds play. UT threw a pass the length of the floor and converted it into the winning basket. An Atlanta paper ran a headline that said, 'Slow Clock Beats Tech.' "

Mr. Hankins was clock operator when the Knights tied the powerful USSR team in an exhibition at Civic Colisuem on Dec. 23, 1963.

Visitation for Mr. Hankins, who is a member of the Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame, will be 7-8 p.m. Sunday at Rose Mortuary Broadway Chapel. A graveside service will be at 2 p.m. Monday.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.