Photo by News Sentinel file
Tennessee’s Ron Widby takes a shot over a Vanderbilt defender in the Vols’ 70-53 home win over the No. 9 Commodores in 1967.
When the Tennessee men's basketball team won the SEC championship March 6, 1967, Knoxville Journal sportswriter Ben Byrd, the sportswriter now popularly known as Belmont coach Rick Byrd's father, inadvertently gave the team a nickname. He termed them the "Fearless Five," and that moniker has lasted more than 40 years.
"Tennessee's fearless five fought its way through the bedlam of three overtime periods tonight to beat Mississippi State, 78-76, and win the SEC basketball championship lock, stock, and barrel," Ben wrote in his game story the next morning. Ray Mears, who was always ahead of the curve on such matters, took the nickname and proudly ran with it.
This team greatly exceeded expectations, but, in late December 1966 and early January 1967, the Vols had looked anything but fearless, in fact, looking remarkably mortal. There were losses to Bradley and Boston College in the Sugar Bowl tournament, and a 65-59 loss at Vanderbilt. Skittish and skeptical Vol fans openly wondered what might lie ahead.
The Vols had a legitimate superstar in 1966 All-SEC forward Ron Widby and a steady performer at the other forward in Tom Hendrix, who had played some, but not a lot, in 1965-66.
There were question marks at the other three positions, what with junior center Tom Boerwinkle having seen precious little playing time, the dreaded term "project" hanging precipitously over his head.
Then there were sophomore guards Bill Justus and Bill Hann, stars on the previous year's freshman team, who had not yet experienced the rigors of SEC play, particularly on the road.
"It was very clear," said Mears, "that this was our best five, and from the first day of practice we decided to go with them. They turned out to be a happy, compatible group, with a great desire to learn and win, and I think a great deal of credit for that must go to Ron Widby. In his two previous seasons, he had been an outstanding basketball player. As a senior, he became a great player and leader as well."
What followed after the Vanderbilt loss was a 14-2 run to the SEC crown. Big crowds showed up at the expanded arena and "took" to an overachieving team that had all the elements of success fall their way as if ordained from on high.
A major key to the season, John Ward said, was a double overtime win over Kentucky at Memorial Coliseum, where Hendrix, a native of Elizabethtown, Ky., canned two pressure-packed free throws to seal the deal.
The Vols ran the table at home, winning nine SEC contests decisively. They also won in some of the SEC's toughest venues, in Auburn's Quonset Hut, Florida's "Alligator Alley", and Georgia's Woodruff Hall. There were close losses at Ole Miss and Alabama, but this group was undeterred.
It all came down to the season finale at Mississippi State, one of the classic games in Vol history. As fans listened nervously on a fledgling Vol Network to Ward and Lowell Blanchard, Widby threw in 35 points, canning shot after shot in a fierce battle with State's David Williams. The game went three overtimes.
After missing an opportunity to give the Vols a lead in the second overtime, Justus made two free throws that proved to be the game-winners, giving the Vols their first SEC championship in 24 years and their first-ever NCAA bid. Two losses in the big tourney, to eventual national runner-up Dayton, as a last-minute Widby jumper refused to drop, and to Indiana, did not detract in the least from the season's accomplishments.
Widby averaged 22.1 points and 8.7 rebounds and carried his team through the peaks and valleys of the 18-game round-robin conference schedule. He was something to watch night-in and night-out.
He was SEC Player of the Year and an All-America selection, adding hoops to his All-America selection as a punter in 1966, being named the NCAA statistical champ with a 43.8 yard average.
"It was probably one of the best times I've had in sports," said Widby. "We were picked fifth or sixth pre-season, but we had confidence in ourselves. I had told Knoxville News-Sentinel reporter Marvin West before the season we were going to win it."
There were likely some faint-hearted fans who weren't sure what to expect from this team in the late moments of 1966 and early 1967, given a rough patch or two over that time.
What was the result?
A youthful squad came through and played better than even the most optimistic Vol fan could have hoped.
When the SEC title came home to Knoxville, no one wanted to debate Ben's describing them as "fearless."
All this goes to show that games in late December and early January are sometimes accurate barometers of the record at season's end … and sometimes not.
Tom Mattingly is the author of "The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006" (2006), to be published in second edition in 2009, 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 » 8
TommyJack writes:
Widby would have cleaned up if the 3 from the corner counted back in the day.
WeLoveTennesseeVols writes:
We were there that night, the night we won, and a panty raid ensued. We were there that night when we beat Miss State and the whole dorm was listening. What a whoop came up when the game was won, what a time was had on campus. Thanks Tom for another Vol memory! And thanks to the parents who sent us to school with their hard earned money. God bless them.
stroker writes:
I was listening with friends and John Ward said wrap it up tie it in Orange ship it to Knoxville Tn care of Billy Justice.
newtonrail writes:
I got to see all the home games since I also was a senior, and it is past time Widby's number is retired. Do it now while his Mother is still alive. Houston should have time. And those two are pretty much it without a lot of argueing.
richvol writes:
I remember that night so clearly. I was sick in bed and listening on the radio to John Ward. He grew more and more excited as the game went into each overtime and my mother was worried about me getting too heated since I already had a fever.
Towards the end of the game and broadcast I remember a crash and tumble sound coming from the radio as Widby sank a crucial shot. To this day I would swear that Ward was so excited that somebody knocked over a chair or they dropped the mike. It was so thrilling that I was standing in the bed when the game ended. In later years I became friends with Coach Mears and I told him the how that night was one of the great moments in my young life. That was a great team.
My heart sank when Justis missed those freethrows. He was a 90% freethrow shooter and when he missed I thought it was an omen that we were destined not to win. Then he went on to be a hero as he sank those winners.
Widby was such a great athlete. His punts were amazing things of beauty with high spirals that changed field position. I seem to recall him being the last four sport letterman at UT. I think he was a very good golfer and a track star too. Does anyone else remember?
newtonrail writes:
Football, Basketball, Golf, and Baseball. And no, there haven't been any other 4 sport athletes. Widby didn't play Baseball but one or two years if I remember correctly. The punts were great. He still lives in the Dallas area, but his Mother and least a sister live in Knoxville.
ncvol writes:
Those are good memories posters....
Thanks for sharing them.Go Vols!
theoldbear writes:
I was a junior at UT, and went to every home game.
Tommy H was as deadly from the corner as Ron. And he ran the baseline in the 1-3-1 offense and defense tirelessly.
With the 3 point basket, that team would have been really someting. "Bullwinkle" would have been the only starter not a 3-point threat, and Mac Petty off the bench would have been incredible.
Pistol Pete was a freshman that year, and there was a bigger crowd for the freshman game than the varsity game the night he played in Stokley Center.
Great memories, of a great team, made up of some really great guys!
One memory sticks out: Tom Boerwinkle riding down "the Hill" in the back seat of a Volkswagen sun-roof, head and shoulders sticking out, elbows resting on the roof.
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