Photo by News Sentinel file photo
The goal posts at a Shields-Watkins come down after UT Chattanooga upsets Tennessee 14-6 in the 1958 season. The celebration caused a riot that resulted in numerous arrests.
Photo by News Sentinel file photo
Tear gas is deployed to break up the crowd at Sheilds-Watkins field. Paddy wagons were called out to take away a number of revelers.
This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of an infamous game in University of Tennessee football history - a 14-6 loss to Chattanooga in 1958.
Some longtime Vol fans rank the game with the 1975 North Texas State upset as among the worst losses in history, while Chattanooga fans consider it perhaps their greatest victory.
In fact, the members of that team were honored this weekend in connection with a home game against Appalachian State, which pulled a similar upset on Michigan last year.
The game was disconcerting for Vol fans not only because of the loss, but also a riot that broke out after the game when some fans tried to tear down the goal posts.
Going into the Nov. 8 game at Shields-Watkins Field, Tennessee was 2-4, causing Vol fans to get impatient with coach Bowden Wyatt.
Chattanooga, coached by longtime mentor Scrappy Moore, was 4-3, including a loss to Tennessee Tech. However, the Mocs had a few good players, like future pros John Green and Bill Butler, and had also played well against a good Auburn team earlier in the year.
"We felt confident for some reason," said Harold Wilkes, an end who later became Chattanooga coach and athletic director.
Although the two teams have not played since 1969, they did play almost yearly for decades, with Tennessee even making an occasional trip to Chattanooga, such as in 1939.
The Mocs had also managed to beat the Vols in 1905 and tie them in 1909 and 1910 in the early days of the two programs.
When the 1958 game began, the Mocs showed they would be tough to beat, twicing driving inside Tennessee's 5 early in the game without scoring.
Chattanooga led 7-0 at halftime. Then, after stopping a Vols' drive in the fourth quarter, scored again for a 14-0 lead, before Tennessee scored in the waning seconds on a pass from Gene Etter to Don Stephens.
Etter did not think of the game as a humiliating upset.
"UC outplayed us and deserved to win," said the longtime baseball coach at Baylor School in Chattanooga. "Coach Wyatt, when asked about the upset, replied that it was no upset, that UC had the better team."
The Mocs also had praises for the Vols.
"I caught five passes, but I paid the price for them," remembered Wilkes. "Their defensive secondary got on you quickly."
Just as the Moc victory over Tennessee was unusual, so was the post-game melee.
As some fans tried to tear down the goal posts, a scuffle took place and police intervened. A major riot followed, involving paddy wagons, tear gas, and fire hoses.
"The older I get, the more I think about the riot after the game than the game," Wilkes said.
Etter also has memories from the post-game escapades. He said he had come out of the locker room after showering when he first noticed that a confrontation was taking place.
"I sat down on the ground and watched," he recalled. "Several UC fans were arrested, and a paddy wagon drove onto the field to pick them up."
He believes the Knoxville police overreacted.
"I felt this was such a huge deal for UC, that whoever was making the decisions should have removed the police from the area, which ruined the celebration for the ones who were arrested or injured," he said.
Etter, who remembers not being able to go into his dorm room in the stadium for several hours afterward because of all the tear gas, said that Tennessee ended up going through several sets of goal posts that year.
"UT officials decided not to go the expense of installing new goalposts, and instead, used some thin wooden slats, which looked like goalposts a kid and his dad might put up in their back yard," he said.
"Our students tore those down the next week, which was an easy chore, after our victory over Ole Miss. Two more just like them were erected, and we finished out the season using those pitiful looking posts."
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Comments » 24
volsoutwest writes:
First!! Perhaps even last.
eduardo writes:
Fulmer was an icon, get it right rabbit
newtonrail writes:
I've tried to tell posters that teams of late 50's and early 60's were a lot worse that what's gone down this year. This was not my first games at UT, but I started working concessions through the stands to see games and make some money in '58. This was one of many to forget.
OLDVOL writes:
Your right. I was there in the late 50s. The 1954 team and the 1958 team were the worst with the exception of this team.
BillVol writes:
"Chattanooga fans consider it perhaps their greatest victory"
Perhaps? What other win in Chattanooga's lackluster football history would hold a candle to beating Tennessee???
Chartervol writes:
We screwed them but good by annexing them in the late 60s. Broke down, bankrupt, arrogant people.
They have never accepted being part of the UT "system". I say give them to the Board of Regents and be done with them. Little local college would fit right in with Middle, Tech and ETSU.
volfan73120#211815 writes:
I was at this game and went to the top of the east stands to watch the riot. There was a big crowd gathering behind the stadium. I remember hearing a police siren blaring and the cop pulled up behind the stadium and jumped out and ran into the crowd with his billy stick waving in the air. When he disappeared, two guys ran out of the crowd and took the seats out of the cruiser and set them on fire and left. The cop was in a state of shock when he came back to his cruiser. The seats had burned up.
I_Sweat_Orange writes:
Your memory of this painted a very funny picture and I'm sitting here laughing out loud at 4 in the mornin. Thanks .
billed23#213533 writes:
Item 1) i think volfan73120#211815:'s story is great and demonstrates the truth in Mr' Etter's remark, above. I am laughing @ 6:30.
Item 2) I also think Mr. Etter's comment in the artical is correct.I was working with two brothers, both former cops, that had a third brother still in the KPD at that time. I made a similar statement, to Mr' Etter's, on the following Monday morning. The brothers both jumped down my throat as if I had said something personal about them. I should have known better than to say anything about the force at that time, knowing their last name. Those were the days when there were about three sir names in the county said COP, because they really couldn't do much else and politics kept them on the various forces.
nicksjuzunk#646117 writes:
2008 Vols:
Victory... UAB
Victory... Northern Illinois
Victory... Mississippi State
That may be it ladies and gentlemen. I cannot believe what is happening. I would have called you and Ijut for suggesting such rubbish.
sameolvolalum writes:
Who watched Texas Tech's juggernaut run by Mike Leach last night? On top of a virtually unstoppable offensive scheme, his defense was called by the ABC commentators "the scrappiest defensive bunch in the entire U.S." There's some talent there, but with talent on the level UT can recruit, this guy could build a winner. #2 Chris Peterson (Boise State).
HallowedHill writes:
I'd like to say that we have enough spunk left to start a riot, but with everything that has happened this year, we're all emotionally flat. Fulmer, the team, the fans, and worst of all, Hamilton.
I can't see Davis as the cure to our woes at the moment.
richvol writes:
This was one of the few games that Dad did not take me to. I remember him coming home though because he was angry. He said that Chattanooga had deserved to beat Tennessee but the police overreacted to their fans celebrating. He was embarrassed for UT and Knoxville.
UT had used Chattanooga for years as a whipping boy but couldn't take being beaten themselves. Dad talked about the quarterback Chattanooga had...he apparently was very tall and picked us apart all day with his passing.
Mike Leach is the guy...
snoopbob87 writes:
Being from Chattanooga I have heard several stories about that game and the aftermath. One story purports that Booker Turner, long time sheriff of Hamilton County where Chattanooga is located, was attempting to stop the riot himself but was grabbed up by the local police for detainment. Also for those who look down on small college football, UC was a good team and often played UT, LSU, GA Tech, AL, Aub, and other powerhouse teams. Scrappy Moore, long time coach for UC was a highly regarded coach in his own right. The history of UT & UC games are a part of our past which is worth remembering. Ths for the article.
Bufforange00 writes:
bring back Bowden wyatt. Even deceased, he shows more life than this bunch!
volfan#207874 writes:
Although I lived in Knoxpatch, I did not attend this game, but listened to it and read the subsequent news stories that were printed in the two daily newspapers. If I remember correctly it was generally conceded that KPD did, in fact, over react. The Moccasins, coached by A.C. "Scrappy" Moore was one of the few "paid whipping boys" of the day. Rumor has it that Scrappy was good friends with Gen. Neyland and it was for a large payout that they were scheduled yearly. One thing that I seem to remember about the "disturbance" after the game was one of Knoxville's fines was injured when the clutdch plate broke beneath his legs and he was injured. Seems that there were several fans impeding his progress with the paddy wagon, probably fans from both UC and UT. Such losses by seemingly small schools, with hearts of lions, have defeated the beloved Vols in the past, and if history bears it out, it will in all probability happen again. Still love the Vols and have great respect for Coadh Fulmer. I think that the timing of the steeping down, which is a polite way of saying you're fired, could have been handled with more compassion for the coaching staff and the Vol Nation. That said, leaves us to shout GO VOLS!
bpelot writes:
That UC victory over UT in 1958 did wonders for coach Moore's recruiting program. As a high school senior in 1959, I was recruited by coach Ben Bouleware and student assistant Harold Wilkes. The victory over UT weighed heavily in my decision to choose UC over Furman and NC State. By the way, that tall quarterback that had such a good passing day for UC was Johnny Greene.
txsvol#372416 writes:
Remembrances: I remember the results of that game, because I was in junior high school. It was all over the Chattanooga papers, as the greatest victory in the history of the school. My dad told me that his seats were just down from Red Etter's on the 40 yard line(Gene's father, the long-time football coach at Baylor and Red Bank), who had taught his Sunday School class when he and mother lived in Red Bank. I saw Gene, who backed up Bill Majors at TB, sitting in those seats during either the '59 or '60 season, with his parents, when he was injured and missed a game, before Bobby, his younger brother, kicked for the Georgia Bulldogs.I didn't have any relatives arrested, but they do remember the goal posts coming down, and the riot gear of the Knoxville police.) Joe Abercrombie, a running back for UC, and a captain, was presented a section of the goal posts, and they were a footrest at the bar in the basement of the Lambda Chi Alpha house @ 908 Oak Street in the early '60s. I don't know what happened to them when the frat house moved down the street. Harold Wilkes and Cotton Letner (of Ten Mile, TN) were contemporaries, and both were good football players. SAVol
stevefrommemphis writes:
Not surprising in the least that the Knoxville Police Dept overreacted.
How ironic that last Saturday's debacle was the 50th anniversary of the loss to Chattanooga. Chattanooga, North Texas State, Memphis were definitely three of the most embarrassing losses in 50 years.
I'm torn between consigning Wyoming to the same category as the above or to a lesser category of near-debacles such as the 1979 Rutgers and 1980 Virginia homecoming losses.
FlaVol2 writes:
-If my memory serves me correctly, Red Etter was head coach at Central High School in the Chattanooga area.
G8er_H8er writes:
This team and staff are a disgrace. No more to it than taht. I hate it for Eric Berry and Gerald Jones.
woodwr#217203 writes:
Someone told me that Chattanooga has outgrown Knowville in population and in entertainment worth watching this year.
txsvol#372416 writes:
You are undoubtedly right, as the Central Purple Pounders were the class/winningest team of the '50s and '60s. I remember taking a bus ride to Scottsboro to watch them play (and beat) Pat Trammell and the Scottsboro Wildcats in 1957 or 1958. But, I think that Red may have coached at Baylor for some time following his retirement from the Hamilton County School system. Hey, although my official residence until 1980, when I got out of the military, I really haven't lived in Chattanooga for 40+ years. SAVol
FlaVol2 writes:
Yes, I left Chattanooga when I graduated from UC in 1961, now UTC. I attended graduate school at UT Knoxville, in 1968. I remember the incident very well and felt sorry for UT. Chattanooga had a team full of men, and Tennessee had a team of new recruits. I have not lived in Chattanooga since 1961. I have been down here in Florida the whole time, except the graduate school time. Thanks for remembering. I hope the Vols can get a good coach soon to replace Fulmer. Go Vols!
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