Harris' 48-year UT home streak to end

For the first time in 48 years, a familiar face - and voice - will be absent from the University of Tennessee press box Saturday night.

Haywood Harris will be sitting out UT's 7 p.m. game against Mississippi State on the advice of doctors.

The 79-year-old former sports information director and member of the UT Athletic Department support staff experienced some health issues the Friday prior UT's road game at Georgia last week and has been warned to take it easy this week.

"He's not enamored with the idea," UT sports information director Bud Ford said. "He had two incidents last Friday where he had to go to the hospital and that has kind of put him on the shelf.

"He's fine now and everything is coming back, but the concern is he was keeping such a busy schedule that now we have him under house arrest. He wanted to come to the game, but I told him we had already hired David Grim for this week."

Harris is taking the doctor's advice, but he has already made it clear to everyone involved he'll be back in his familiar seat for UT's home game against Alabama next week.

"He already called David Grim and told him he would be back next week," Ford said. "He told Grim he would be out of a job."

This will be the first UT home game Harris has missed since 1960, the year before he became the final hire made in the career of Gen. Robert Neyland in 1961. That's when Harris took over sports information director duties, replacing friend, mentor and 'Locker Room' radio co-host Gus Manning.

"He is resting at home," Manning said of Harris on an Internet chat at UTsports.com on Friday. "It's the first time he has missed a home game since 1960. He's getting a little restless."

The only thing Harris was allowed to do this week was the "Locker Room" radio show with Manning - the longest continuously running radio show in the nation - which airs today prior to the Vol Network's coverage.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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