Mattingly: Fans' memory banks always open

Football fans, particularly those in the South, seem to make critical, life-changing decisions about team allegiances in their most tender years and live with the impact of those decisions throughout the rest of their lives. Fans of college sports rarely change their allegiance except under the direst of circumstances.

David Housel's experience is classic.

Housel, former sports information director and athletic director at Auburn, attended his first Alabama-Auburn game in 1956 (Auburn 34, Alabama 7). After attending the game, Housel, then 10 years old, wrote letters to both schools, asking for information about their teams.

Legend says that Auburn sent him a football guide, along with a note thanking him for being an Auburn fan. Alabama sent him a media guide and a bill for two dollars. As a result, Alabama got its two bucks.

Auburn got his heart.

Clay Travis, author of "On Rocky Top: A Front Row Seat to the End of an Era," remembered what it was like when he was six years old as his family prepared to watch the 1986 Sugar Bowl game against Miami.

"As the seconds ticked down to kickoff," Clay wrote, "the University of Tennessee's 'Pride of the Southland Marching Band,' wearing fluorescent orange, formed the T and the UT players rushed out from the tunnel into the bright lights. For the first time in my life, I felt butterflies in my stomach."

Tennessee fans know, deep down in their hearts, that they wouldn't want to be anything but Vol fans. Fans of other schools may also feel that way, but they can tell their story themselves.

Why is that true? Why is it at the University of Tennessee, even in this era of instant gratification, the "What have you done for me lately?" society we live in, fans show such continuing loyalty to an institution of higher learning?

The passing years are but a prologue to the coming season. There is something comforting in knowing another season is at hand. Marvin West and many others have carefully chronicled the history over the years, and nothing has happened to change his or anybody else's mind.

Fans remember carefully what has transpired, harking to the drama and excitement that are part of Vol football. There are stories, stories, and more stories, some embellished over the years and some not having to be.

"Tennessee football is long-winded discussions about which group was greatest and who was the best player of all-time," West once wrote. "Was it Gene McEver or Bob Foxx or Bert Rechichar or Condredge Holloway or Carl Pickens? Bob Suffridge thought it might have been Bob Suffridge. Peyton Manning would have never been so presumptive."

There are memories by the bushel, memories of a passel of influential people who wore orange and white on Saturday afternoons and evenings. It doesn't take much to get the memory banks cranked up, the discussions started.

Someone says, "That reminds me of the time," and things are off and running. Everyone has a favorite Tennessee memory. Most of them are true. Here are some of the best.

In the 1964 season, Steve DeLong dominated the defensive front, winning the Outland Trophy while playing for a 4-5-1 team.

Dewey "Swamp Rat" Warren "hummed that tater" and somehow found his way to the winning score in the 1965 UCLA game. Frank Emanuel roamed from sideline to sideline, earning All-America honors that season.

There were an amazing three years of Alabama-Tennessee games, 1965-1967, when the tally was 1-1-1, yet either team could have won them all.

Gary Wright deserves another shot at a game-winning field goal at the south end of Shields-Watkins Field in the rain against Alabama in October 1966. How does Tennessee 13, Alabama 11, sound in retrospect, instead of Alabama 11, Tennessee 10?

Bubba Wyche led the final drive against the odds against Georgia in 1968, completing a touchdown pass and a two-point conversion after time had run out.

Then there was Condredge Holloway (1972-74), continually making something out of nothing, evading tacklers time after time.

We might wish for Bill Dyer to draw one more DyerGram. We might also want to take one more look at the scoreboard clock at the north end that was really a clock, with minute and second hands.

When it comes to loyalty and service to their fellow teammates, it would be great if more people knew what Elliott Gammage and the late Rod Harkleroad did for DeLong when he was in his hour of greatest need.

Gammage has been an inspiration to more people than he'll ever know. The same can be said about Harkleroad.

The game against Western Kentucky, and those to follow, will give fans the opportunity to share more orange-tinted memories.

These are memories that enrich the fan experience and add excitement to our lives.

Tom Mattingly is the author of "The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006" (2006), now available in second edition at fine bookstores everywhere, and "Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years" (1998). Send comments to tjmshm@comcast.net. His News Sentinel blog is called The Vol Historian.