This year celebrates the centennial season of men's basketball at Tennessee. The News Sentinel continues its series looking into the players, teams and events that have molded an exciting history.
As far as LSU is concerned, it was the day time stood still. From Tennessee’s standpoint, it was a thrilling road victory.
The date was Feb. 20, 1982, a Saturday afternoon. The place was LSU’s Assembly Center in Baton Rouge. The stakes were, in UT’s case, an SEC championship campaign.
The Vols won 54-53 on Dan Federmann’s last-second tip-in. But it wasn’t nearly that simple.
UT recovered from a 17-2 deficit to go ahead in the final minute. The real, however, drama didn’t start until Leonard Mitchell scored to put LSU back on top, 53-52, with 10 seconds left.
UT coach Don DeVoe immediately called timeout. He didn’t like the fact that the clock continued down to :08 before it was stopped, but he didn’t make a big deal out of it.
The Vols put the ball inbounds under the LSU basket and as Michael Brooks dribbled upcourt, LSU coach Dale Brown noticed the clock didn’t restart.
Brown jumped out and grabbed official Ormond Brown by the arm and whirled him around, DeVoe recalls.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes,’’ UT guard Tyrone Beaman said later. “I saw Coach Brown come running and couldn’t imagine what was going on.’’
At some point, the clock started. Brooks couldn’t find a shot and passed to Steve Ray, who lofted a shot from around the free-throw line.
It came up short, but Federmann, a 6-foot-10 sophomore, tipped the ball into the basket just ahead of the buzzer.
Tennessee 54, LSU 53.
The Vols danced their way to the locker room as Brown protested vehemently on the court. He demanded the final eight seconds be replayed.
The crowd refused to leave. Brown and other LSU administrators went to the officials’ locker room seeking a replay. DeVoe was summoned briefly.
“When I heard Paul (Galvan, the head official) clap his hands and say, ‘That’s it,’ That was enough for me,’’ said DeVoe.
DeVoe hustled the team onto the bus. He skipped his press conference and post-game radio show, instructing everyone in the travel party, including radio broadcaster John Ward and DeVoe’s family, to board the bus. While the furor raged on in the arena, the Vols were on their way to the Baton Rouge airport.
The close-call win put the Vols at 13-3 in the SEC race, a game ahead of Kentucky.
However, the issue wasn’t over from LSU’s standpoint. The Tigers shipped the game tape and a letter of protest to the SEC office on Monday morning. LSU wanted the final eight seconds to be replayed when the SEC tournament began in Lexington.
On Thursday, the SEC executive committee voted 4-0 to uphold Tennessee’s victory. UT president Ed Boling and Kentucky president Otis Singletary abstained.
The Vols’ dreams of an outright SEC title faded in the final week, though. They lost at home to Georgia — ironically on a late tip-in by Dominique Wilkins — and then again at Auburn on the final day of the season.
In another embarrassment for the SEC office, the Auburn game, scheduled for 2 p.m., was delayed for more than three hours because the officials all thought it was a 7:30 tip-off.
So Tennessee and Kentucky shared the title at 13-5. And LSU never got those eight seconds back.
UT's new $45 million football…
Images from Larry Murphy's book on…
Smokey undergoes physical therapy at UT
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 17
dwa7#337691 writes:
aw man....I hate that................ha ha
DWA7
Down_The_Field writes:
i still remember big dan tipping it in. i always wondered how many career points brooks would have had if the 3 point line existed. he was a shooter!
BobbyGraham writes:
My uncle and aunt (LSU boosters) are still pissed over that game.
jsbrown writes:
Dale Brown was a class act. I would have protested the same thing, just like he did, even though I am a Vol.
CoverOrange writes:
Last I heard of Dan Federman he was in some jail in Cincinnati.
Lasting image I have of Dale Brown was his rushing the court to take a swing at a Tennesse player who put a hard foul on Shaq.
CrankE writes:
Ah Dale Brown. I didn't see/remember this game, but I do remember a game against them in 1991 (I think it was 91). Shaq was playing for LSU, UT was stuck in the Wade Houston era.
Carlus Groves, tired of being walked on simply committed a flagrant foul, grabbing Shaq by the shorts from behind to prevent the slam. They probably do this all the time at the Globetrotters. Shaq took a swing, missed. Shoving ensued. Dale Brown charged onto the court to get physical with Groves. Flagrant technical on Groves, but nothing life threatening. Brown should have been ejected though.
UT was bad and lost of course, but my dad said Houston should have held his team off the floor unless they ejected Brown. "He goes or we go." This episode crystallized both coaches for me.
bigorangeandy writes:
I remember watching that game down at Mr. Gatti's on the strip. Steve Ray with the shot, then Dan's big hand coming up to tip back the rebound, it was great! That was a great rivalry back in the early 1980's.
BigOrangeVol writes:
Don't know what year but here's the story:
Former Elder High basketball star Dan Federman was fired Monday from his management job with the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts.
"He was fired for theft in office," Clerk of Courts Greg Hartmann said. "This guy really abused a trust we gave him."
The 6-foot-10 Federman, a 1980 Elder grad who played at the University of Tennessee, worked for the clerk's office since 1989 and had a salary of $50,291 per year.
Federman was the head cashier for the clerk's municipal division. That means, Hartmann said, Federman supervised all the clerk's cashiers who collected money from parking tickets and other infractions.
An internal audit revealed problems late last week. Hartmann, an assistant Hamilton County prosecutor before he was appointed Clerk last year, called in the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office to investigate.
"We believe the amount stolen to be over the felony level (of $1,000)," Hartmann said. "There is an ongoing investigation."
Federman rose to an auditor position before being transferred to supervisor of cashiers in the municipal division.
After college, Federman was a fifth-round draft pick of the Philadelphia 76ers but never made their roster. He then played overseas in Israel and Puerto Rico.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Sad.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
At the time, I was in the Army at Ft. Monmouth, NJ, so no TV, radio, or internet news of the game for me, just the score in a local paper the next day. No kidding about Brooks! We surely could use him on this year's team!
johnlg00#206211 writes:
BTW, I LOVE this series about UT bball history! We may not have such a long and glorious record as some of the great programs, but Vol fans have much to remember and celebrate. Nothing like being a long-term fan or having regular exposure to written history to give some perspective to the struggles of this year's team!
Basketball_Jones writes:
anytime we beat LSU in anything, its a good day....they're all a bunch of bafoons.....BTW Dale Brown grabbed Groves leg, kina like Van Gundy of the Knicks
kyvol98 writes:
Class act?
I remember him taking a swing at Carlos Groves, kind of Woody Hays-esque.
I wish they had let Groves go so he could dismantle him.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
It wasn't as if Groves had SLUGGED Shaq or undercut him or did anything else to intentionally injure him, he merely grabbed him to prevent a sure score, just like NBA players do several times a game. Brown seemed WAY more perturbed about it than Shaq was.
Volunatic writes:
John Adams is still trying to figure out how to blame that on Fulmer.
GreeneVol writes:
Typical LSU tyrants - thinking they can grab refs without technicals (I guess he did, huh..), replay ends of games...
Great move by DeVoe to sneak away from that kooky collection of vigilantes!
chuckfromwoodbury writes:
I f don't, I will.
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.