Jennings has promoted Lady Vols for more than 30 years

Debby Jennings came to the University of Tennessee to attend law school.

She took a right turn into journalism and latched on to a pretty good story: the fledgling Lady Vols athletics program.

“The women’s athletic department was one year old, it was like a colt finding its legs,’’ said Jennings, who became the Lady Vols director of media relations in 1977. “I got in on the ground floor of the whole thing, the whole concept of women’s athletics.”

Thirty-two years later, Jennings’ department has received nearly 400 national publication awards and groomed more than 72 graduate students for a place in either the sports information profession or public relations.

Jennings has won numerous professional awards and has been picked by the U.S. Olympic Committee to help coordinate media relations at several international events, including the 1984 and 1996 Olympic Games.

Jennings, who was promoted in 1998 to associate athletics director for media relations at UT, will be inducted in the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame on July 9 in a ceremony at the Knoxville Convention Center.

“She is as invested as any staff member I’ve ever had,’’ Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt said. “She just has a wealth of knowledge about this program. I think she’s the best at her position in the business.”

To appreciate the scope of the past three-plus decades, consider the announcement of the NCAA women’s tournament bracket. Today, it’s a media event. Back then, it was an extended series of phone calls between sports information directors, trying to piece together what amounted to a mystery.

“There was no such thing as marketing then,’’ Jennings said. “We were marketing and public relations and media relations. We did everything we could to sell our product.

“Our thought back then was if we got you to come to one event, we’d get you hooked.”

A similar thought process has gone into the Lady Vols media guides, which are built around distinctive themes. The thinking has been to provide a quality product for the media but also create something eye-catching for a potential future Lady Vol.

“We wanted a recruit to see something different,’’ she said, “Whether it was a serious message or a funny message or a whimsical message or an attention-getter, we wanted them to remember something about Tennessee.”

The media guide covers, particularly for basketball, have been memorable, incorporating everything from actual circus animals to pirate costumes.

Modern graphics have assisted the undertaking, but not at the exclusion of old-fashioned resourcefulness.

With the aid of harnesses and a rock wall, the 1996-97 basketball cover depicted the players climbing the national championship trophy. A step ladder also was required for All-American Chamique Holdsclaw, who’s scared of heights.

“She was so scared that she was sick to her stomach,’’ Jennings said.

Summitt has been a circus ringmaster, a big-game hunter and a pirate — to name a few of her roles.

“I tease her at times,” Summitt said. “I go ‘What were you thinking? What were you drinking? How did you arrive at this?’ She’s got such a creative mind.”

Said Jennings: “Sports are fun. Everyone has always said it’s the toy box of life and it is. It’s something where you can express yourself. You’ve got to make it fun. That’s what we’ve tried to do.”

Dan Fleser may be reached at 865-342-6288.