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Dewey Warren, former UT quarterback, holds his 1966 Gator Bowl MVP trophy in front of Neyland Stadium Friday. Warren is being inducted into the KNoxville Sports Hall of Fame next month.
About a year ago, I went to Chattanooga to meet posters on one of the “chat boards” so prevalent on the Internet. It was a chance to see the faces behind the names of those guys who freely proffer their opinions on any number of subjects, mostly the ebbs and flows of Tennessee football.
When I arrived, there was someone there I didn’t expect, but someone I was glad to see. He had already commandeered the podium and showed no signs of letting go.
I had been “upstaged” by the inimitable “Swamp Rat,” Dewey Warren, Vol quarterback from 1965-67, who always talked about “humming that tater” and making things happen on the football field. He hailed from Savannah, Ga., hence the nickname.
He was, as most people know, the kind of guy people instinctively follow, regardless of the destination, and, as the saying goes, was “often in error, but never in doubt.” An hour or so with Dewey was a roller-coaster ride through mid-1960s Vol history. You just asked a question, then hung on and enjoyed the ride.
Somebody asked if he really scored the winning touchdown in the 1965 UCLA game. I had expressed some modest doubts, having recently looked at the film. Dewey answered quickly: “The official raised his hands over his head, didn’t he?”
It was fourth-and goal at the UCLA 1, maybe the longest yard in Tennessee football history.
Dewey told of having two pulled groin muscles and ace receiver Johnny Mills being out of the game. When he found no receivers open, he beat a not-so-hasty path to the northwest corner of Memphis Memorial Stadium, the new stadium in the Bluff City at that time. It took him forever to get there, but he eventually did, barely, and the history books record that Tennessee won, 37-34.
“The play opened up like the Red Sea,” Bob Johnson told Marvin West in “Legends of the Tennessee Vols,” one of the truly good books on Vol football, “but I thought Dewey would never get there.”
Dewey also told of drawing up plays in the huddle that weren’t in the playbook and having to explain to Doug Dickey why he did so. He was more eloquent when the plays worked than when they didn’t. Dickey’s exact response is unknown, but all of us have our opinions about what it was.
“Dewey was a T-formation quarterback nobody else wanted,” Dickey said. “I don’t think anybody ever expected him to play.”
Dewey was adamant in insisting that two of the most historic missed field goals, one in 1966 against Alabama and the other in the January 1968 Orange Bowl game against Oklahoma, were both good.
“We had driven all the way down the field against Alabama and were on the 4-yard line,” he recalled, speaking as the quarterback on the drive and as the holder on Gary Wright’s fateful kick.
“I was going to run the ball to the middle of the field and call timeout, so we could have a straight-on kick, but someone called timeout.
“We should never have been in that position. What do you do? It was a tough angle. A lot of people thought the kick was good. I thought it was good.”
The kick against Alabama was close. The one against the Sooners wasn’t. In neither case did the official raise his hands over his head. The passage of time hasn’t softened Dewey’s opinion in the least. He’s sticking adamantly to his view of history.
He told a marvelous story about forgetting his helmet his first chance against Mississippi in 1965, right after Charley Fulton was injured. There he was, standing sans helmet in the huddle, with teammates snickering and blue-shirted Rebels ready to get after him. That cost the Vols a time out.
Dewey Warren is not far removed from the signal-caller who led the Vols to glory in his day. He’s a little bigger, perhaps, but still has the swagger.
The “experts” of his day wondered whether he could play.
“I really didn’t look like a quarterback,” Dewey told West. “I couldn’t do a lot of the stuff quarterbacks are supposed to do. But I knew my limitations. I knew what to do to help us win.”
He spent his 1963 freshman season at linebacker, playing in a not-so-memorable 70-0 loss to Kentucky’s rookies, then being redshirted a year later.
He was one of 26 legends whose careers West chronicled. Dewey was No. 20 on the list, right there on the printed page between Bowden Wyatt and Frank Emanuel, each an All-America selection. Whoever told Dewey, “If you stay, you’ll play” knew what he was talking about. Dewey stayed and played.
When Dewey finally got his chance, it was like a wolf getting its first taste of sheep.
Even if he did forget his helmet.
Tom Mattingly is the author of “The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006” (2006), to be published in second edition in 2009, and “Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years” (1998). He may be reached at tjmshm@comcast.net. His News Sentinel blog is called “The Vol Historian.”
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Comments » 27
TommyJack writes:
Always good stuff from Mattingly.
Kiffin_fan writes:
I remember stories about Warren from my dad, he must have been a man's man. Great article Mattingly....
DRAGtheWATERS writes:
nice stories about a legend i miss hearing the rat on the radio
gohawks1 writes:
Enjoyable read.
crimsonviper writes:
My dad was a Vol fan.I also remember him talking about Warren.Good article and brings back good memories.
DadwasaVol writes:
I saw Gary Wright miss that field goal against Alabama. Tennessee led 10-0 after the first qtr of that game. And I watched Kark Kremser's missed field goal on TV against Oklahoma after Tennessee's great comeback. USC's Marcus Allen beat Dewey but in another gallant effort. And the 37-34 win over UCLA was one of the most exciting Tennessee games ever.
ZR writes:
Wasn't Marcus Allen about 8 years old back then?
Sovol writes:
My brother was at the Bama game right behind the goal post. He said no doubt the kick was good. But like someone said Bama gets all the breaks. Maybe thats why its so hard for them to obey the rules.
mattingly writes:
Pennington and I went to different schools. Will be glad to meet with anybody, here or otherwise. Shoot me an e-mail.
Thanks.
theoldbear writes:
My dad and I were afraid to watch the replay of the Rosebonnet Bowl (at the UT-UCLA game was billed) on Sunday afternoon, for fear we'd lose it!
I was sitting in the student section, and had a bad angle, but Gary Wright's field goal looked good to me, too.
I was a student at UT when Dewey was there, and later saw him play with the Bengals (where he and Bob Johnson started as rookies.) Dewey couldn't play under Paul Brown, who called every play from the bench.
By the way, Dewey got pretty big during his red-shirt year. At one point, they had him pencilled into the line-up as a defensive tackle! I think that got his attention!
Thanks for bringing back a lot of great memories!
Seriouslyorange writes:
All true vols are, or should be , proud of the Swamp Rat.
He is one of those red blooded Georgians whose blood turned Orange and never turned back! He is a Tennessee treasure who ought to be enjoyed over and over with every wild , wooly, funny story he can remember. It's the stuff that keeps us going when things ain't so pretty around here.
I relate really well with this as my blood turned from the same shade of red in 1961 while listening to John Ward on the radio say in 'that voice'.....GIVE HIM SIX!!! And it hasn't and won't change ever..GO VOLS.
arkyvol writes:
boy! do i remember! i was living in neyland at the time (5th floor, south stadium hall). the next year--vietnam.
InertGas writes:
From time to time the Rat is a guest on the Chattanooga sports talk radio show. It's always a good show when he's on. He should be a guest on other shows around the state.
I was at the '66 Bama game...and yes Dewey the kick was goooood....oops I'm showing my age.
old_number1 writes:
No research here, but are you possibly thinking O.J. simpson? I didn't think we played him though.
DadwasaVol writes:
The older I get the less I remember.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
As an old dude myself, I hate to "correct" someone else's favorite memories, but John Ward was not the Vol football announcer in 1961. It was George Mooney. Ward may have started doing UT basketball games that early--here, my own memory fails me--but he didn't start doing football until a few years later. I'm sure someone on here can supply the exact year.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
As for the "Swamp Rat", I was a UT undergraduate in his playing days. His confidence, leadership, and passing ability set the standard for all Vol QBs who have followed, and few indeed have had all those things to the same degree Dewey had. Some have thrown a prettier ball, but few got as many to the right place when they HAD to be there as the "Swamp Rat" did.
richvol writes:
Dewey was a terrific leader on the field and the other players just knew he could get the job done whatever the situation. I don't know if I have ever seen a more accurate passer than Warren. He could put the ball in places that when caught you would wonder how in the world it even got in there. Of course he had some great receivers like Johnny Mills and Austin Denny.
From my seat,on about the 40 yard line,that kick against Alabama was clearly good. I remember one official stepping forward and starting to raise his arms to indicate a good kick when another overuled him and waived it off. Even Alabama's sideline couldn't believe it.
The Oklahoma game,in the Orange Bowl,was a heartbreaker. It was a game of two completely different halves as it took UT the entire first half to work the alcohol out of their system. That team was full of hellraisers and had partied pretty hard all week long. The second half Tennessee dominated and should have won but missed that stupid kick at the end. I was entering UT the following fall and was devastated. What a great team that was however.
orangebloodgmc writes:
When as a boy, I first started following the Vols, Warren was our qb. He had not only Mills and Denney for receivers, but speedburner Richmond Flowers as well.
the10sevol writes:
i remember listening to dewey's games on the radio, but the first vol qb i saw live was bobby scott. i was fortunate enough to meet bobby again at a golf tournament in 1975, and he told some great stories, not only about his days as a vol, but the time he spent as archie's backup with the saints. good times...
volbald writes:
O.J. Simpson was the tailback for USC during those mid-60 years. And Karl Kremser missed that 50 yard field goal against Okl. after Bubba Wyche had been quarterbacking the game.
BigOrangeVol writes:
John started calling UT basketball games for the '64-'65 season and didn't do football until '68.
Marcus Allen was the RB for USC in the losess we had against them in '80 & '81 but we didn't play USC in Dewey's years on The Hill ('65-'67).
Simpson was the USC RB in '67 & '68.
In the '67 UCLA game Gary Beban, who won the Heisman Trophy that year, was the stud dual-threat QB for the Bruins.
jpark001 writes:
RE: `66 Bama & `68 Orange Bowl….
I have both game copies on DVD...
The `66 Bama game doesn't show the flight of the ball but Dewey’s excited reaction to the Ref’s no good call is immediate.... The copy also shows the larger issue that day was UT's game management post the Fullbacks run to the 2 yard line and the damaging last timeout called by UT after the third down attempt that didn’t allow them to position the ball in the center of the field...
That said, Tom Siler’s KNS column that Monday Oct.17th, 1966 would seem to provide a definitive statement on that kick from one witness:
"The Word: Vol FG "NO!"
"My mind is now clear on the field goal... I just talked to a man who works the end zone gate... He's been a calm and competent observer on the sporting scene for 40 years... He was standing a few feet back of the goal posts... He told me Gary Wright's kick missed on the right by maybe 6-8 inches... Too bad, a tough way to lose after a great performance, but that's it as far as I'm concerned...
RE: the `68 Orange Bowl...
The NBC copy I have clearly shows Karl Kremser's game ending 44 yard FG attempt from the end zone camera and the FG wasn't close... Wide right by far... Dewey reaction at that time seems to confirm that not good result as well because, unlike the `66 Bama kick reaction, the NBC cameras next show him dejectedly yanking his chin-strap and he and Kremser walk off the field with there head down while OU celebrates...
??????????
Volunatic writes:
Mattingly's articles are a great way to get my Vol FB fix during the doldrums. Keep up the good work!
mattingly writes:
How about Monday noon? You name the place.
Thanks.
mattingly writes:
Why the (cheap and anonymous) shot on someone who isn't even a part of the story?
It's hard for me to give that great deal of credibility.
Not much of this is sticking to the walls.
OwensboroVol writes:
I guess I am showing my age but I was at the UCLA game in Memphis. It was the first season in a long time that the Vols had returned to Glory. We had lost 3 games that year, but after the UCLA game we had beaten just about anybody else that was in one of the big 4 Bowl games that year being the Orange, Cotton, Sugar, and Rose Bowl. I still remember the game, it had gone back and forth all day long. When Dewey scored the last TD you could see Tommy Protho's red face all the way up in the stands. I guess he went to his grave still believing that Warren was stopped short. After the game He was really upset with the officiating and said so to anyone who would listen. I would have told him what my High School Coach told us, that "bad calls are part of the game and will be until officials are no longer human. At the end of the season if you look at all of them 50% will be in your favor and 50% will be against you. Don't ever blame an official for your loss. If you replay the game, you will find that never does one play truly decide a game." As I near my last years I will always remember this game along with a very few others. Dewey Warren play at a level way beyond his ability. He, however, did not reach the goal line on that last play. He did score because the ref said so, but I was sitting right on the line and he scored about 4 inches short of the goal line.
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