Talk about a gauntlet.
Whoever worked up the 1962 football schedule didn’t do Tennessee coach Bowden Wyatt any favors. Not in the least.
The schedule featured three consecutive road games to start the season: Auburn at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala.; on Sept. 29, Mississippi State at Crump Stadium in Memphis; and Georgia Tech at Grant Field in Atlanta.
The fourth game, the home opener, was on Oct. 20 against the defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide.
There were five more home games after Alabama, before the season finale at Vanderbilt.
Wyatt, who was captain of 1938 team that went 11-0, one of the legends of Tennessee football, and possessed movie star good looks, was on the proverbial “hot seat” anyway, given that the four-year record since 1958 was a mere 21-16-3, with no bowl game since 1957.
There was great controversy in the community about Wyatt’s single-minded reliance on the single-wing, when nearly everybody else was in some version of the “T” formation.
Recruiting to the single-wing was a problem. For example, Steve Sloan of Cleveland and Steve Spurrier of Johnson City, Tennessee prep stars of that era who played quarterback, would end up at Alabama and Florida, respectively. Ray Mears tried to intercede on Spurrier’s behalf, but Wyatt rebuffed him.
Alabama was “back,” a year removed from a national championship under Bear Bryant. John Howard Vaught at Ole Miss had the Rebel program in high gear. Ralph “Shug” Jordan likewise had it going at Auburn.
However you look at it, this was not the way to start this or any other season. Only twice before, in 1892 and more recently in 1958, had the Vols played three consecutive games on the road to kick off a season. There wasn’t a “directional school” in sight.
The Vols lost a couple of close ones, 22-21 to Auburn and 7-6 against Mississippi State, to begin the year. Former Vols Ken Donahue and John Majors were on the State staff, and their charges implemented the game plan to a “T,” if that’s the proper word.
(Ole Miss and Mississippi State played their “home games” against the Vols in the Bluff City in those days. Tennessee and Auburn also played Auburn’s “home game” in Birmingham in those years.)
Under the leadership of head coach and former Vol Bobby Dodd, Georgia Tech added to the misery with a 17-0 win.
Along the way, there also were injuries to such key performers as Jack Kile, J. W. Carter, L.T. Helton, Bert Ackermann, and George Shuford that helped complicate matters.
The home opener marked the day the new west upper deck and press box were opened and the stadium renamed in Gen. Neyland’s honor and memory. More than $10,000 was raised for the Neyland Scholarship Fund, an academic scholarship for non-athletes that was the General’s dream.
Neyland, a dominant figure in intercollegiate athletics from the 1920s on, had died in New Orleans on March 28, 1962, a month past his 70th birthday. The field inside the stadium retained the names of benefactors Col. William A. Shields and his wife, Alice Watkins Shields.
Bryant had never won in Knoxville, but Alabama broke that troublesome little streak, as the Tide intercepted four passes and Joe Namath completed 9 of 13 passes for 148 yards.
Once Bryant got the first triumph in Knoxville, though, his teams won again in 1964, 1966, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, and 1980.
The Vols won four of the next six games against the likes of Chattanooga, Wake Forest, Tulane, and Vanderbilt, while losing to Ole Miss and Kentucky.
The demise of the Wyatt years, which had started off so well in 1955-57, was a mystery to all who knew him.
“His inability to remain at the heights he had attained in his earlier coaching career,” Russ Bebb wrote, “continues to this day as a source of mystery and sadness to his many admirers.”
He was never again a head coach after leaving Tennessee, but, with Bryant’s help, became an assistant at Oklahoma State for two years.
His June 1963 departure from Tennessee is regarded as the passing of the torch from the Neyland Era to future generations.
One sportswriter suggested that a little part of Wyatt might have died when Neyland passed away.
“It is likely that they buried the coaching spirits of Neyland and Wyatt in the single grave at Knoxville’s National Cemetery,” wrote the Knoxville Journal’s Ed Harris.
Wyatt’s playing career earned him College Football Hall of Fame honors in 1972, followed by his induction as a head coach in 1997. He won conference titles at Wyoming, Arkansas, and Tennessee, ending up 99-56-5 overall.
Wyatt died Jan. 21, 1969, at age 51.
Marvin West put the impact of the Wyatt years into proper perspective
“His passing stirred deep discussions of what might have been.”
Tom Mattingly is a freelance contributor.
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Comments » 35
VolMoment writes:
i don't think there was a mystery. I was there there. It was his and his wife's alcohol addiction.
I was in his house and saw first hand on Sat. night after a Tennessee game. It was sad, but history is history. I admired Bowden until I realized what his drinking was doing to UT football and the alumni. Yes I wonder what might have been if he had quit drinking that got worse after Neyland died. Unfortuantely this article implies that it was his refusal to go to the T formation.
johnt1078#400044 writes:
VolMoment is correct. It is no mystery. I graduated in December 1962. Bowden Wyatt was a good coach when he came to Tennessee. He got in with the wrong crowd in Knoxville and the gambling and alcohol ruined his career. The writer of this article should have known better.
volbike writes:
The writer of the article does know better. The same affliction affected two other prominent UT coaches but Mattingly is form the era where the purpose of UT sports reporting at the News-Cynical was to whitewash the bad and use the good to sell newspapers.
pingkr62 writes:
Who were the other two?
arkyvol writes:
i think i know one. who's the other one?
tovolny writes:
I think all of us old guys know who the two were. It was two spots on two different very fine pieces of crystal. One large piece and one a little smaller. The spots have been cleaned...so why don't we move on. Mattingly should never have alluded to this, anyway. Let's pretend he didn't.
rockytopatl writes:
Thanks to the posters for adding neded perspective. Too bad we didn't get it from the writer.
eVOLved writes:
Please note that the Vol Historian did not say anyone had an alcohol problem, the first commenter did. I don't buy the tabloid account anyway because I think it was more likely the offense.
rockytopatl writes:
Did you ever consider that the alcohol might have blinded the coach to the need to change the offense?
pingkr62 writes:
I think Neyland, more than Wyatt, had a lot to do with the offense continually running the single wing when every other school in the country scrapped it. This is a big reason Spurrier and Sloan left.
shoelessvol#236864 writes:
The single wing was the reason for the most part of the failures of Coach Wyatt. Because of this offense the recruiting of top talent, (Spurrier and Sloan), was almost impossible. History would have been much different had the offense gone to the T formation. Ironically, several years later, the wishbone became the "new" offense of many programs, (Alabama included). Funny thing is that the wishbone is simply a variation of the single wing!
kthoma14 writes:
What was the cause of his early death? Heart attack?
cgbtn writes:
Anyone who thinks the offense was the problem thinks of offense differently than did Neyland and Wyatt. Offense was something done to kill time between playing defense and quick-kicking the ball to the other team. If the games against Maryville College, Tennessee Tech, and Chattanooga are not considered, 10 points was a high score for Neyland. The main objectives for the offense were no fumbles and no interceptions. The single-wing met those objectives well.
The loss which may have hurt Wyatt most was the loss to Chattanooga and the ensuing riot when their fans tore down our goal posts. He was also seriously damaged by the much-publicized incident in which he got drunk at a coaches convention and threw another coach into the swimming pool.
I think perhaps the historian thinks all of us who would remember Wyatt have died of old age.
jpark001 writes:
I agree with VolMoment and others here, what's really interesting about this puff piece profile of Wyatt's downfall is how the historian, and the old sportswriters he quotes, all play dumb as to the actual events that transpired to bring the Wyatt era down in the spring of `63. Events such as Wyatt, tipsy or worse, throwing sportswriter Alf Van Hoose in a Mississippi swimming pool during the spring `63 Skywriters tour, wallet in all, and being relieved of his coaching position soon thereafter and how the coach was then checked in to a Virginia facility and that if this Mississippi event had not happened he would have still been the head coach again in 1963 further prolonging UT’s football slide downward??? Events each of the quoted sports writers wrote about at the time (I’m sitting here with spring `63 newspapers covering the subject…) and probably discussed privately with the historian many times, but it’s better to sugarcoat Wyatt’s problems and blame Neyland’s 1962 scheduling and an outdated offensive scheme than tell the readers the actual back story of what was really going on then.
A missed opportunity to write something of historical substance for sure!
cgbtn writes:
Your account of the pool incident is the correct one -- I was relying on a poor memory.
I think where the historian erred was in writing about a mystery which was a mystery to no one.
orangeinbama writes:
Kudos to the posters above. The ugly truths, but said with due and proper respect. Good read. Thanks guys.
flatrock writes:
Hard to believe that an incident during a Sky-Writers Tour was ever taken seriously...The Tour was a flying, alcohol-fest. Most of the articles were written BEFORE the tour because the scribes realized they would be in no shape to string together a sentence, much less a paragraph or story!
flatrock writes:
Would believe that today's spread (the Auburn variety) would be closer to the single-wing than the option-bases wishbone.
eVOLved writes:
That is interesting, rocky, but you never know with these things. It could be a chicken/egg situation, because what if the failures of the outdated offense drove the good ole' boy to the bottle?
That swimming pool incident sounds crazy: definitely an incident where a personal problem gets in the way of business.
Ichabod writes:
Lets lay it out here. 'Vol Historian' was one of the first 'non reporters' that get paid a six pack for each story they submit. No dofferent than community papers throughout Knoxville. Fact is that this guy is a smooozer, and gets paid his stipend to tell all tales from the orange side. That is great as an editorial, but the KNS makes it as news, does no fact check, and lets the script stand as news worthy. EVERYONE associated with UT football knows the Wyatt story, and for this 'Historian' to come in with a lame and sugar coated story that belies what HE KNOWS, is disingenuoius.
Historian, ....please respond to this and the other comments casting doubt on your geuine ability to state and report the REAL history.... You belittle your other good works when you dither into sugar coating real 'history'
AncientVolFan writes:
Oddly, I watched Tim Tebow at Florida and it brought back memories of the single wing, if more highly developed.
Chief focus of single wing was a player who could throw or run. Also a blocking back which in the spread offense relates to the fullback position.
The more things change the more they...
bbmon13#478091 writes:
Say what?
Good lord, is this 'journalist' the only person associated with Tennessee football who doesn't know the Wyatt story? JPARK001 and others in this comments section are right on the money.
What's pitiful is that what happened to Wyatt is such common knowledge among Tennessee fans that bother to inquire - and this 'historian' is Captain Clueless.
What he's doing is - he's going to the archives at the News-Sentinel and re-reading the articles that were printed in the time period that he writes about - includes a couple of things here and there, and calls it a 'historical piece'. Heck, anybody can go to their local library and read old newspapers - and back in those days, things like what went on with Wyatt was not reported...thus, the 'duhness' of this article.
This isn't the first time this guy has posted such a lame story. I've emailed him a few times about it in the past - facts just plain wrong, people wrong, events wrong - this is really a disservice to younger Vol fans who lack the historical knowledge of UT football.
Further, with today's media - players and coaching scandals exposed moments after they occur - it would be interesting if a reporter....a REAL reporter....would go back and do some real fact gathering about Wyatt and bring it back for us to read.
Mr Historian - give us a break man, if you ain't gonna give us history, try printing this season's schedule or best places to park on game day or something....
tquillen#249140 writes:
Revisionist propaganda. Might as well be on utsports.com.
wofford writes:
Coach Wyatt had both good and bad traits....like all people.He quit playing golf because it took his mind off football.He admired and emulated General Neyland.He never grasped the concept that friends come and go but enemies stay with you forever.He was in charge...he wasn't a "suck up". It cost him his job.The single wing offence was something where a malcontent would focus.It was/is very difficult to defend.Politics has always been part of coaching and Coach Wyatt would not play.
Chartervol writes:
When I was living in Carrick Hall at the end of the Bill Battle era, we'd lost some sorry game to someone, and I remember an old grad shaking his head and saying, "It hasn't been this bad up here since Bowden Wyatt drank himself to death."
Come on Mattingly, if a UT sophomore could stand to hear the truth 35 years ago, it looks like you could own up to it now.
Theo writes:
Really interesting posts. Thanks to the long time Vols For Life for filling in the blanks.
cdldoc#211897 writes:
This is the best thread I have read on this site. Just the truth plain and simple.
cgbtn writes:
You're right, it looks the same. The difference is that Tennessee's great tailbacks weighed between 145 and 160 lbs. Tim Tebow and Cam Newton are 2,000 lb gorillas.
jpark001 writes:
The "story" to write about during this period in UT football history wasn't Wyatt being dismissed and for what reasons; it was inevitable he was going given the program side and especially post the General’s passing. It was just a matter of how and when!
The interesting back story to write about UT football `60-65 I would think would be the events and maneuvers that transpired during the next fall of 1963 that put interim Coach MacDonald out, interim AD Woodruff in as permanent AD who then subsequently hired “his guy” Coach Dickey (for six seasons until he could walk out on a returning Top Five/potential NC 1970 squad for his beloved Florida…) so that he (Woodruff) could then insert a 28 year old never been a head coach before as head coach of a Top Five returning team which then lead to the program being turned over again six seasons later (1976) in such bad shape it then took Coach Majors another dozen seasons (1989-90) to recreate some year to year consistency in the program.
Now that’s a story worth writing about; its just too bad Brezzy Winn would not be around to offer the “other side” of the fall `63 story account.
AncientVolFan writes:
I'm really feeling my age. I remember when I went to Tom Siler's News-Sentinal sports column for football news to escape the real world for a few moments. Today the thing of import is not what happens on the field but gossip a la the World News in England.
I accept the fact that the most slimey, no morals, most invasive of personal privacy news rag in the world was also the most popular. Just the way it is. Thanks, Mattingly for a brief escape to yesteryear.
coachgarvol#443548 writes:
I am proudly a ut alum and a relative of bowden wyatt. i did not see th folowup writings to the article until i spoke to phil owens who is a lawyer in newport. he said that my retort was exactly what was said in the commentary. in fact, i will go to my email and copy and paste it. no he was not perfect. mr mattingly did not say he was. he loved tennessee football and i went irate when a member of the team who played at a-e and played basketball against me at vine told me how kiffin had swept the ut traditions under the back mat when he moved in. for the life of me i can not see how stalwarts of the ut program namely majors could walk into the football complex to see how he had demised our program. it is true that bowden did allow the team to decline during the years he had ended his program. so did a guy named fulmer. how many local players got away from phillip in those last years. i am not an advocate that we have to recruit solely from tennessee. where you have more people you are naturally going to have more athletes. a qb from alcoa and a offensive lineman from carter are prime examples of the lack of fulmers recruiting.
i chuckle every time i see the "blind side" as coaches were shaking when they saw fulmer. they have been shaking at lsu and florida but not at tennessee in the end of the fulmer years.
i will send my email in a few minutes.
Coach Mike WYATT
Boys Basketball
Carter Middle School
coachgarvol#443548 writes:
i can tell you in two words
whiskey bottle
it is well documented that spurrier would not play for tennessee who was running an outdated offense and that uncle was a drinker. the bear was changing his offense as well. he went to a passing game that eventually ended up in a wishbone.
spurriers dad was a "preacher" and did not appreciate the whiskey cabinet that was in uncles office.
sloan had some baptist ties too?
spurrier not only revolutionized offense in the nation as a player but as a coach
donahueand majors were not tea drinkers in their days as well... alot of people speculate that is why fulmer took over for majors when he did because majors was drying out. fulmer beat florida that year and then majors came back to lose to south carolina.
does the writer say the word whiskey in his article? he was being nice.
coachgarvol#443548 writes:
mr mattingly,
again he was kin to me, how can you call this a mystery?
coach wyatt
snoopbob87 writes:
Thanks to all who brought back the memory of UT football in the late fifties and sixties.
Vol football has always been under tremendous pressure from fans and media.
I remember a group who were called "The Gay Street Critics". Back in the sixties Gay Street was still relevant.
Somehow the passage of time softens the bad memories and enchases the good memories.
I never knew him but coach was a good man who got caught up by a disease.
Thanks Tom for stirring up the cobwebs of the mind.
majorsistheman writes:
mattingly does sugar-coat his articles but i disagree with the conclusion that bowden would have done better as a teetotaler. bourbon's connection with football coaches was the standard long before bowden, and long after. during the late 60s, abc made the mistake of interviewing bryant during halftime of its game of the week, a few hours after an alabama game; he could do no more than unintelligible slurs. the difference between bryant and bowden: bear got snockered after the game. bowden's demise was his inability to recruit, whether belting, the single wing or the-game-had-passed-him-by had anything to do with his record, none can say.
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