Thursday, January 10, 2013

SMOKEY II DIES IN LEXINGTON


           SMOKEY II DIES IN LEXINGTON
                  Death Caused by Acute Indigestion

Lexington, Kentucky  (HOUSEOFNEYLAND) SMOKEY II, the mascot of the Tennessee Volunteers, died on Sunday, November 25, 1963, in Lexington following the UT-UK game played at Stoll Field* on Saturday afternoon.

SMOKEY II, officially known as "PR Brooks Blue Smokey II," had been UT's mascot since 1955.

The death of SMOKEY II came on the same weekend following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

According to a report by AP, SMOKEY II died of "acute indigestion," but  Tom Mattingly & Earl Hudson writes, "someone...fed (Smokey) a chocolate pie after the game....one of the worst things anybody could feed a dog."

With one more game with Vandy left on the 1963 schedule, the VOLS secured a replacement SMOKEY from Bob Woodruff, UT's interim AD.

*Stoll Field, named after UK alumnus & Board of Trustees member, Judge Richard C. Stoll, served as UK's football field from 1916 to 1972.  It was the site of the 1st college football game ever played in the South.

SOURCE

"Smokey: The True Stories behind the University of Tennessee's Beloved Mascot," by Thomas J. Mattingly & Earl C. Hudson, The University of Tennessee Press,  2012.






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