Friday, January 11, 2013

THE TRADITION CONTINUES Smokey III


                 THE TRADITION CONTINUES 
                                      Smokey III

Knoxville, TN  (HOUSEOFNEYLAND) SMOKEY III, a.k.a. "PR Brooks Blue Smokey III" continued the Volunteer mascot tradition beginning on June 18, 1964.

Serving until 1977, his would be, according to Tom Mattingly & Earl C. Hudson, "the longest tenure of any (UT) dog."

Running & howling under football coaches Doug Dickey, Bill Battle & Johnny Majors, SMOKEY III could boast of a record of 109 wins, 44 losses & 6 ties.

I might add that SMOKEY III was our mascot during my years at the University of Tennessee as a student, 1966-1970 undergraduate, 1970-1974 graduate.

There is a photo in "Smokey: The True Stories behind the University of Tennessee's Beloved Mascot" of SMOKEY III with UT majorette Becky Nanney.*

*Becky was a fellow classmate of mine at Young High School. (see page 91).

Mattingly & Hudson write about SMOKEY III's encounter with Alabama's legendary coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant & his QB Scott Hunter.

It was the 3rd Saturday of October in 1968 when ABC-TV was at Neyland Stadium to telecast the game to a national audience.

During warmups, SMOKEY III's handler, a UT cheerleader, let him "come over close" to the Bama players & bark.

Scott Hunter took offense to this & "took a kick at that old hound."

Coach Bryant then walked up to Mr. Hunter & said:

"Scott, we've got enough trouble up here without you trying to kick their dog."

By the way, TENNESSEE won the game 10-9.

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, Knoxville, 2012.



                          Photo by John White

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