The Tennessee Volunteers football program is one of the winningest division I college football teams. The program ranks in the top 10 all time and trails only Alabama in the SEC. The team boasts several All Americans as players and coaches. The program is also famous for some unique traditions, such as running through the "T", and its orange and white checkerboard end zones.
Vols Tickets:
There is several ways of purchasing
Vols Tickets.
UTSPORTS.COM is the official home of the University of Tennessee Mens Athletics. You can purchase all Vols Football and Basketball tickets there.
StubHub.com is a fan to fan ticket exchange and seller of Vols tickets.
VolunteersTickets.com is a
Vols Tickets ticket broker price comparison website.
They show Vols tickets from over 100 different ticket brokers.
Smokey
Smokey is the mascot of the University of Tennessee sports teams, both men's and women's. There is a live blue tick hound mascot, Smokey IX, which leads the Vols on the field for football games. There is also a costumed mascot that appears at every Vols game, and has won several mascot championships.
Smokey was selected as the mascot for Tennessee after a student poll in 1953. A contest was held by the Pep Club that year. Their desire was to select a coon hound that was native to Tennessee. At halftime of the Mississippi State game that season, several hounds were introduced for voting. "Blue Smokey" was the last, and howled loudly when introduced. The students cheered and Smokey became the mascot. The most successful of the live dogs was Smokey VIII who saw a record of 91-22, two SEC titles and 1 National Championship.
The "T"
The "T" appears two places in Vol tradition. Coach Doug Dickey added the block letter T onto the side of the helmets in his first season in 1964. Johnny Majors modified the T to a more round look in 1977.
The Volunteers also run through another "T". This T is formed by the Pride of the Southland marching band with its base at the entrance to the Tennessee locker room in the North endzone. The team makes a left turn inside the T and runs toward their bench on the east sideline. When Coach Dickey brought this tradition to Tennessee in 1965, the Vols locker room was underneath the West stands. The Vols would run through that T and turn back to return to their sideline. The locker room change was made in 1983.
Checkerboard End Zones
Tennessee first sported the famous checkerboard design in the mid sixties. They brought the design back in 1989. This tradition was also started by Dickey in 1964, and remained until artificial turf was installed at Neyland Stadium.
The checkerboard was bordered in orange from 1989 until natural grass replaced the artificial turf in 1994. The return of natural grass brought with it the return of the green (or grass colored) border that exists today.
Orange and White
The Orange and White colors worn by the football team were selected by Charles Moore, a member of the very first football squad in 1891. They were taken from the American Daisy which grew on The Hill, the home of most of the classrooms at the university.
The Orange is distinct to the school, and has been offered by The Home Depot for sale as a paint, licensed by the university. The home games at Neyland Stadium have been described as a "Sea of Orange" due to the large number of fans wearing the school color.
The color is Spot color PMS 151 as described by the university
Volunteers
The Volunteers (or Vols as it is commonly shortened to) derive that nickname from the State of Tennessee's nickname. Tennessee is known as the "Volunteer State", a nickname it earned during the War of 1812, in which volunteer soldiers from Tennessee played a prominent role, especially during the Battle of New Orleans
UT-Memphis game is hot ticket in Volunteer State
