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The Mike Keith Show | 'Unbeaten Giants - Something Had to Give' · The Mike Keith Show

0:00
SPEAKER_09: From the peaks of the smokies to the banks of the Mississippi.
0:06
SPEAKER_09: This is your home for the University of Tennessee.
0:20
SPEAKER_09: This is the Vall Network.
0:26
SPEAKER_09: Inside Access, behind the scenes.
0:29
SPEAKER_09: From Rocky Top, direct from the coaches.
0:32
SPEAKER_09: Insight from the players.
0:34
SPEAKER_09: The inside track.
0:36
SPEAKER_09: Mike Keith starts now.
0:40
SPEAKER_12: Welcome to the Mike Keith Show.
0:42
SPEAKER_12: This edition of the program is brought to you by Clayton Holmes.
0:46
SPEAKER_12: I've got a special guest with me here.
0:48
SPEAKER_12: This is supervising producer of the Vol Radio Network, Isaac Fowler.
0:52
SPEAKER_12: Welcome.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
0:53
SPEAKER_12: You do so much more.
0:54
SPEAKER_12: You also teach documentary courses here at the University of Tennessee.
0:58
SPEAKER_01: I do.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: We've got another great project we're working on right now this fall.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: It'll come out hopefully early next year.
1:03
SPEAKER_12: Alright, so tell me what you guys have done with that class so far.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we've had two uh two groups run through that class.
1:09
SPEAKER_01: We produced a story on Hunter Ensley after uh they won a baseball national championship in 2024, and we just uh produced the Rick Lawrence documentary that was released this fall as well.
1:19
SPEAKER_12: Outstanding.
1:20
SPEAKER_12: You can find those on the Tennessee Athletics YouTube channel if you haven't had a chance to see them.
1:25
SPEAKER_12: Isaac's background is very similar to mine.
1:29
SPEAKER_12: Uh he came up in VFL films with Barry Rice and Link Hudson, who taught him well, and he is certainly capable of doing the documentary type projects.
1:40
SPEAKER_12: Of course, I came up with that same group along with Mike Moore.
1:44
SPEAKER_12: And one of the things that I was able to do in the early days of VFL films, before it was called VFL Films, is we did the Hundred Years of Volunteers anthology.
1:55
SPEAKER_12: Two hours and 46 minutes, and I actually wrote the script for that.
1:58
SPEAKER_12: One of my great regrets about that script is that we did not do more on the 1956 Tennessee Georgia Tech game.
2:08
SPEAKER_12: And the reason for that is it was considered such a classic of the 20th century, and remains so, but when you're doing a hundred years and there's so many important figures, you have to pick the most important parts and try to highlight everything.
2:25
SPEAKER_12: Choosing what to highlight is awful in one of these things, isn't it?
2:28
SPEAKER_12: Oh yeah, it's tough.
2:29
SPEAKER_12: So on this edition of the Mike Keys Show, we're gonna fix that error.
2:33
SPEAKER_12: Thanks to Isaac and a lot of people who were able to help him.
2:37
SPEAKER_12: We're gonna give you a chance to look at that classic Tennessee football game, hear it, feel it, experience it, and understand why it was considered one of the greatest football games of the 20th century.
2:51
SPEAKER_12: Tennessee, Georgia Tech, November 10th, 1956.
2:54
SPEAKER_12: And what's really fascinating about it is there are four central figures in that game.
3:01
SPEAKER_12: That this was such a big moment for them.
3:06
SPEAKER_12: For General Nealon, who was no longer Tennessee's coach, but two of his proteges were coaching.
3:12
SPEAKER_12: Malton Wyatt and also Bobby Dodd.
3:16
SPEAKER_12: And who was the star of the Tennessee team?
3:19
SPEAKER_12: Johnny Majors.
3:20
SPEAKER_12: This was kind of the start of his ascent.
3:23
SPEAKER_12: For the other three, it kind of capped off a moment in time that sums up their history and their greatness and all of it.
3:31
SPEAKER_12: You are from Rome County.
3:32
SPEAKER_12: Malton Wyatt was from Rome County.
3:34
SPEAKER_12: So having the chance to sort of tell his story in this way, I I bet that's special for you.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: It is.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: It's really cool.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh the fact that Alvin grew up in Kingston, uh, were both uh attended the same high school, uh, it's really neat.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: And um the fact that he had such a great career and then ended up being the head coach here at Tennessee, is is astounding.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: And he's a he's an amazing character in the story.
3:57
SPEAKER_12: Bobby Dodd is as well.
3:58
SPEAKER_12: And of course, Bobby Dodd is well known for his time at Georgia Tech.
4:02
SPEAKER_12: He was there for nearly 60 years, and so he is most associated with Tech.
4:09
SPEAKER_12: But he played at Tennessee.
4:11
SPEAKER_12: His family, uh originally from Virginia, moved to Kingsport, Tennessee, where he attended Dobbins Met at High School, was quite a tragic figure in his own right because his father took his own life when Bobby Dodd was in high school.
4:25
SPEAKER_12: And Bobby Dodd had to fight his way through high school, uh, both academically and helping his family.
4:33
SPEAKER_12: And initially he was not sent to attend Tennessee.
4:36
SPEAKER_12: Uh, he wanted to go to Georgia Tech, but did not have the grades, and he went to Vanderbilt, who was the big power at that time, and the story is one of those great legendary things that we don't know the exact truth about.
4:49
SPEAKER_12: Did he go to Vanderbilt, start practicing with the Commodores, and they saw he didn't have the grades?
4:56
SPEAKER_12: Or, as the legend has it, did he go to Vanderbilt?
5:00
SPEAKER_12: General Neeland sent somebody to get him, and he came back to Tennessee.
5:04
SPEAKER_12: What's the truth?
5:06
SPEAKER_01: We may never know.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it is an amazing story.
5:09
SPEAKER_01: And uh we do know that Bobby Dodd gets synoxical, and um here shortly you're gonna see highlights of Bobby Dodd playing.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh we actually have footage of uh Bobby Dodd in the from 1930, uh being an amazing athlete.
5:22
SPEAKER_12: Bobby Dodd was an incredible character.
5:25
SPEAKER_12: That's the part that really jumps out the most as we've kind of studied back through this and uh the writings of the great Marvin West, of Ben Byrd, Russ Babb, Tom Anderson, uh even back to Furman Fisher with the Atlanta papers, um, and more.
5:43
SPEAKER_12: Uh Haywood Harris and the staff at the University of Tennessee and the Sports Information Office.
5:50
SPEAKER_12: It's really intriguing what Bobby Dodd became in the world of college football that was so different than the man he studied under, General Nealand.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: I think the difference, uh, the the relationships in the story are really interesting.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: The relationship that General Nealand had with Bobby was different than what he had uh with Alton.
6:11
SPEAKER_12: The other part of it that that really jumps out in so many different ways is that General Nealand, he didn't go after publicity per se, but he started the Ball Network.
6:22
SPEAKER_12: He went to the Tennessean newspaper and asked them to cover him on a daily basis.
6:26
SPEAKER_12: He understood how much the national stage needed to be a part if Tennessee was going to be the program that it was gonna be.
6:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no doubt.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know it in this piece, but General Nealand understood the implications of uh what specifically this game could mean.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: And uh we have great coverage from the game, which which is really interesting.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh we know Life magazine was there, and we'd be able to we've been able to find that coverage.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: The Associated Press, UPI, there was television coverage, national radio.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: So uh General Nealand certainly knew that, and he was there to watch as well.
6:58
SPEAKER_12: And here's the story the 1956 Tennessee Georgia Tech game, one of the best and biggest in volunteer football history.
7:12
SPEAKER_12: In the 1960s, as football neared its 100th anniversary, United Press International gathered a list of the top college football games in its history.
7:24
SPEAKER_12: The 1935 Ohio State Notre Dame game took the top spot.
7:29
SPEAKER_12: Since Notre Dame was the United States' only team with a national following at that time, the inclusion of an Irish game at the top of the list was not a surprise.
7:40
SPEAKER_12: The number two game on that list featured Tennessee.
7:45
SPEAKER_12: The Vol's six-to-nothing win at Georgia Tech on November 10th, 1956, ranked second not only because it was considered the ultimate clinic on both defense and kicking, but because it was a rare regular season matchup of undefeated top five teams.
8:05
SPEAKER_12: Tech was number two in the polls, while the Volunteers stood at number three.
8:10
SPEAKER_12: Only Oklahoma, 36 games into their record 47-game win streak, ranked ahead of the Jackets and Vaults.
8:19
SPEAKER_12: And after Tennessee won at Georgia Tech, the Big Orange would be number one in the land for one week.
8:27
SPEAKER_12: The Sooners would then retake the top spot and go on to the 1956 National Championship.
8:34
SPEAKER_12: Tennessee would finish second, Georgia Tech fourth.
8:38
SPEAKER_12: But the game had more intrigue than just national rankings and SEC and national championship implications.
8:46
SPEAKER_12: It was deeper.
8:48
SPEAKER_12: It was family.
8:50
SPEAKER_12: Four of the most important figures in Tennessee football history would be involved in this showdown for the ages.
8:57
SPEAKER_12: The great coach who put Tennessee football on the map, two of his earliest all-American players, and maybe the best single-wing tailback he ever recruited and yet was not able to coach.
9:12
SPEAKER_12: For each of them, November 10, 1956 provided a watershed moment for their football careers and maybe even their lives as a whole.
9:22
SPEAKER_12: And November 10, 1956 was a date that was actually more than 30 years in the Maven.
9:31
SPEAKER_12: It started with Robert Nealand's first team at Tennessee and continued quickly with his addition of Bobby Dodd as one of his first star players.
9:48
SPEAKER_12: Volunteer fans from 1928 through 1930 repeated the constant mantra of, in Dodd We Trust.
9:57
SPEAKER_12: Because Tennessee lost just one time in the 30 games in which Dodd played.
10:01
SPEAKER_12: He led the team to the program's first big-time win, a 15-13 victory at Alabama.
10:08
SPEAKER_12: He engineered a second straight victory over the Tide in 1929.
10:13
SPEAKER_12: Dodd helped Tennessee capture three straight victories over Vanderbilt, an unrivaled achievement for the volunteers in those days.
10:21
SPEAKER_12: Plus, he just made the game fun to watch.
10:26
SPEAKER_12: A lot of Dodd's success came from natural athleticism and competitiveness.
10:32
SPEAKER_12: But much of it came from his football mind.
10:35
SPEAKER_12: When it came to the game, Dodd had instant recall and amazing clarity.
10:41
SPEAKER_12: During the 1930 season, Georgia Tech head coach Bill Alexander, the same coach who had to turn Dodd down less than four years earlier, sent Scout Mac Tharp to Knoxville to get a scouting report on upcoming opponent, North Carolina.
10:58
SPEAKER_12: Tharp encountered Nealon in Knoxville and began to request the details on the Tar Heels.
11:05
SPEAKER_12: Nealon immediately referred Tharp directly to Dodd, who, in his opinion, even as a current player, knew the most about North Carolina, having led the Bulls to a 9-7 victory over UNC the previous weekend.
11:20
SPEAKER_12: Alexander was so impressed with Dodd's scouting report that he hired the 22-year-old as soon as his Tennessee playing career ended.
11:29
SPEAKER_12: Dodd would then be a part of Georgia Tech Athletics for 57 seasons, actually until his death in 1988.
11:39
SPEAKER_09: This is the Mike Keith Show.
11:41
SPEAKER_09: Inside access, delivered by Uber Eats.
11:45
SPEAKER_07: Today's show sponsored by Pilot, official travel stop of the vault.
11:49
SPEAKER_07: See you out here by First Horizon, Big Bank Muscle, Small Bank Hustle.
11:54
SPEAKER_07: By Food City, the official supermarket of the Tennessee volunteers.
11:59
SPEAKER_07: UT Medical, the official health care provider of the vault.
12:02
SPEAKER_07: Bradley Roofing.
12:03
SPEAKER_07: Let us fix your lead, the proud official roofer of the Big Orange.
12:08
SPEAKER_07: By Farm Bureau Insurance, the official insurance of the vault.
12:12
SPEAKER_07: Tennessee insurance for Tennessee Life.
12:15
SPEAKER_04: Brought to you by Food City, it's the Ask Coach Heipel Show.
12:19
SPEAKER_04: Hello, and welcome to Ask Coach Heipel.
12:21
SPEAKER_04: I'm your host, Josh Heipel.
12:23
SPEAKER_04: Glenn asks, Coach, how does one join the VOL Navy?
12:27
SPEAKER_04: It's a great question.
12:31
SPEAKER_04: Well, Glenn, you don't necessarily need a boat.
12:34
SPEAKER_04: You need a friend with the boat.
12:36
SPEAKER_04: Always arrive with beef, fresh cut by the Food City Butcher, and you'll be welcomed aboard.
12:41
SPEAKER_04: This has been Ask Coach Hypel.
12:43
SPEAKER_04: With me, Coach Hyper.
12:45
SPEAKER_12: Saturdays are all about the big orange.
12:48
SPEAKER_12: From the roar of Nealand Stadium to the energy of the tailgate, one thing belongs on every game day menu: Calhoun.
12:56
SPEAKER_12: Whether you're dining in one of Calhoun's nine-area restaurant locations, taking the beast to your tailgate, or grabbing a bite from one of Calhoun's locations inside Nealand Stadium, Calhoun's makes it easy so you can focus on cheering the balls to victory.
13:11
SPEAKER_12: Calhoun's a taste of dynasty.
13:18
SPEAKER_10: Out of here, Passion Drives.
13:45
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13:48
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13:50
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13:52
SPEAKER_07: Championship teams are not built by one person.
13:55
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13:57
SPEAKER_14: Like the Vols, coaches and players need to learn to handle the pressure, including the pressure of success.
14:04
SPEAKER_14: We invest in the next generation.
14:06
SPEAKER_14: We invest in our community.
14:08
SPEAKER_14: And most importantly, we invest in our employees.
14:11
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14:12
SPEAKER_06: Change it.
14:13
SPEAKER_06: One roof at a time.
14:16
SPEAKER_04: When you travel across the great state of Tennessee, one thing you're sure to find is big orange passion.
14:22
SPEAKER_04: You see it throughout every inch of the volunteer state, just like you see First Horizon.
14:26
SPEAKER_04: Serving communities big and small, offering big bank products with small bank passion.
14:32
SPEAKER_04: What else do you need?
14:34
SPEAKER_07: Big bank muscle, small bank hustle.
14:36
SPEAKER_04: That's First Horizon, the official bank of the Vols.
14:40
SPEAKER_04: Probably serving Tennesseans for over 160 years.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: Being at the Vols game saved my life.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: The UT medical team knew exactly what they needed to do and just kept me calm throughout the process.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: It was probably the most serious heart attack that you could have.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: The team took care of me, worked quickly, efficiently, and I did catch the end of the game.
15:11
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16:04
SPEAKER_12: Clarence B.
16:05
SPEAKER_12: Wyatt doesn't ring a bell, but make that be Bowden?
16:09
SPEAKER_12: And Tennessee fans know exactly who that is.
16:13
SPEAKER_12: Bowden Wyatt, former Tennessee captain, all-American, and head football coach.
16:19
SPEAKER_12: Unlike Bobby Dodd, Wyatt was not a high school do everything superstar.
16:25
SPEAKER_12: He was a really good player on Roan County's 1933 undefeated and unscored upon team.
16:31
SPEAKER_12: He arrived in the summer of 1935 to play not for Captain Robert Nealand, but instead for Nealand's longtime friend, Bill Britton.
16:41
SPEAKER_12: Nealand had been called for Army duty in Panama.
16:45
SPEAKER_12: Tennessee had lost a combined five games in 1933 and 34 under Nealand, and Britton lost five games himself in 1935 alone.
16:55
SPEAKER_12: Nealand and his family had suffered a great deal in their year away from Knoxville, as the environment and climate did not agree with any of them.
17:05
SPEAKER_12: Tennessee Brass swooped in, offered Nealan$12,000 per year on a five-year contract.
17:12
SPEAKER_12: Nealan retired from the Army and headed back to Knoxville.
17:17
SPEAKER_12: Nealan came back to find Tennessee football in a bit of a mess.
17:21
SPEAKER_12: He lacked talent, he especially lacked stars.
17:24
SPEAKER_12: So just like in his first nine years as volunteer coach, Nealan would rely on Tennessee natives to be the backbone of his return to prominence.
17:34
SPEAKER_12: Yes, he would sprinkle in regional and national recruits, leaning on his army contacts from across the nation.
17:41
SPEAKER_12: But Tennessee men would bring the Valls back.
17:44
SPEAKER_12: Bowden Wyatt would highlight that group.
17:48
SPEAKER_12: But it did not happen right away.
17:50
SPEAKER_12: In Nealan's return, the Valls would win only 10 of the first 18 games that he coached.
17:57
SPEAKER_12: Back-to-back late season losses to Auburn and Vanderbilt in 1937 left him furious.
18:04
SPEAKER_12: Shutout wins over Ole Miss and Kentucky to end the season did little to improve Nealan's mood.
18:12
SPEAKER_12: As he promised, 1938's spring training would be, let's call it, arduous.
18:19
SPEAKER_12: Brutal might have been a better word.
18:21
SPEAKER_12: Nealon was sick of not winning.
18:24
SPEAKER_12: He was tired of not physically dominating opponents.
18:28
SPEAKER_12: And with better talent and more experience.
18:31
SPEAKER_12: The now 43-year-old head coach felt that the 1938 Tennessee Volunteers needed to be the group that reset the expectation.
18:42
SPEAKER_12: Just like 10 years earlier, when Hack, Mack, and Dodd ran the show.
18:48
SPEAKER_12: Bob Suffrage was the team's most talented player.
18:52
SPEAKER_12: But the brilliant lineman was hardly a guy who followed Nealan's rules.
18:57
SPEAKER_12: Because Suffrage was so good, Nealan might have occasionally overlooked some things.
19:04
SPEAKER_12: George Cafago was the team's most effective back and was an all-time great, but he wasn't a good practice player, and practice was so important to Nealand.
19:15
SPEAKER_12: Those are the reasons that Bob Nealand loved Bowden Wyatt.
19:20
SPEAKER_12: Wyatt was a physical, offensive, and defensive end.
19:23
SPEAKER_12: He could kick, and he was coachable, consistent, and talented.
19:27
SPEAKER_12: He was a natural leader, and most importantly, as tough as they came.
19:32
SPEAKER_12: Some believed, and still believe, that Bowden Wyatt was Nealand's all-time favorite player.
19:39
SPEAKER_12: Wyatt played the game in the way Nealand coached it.
19:43
SPEAKER_12: Precise, tough, determined, and physical.
19:46
SPEAKER_12: And Bowden Wyatt represented the 1938 Balls perfectly.
19:52
SPEAKER_12: That team went 11-0, the only Nealan coached team that won every game that it played.
19:59
SPEAKER_12: After allowing 10 points in the first two games of the season, the Vols allowed just six points the rest of the way.
20:07
SPEAKER_12: In the process, shutting out Auburn, Alabama, Vanderbilt, and Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.
20:14
SPEAKER_12: That was Tennessee's first bowl game ever.
20:17
SPEAKER_12: That Orange Bowl game against the Sooners featured fight after fight after fight, most of which Tennessee players won.
20:27
SPEAKER_12: Nealan, the former West Point boxing champ, did not condone the fighting.
20:32
SPEAKER_12: After all, he was about discipline and not getting called for penalties.
20:38
SPEAKER_12: But did he like his team's physical nature and its unwillingness to back down from anyone?
20:44
SPEAKER_12: Well, probably so.
20:46
SPEAKER_12: That 17-0 win over Oklahoma was forever a point of personal pride for Neela.
20:53
SPEAKER_12: Not only did five national services name the 1938 Tennessee Volunteers as national champions, but that team spurred the balls on to two more 10-0 seasons in a row, and then 32 wins in 39 games coached by John Barnhill during the World War II years.
21:14
SPEAKER_12: The 1951 national champions were more talented.
21:18
SPEAKER_12: The 1939 balls were unscored upon in the regular season.
21:22
SPEAKER_12: But the team that represented what Robert Reese Nealan liked the best, it's not a stretch to say that it was the 1938 balls.
21:32
SPEAKER_12: And the player who led that team, Kingston's own Bowden White.
21:45
SPEAKER_12: Robert Nealan returned from World War II a general, and for the third time had elevated the ball football program to the pinnacle of the national stage.
21:56
SPEAKER_12: He seemed prepared to retire after a highly successful.
22:00
SPEAKER_12: 1950 season.
22:02
SPEAKER_12: But he was given a lifetime contract at Tennessee and coached two more years.
22:08
SPEAKER_12: Nealon might have gone on, but his poor health left him with no choice.
22:13
SPEAKER_12: After the 1952 regular season ended, Nealan became full-time athletic director and appointed one of his former players, Offensive Coordinator Harvey Robinson, as the head coach.
22:26
SPEAKER_12: Legendary sports writer Marvin West penned the note that likely indicated Robinson was going against a stacked deck.
22:34
SPEAKER_12: Nealon made Robinson keep the coaching staff in place, the staff which included three men who thought that they, not Robinson, should succeed the general.
22:46
SPEAKER_12: The hope was the train would just keep on running.
22:50
SPEAKER_12: It did not.
22:51
SPEAKER_12: Ten wins in 21 games, and Nealan knew.
22:56
SPEAKER_12: He fired Harvey Robinson on December 1st, 1954, along with several of his own longtime assistants.
23:04
SPEAKER_12: Nealan had to clear the decks for someone else to coach Tennessee his way.
23:09
SPEAKER_12: Even if his way was actually Nealan's way.
23:14
SPEAKER_12: There was a month of speculation as Arkansas played in the Cotton Ball, but no one doubted which way Nealand would turn.
23:22
SPEAKER_12: The program's favorite son, possibly Nealan's favorite player, was available.
23:26
SPEAKER_12: 36-year-old Bowden White was on his way home to Knoxville.
23:39
SPEAKER_12: The buildup to November 10th, 1956 meeting between Tennessee and Georgia Tech in Atlanta was at least 677 days in the making.
23:49
SPEAKER_12: In Bowden Wyatt's last game at Arkansas in the 1955 Cotton Bowl, where Wyatt knew that he was heading back to Tennessee, his opponent was Georgia Tech, coached by Bobby Dodd.
24:01
SPEAKER_12: The Engineers won 14-6, and that stuck in Bowden Wyatt's crawl.
24:07
SPEAKER_12: Listen, Dodd was on a roll, and it continued through 1956.
24:13
SPEAKER_12: In the six seasons beginning in 1951, Georgia Tech was the best team in the SEC.
24:19
SPEAKER_12: They averaged 10 wins per year, went undefeated twice, went 31 games without a loss, captured six straight bowl games, and won a national championship.
24:32
SPEAKER_12: Bobby Dodd was at the height of his coaching powers, so much was made of his unorthodox methods of preparing his teams.
24:40
SPEAKER_12: His practices were short and fast, there was limited contact.
24:44
SPEAKER_12: He used volleyball games for conditioning.
24:48
SPEAKER_12: He focused on the Yellow Jackets' mental preparation as he did their physical preparation.
24:54
SPEAKER_12: Yelling and screaming at players was not emphasized.
24:57
SPEAKER_12: Instead, Dodd and the tech staff spent more time being positive with their players.
25:04
SPEAKER_12: Man could Bobby Dodd call a game.
25:07
SPEAKER_12: Dodd sat in a chair at a card table on the sidelines, sorting information and adjusting.
25:15
SPEAKER_12: Bobby Dodd was so different from coaches of his era that while he was deeply admired, he was resented almost as much.
25:25
SPEAKER_12: Traditionalists viewed Dodd, his teams, and his way of doing things, as, let's say, not tough.
25:33
SPEAKER_12: And when Dodd beat them as he regularly did in the 1950s, they hated him even more.
25:39
SPEAKER_12: Because Dodd was quick with a quip that just added to the lack of love.
25:44
SPEAKER_12: Put it this way: there were few football coaches like Bobby Dodd in the 1950s.
25:50
SPEAKER_12: And some fans love to hate both he and Georgia Tech.
25:59
SPEAKER_09: This is your home for coaches and players.
26:02
SPEAKER_09: One-on-one from Rocky Top.
26:04
SPEAKER_09: This is your Ball Network.
26:14
SPEAKER_12: Wyatt inherited a great group of juniors when he returned to Tennessee in January 1955.
26:22
SPEAKER_12: General Nealand's last recruiting class in 1952 had started with 127 freshmen.
26:30
SPEAKER_12: 18 of those players would eventually have regular roles with the volunteers.
26:36
SPEAKER_12: One of those juniors from 1955 was a tailback from Huntland named John Majors.
26:43
SPEAKER_12: Majors was the son of a coach, and he could do it all on offense, defense, and special teams.
26:49
SPEAKER_12: Younger brother Bill was a fine defensive back.
26:53
SPEAKER_12: Younger brother Bob was the most talented of all of the Majors brothers.
26:57
SPEAKER_12: But there was something different about Johnny Majors.
27:01
SPEAKER_12: An edge, a Moxie, a star quality.
27:04
SPEAKER_12: He was a player that you just couldn't take your eyes off of.
27:08
SPEAKER_12: Johnny Majors and the Falls toiled under Baldon Wyatt and the new Tennessee staff for the first eight plus months of 1955 before they finally got to play a game.
27:20
SPEAKER_12: They did everything but beat Mississippi State in a game of lost opportunities in the opener.
27:27
SPEAKER_12: Week two saw the Sonny Jergensen-led Duke Blue Devils, the eventual ACC co-champions, come to Knoxville and literally run over the balls 21-0.
27:39
SPEAKER_12: 0-2 with nothing going on except a light.
27:44
SPEAKER_12: Nine months into Bowden Wyatt's era at Tennessee, that light came on.
27:52
SPEAKER_12: Tennessee pummeled Chattanooga, Alabama, Dayton, and North Carolina in a row.
27:59
SPEAKER_12: 0-2 went to 4-2.
28:02
SPEAKER_12: And Vol Fortunes turned up as number 8 Georgia Tech came to town on November 5th.
28:08
SPEAKER_12: The Tennessee Faithful had this one circled.
28:12
SPEAKER_12: The last time that Bobby Dodd had been in Knoxville was exactly six years earlier.
28:17
SPEAKER_12: November 5th, 1949.
28:20
SPEAKER_12: The Yellow Jackets whipped the balls 30-13.
28:25
SPEAKER_12: At the conclusion of that game, there was a brawl.
28:28
SPEAKER_12: And then there was this Dodd quote: My season is a success if I don't win another game.
28:36
SPEAKER_12: This came two years after Dodd handed Nealan his worst loss ever, a 27-0 victory over the Balls in the 1947 opener.
28:48
SPEAKER_12: Dodd had certainly done nothing to endear himself to the fans of his alma mater.
28:54
SPEAKER_12: And then, after that 1949 meeting, Tennessee and Tech stopped playing one another.
29:02
SPEAKER_12: Dodd and Nealon provided different reasons as to why.
29:08
SPEAKER_12: The series resumed in 1954, with Tennessee traveling to Atlanta at 4-3, trying to push for a strong finish.
29:17
SPEAKER_12: Instead, Dodd's Jackets handed the balls a 28-7 defeat that started Harvey Robinson on a four-game losing streak, sealing his fate as Tennessee's coach.
29:30
SPEAKER_12: So, with all of that as background, Shields Watkins Field provided a significant stage on November 5, 1955, and it was a slobber knocker.
29:41
SPEAKER_12: Tennessee scored on its first possession, with Majors driving the balls 58 yards to set up Tommy Bronson's one-yard touchdown run.
29:50
SPEAKER_12: A young father seemed to speak for all in his section, maybe most all in the record crowd of 51,000, when he yelled, How do you like that, Dodd?
30:03
SPEAKER_12: The Valls led the game until a Georgia Tech touchdown pass in the fourth quarter nodded the count at seven.
30:10
SPEAKER_12: Uncharacteristic penalties foiled the Volunteers all afternoon, including a late foul, which took the go-ahead touchdown off the board.
30:19
SPEAKER_12: For the first time in series history, Tennessee and Georgia Tech tied.
30:25
SPEAKER_12: Dodd was humble post-game, crediting underdog Tennessee for a hard-nosed effort.
30:31
SPEAKER_12: Wyatt fumed, knowing that his balls had dragged Tech into exactly the kind of physical game that he wanted to play.
30:40
SPEAKER_12: It was after this game that Wyatt breathed fire into one of his most famous quotes.
30:46
SPEAKER_12: When asked if he liked his team's performance, Dodd said, it was tied when we started.
30:54
SPEAKER_12: We wanted to win.
30:56
SPEAKER_12: Georgia Tech completed the 1955 season 9-1-1 and shut out Pittsburgh in the Sugar Bowl.
31:03
SPEAKER_12: Yellowjackets were ranked seventh in the nation.
31:06
SPEAKER_12: Tennessee wound up 6'3-1 and without a postseason berth.
31:11
SPEAKER_12: But they did have an official star in Johnny Majors.
31:15
SPEAKER_12: Majors was named SEC Player of the Year.
31:19
SPEAKER_12: He and 90% of the volunteer starters would be back for 1956.
31:25
SPEAKER_12: Georgia Tech would return almost as much of their starting lineup for 56.
31:32
SPEAKER_12: The Vaults and Engineers would be on a collision course for November 10th, 1956.
31:39
SPEAKER_12: And neither would disappoint in the lead-up to that spectacular fall day.
31:48
SPEAKER_07: Sponsored by Food City, the official supermarket of the Tennessee Volunteers.
31:53
SPEAKER_07: By Farm Bureau Insurance, the official insurance of the Vols, Tennessee Insurance for Tennessee Life.
31:59
SPEAKER_07: By First Horizon, Big Bank Mussel, Small Bank Hustle.
32:04
SPEAKER_07: By Pilot, official travel stop of the Vols.
32:07
SPEAKER_07: See you out here.
32:08
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32:14
SPEAKER_07: And by UT Medical, the official healthcare provider of the vault.
32:41
SPEAKER_12: Bring on the package volation.
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34:00
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36:02
SPEAKER_12: November 10th, 1956, Tennessee and Georgia Tech were presented by Clayton Holmes.
36:09
SPEAKER_12: Atlanta sports writer Furman Fisher never hid his admiration for Bobby God.
36:15
SPEAKER_12: So tax coverage was always positive.
36:18
SPEAKER_12: Especially in the span during the 1950s when the Yellow Jackets were winning 90% of their games.
36:25
SPEAKER_12: Remember, Atlanta had no pro sports.
36:28
SPEAKER_12: So as Georgia Tech football succeeded, and Herman Vissure became a respected regional and national name in forge riding, Georgia Tech's reputation grew.
36:38
SPEAKER_12: They were Atlanta team.
36:41
SPEAKER_12: And as Atlanta became the South's fastest growing metropolitan area, and already featuring the nation's sixth busiest airport, people nationwide new Atlanta.
36:53
SPEAKER_12: For all of those reasons, and his belief in the university and its football program, Bobby Dodd firmly believed that Georgia Tech could be the Notre Dame of the South.
37:07
SPEAKER_12: Football World watched Atlanta on November 10th, 1956.
37:12
SPEAKER_12: Life magazine covered the game, as did both the Associated Press and the United Press International.
37:19
SPEAKER_12: Hall of Fame broadcaster Kurt Gowdy called the game on national radio.
37:23
SPEAKER_12: The Vol Networks team of George Moody and Bob Fox had the call as well.
37:29
SPEAKER_12: The strong speculation was that whichever team won this game would vault to number one in the national polls over Oklahoma.
37:38
SPEAKER_12: This didn't happen back in 1956, but with Tech at number two and Tennessee at number three, and Atlanta providing a national stage, it might have been each program's biggest game in their respective 60-plus year histories.
37:54
SPEAKER_12: General Robert Nealand would be a spectator at the game, but he was hardly just an interested onlooker.
38:00
SPEAKER_12: Nealand was Tennessee's athletic director, who had been both Bobby Dodd's and Bowden Wyatt's coach when they played for the Balls.
38:08
SPEAKER_12: Nealon was still Tennessee's head football coach when Johnny Majors and the rest of the 1956 Ball seniors had signed.
38:17
SPEAKER_12: And the general got all of it what it would mean to Wyatt and what it would mean to Tennessee to win this game, what Dodd and Georgia Tech football had become, what Atlanta was as the leader at the very first beginning of the growth of the South.
38:34
SPEAKER_12: Nealand understood the media and its potential implications.
38:38
SPEAKER_12: He saw the competing styles of play, as Wyatt's Tennessee team still reveled in Nealan's one platoon, single-wing, physical position is better than possession football.
38:51
SPEAKER_12: Dodd played differently with a T-formation, almost early RPO style offense.
38:57
SPEAKER_12: An attacking defense that featured more speed than size, and no fear of surprise and dramatic substitutions at key moments.
39:07
SPEAKER_12: More football teams throughout the country were now playing football more like Dodd and less like Wyatt.
39:13
SPEAKER_12: Robert Nealand understood that.
39:25
SPEAKER_12: Chamber of Commerce weather greeted the two teams.
39:28
SPEAKER_12: 60 degrees, slight breeze from the northwest.
39:32
SPEAKER_12: Tech won the toss and elected to receive.
39:35
SPEAKER_12: After each team went three and out to begin the game, Georgia Tech's second possession would prove fruitful.
39:42
SPEAKER_12: Wade Mitchell 13-yard run gave the Jackets a first down at their 43.
39:55
SPEAKER_12: Two plays later, George Volker picked up 21 yards to the ball 34.
40:15
SPEAKER_12: So it's fourth and four Georgia Tech at the 28-yard line.
40:20
SPEAKER_12: And Bobby Dodd chooses to punt.
40:24
SPEAKER_12: Johnny Meninger's punt is downed at the five, but some were scratching their heads at Dodd's decision.
40:32
SPEAKER_12: That would continue.
40:34
SPEAKER_12: Johnny Majors made 10 yards on first down and then did something for only the second time in his football life.
40:41
SPEAKER_12: Quick note: in the single-wing offense, the tailback called the plays.
40:45
SPEAKER_12: Majors was Tennessee's tailback.
40:48
SPEAKER_12: So in the huddle, after picking up a first down on the first play of the drive, Majors called a quick kick.
40:55
SPEAKER_12: It was a regular part of the Tennessee Arsenal, yes, but the quick kick wasn't called much on first down.
41:03
SPEAKER_12: Turned out to be brilliant.
41:05
SPEAKER_12: 68 yards in length, flipping the field, and making Dodd's decision to punt two plays earlier even more questionable.
41:14
SPEAKER_12: Georgia Tech fashions another long drive in the second quarter, only to see Ken Owen ramble inside the 20 before taking a shot from multiple ball defenders and coughing up the ball.
41:26
SPEAKER_12: Jim Smelcher's recovery ends the Tech drive, and the two teams are scoreless at the half.
41:35
SPEAKER_12: In the second possession of the second half, Majors gets the balls going.
41:50
SPEAKER_12: Majors goes back to Cruz on the next play, hitting him down the seam for 45 yards.
42:00
SPEAKER_12: Fullback Tommy Bronson pounds the football in for the Tennessee touchdown.
42:05
SPEAKER_12: With 9.01 left in the third quarter, the Vols had gone 65 yards in four plays for their touchdown.
42:14
SPEAKER_12: Their other 46 offensive snaps would produce 112 yards, roughly 2.5 yards per play.
42:22
SPEAKER_12: But the Valls's punting and defense were otherworldly.
42:27
SPEAKER_12: Majors would punt seven times for a 40-yard average.
42:30
SPEAKER_12: Bobby Gordon would average 58 yards on three punts, including a 72-yarder in the fourth quarter.
42:38
SPEAKER_12: With Georgia Tech unable to run consistently, they had to throw a whopping 18 passes, completing only six.
42:47
SPEAKER_12: Bubba Howe picked off a toppy van pass on Tech's second to last drive, while Tommy Bronson ended the game with an interception in the final minute.
42:57
SPEAKER_12: Bobby Dodd's luck, real or imagined, was off-discussed in the 1950s.
43:04
SPEAKER_12: On this Saturday, Dodd's luck and the final seconds of the clock ran out, with Georgia Tech watching Tennessee fans begin the celebration.
43:14
SPEAKER_12: Six to nothing, a volunteer victory.
43:18
SPEAKER_12: The media wasted no time declaring that that was one of the greatest football games ever played.
43:23
SPEAKER_12: For strategy, for drama, for physical line play, and for the courage.
43:28
SPEAKER_12: The script could not have been written.
43:31
SPEAKER_12: Dodd versus Wyatt with Needland Watching.
43:34
SPEAKER_12: Number two versus number three.
43:36
SPEAKER_12: A country captivated by a college football classic from Atlanta.
43:45
SPEAKER_12: For every great story, there is a hero, and the media declared that hero to be Johnny Majors.
43:51
SPEAKER_12: The reigning SEC Player of the Year lived up to his billing with brilliant play in all areas, in spite of the fact that he was.
44:00
SPEAKER_12: Playing the game with a battered and bruised body.
44:03
SPEAKER_12: Majors had scarcely played in the previous week's win over North Carolina, but he arrived in Atlanta prepared to overcome his pain and lead the volunteers to triumph.
44:15
SPEAKER_12: His punting already lauded, Majors' passing was the key ingredient in Tennessee's limited offense.
44:22
SPEAKER_12: For his day, Majors was considered an excellent passer, completing 61% of his throws in 1956.
44:30
SPEAKER_12: A remarkable figure.
44:31
SPEAKER_12: Against Georgia Tech, his 71 yards passing and 25 yards rushing were paramount, along with his punting, his return ability, and what he did on defense.
44:44
SPEAKER_12: Injured or not, Johnny Majors commanded the field like no one else in this game, making his performance something of legend that lasts even today.
44:56
SPEAKER_12: Majors became and still is Tennessee's only two-time SEC player of the year.
45:02
SPEAKER_12: Most who left Grant Field that November day expected him to be named the Heisman Trophy winner 24 days later, feeling that he had done enough to best Oklahoma star Tommy McDonald.
45:15
SPEAKER_12: Instead, the Heisman Trophy went to Notre Dame star Paul Horning, the only winner ever from a losing team.
45:24
SPEAKER_12: The most surprised person about the result was Horning himself, who was quoted as saying after he got the good news, I couldn't believe it when they told me I'd won it.
45:34
SPEAKER_12: I didn't even think I was up for consideration.
45:38
SPEAKER_12: Johnny Majors would recover from this disappointment and go on to a highly successful coaching career.
45:44
SPEAKER_12: But we'll save that story for another time.
46:01
SPEAKER_09: This is your Fall Network.
46:26
SPEAKER_12: Dodd had five straight seven-win seasons after that, followed by a 9-2 Swan song in 1966.
46:35
SPEAKER_12: During the 1960s, Dodd's success on the field was overshadowed by a very public feud with Alabama coach Bear Bryant and a fight with SEC members over the conference's policy, which allowed schools to sign football players to non-football scholarships, increasing their numbers.
46:55
SPEAKER_12: Eventually, in early 1964, those issues and others led Bobby Dodd and Georgia Tech to withdraw from the SEC.
47:06
SPEAKER_12: Ten years after Dodd's retirement, a coaching award was named in his honor.
47:12
SPEAKER_12: The Dodd Trophy honors the FBS football coach whose program represents three pillars of success: scholarship, leadership, and integrity.
47:23
SPEAKER_12: Bobby Dodd followed the legendary Amos Alonso Stagg as the second man to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.
47:34
SPEAKER_12: The third man to be inducted as a player and coach, Bowden Wyatt, Dodd's coaching adversary on November 10th, 1956.
47:45
SPEAKER_12: Upon meeting with the media that afternoon, Wyatt was asked to give his opinion on why Dodd did not have Georgia Tech go for it on fourth and four at the Vol 28 in the first quarter.
47:58
SPEAKER_12: Wyatt came back with a remark that took many aback in 1956.
48:04
SPEAKER_12: Because he wouldn't have made it.
48:07
SPEAKER_12: That's what Wyatt snapped.
48:10
SPEAKER_12: Maybe that showed how much Wyatt wanted his third meeting with Bobby Dodd in their last 22 months.
48:16
SPEAKER_12: Tennessee would be named the nation's number one team early the next week, bumping Oklahoma from the top spot.
48:23
SPEAKER_12: But after the Sooners routed Missouri, they went back to number one and were declared national champions days later.
48:30
SPEAKER_12: Tennessee finished the season 10-0, number two in the country, and earned a sugar bowl berth.
48:36
SPEAKER_12: Wyatt's road at Tennessee got bumpier.
48:39
SPEAKER_12: His 1957 balls went 8-3 and won the Gator Bowl.
48:43
SPEAKER_12: But in his next five seasons, the Vols averaged just five wins per season.
48:49
SPEAKER_12: Tennessee and UCLA were the last two teams in America to run the single wing offense.
48:54
SPEAKER_12: And since most high schools had started to play offense in a T formation with a true quarterback, it played a huge problem for Wyatt.
49:04
SPEAKER_12: The tailback in the single wing offense needed to run like a tailback, pass like a quarterback, and be able to punt in virtually every situation.
49:15
SPEAKER_12: With football starting to become more specialized, multi-dimensional players like Johnny Majors were just not available, and Tennessee started to lose recruiting battles because top athletes didn't want to play in the single-wing offense.
49:31
SPEAKER_12: When Baldon Wyatt was relieved of his duties as head football coach and athletic director in spring 1963, Tennessee had to change and did.
49:41
SPEAKER_12: But Bowden Wyatt's profound impact on Tennessee as a player and as a coach could not be denied.
49:48
SPEAKER_12: General Robert Nealan did not deny it, especially right after Tennessee's 6-0 win over Georgia Tech on November 10th, 1956.
49:58
SPEAKER_12: The media swarmed Nealan immediately after the game, understandably wanting his comments after watching two of his best players coach a classic game.
50:09
SPEAKER_12: Nealand offered little to say except Bowden Wyatt was the best coach in the country.
50:15
SPEAKER_12: Not surprising, as Nealan valued Wyatt like few others.
50:20
SPEAKER_12: Tennessee had played the style of football that he helped to create in 1926.
50:26
SPEAKER_12: For that matter, Dodd and Georgia Tech did that day as well.
50:31
SPEAKER_12: Everything that mattered to Nealand was on display at Grant Field, and his side, the Tennessee side, had battled a little longer and played a little better to capture the victory.
50:42
SPEAKER_12: Robert Nealand would never see a game quite like this again.
50:47
SPEAKER_12: But 30 years earlier, he had dreamed of Tennessee being on this stage.
50:54
SPEAKER_12: The national stage, where all in college football were watching, and the best wore orange.
51:00
SPEAKER_12: Robert Nealand put everything he had into it, his muscle, his brain, his ingenuity, his fight, his drive, everything.
51:08
SPEAKER_12: And that became Tennessee football.
51:11
SPEAKER_12: Over the next seven plus decades, that spirit would show itself in various players, coaches, and teams.
51:18
SPEAKER_12: It would not run the single-wing offense, but it would show the heart, the fight, and the guile of Majors, Wyatt, Dodd, and many other players that General Nealon loved.
51:31
SPEAKER_12: General Nealon had to love what he saw from Tennessee on November 10th, 1956 in Atlanta, just as he would have loved many of the performances that have come since.
51:43
SPEAKER_12: But in the end, Nealan's biggest influence on Tennessee football isn't just expecting to win.
51:50
SPEAKER_12: It is expecting to never, ever be defeated.
51:55
SPEAKER_09: And when you truly feel that deep in your soul, you will not lose.com.
52:26
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