Name-a-Day Calendar, August 23: Tennessee Volunteers

Page 290 of 365

Chosen in: 1902

Chosen by: An unnamed Atlanta Constitution sportswriter

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In 1794, during the brief period of time in which North Carolina had ceded all of their land west of the Blue Ridge Mountains but that land had yet to be admitted to the Union, the legislature of what was then the Territory South of the River Ohio established a college at Knoxville and named it Blount College after territorial governor William Blount. The territory became the State of Tennessee two years later, and Blount College was renamed East Tennessee College in 1807. Then, in 1809, the school suffered the death of Samuel Carrick, who was not just their president, but somehow also their only faculty member. Needless to say, East Tennessee College would have to close at least temporarily to figure out what their future looked like.

Meanwhile, things were once again getting feisty between the Americans and the British, which ended up snowballing into the War of 1812. A volunteer militia of about 5,000 troops from Tennessee was critical at several points throughout the Southern theatre of the war.

East Tennessee College got up and running again in 1820, then gained university status in 1840. Less than a decade later, the United States found themselves entrenched in yet another war, this time with Mexico. In his call for troops, Secretary of War William Marcy is said to have called for 2,800 men from Tennessee; they sent 30,000. Tennessee had sometimes been known as the “Volunteer State” since their War of 1812 efforts, but the nickname became firmly established with this Mexican–American War showing.

In 1879, East Tennessee University became the University of Tennessee we know today. They began playing football in 1891, their first teams bearing no official nickname. This continued for over a decade until a sportswriter with The Atlanta Constitution¹ dubbed Tennessee’s team the Volunteers in a game story on November 23, 1902, the day after they’d come into town and beaten Georgia Tech 10-6. This story is what everyone seems to agree is the origin of the “Volunteers” nickname in reference to Tennessee sports, but it has no byline, so I unfortunately have no idea who first did this. By 1905, the Knoxville Sentinel² and The Journal and Tribune³ were also both applying the “Volunteers” nickname on a regular basis. That was that.

Since 1953, Tennessee has enjoyed a live Bluetick Coonhound mascot named Smokey. They’re currently represented by Smokey XI. There’s also a costumed Smokey that’s been around since the ‘60s but oh my gosh look at the cute lil doggy!

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P.S. Until 2015, all women’s sports teams at Tennessee were known as the Lady Volunteers (or “Lady Vols” for short). The only team that originally retained that nickname was the nationally recognized women’s basketball team. In the coming years, public opposition to this decision saw the university gradually reverse it, and now more or less all women’s sports teams at Tennessee are once again known as the Lady Vols.

1. This paper eventually merged with The Atlanta Journal to form The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

2. Has since merged with the Knoxville News to form the Knoxville News Sentinel

3. Discontinued in 1924