The Newport Plain Talk

NEWPORT-It's not often that a Vol fan gets a chance like this, meeting the legendary John Ward, and University of Tennessee insiders Gus Manning and Haywood Harris all at the same time.

That opportunity arose, however, on November 3, a Tuesday afternoon, at the Newport Kiwanis Club's regular luncheon at the Mountain Crest Inn. The Kiwanis were kind enough to open their doors to the public, giving everyone the opportunity to take a walk down U.T. football memory lane, a sort of Vol Walk if you will.

"The Vol Walk was started by Johnny Majors in 1988," said Manning. "Coach Majors got the idea at a game at Auburn when he saw the Tiger Walk."

Ward introduced both Manning and Harris to the microphone, explaining that both men had not only been a part of Vol history, but were, in many ways, a part of that history. It was through these two men's efforts that the state of Tennessee was brought together, from West to East, over support of the Vols.

Harris has been a steadying force in the University of Tennessee Sports Information Office since General Robert Neyland appointed him Sports Information Director in January of 1961.

Harris, a 1951 UT graduate, began his University career as Alumni Office Field Secretary for two years before General Neyland appointed him SID to replace Harris' long-time friend and associate Gus Manning, when Manning was named UT Ticket Manager in the mid 1960s.

Harris has been associated with the SI Office and UT Athletics ever since, becoming one of the most respected figures in the Sports Information field specifically and in college athletics in general.

A renowned writer, Harris came to the University after stints at The Charlotte Observer and The Knoxville Journal. Harris served UT as Sports Information Director, Assistant Athletic Director and Associate Athletic Director of Media Relations. In 1982, Inside Sports magazine listed him as one of the top five publicists in the nation. He was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America's Hall of Fame in 1984 and received the organization's top award, the Arch Ward Award, in 1991.

Harris was inducted into the Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame. Harris has twice served as the president of the Southeastern Conference's publicity directors association. He earned a Chancellor's Citation for Extraordinary Service to the University in 1992.

After his retirement in 2000, Harris is continuing his employment on a part-time basis as Executive Assistant to the Athletic Director at UT. In addition to special projects, he is continuing with football and basketball game management duties.

Along with these responsibilities, he also maintains the University's athletic archives and serves as the department's historian.

Manning is the athletic department's closest internal link to legendary head football coach Gen. Robert R. Neyland, as Neyland hired Manning in 1951 as Tennessee's sports information director. A Knoxville native, Manning served as Neyland's right-hand man for years, filling the role of administrative assistant, assistant athletics director, associate athletics director and eventually senior associate athletics director. He now serves as a consultant to current athletics director Mike Hamilton.

Manning reached a milestone in 2003 by attending his 600th consecutive Tennessee football game. The streak reached 608 games later in the season before an ankle injury caused him to miss the Vols' game at Kentucky.

Manning has been inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, the Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame and the Knoxville Football Officials Association Hall of Fame. He also serves on several sports-related committees, including some affiliated with the Southeastern Conference.

Manning graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1950, and his knowledge of Volunteers athletics is unrivaled. His days on Rocky Top have produced countless stories-from driving down the interstate with baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio to sharing dinner in Chicago with Doug Atkins and the Chicago Bears to collaborating with broadcasting legend Lindsey Nelson to create the Vol Network.

Following their introduction, Manning and Harris, while joking and jabbing at each other, and often leaving their captive audience in stitches, took their listeners into the history of the Vol football program.

"A lot of folks took notice when the Vols came out in black jerseys against South Carolina on October 31," said Manning. "But what many folks don't realize is that it was not the first time the Vol football team wore black jerseys. As a matter of fact, the Vols wore black jerseys until 1922 when they switched to orange jerseys. And, their first football field in 1891 was in Chilhowee Park. It wasn't until years later that they would move to the new Shields-Watkins Field (1921), which sat 3,200 people."

Robert Neyland became Tennessee's head coach in 1926, and captured the school's first Southern Conference title in 1927.

"General Neyland was a special man," explained Harris and Manning. "After graduating from West Point, the army sent him to MIT. General Neyland was an incredible engineer. After finishing up at MIT, General Neyland returned to West Point to serve as Aide de Camp for General Douglas MacArthur. General Neyland always told us that they chose the wrong General in Eisenhower to run for President and that MacArthur would have been a better President."

During his stint as U.T.'s head football coach, General Neyland had a close friend who coached the football team at U.T. Chattanooga.

"General Neyland was good friends with 'Scrappy' Moore,' who at the time coached Chattanooga," said Manning. "During those days, Tennessee always played Chattanooga the week before the Alabama game. So, General Neyland would always threaten to withhold Chattanooga's check unless 'Scrappy' ran the Alabama offense."

General Neyland was also responsible for several innovations.

"General Neyland was the first to run a phone from the press box to the sideline," explained Harris. "He was also the first to use scouts to scout opponents, and he was the first to use a tarp to cover the field."

General Neyland passed away on March 28, 1962, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Following his death, Shields-Watkins Field was named Neyland Stadium, which was dedicated at the 1962 Alabama game. By that time, the stadium had expanded to 52,227 seats.

"Many people may not know that General Neyland helped design the expansion of the stadium when he was Athletic Director," said Manning. "General Neyland's designs were so incredible that they were used for every expansion until 1996 when the seating rose to 102,544."

It was also 1962 when the Vol Navy was started by former Tennessee broadcaster George Mooney.

"There are only two colleges in the nation where you can boat to a game," said Manning. "and they're Tennessee and Washington in Seattle. You know Haywood and John (Ward) bought a boat together and had it tied up at a local dock. One night, their boat sank and the guy who ran the dock called John. He asked John what he should do and John told him to cut the rope!

"There's another story I should tell you about Haywood and John," said Manning. "They took some co-eds out on their boat one afternoon, and Haywood decided to cook up some beans, but he cooked them in the can. Well, needless to say, the can exploded."

"I swear I though you could cook them in the can," said Harris. "It didn't work out, though, and we never did see any one of those beans."

Doug Dickey took over as head coach of the Vols in 1964, and brought many innovations with him.

"Doug was a smart coach," said Harris. "Doug replaced the single wing with the T-formation offense. He also took the numbers off of the helmets and replaced them with a 'T.' And, he was the one who brought us the checkerboard end zones.

"Probably what people will remember most about Doug is what he did with the U.T. marching band," said Manning. "He had the band form a huge 'T' and had the football team run through it before the start of the game. I've spoken to many people who've seen the spectacles of sports all over the world, but most all of them have told me that nothing compares to the Vol 'T' before the start of a game. It's really something to experience."

Manning and Harris decided to write their first book when Dickey was serving at U.T.'s Athletic Director.

"Many people know that the Vols won two national championships outright," explained Harris, "But the truth of the matter is that the Vols have six national championships, some of them shared. So, Gus and I decided that we should write a book about those national championships.

"We went in to see Doug, who was Athletic Director at the time," said Manning. "We said, Doug, we want to write this book about Tennessee's national championships. Doug was shaking his head, though, and said he really didn't think the budget would cover a book. So I said, but Doug, one of those national championships was your 1967 team. Well, Doug sat up in his chair and told us that he was behind us one-hundred percent and 'get to work boys.'"

Harris and Manning had their first book, 'Six Season Remembered: The National Championship Years of Tennessee Football,' published by the University of Tennessee Press in August, 2004.

"It was a best seller," Manning quipped. "It went on to become the U.T. Press' biggest seller. We even outsold 'Mushrooms in the Smokies.'"

Manning and Harris went on to co-author another book entitled 'Once a Vol, Always a Vols! The Proud Men of the Volunteer Nation,' which was published in August of 2006.

"Haywood and I have finished a third book," explained Manning. "But, our publisher went out of business. I don't know if they were trying to tell us something."

With that, Harris, Manning and Ward were finished with their talk, but stuck around to sign autographs and take pictures for anyone and everyone who asked. And, they stayed until everyone had their autograph and photo finished.

The only sad part to this day is that Ward, Manning and Harris couldn't stay longer.

(Editor's Note: A big thanks to the Newport Kiwanis Club for a wonderful afternoon, and to Ward, Manning and Harris for spending time with us.)

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