It's Football Time in Tennessee
Each August the newsletter veers from real estate topics and improvement tips to welcome the start of a new football season and honor our legends of the past. I hope you enjoy this year’s contribution.
NEWSLETTERSFOOTBALLTENNESSEE
Each August the newsletter veers from real estate topics and improvement tips to welcome the start of a new football season and honor our legends of the past. Most recent football newsletters featured the Sewanee Tigers, Bedford County Training School, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Buford “Baby” Ray, and Claude Humphrey. I hope you enjoy this year’s contribution.
Are you ready? Do you have the fever yet?
August - a time for high school jamborees, college practices, NFL preseason games - all gearing up for the launch of a new football season at the end of the month.
The traditions and passions run deep in the South when it comes to football and the state of Tennessee has produced some of the most successful and memorable champions, athletes and coaches throughout the decades and this month we highlight John Ward, famously known as the voice of the Vols for over 30 years.
Good luck to the Titans, Governors, Phoenix, Blue Raiders, Tigers, Golden Eagles, Volunteers and Commodores in the upcoming season. Here's hoping each team exceeds their goals for this year's football campaign!
John H. Ward
In general, when a sports figure announces his or her retirement, the news is respectfully noted and then filed away. Sometimes, however, such an announcement marks the end of an era. Such was the case when John Ward (April 22, 1930 – June 20, 2018), the legendary “Voice of the Vols,” made public his decision to unplug his microphone following the 1998-1999 season.
For me, like many of my fellow boomers, John became our eyes with his color commentary when televised college football games were rare and before the creation of sports cable television. I have vivid memories of the excitement listening on my transistor radio to John describe pregame preparation, the stadium’s environment leading up to Pride of the Southland band’s formation of the T to open up as John announces that it is “Football time in Tennessee”. Even attending the games, many people brought their radios to listen to John Ward’s play-by-play description of the football and basketball games. The below video provides a flavor of John’s delivery, color commentary, and fond memories for the Volunteers fans.
John, a UT alumnus, was an American sportscaster, best known as the radio play-by-play broadcaster for the University of Tennessee (UT), primarily from 1965 until 1999, and known to fans as the "Voice of the Vols". In addition to his duties with the Vol Network, Ward covered events for ABC-TV and ESPN.
During his 30 years with the Vol program, he broadcast a total of 1,310 games and served as commentator for 966 basketball games and 344 football games. Ward broadcast his last football game on January 4, 1999, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, in Phoenix, Arizona, in which UT defeated Florida State for the national championship. John’s nationally known expressions were “It’s football time in Tennessee”, “Give him six” (football); “Bottom” (basketball). His normal touchdown call was prefaced by counting runners toward the goal line with "Four, three, two, one..."
Recognitions
Sportscaster of the Year in Tennessee 28 times by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
Recognized as the Best College Announcer in the nation in 1976
Member of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame (1991)
Honor of the Joe Johnson/John Ward Pedestrian Mall at the University of Tennessee
John Ward Broadcast Center
“Touchdown Tennessee”, recording by Kenny Chesney recognition
Received the Lindsey Nelson Collegiate Broadcaster of the Year Award in 1998
Source (excerpts): Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame; University of Tennessee; YouTube; Wikipedia