 |
09/28/03
By ELIZABETH A. DAVIS, Associated Press
 | |
| Smokey leads his Volunteers thru the T for battle, on every giving Saturday in Knoxville. |
Smokey bounds out of the tunnel and through the T formed by the Tennessee marching band, straining his leash the whole way.
Once the game begins, the bluetick coonhound starts to howl, growing louder as the crowd noise rises.
A Vols football game hasn't been complete without Smokey, the mascot tradition that began Sept. 25, 1953, when crowd applause annointed the first hound.
Now the Vols are represented by Smokey VIII, and he's continuing the tradition of his bloodline with his good-natured friendliness with people and occasional mischief.
"He's been an ideal pet and mascot," said Smokey's owner, Earl Hudson.
That is, if you overlook how Smokey scarfed down a hotel washcloth the day before the 1998 national championship game.
Many university teams have real animal mascots obvious in their connection to the team nickname: Georgia's bulldog Uga, LSU's Mike the tiger, and Texas' Bevo the longhorn.
Other mascots such as Southern Cal's horse named Traveler and Oklahoma's Boomer and Sooner, the white ponies that pull a covered wagon, aren't part of the team nickname but linked to the overall theme.
Tennessee students decided in 1953 they wanted a hound dog mascot to go with the Volunteer motif, which also includes a student in a coonskin cap and buckskin suit to resemble Davy Crockett.
They distributed fliers seeking entries to be judged at the Mississippi State game.
The UT Pep Club held a contest in 1953 to select a coon hound, a native breed of the state. "This can't be an ordinary hound. He must be a 'Houn' Dawg' in the best sense of the word."
"This can't be an ordinary hound. He must be a 'Houn Dawg' in the best sense," the fliers read.
The Rev. Bill and Mildred Brooks entered their dog "Brooks' Blue Smokey." The dog that got the loudest cheers was to be the winner. Smokey was the last to be announced.
"He barked. And they cheered for him. He barked again," Bill Brooks said in a 1985 interview.
Hudson, who is Mildred Brooks' brother, and his wife, Martha, took over caring for the Smokeys in 1993 after his sister, then a widow, became too frail. Mildred Brooks died in 1997.
There's an interesting tail - make that tale - behind each of the Smokeys.
Smokey II was kidnapped by Kentucky students in 1955 and returned before kickoff. Vanderbilt students tried the same thing, but accidentally stole Brooks' other dog, Rusty, a hound who was half bluetick and half plott.
Smokey VI was listed on the team's injury report after he suffered heat exhaustion at the UCLA game in 1991.
The black sheep of the family was Smokey VII. He was forced into early retirement after he lightly bit the same tuba player during consecutive games in 1994.
"It's the only time in 50 years it's ever happened," Hudson said.
Earl Hudson, owner of Smokey, the University of Tennessee mascot, poses for a photo at his home Monday, Sept. 22, 2003, in Knoxville, Tenn. The bluetick coonhound is number eight in the line of mascots since the first Smokey was chosen at a football game in 1953. (AP Photo)
Smokey VIII came in as his replacement.
Smokey lives the life of a pampered pooch, sleeping inside the house at night. He gets a whole bench seat in a van to sprawl out on while riding to road games, and he gets hotel, not kennel, accommodations when traveling.
Like a movie star, he is surrounded with special assistants. Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity helps take care of Smokey, and two members are chosen to be his handlers during games and at public appearances.
But Smokey still knows how to act like a dog.
Sometimes, Smokey spends the night at the fraternity house on campus, and his handlers, Travis DeLozier and Scott Walker, have learned not to leave Smokey alone with a pizza.
Walker was the one holding Smokey's leash when the call of nature struck the hound while running onto the field at this year's season opener.
"Luckily it was on the sideline, not the middle of the field," Walker said.
A close call came in 1998. The day before the Fiesta Bowl, Smokey got so sick his handlers had to take him to a vet.
X-rays showed an obstruction in the dog's intestines. But the vet, in consultation with Hudson, determined Smokey didn't need immediate surgery and could make the game and the trip home.
"He went through that game, and you didn't even know anything was wrong with him," Hudson said.
The next day, veterinary surgeons removed a hotel washcloth from the dog's intestines.
Apparently, not every lesson at Diane's Canine School of Charm rubbed off on Smokey.
"We don't do a lot of obedience," Hudson said. "It's not in his repertoire."
The photos are by:
Smokey's Trail, UT Sports, Football Time in Tennessee, Robin Hood and Barry Parker
 |
By Tom Mattingly, Volunteers Magazine [August Edition 2003]
The date was September 26, 1953, in the days before ESPN Sports Center (before television on a large scale, really) and the wall-to-wall coverage of the Vols sports was a few years away, back in the day when the newspapers carried a complete hour-by-hour summary of the day's radio programs. Vols football was big, but nothing like today. Was that day memorable? | |
| "He was a prize-winner, a show dog. Old No. 1 was my favorite because I loved him so much before he became the mascot. They had the contest, and he was the last dog in the line." |
That was the storyline when Tennessee and Mississippi State squared off on Shields-Watkins Field to open the season 50 years ago, the first on The Hill in forever without the legendary Gen. Neyland on the sidelines. The General was still Athletics Director, but had turned over the reins of the Vols program to Harvey Robinson, who was making his debut as head coach. Mack Franklin was the Vols captain. The attendance that day was estimated at 25,000. Johnny Majors was a freshman tailback. Phillip Fulmer was just over three years old 135 or so miles away in Winchester. Most of the parents of today's players had not been born.
Kickoff was at 2 p.m., as it should be, and the selection of the new mascot by the UT Pep Club was a big deal as a sidebar to the game. This was in those halcyon days in which the Vols opened on the last Saturday in September, played their 10 games and went home.
The Maroons of head coach (and former Vol) Murray Warmath won 26-0 that September afternoon, but a bluetick coonhound named "Brooks' Blue Smokey" stole the show and there has been a "Smokey" on the Vols' sideline ever since. (The selection, it should be noted, was not actually made until the Duke game the next week, but everything, including the press reports from the game, indicated that "Blue Smokey" was the consensus choice.)
 | |
| Smokeys I through VIII have been the "top dogs" on campus for 50 years. You don't mess with any of the Smokeys. A lot of people, including Scott Hunter and the Baylor Bear, found that out the hard way. |
Over the years, it was Rev. Brooks, his wife, Mildred, and brother-in-Iaw Earl Hudson who have raised and trained the eight Smokeys who have graced the sidelines of whatever venue where the Vols played.
"He was a prize-winner, a show dog," Rev. Brooks said back in 1985, less than a year before he died. "Old No.1 was my favorite because I loved him so much before he became the mascot. They had the contest, and he was the last dog in the line.
"When they came to him, they said, 'This is old Smokey.' The students were supposed to cheer for the dog they wanted. He barked. And they cheered for him. He barked again. He'd just throw his head back, and he had an awful voice anyway."
Smokey won a bark-off over 19 other dogs and the rest is, as they say, history.
Rev. Brooks had begun raising dogs when he was discharged from the Army in 1945. "He was a hunter and sportsman," Hudson said. "He was the founder of the Volunteer Rescue Squad, a man who liked to do things for people. He loved hunting, coon hunting, specifically."
Here are some highlights in the careers of the eight Smokeys.
Smokey I, who served from 1953-54, got out of Rev. Brooks' garage and was hit by a speeding car on Rutledge Pike on a cold night in January 1955.
"Bill didn't latch the garage door open and Smokey I got out," Earl said. "You have to stay with them. You can't let them roam. They get on a scent and don't let up."
Smokey II got crossways with the Baylor Bear at the 1957 Sugar Bowl. In addition, University of Kentucky students also dognapped him, if that is the proper word. "He had a real fine history," Hudson said. "A week later after Kentucky returned Smokey II, Vanderbilt decided they would do the same thing. They went in and got a dog, but got the wrong one. There's a lot of history there."
It was Smokey III, the longest serving Smokey, however, who caught the attention of an Alabama Bear, this one named Bryant. The year was 1968.
"We were warming up before the game and one of their cheerleaders kept letting Smokey, their mascot, come over close to us and bark," Scott Hunter, then an Alabama quarterback, said. "I got tired of it and took a kick at that old hound.
 | |
| Scott Walker [left] and Travis DeLozier [right] are 2003 handlers for Smokey VIII. |
Smokey IV served 1978-79 and was kept here at UT, and, like Smokey I, got out and was killed in a traffic accident.
Smokey V served from 1980-83 and, in Hudson's words, was a "good one, one that looked like Smokey VIII."
Smokey VI was in on three SEC titles from 1984-91 and died in 1991 of an inoperable brain tumor. When he went down due to a heat stroke in the 1991 UCLA game and missed the Mississippi State game the next week, the Tennessee Sports Information Office was deluged by queries about his condition.
Smokey VII, who served from 1992-94, was the first one out of blood line, He was kicked off the team in the fall of 1994 for nipping at the heels of a band member when the team ran through the "T" before a game, "They used a substitute dog named Woody much of that season," Hudson said.
Back in the bloodline, Smokey VIII has served since 1995 and has two SEC titles and a national championship under his belt.
Earl Hudson
 | |
| Earl Hudson, brother-in-law to original Smokey contributor Bill Brooks, has kept up with Smokey VII and Smokey VIII after Bill and Mildred died, Bill in 1986 and Mildred in 1997. |
Hudson, brother-in-law to original Smokey contributor Bill Brooks, has kept up with Smokey VII and Smokey VIII after Bill and Mildred died, Bill in 1986 and Mildred in 1997.
You'll find Earl in Neyland Stadium on the First row behind the Tennessee bench on the east side of Shields-Watkins Field. A retired pharmacist, Earl has a treasure trove of material about the eight Smokeys and his recollections of his brother-in-law and sister are priceless.
"Bill was the head of missions for the Knox County Baptist Association," Earl said. "He spent a lot of time building new churches in West Virginia, Montana, North and South Dakota and in Bolivia. He was a lay minister who did a lot of good for a lot of people.
"Mildred made all the vests for the Smokeys. I think it was Smokey V who grew so fast she made two or three vests for him over a threemonth period."
Now 77, Earl spends a lot time with Smokey VIII and the relationship between man and dog is inspiring to watch.
While Bill said he loved No.1 (see accompanying story) like no other, Earl told us that No. VIII is his favorite although Smokey III, the longest-lived Smokey, was close. "He's right up there with No. VIII," he said.
Happy Birthday to a line of Smokeys that now numbers eight.
|
Smokey's Trail, UT Sports Copyright © 1997-2007 All Rights Reserved |