KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — They start sailing up days or even weeks before kickoff, a blaze-orange armada of watercraft packed with beverages, Tennessee regalia and Volunteer fans who have turned a bend in the Tennessee River into one of the finest tailgating — sorry, sailgating — venues in college football. Sure, you could just tailgate on your school’s quad, surrounded by academic buildings … or you could enlist in the Vol Navy.
Every weekend the Vols are in town, massive yachts, tiny bass boats, stuffed-full houseboats and one-sailor dinghies tie up just outside Neyland Stadium, a massive flotilla dedicated to all things Rocky Top. It’s a magnificent tradition, one that’s either an every-game must-do or a one-and-done, depending on how hard you go at it before, during and after the game. If you haven’t yet been, you’re always welcome, long as you’re piloting something seaworthy.
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The Vol Navy’s origins: Parking is hell
The Vol Navy’s origins spring from that most relatable of gameday challenges: beating the traffic to the stadium. Neyland is one of only two college football stadiums beside a body of water — Washington’s Husky Stadium, on the shores of Lake Washington, is the other — which makes for a scenic vista but hellish traffic access.
In 1962, George Mooney, the longtime play-by-play man for the Vols in the ‘50s and ‘60s, hit on an innovative idea to get to the stadium: by sea rather than by land.
“All the games back then were at 2:30 in the afternoon,” says Bud Sherrod, a Knoxville insurance executive. “We didn’t have lights on the stadium. So he and a friend of his decided that traffic was such a pain in the butt that they would come up to a game in his little boat, a little runabout with probably a 30-horsepower on the back. And then he joked about it on the air,…
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