From Cas Walker's

to Downtown Hawkers

______

some happenings during

more than seventy years in

Knoxville, Tennessee

1934 - 2007

with comments, reminiscences,

and observations

of an old curmudgeon

Ronald R. Allen

2008

_________________________________

This is an account of some happenings in Knoxville, Tennessee since 1934, the year I was born. The first words in the title of course refer to Caswell Orton ("Cas") Walker, long time member of City Council, and short-term mayor, who earlier had already established his local grocery store chain, stores that inexplicably managed to thrive even though some were often the dirtiest and most unkempt grocery stores in town. "Downtown Hawkers" refers to the sometimes overzealous promoters of downtown Knoxville in modern times, including developers, politicians, and those who can afford to live in those new downtown condominiums and who seemingly thrive on what seems sometimes to a Bohemian type lifestyle, in what these days is referred to with the much-overused phrase, "upscale living".

This is obviously not a detailed history of any aspect of the happenings in Knoxville during these years. Such a work would necessitate reading every page of every day's local newspapers for more than seventy years. From the time I first envisioned this work, I rather doubted that I'd have quite that much time. So I've managed only to mention some of the things that occurred during each of those years. They involve politics, sports, businesses, tragedies, crimes, humor, and many other topics. The information has been gleaned from local newspapers, interviews with people who were living in Knoxville during many of those years, personal recollections, and other sources. These are merely recollections of events from the past, but perhaps they will occasionally reveal something about places, people, and events that are unknown to newer residents, and either remembered, unknown, or sometimes forgotten by others.

Among the information included here, readers will find some details concerning numerous proposed but often partially (and sometimes entirely) unsuccessful renovation projects in the downtown area during the past half century or so. Likely, newer Knoxville residents and some in the younger generation have never heard of many of them. But they clearly reveal that the recent attempts to "revitalize" the downtown Knoxville area is hardly a recent movement. Numerous downtown projects during the past half century have included the Market Square Project ; Promenade ; Gay Way ; Downtown Plan of 1974 ; 1977 East-West Mall between Market Square and Gay ; Union Mall ; Farragut Square Joint Venture ; Riverfronts of Knoxville ; East - West Wall Avenue Mall ; Knoxville Tomorrow ; Renaissance Knoxville ; and Main Street Knoxville. Those and other projects verify that attempts to revitalize the downtown section have been in the works for many years. One example is a statement made by Knoxville's mayor ... " Something close to a miracle has been happening in Knoxville. It is bustling with a perfectly phenomenal number of new developments of every conceivable nature. Nothing more than a drive through downtown is required to see evidence of the vitality of the city. There are many renovations, plus new construction underway." Those were not the words of current mayor Bill Haslem. Rather, they were written by mayor John Duncan, in his revies of the conditions in Knoxville in December, 1961.

Occasionally, you'll find comments concerning certain reports of events that have appeared in modern local writings and newspaper articles, statements that have sometimes repeated and/or reproduced so often that they apparently are now generally accepted as factual, despite being inaccurate. You'll also find some of my personal observations, often not particularly in step with many others. Those thoughts are merely the opinions and observations of the author, a lifelong resident of Knoxville. They may occasionally provide food for thought.

At best, this book may be the only available year-by-year account of a hodgepodge of information about happenings in Knoxville for such an extended period of time. At worst, it's just a waste of time ... yours for reading it, and mine for taking a long time to compile the information.

Ron Allen

______________________________________

1934

Dr. James G. Hoslkins became the fourteenth President of the University of Tennessee.

Three boys lost their lives, being burned beyond recognition in a fire at the CCC camp in Anderson County, at Norris. Four other boys suffered burns in the fire.

Tennessee's basketball team won ten games and lost seven in 1933-1934, including a 29-26 loss to Alabama in the semi-finals of the SEC tournament.

The new US post office building, facing Main Avenue and covering the entire block between Walnut and Locust and north to Cumberland, opened February 15, 1934. Several old homes were demolished to make way for the new facility.

Knoxville's Smokies finished in sixth place during each half of the 1934 Southern Association baseball season. Their record was 72 wins and 79 losses. The total attendance for all home games was reported to be around 80,000 fans. Knoxville had joined the league in mid-season in 1931, and during their thirteen years in the Southern Association, through mid-season in 1944 when the franchise was transferred to Mobile, the Smokies not only never came close to winning a championship, they often finished the season in last place.

Knoxville High School won eleven of twelve game in 1934, their only loss being to Asheville, North Carolina. Central was undefeated and un-scored upon going into the annual City-County game, but they lost that game to KHS, by the score of 12-2. The game was played at the University of Tennessee's Shields Watkins field. That UT field had been the usual site of that Thanksgiving Day game since early in the twentieth century, when the games were originally played at Wait Field, at the corner of Fifteenth Street and Cumberland Avenue, and they continued to usually be played at the Vol field until KHS eventually closed in 1951, other than a couple of times when scheduling conflicts resulted in the game to be played at other sites. A near-riot took place when several hundred unruly fans stormed the field at the conclusion of the 1934 game and attacked one of the referees, disputing some of the decisions made during the game. It took police more than a half hour to restore some semblance of order. It was first rumored that because of that alercation the annual game between the teams would be discontinued, but calmer heads eventually prevailed and the city-county games would continue in the fall of 1935. As usual, all members of the 1934 All City team consisted of players only from KHS and Central. The city's only other high school was Austin High School, the city's black high school, and during segregation times that school competed only against African American schools.

Stair Tech didn't exist yet, Rule was still a junior high school, and while some county schools fielded football teams, their sports teams didn't yet compete against any city schools in 1934. Young High School's football team had existed since the early 1920's, and the school actually had fielded a team as early as 1915. Although no records of games played by the Karns High School team in 1934 have been found, the school is know to have fielded a football team in those times, and results for games by the Karns team have been located in local newspapers for the years 1930, 1931, 1932, 1937, and 1938. At least three games were played by the Powell High School football team in 1934. Halls High School also had a football team in 1934, and had fielded a team as early as 1930. Those early Halls teams were known as the Deers, not the Red Devils.

Former Tennessee tailback Beattie Feathers, playing professional football in his rookie year for the Chicago Bears, became the first professional player to rush for 1,000 yards in 1934. But of more significance is the fact that after more than seventy years, although perhaps few people realize it today, Feathers still holds the professional football record for average yards per rush during a single season. That year, he rushed for 1004 yards in 101 carries, for an average of nearly ten yards per carry.

Tennessee won eight of ten games during the 1934 season, the losses being to Alabama ( 13-6) and Fordham (13-12). Season tickets cost $8.00 in the East Stands or $10.00 in the West Stands. Following the season, it was revealed that Tennessee's head coach, Major Bob Neyland, was being transferred to Panama for what was announced as a two year term, and that he would not coach Tennessee the following season.

A round trip ticket via Greyhound bus from Knoxville to Miami Florida cost $22.95 in 1934.

A Believe It or Not attraction was held for several weeks in 1934 at the southeast corner of Gay and Church, in the vacant old News Sentinel building.

Jefferson Hall on the University of Tennessee campus was destroyed in a fire on the night of November 20, 1934.

At the Roxy Theater, originally opened in 1932 on Union Avenue primarily as a movie theater, the management added live vaudeville stage shows in late 1934, initially featuring comedian Cotton Watts and a chorus line of scantily clad dancing girls. A few vaudeville shows and live stage presentations had earlier been shown on the Roxy stage, but they did not become a regular attraction at the theater until the fall of 1934. Those vaudeville stage shows continued until 1947, when the stage shows were dropped late that year. The Roxy was Knoxville's last theater offering both movies and live vaudeville entertainment on a regular basis.

A restaurant operated at the airplane-shaped service station on Clinton pike, called the Aeroplane Tea Room. The restaurant was located just to the south, next to the station itself (see illustration) and the eatery's newspaper advertisements listed lunch and dinner offerings.

The first Air Mail stop was made in Knoxville in 1934, at the Island Home Airport.

The Great Depression continued, and the federal government contributed relief to residents in Knox County in the amount of more than one and a half million dollars in 1934.

In the final weeks of 1934 there was dissension among citizens concerning activities of Knoxville's City Council, when it was charged that secret ballots had been cast by the Council to elect Charles Seigel to replace the late W. N. Smithson, and barred the public from those hearings. More than seventy years later, eerily similar complaints echoed in Knox County that were almost identical to those in 1934, when local citizens were up in arms concerning secret and questionable meetings and appointments made by the Knox County Commission in 2007.

Thirty-five people were killed in motor vehicle accidents in Knoxville in 1934, more than twice the number of similar fatalities in 1933. The Chamber of Commerce suggested that perhaps stricter traffic laws needed to be in place.

By December, precipitation in Knoxville in 1934 had totaled 40.4 inches since March.

The first-ever professional football game in Knoxville was played on December 22, 1934, between Chicago Bears and Brooklyn Dodgers. UT refused to permit the charity game to be played at Shields Watkins field, reportedly because of the school's "opposition to professional football", and the game was played at the Caswell Park baseball field, Smithson Stadium. The game featured Red Grange, and two former Tennessee players, Herman Hickman and Beattie Feathers. The Bears won the game, 20-6. 2,500 fans were in attendance, the Community Chest received $2500 for its coffers, and each team received $1000 from the gate receipts.

and elsewhere in the news in 1934 ... The Dionne quintuplets were born in Canada. John Dillinger was shot and killed outside a Chicago movie theater and the notorious pair, Bonnie and Clyde, were ambushed and killed by lawmen in Louisiana. Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the midst of his first term as President. The great 'Dust Storm" ruined millions of acres of crop lands in Kansas, Texas, Colorado and Oklahoma. The St. Louis Cards won the World Series, and Minnesota was named the national collegiate football champion. It Happened One Night, The Gay Divorcee, The Last Days of Pompeii, and The Man Who Knew Too Much were among popular movies in 1934. Popular songs included Autumn in New York, Blue Moon, I'll String Along with You, and Miss Otis Regrets. A top radio show in 1934 was Amos and Andy, which continued its popularity among listeners, despite the fact that some in the black population were critical of the show and it's two white stars, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who mimicked black characters on the show. Years later those protests continued when the program series became a weekly television series, and the program was removed from the air after only two years. The public listened on their radios as President Franklin Roosevelt delivered his frequent "Fireside Chats" in 1934.

1935

On January 1, 1935, Austin High School lost its bid for the National Negro Football Championship by a single point, losing 13-12 to the William H. Spencer High School, in what was called the Peach Bowl game, played in Columbus, Georgia.

In April, Governor Hill McAlister signed into law a bill permitting local governments to legalize Sunday movies. Memphis had led the fight, and would soon implement the change in that city, but it would be another dozen years before movies on Sunday were legalized in Knoxville.

The Rialto Theater opened at number 5 Market Square.

City officials wrestled with efforts to find a municipal system to use in the distribution of the newly created TVA electrical power for the area.

In 1934-1935 Tennessee's basketball team won ten games and lost five. It was Bill Brittan's last season as head coach. He was replaced by Blair Bullion the following season.

A new concrete viaduct was completed, replacing the old Oak Avenue bridge.

Knoxville's Tommy Wright made it to the finals of the state golf tournament played at Cherokee County Club in Knoxville, before losing the title to Tom White of Memphis.

A crowd estimated at 15,000 people celebrated the completion of the road project that widened and straightened Broadway, to Cecil Street.

Heavy winds swept through East Tennessee and Knoxville in March, including a wide path of wind that caused extensive damage and injured many people in the Fountain City area. Thousands of dollars in property damage was reported.

The new Stair Tech (Stair Technical Institute) opened in 1935. It was the city's third high school, the others being Knoxville High School and the city's only high school for African American students, Austin High School. Out near Lonsdale, in what then was then known as West Knoxville, Rule High School -- originally a combination elementary and junior high school -- would add grades 10 and 11 in 1937, then add the 12^th grade, to become a combination junior-senior high school in 1938.

Announcement was made that Knoxville had joined with Maryville and Alcoa to establish a new municipal airport in Blount County. The WPA was to begin work on the project immediately. The Knoxville airport was then located on the south side of Sutherland Avenue, on the site that now includes West High School. Originally listed in city directories as the location of the Knoxville Aero Corporation in 1929, by 1931 the airport was called the McGhee Tyson Airport, and the same name was later retained for the new Blount County facility.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed through Knoxville for the first time, on his way to inspect TVA's Norris Dam.

Suburban Society News in the Journal provided weekly reports and news from local communities, examples including such neighborhoods as Oakwood and Lonsdale.

A serious diphtheria epidemic hit town, resulting in the establishment of clinics where more than 4,000 children were immunized.

In baseball, Knoxville finished dead last in the Southern Association in 1935, winning 57 games while losing 95. Owner Bob Allen and son Edgar reportedly had the lowest payroll in the league, and the Smokies obviously looked the part.

Frank Moffett died in 1935. Moffett had been a manager of Knoxville baseball teams since the 1890's, once managed the UT baseball team, and was the most influential baseball man in the city for many years, despite frustrations because of fan apathy and low attendance at home games played in Knoxville, particularly during the early twentieth century.

Fire destroyed the Woman's Building at Chilhowee Park, just before to the opening of the annual Tennessee Valley A & I Fair. The fair went on as planned, and set a new attendance record, with a reported 311,500 visitors during the week long event.

A dispute developed concerning the proposed site for a new junior high school in West Knoxville. The chosen site was the Washburn property on Kingston Pike, opposite the UT farm. But a large contingent of citizens attended a called meeting of City Council, objecting to the site and recommending instead that the new school be built at the city park called the Rose Bowl, at Clinch Avenue and Sixteenth Street. The original Kingston Pike location was eventually chosen, where the Tyson Junior High School was built. Concerning that suggested alternative site in 1935, even some long-time Knoxville residents might be surprised to learn that the original name of that park was the Rose Bowl. Within a few years, the park was called the "Rose Hole" (the name by which I knew the park) but local newspaper references in the 1930's concerning games and events at the site verify that the earlier name of the park was the Rose Bowl.

Police raids one evening resulted in the confiscation of 80 gallons of whiskey and the arrests of five men. Slot machines at two different sites were also confiscated.

Central High School won the district basketball tournament, then lost in the finals of the regional tournament to Erwin. They claimed the state football championship in 1935, winning all ten games including an 8-6 victory over Knoxville High School. Knoxville High School won seven games, lost three and tied one. Austin High School won the State Colored Championship by defeating Pearl High School, 7-6.

Boxing matches promoted by Joe McDonald were popular in Knoxville in 1935, held at Market Hall in the Market House. and also sometimes at the Lyric Theater.

Catholic High School's first football team played in 1935, but apparently the attempt to compete in the sport was abandoned after that season, and the school would not field another football team until many years later.

Christenberry Junior High School opened in North Knoxville in 1935, on Warren Avenue. The name of that street was later changed to Oglewood. Warren Avenue originally did not extend eastward from the site of that school to its termination today, at Broadway.

Tennessee assistant coach Bill Britton took over the head coaching duties while Major Robert R. Neyland was in Panama on military assignment. Neyland was quickly missed, as the Vols posted a losing record, winning only four of ten games that year, their victories being over Southwestern, Auburn, Centre College, and Mississippi. Among the defeats was a 38-13 pounding by North Carolina, Tennessee's worst loss since 1925. That year, Herbert "Herbie" Tade, center on the Vol football team, suffered a paralyzing injury and brain damage in the Kentucky game, played at Stoll Field in Lexington. Tade remained bedridden, initially at his parent's home in Paducah, Kentucky. Unable to ever walk or talk, Tade lived until 1970. It was one of two serious tragedies in the annals of UT football, the other being when Tennessee halfback Bennett Jared suffered a debilitating spinal injury in the game against Vanderbilt in Nashville, in 1915. Jared unfortunately never recovered and died the following summer as a result of the injury.

Knoxville radio station WNOX was purchased by Scripps Howard in December, 1935. Initially, the station was located in the Andrew Johnson Hotel, but by the following year it had moved to the Market House. The studios later were in the 100 block of South Gay, then still later at the Whittle Springs Hotel site in North Knoxville. Years later, an illustrated account of the radio station appeared in the June, 1951 issue of Scripps Howard News magazine.

Bob Neyland returned from Panama after only one year, and accepted a five year contract as the head coach at Tennessee. In December, the War Department announced a new policy that prohibited members of the military from coaching sports teams at any level. Neyland initially requested a one year absence from the military, without pay. In the meantime, a local sports columnist mentioned that he had been asked by a local citizen if it were true that Neyland's salary as the UT coach was $12,000, and upon hearing that was true, expressed his displeasure, since that salary was more than the salary then paid to the President of the university. One wonders what that man's opinion would be today, considering the sometimes obscene salaries now being paid to some football coaches in the country.

Local prizefighter and former Central High School football hero Wymer "Baldy" Query died while being rushed to the hospital, after being found lying on Clinton Pike, in what local police described as apparently being a vicious axe murder.

It was revealed that a plot by racketeers to "organize" movie theaters in Knoxville had been uncovered, attempting to force payments for "protection" from theater owners. Movie theater operators reported the incidents, and authorities promptly curtailed the activity.

Bids were taken for a new lighting system at Christenberry Junior High School in North Knoxville, where poor lighting had been a problem since the new school opened.

Popular comic strips in the Journal in 1935 included Dick Track, the Gumps, Moon Mullins, Little Orphan Annie, Ben Webster's Career, and Popeye. Joe Palooka was added the following year.

In December, the Southeastern Conference voted overwhelmingly to provide financial assistance to athletes. The move was generally interpreted as a move to legalize a system that was already in effect by many schools in a "sub rosa", but nonetheless illegal, system The member schools suggested the action merely placed athletes in the same categories as other students who received scholarships and financial assistance. By the end of the month, the NCAA has lashed out at the SEC for its new sports scholarship program, calling the move "a serious threat to the life of amateur sports" in America.

A season ticket to the 1935-1936 UT Vol basketball games cost $3.50.

A charity football game between former players from Tennessee and Vanderbilt was announced, to be played in Knoxville on December 28, 1935. Sponsored by Kerbela Temple for the benefit of children's hospital, the Tennessee coach would be former Vol player "Hobo" Thayer, and players to be featured on the Tennessee team were former Vol players Beattie Feathers, Herman Hickman, and Pug Vaughn. However, the game was delayed, and it was announced that it would not be played until January, 1936.

At year's end, more than 5,000 men and women were working in Knox County on WPA projects.

and elsewhere in the news in 1935 ... Germany's Nazi party established the Nuremberg Laws against Jews, and were actively involved in a breeding program to establish what they envisioned as a 'superior white race'. FDR opened another phase of his "New Deal", including establishment of the Social Security program. Senator Huey "Kingfish" Long, who had continued to control politics in Louisiana from Washington, was assassinated. The Gallup Poll was established, a national poll that in future years would sometimes get egg on its face with erroneous predictions. The US population was just over 127 million people. The Detroit Tigers won the World Series and Minnesota and SMU shared the national football title. Popular movies included The Bride of Frankenstein, Captain Blood, David Copperfield, and Mutiny on the Bounty. 1935 songs included All Through the Night, Cheek to Cheek, I Get a Kick out of You, Lullaby of Broadway, and You Are My Lucky Star.

1936

A football game between former Tennessee and Vanderbilt players, originally scheduled for late December, 1935, was rescheduled for January 4, but a downpour caused the game again to be rescheduled for the following day. The game was finally played at Smithson Stadium on January 5, with the Tennessee team victorious, 13-6. Beattie Feathers and Pug Vaughn led the Vols. Dixie Roberts was the star for the Commodores. Two thousand spectators saw the game, played in ankle-deep mud. These days it's difficult to believe that Feathers -- then a football player with the Chicago Bears, who just two years earlier established the still-unbroken professional football record of an average of ten yards per carry -- would have participated in that contest, let alone that the Chicago team paying his salary would have permitted him to risk injury playing in such a game.

In January, a reported one thousand people still stubbornly remained in their homes in the Norris Reservoir area of Anderson County, where the entire area would be flooded by TVA on February 1, 1936.

Sally Rand appeared at the Lyric Theater on January 6, 1936, with her Broadway Review, performing both her bubble and fan dances. Rand, whose act at the World's Fair was generally credited with having been directly responsible for the financial success of that event, also was a speaker at the Readers Club of Knoxville, at the YMCA, the afternoon before her evening performance. Having experienced problems at her shows in other cities, Sally had established strict rules, including the restriction of the backstage area to virtually nobody other than herself,

to avoid the problem of stage hands and other locals trying to take a backstage peek at her nude countenance during or between performances.

James Elmore took office as Mayor, and George Dempster was appointed to his previous position as City Manager.

The Knoxville Journal moved its offices to the southeast corner of Gay and Commerce in 1936.

Tennessee's Volunteers won their first-ever SEC basketball championship in the tournament held in Knoxville, defeating Alabama in the finals, 29-25. Blair Bullion was in his first year as head coach.

The city suffered a severe drought from April through June, 1936.

TVA reported that it has spent 116 million dollars during the first six months of 1936.

Work began on the new Knoxville-Alcoa-Maryville airport.

The Norris Dam was completed and dedicated.

Knoxville finished in sixth place in the eight team Southern Association in 1936, with 63 wins and 87 losses. Neil Caldwell took over as manager in mid-season. Smokies center fielder Marshall Mauldin lost out on the league batting championship that year, finishing the season with an .378 average, losing the title to Joe Dwyer of the Nashville Vols, who hit .384 for the season.

George C. Anderson, economist for the Tennessee State Planning Commission, recommended that the state's four cent cigarette tax be reduced, suggesting that such a change would increase state revenue, end bootlegging, and benefit legitimate dealers. How a change in the cigarette tax could suddenly put an end bootlegging must have sounded like a bit of a stretch to some people.

The state basketball tournament, discontinued after the 1932 tournament, was reinstated by the TSSAA. The 1937 tournament would be held in Milan, the only Tennessee city submitting a bid to hold the tournament. The participating teams -- a format obviously favoring the western end of the state, but the reasoning for that decision not explained in newspaper accounts -- would consist of a total of eight teams, four from West Tennessee, but only two each from Middle and East Tennessee. At the same time, a proposal to revive the state girl's basketball tournament was rejected.

The Palace movie theater opened in Fountain City, at 4222 Broadway. Later, a skating rink, the adjacent Palace Roller Rink, was also in operation.

A new school for black children opened on College Street in 1936, called the Mechanicsville Junior High School. It is one of the few references I've located from that time period that refers to the original community name, Mechanicsville, since much the residential sections in the general area by then were generally known by other names, such as Western Heights and McAnally Flats. That circumstance may have been among the reasons the name of the school was later changed, to Beardsley Junior High School.

Central again laid claim to the State Championship, in addition to the Mythical Southern and National Championships, with a perfect record of twelve wins and no losses. Following the regular season, Central canceled a post season game in Knoxville against the Masillon, Ohio team, because black players were on that team. The Bobcats also later declined to play a team from Columbus, Mississippi that year. As it turned out, Central was not credited with having won state football championships in either 1935 or 1936, because of sanctions that were placed on the school by the TSSAA early in 1937, due to infractions involving the use of ineligible players. Knoxville High School won ten games in 1936, including a 12-6 victory over previously undefeated Kingsport in a game played in Knoxville. The Trojan's only loss was to Central. One of the football games played by Austin High School in 1936 was against a team called the "Black Vols", a local independent team.

The FBI reported seven murders had occurred in Knoxville during the third quarter on 1936.

Harry Burke was appointed Safety Director in 1936. (See illustration)

It was announced that a WPA financed city park would be built at the old Civil War fort, Fort Dickerson, at a cost of approximately $56,000.

Newspapers reported that the Knoxville High School athletic association would install lights at Smithson Stadium, and that night football games by the team would be played at the site in the 1937 season.

Either quality radio entertainment was at a lull in 1936, or the public's taste had dropped to a new low, when a singing mouse called Minnie performed to a nationwide audience in 1936.

The Knox County Board of Education reported that there were 61 brick schools and 24 frame schools in the county in 1936.

With Bob Neyland back at the helm, Tennessee's football team fared a bit better in 1936, winning six games, with two losses and two scoreless ties. But to begin the season, in their first four games, the Vols won only the first game, 13-0 against Chattanooga, then lost to Auburn, North Carolina and Alabama, scoring only six points in that three game stretch. The Vols did defeat Duke, 15-13, ruining an otherwise perfect record for the Blue Devils. The Kentucky game was played in the snow in Knoxville, on Thanksgiving Day, Tennessee winning by the score of 7-6, before a crowd of 22,000. The season extended into December, when the Vols played to a 0-0 tie against Mississippi. Head coach Neyland was named to serve also as the school's Athletic Director following the 1936 season.

Five people were killed in automobile accidents in Knoxville on Christmas eve, 1936.

and elsewhere in the news in 1936 ... Edward VIII, King of England, abdicated the throne after reigning for less than a year, to marry divorcee Wallace Warfield Simpson. The Spanish Civil War began. In a landslide, FDR was reelected President of the US. The Yankees defeated the Giants in the subway series to win the World Series. Minnesota was declared national football champion, the third consecutive year they held or shared the title. The Summer Olympics were held in Berlin, and a black US running sensation, Jesse Owens, won four gold medals, a slap in the face to Adolf Hitler's theory of a white 'Master Race'. Even so, although winning only five gold medals in track and field, Germany won the overall medal count over the United States, 89-56. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed the construction of a twelve million dollar super highway across the United States, from Plymouth Rock to San Francisco. By 1938, no such road building had commenced, and Roosevelt had expanded the idea to include several other national corridors. World War II soon terminated any such plans, and it would be 1956 before what became the Intestate Highway System, under President Dwight Eisenhower, was commenced Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind was published in 1936. Anthony Adverse, Camille, The Great Ziegfield and Mr Deeds Goes to Town were popular movies. Popular songs included I've Got You Under My Skin, The Glory of Love, Star Dust, Pennies from Heaven, and You Hit the Spot.

1937

The new Social Security old age benefits program went into effect in January, 1937.

The Vols basketball team won 15 and lost 4 in 1936-1937, losing to Kentucky in the SEC tournament finals, 39-25.

The Smokies continued their miserable play in the Southern Association in 1937, finishing in the cellar of the Southern Association with what probably was the worst-ever record for a Knoxville professional baseball team ... forty two wins and one hundred and eleven losses.

Knoxville High School's football team had a perfect record in 1937, winning all eleven games played and claiming the mythical National Championship after season-ending victories over teams from Miami, Florida and Newport, Kentucky. The City - County game (Central vs KHS) was not played in 1937. Central's athletic teams were suspended for one year by the TSSAA because of using an ineligible player, and was not permitted to play any football games against Tennessee teams in 1937. That year, their opponents were teams from other states, including North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. According to contemporary local media reports, the Knoxville High - Johnson City game, played at Caswell Park, was the first night high school football game played in Knoxville. The game was played at Smithson Stadium, at Caswell Park. That report seems to conflict with information indicating that Knoxville's baseball team, the Smokies, didn't play night baseball games at the same site until 1943, when permanent lights were first installed at Smithson Stadium, six years later. However, announcement was made the previous year that KHS home games would be played under the lights in 1937, so perhaps a temporary portable lighting system was used. Years earlier, a baseball game was played under the lights at Chilhowee Park, in 1909, by a visiting team of Cherokee Indians, and that game was played under portable lights that the Indian team brought with them. Stair Tech fielded its first football team in 1937, posting a record of two wins and five losses. Stair Tech dropped out of the Knox County High School Athletic League following the 1937 season. Carter High School's first football team played this year. Young High School finished the season with their best record to date, being undefeated in nine games, although they did not play local powerhouse teams Central or Knoxville High School that year.

The State Theater opened on Washington Avenue on December 13, 1937. The new theater seated 550. The management said the theater was designed both for residents of Park City and North Knoxville. The theater was on the north side of the street, opposite and just east of Standard Knitting Mills. The theater was housed in a building where customers entered an entranceway where small businesses was located on each side of the interior, and the theater entrance was at the end of the hallway.

The Riverdale School was demolished to make way for a new brick building, to be built under the Public Works Administration program. In the meantime, students would attend school in a local church building.

The Department of Agriculture reported that a survey of 140 typical small American towns revealed that the average annual family income was $1,100.

Announcement was made that Nashville newspapers the Banner and the Tennessean would henceforth be published in a single facility. The Banner would no longer issue a Sunday edition of the paper, and the Tennessean would discontinue its afternoon edition. An arrangement not dissimilar to what happened later in Knoxville, when the Sentinel and Journal were published on the same presses, and the Journal dropped its Sunday edition. Later, the Sentinel -- previously an afternoon newspaper -- replaced the Journal as the city's morning newspaper, and the Journal eventually went out of business. In Nashville, the Banner held on much longer, but eventually also went out of business in 1998.

Tennessee's football Vols won six games, lost three and tied one in 1937. The losses were to Alabama, Auburn and Vanderbilt, and the Duke game was a scoreless tie. The wins were against Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Sewanee, Georgia, Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

Front page news in a local newspaper reported in detail a cock fight, witnessed by an estimated 500 people and held in "an adjoining county", where J. P. Leland, "Florida Sportsman", walked off with the first prize of $2750. Obviously a sign of the times, when details of the results of cock fights were considered worthy of front page news in 1937, whereas today it's considered both a disgusting and an illegal so-called "sport".

Thirty-two people were killed in Knoxville in automobile related accidents in 1937. The city's worst intersection was reported to be at the intersection of Central and Broadway, where five people lost their lives and seven other collisions occurred.

Evelyn Hazen renewed her fight to collect the $80,000 she had been awarded in her seduction and alienation of affection suit against Knoxville car salesman Ralph Scharringhaus, filing suit in Circuit Court. The award had been given in a case tried in Kentucky in 1934, and her suit asked for the original amount -- yet to be paid -- plus $19,200 in interest, for a total of $98,200.

Nine people were killed in an overnight fire at a tenement house fire at 118 Sixteenth Street. Nineteen people escaped with their lives, five requiring hospitalization. Six of the dead were children aged 13 and under. The building had no fire escape, and only a single enclosed staircase from the second floor. The building had not been condemned, although it was reported following the fire that nine people had been living in one room in the old house. A few days later, authorities were investigating rumors that possibly the fire had been purposely set to cover up a murder, but the case was later dropped for lack of evidence.

E. Mertin Coulter's biography of Knoxville's controversial preacher, writer, and newspaper editor William G. Brownlow, "Parson Brownlow, Fighting Parson of the Southern Highlands", was published in 1937.

It was announced that the construction of a new gymnasium at Central High School would begin in early 1938.

and elsewhere in the news in 1937 ... Italy withdrew from the League of Nations. Great Britain established an emergency telephone number, 999. It would be more than thirty years before a similar system, 911, was first established in the US, in New York, in 1968. The Hindenberg dirigible exploded and plunged to the ground at Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937, killing 36 people. Newsreel cameras recorded the tragic event that has since appeared many times in movies and on television. Female aviatrix Amelia Earhart vanished over the Pacific Ocean on a round the world trip. The Yankees again won the World Series, defeating the Giants. Pittsburgh was declared national football champion. Among popular 1937 movies were Captains Courageous, A Day at the Races, The Good Earth, and Lost Horizon. 1937 songs included Harbor Lights, In the Still of the Night, It's De-Lovely, Marie, and Taking a Chance on Love.

1938

Controversy was already brewing as new Knoxville Mayor Walter W. "Judd" Mynatt took office. Mynatt had announced that nobody would dictate to him who to appoint as directors in various directorships, but the odd assortment of those who had supported him during the campaign had included both old line Republicans and Democrats, and each faction was pushing for pay-offs in the form of appointments of their candidates to various "plumb" positions.

Singing movie cowboy Gene Autry made a live appearance on the stage at the Bijou Theater.

Ethel Barrymore performed on the Bijou Theater stage in the play Whiteoaks, giving matinee and evening performances on February 8, 1938.

The Park Theater opened at 2301 Magnolia Avenue in 1938.

Tennessee's basketball team won 15 games and lost 8 in the 1937-1938 season. Blair Gillion left in October, 1938, to become the head coach at Cornell.

The Great Smoky Mountain Festival and Wildlife Pageant was held in for three days in June, 1938. Festivities included a beauty contest and a Grand Festival Ball held at the UT's Alumni Memorial Gymnasium, featuring Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra. In an attempt to promote the festival as an annual event, the Journal suggested on the opening day of the Festival, "Let's Make Our Flower Fete an Annual Trademark of Our Scenic Beauty". But it would be more than twenty years before a similar event, the Dogwood Arts Festival that continues today, was established in Knoxville, in 1961. The fact that the 1938 Festival took place obviously contradicts some modern reports, suggesting that Knoxville had never considered holding such an event until John Gunther described Knoxville as the nation's ugliest city, in his book "Inside America", nine years after the Great Smoky Mountain Festival took place.

Douglas Corrigan flew on his famous trip in 1938, thinking he was going from New York to California but instead flying to Ireland. He was immediately given the moniker of "Wrong Way Corrigan".

The Smokies finished the season in the Southern League cellar in 1938, with a dismal record of fifty-nine wins and a ninety-one losses. Manager - player Neal Caldwell was the only Knoxville player to hit over .300, batting .308 for the year. The Smokies' Maurice Van Robaysm led the league in runs batted in with 110. No pitcher on the Knoxville staff posted a winning record that year. Chattanooga manager Joe Engle reported that the Lookouts, now owned by Chattanooga citizens through a stock sale concocted by Engle, had made money during the season. Engle said the only reason Chattanooga had escaped the cellar of the Southern Association was because Knoxville had been so often determined to lose its games, and with tongue-in-cheek he announced that the following season he planned to hold a Knoxville Appreciation Day in Chattanooga, when he would personally plant a kiss on every Smoky who came to the plate.

Austin High School won the State, Southern and National Negro Championship. They played and won a game against the team from Gary, Indiana team on November 25, 1938, to claim the national title. Central's record was six wins and four losses, with a victory over KHS. The first night games at Central's Pruden field were played this year, where lights were installed in September, 1938. Knoxville High School won five games, tied one, and lost two games this year. Rule High School fielded its first football team in 1938, posting a record of two wins, four losses and three ties. Proving that their 1937 record was no fluke, Young's Yellow Jackets won eight of their ten games played in 1938, including a victory over Central High School. Their only blemishes were a loss to Knoxville High School and a 6-6 tie with Etowah. Stair Tech recorded their best-ever record in 1938, winning seven of their nine games, including a 19-0 victory over Rule in the first game played between the schools. The Rule-Stair game became something of an annual grudge match, but after that year Stair Tech never won another game against Rule.

Available on radio in Knoxville in 1938 were local stations WROL. WNOX, the NBC Red Network, and the Columbia Network.

Some while after Gene Autry had made the Knoxville scene earlier in the year, singing cowboy Roy Rogers made a personal appearance at the Riviera Theater. Rogers also dropped by the Tennessee Theater to greet young members of the Popeye Club, who were attending the Saturday morning "school's out" movie at that theater.

In conjunction with the Emancipation Celebration by Knoxville's black population on August 8, 1938, the Rupert Harris Orchestra appeared at Chilhowee Park. A separate section of seats was provided for white spectators. The August has long been the date the local African Americans celebrated emancipation, although back in 1913 local newspapers reveal that Knoxville's black population celebrated the semi-centennial of Emancipation on April 9, 1918, with a parade, music, speeches, and various other activities. April was the date of Lincoln's original proclamation, and August 8 was the date Tennessee Governor Andrew Johnson freed his personal slaves, although all slaves in the state were not freed until two months later.

The new Bearden Junior High School opened on Kingston Pike in September, 1938. Dedication ceremonies were held in December.

It had taken a couple of years to get his feet back on the ground after returning from military service, but Bob Neyland had the Vols running at full speed in 1938. They defeated every opponent, and only the Auburn contest (a 7-0 victory) was a close game. Undefeated TCU was named the consensus national football champion, although Tennessee also was undefeated that year. One reason was that the overall strength of Tennessee's schedule that year was considered to have been fairly weak, although actually it wasn't any weaker than TCU's schedule, and the selection of TCU by the AP and the National Championship foundation is the reason they are considered to have won the crown, although TCU was voted Number One in only four polls while the Vols received the first place vote in eight other polls. Tennessee accepted a bid to play Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on New Years Day. Following the season, rumors were flying that Neyland would leave Tennessee, first said to become the coach at LSU, then later at Florida. The rumors were put to rest when Neyland's contract was extended and he received a $3000 raise, increasing his annual salary to $15,000.

A local 1938 newspaper advertisement listed a nice two story home for sale in the Westmoreland community, priced at $3,500. Not to suggest that prices have changed particularly since then, but in 2007 one of those sizeable publications that offers homes currently for sale in the Knoxville area (those the local newspaper periodically inserts) offered what looked to be not necessarily dissimilar from that 1938 dwelling, also located in the same community but in what is today is referred to as "Old Westmoreland". The price tag for that house was a whopping $796,000.

Comedian George Burns, partner and husband of Gracie Allen in their "Burns and Allen" act, pleaded guilty to smuggling jewelry. Initially, he was reportedly possibly facing a prison term of up to eighteen years.

Ever the humorist, Tom Anderson mentioned in one of his sports columns in the Journal that although he had never lived on a farm, he was a recognized expert in milking magnesias.

Fountain City Midget and Junior football teams won what were called championship games from city teams in games played on the same day at Evans Collins field in 1938. Photographs of those games in the Journal reveal that those teams played in full uniforms, apparent an indication that folks out in Fountain City had more money that did the families in my neighborhood a few years later, when I was playing football for a team in Happy Holler. Neither our team, or the and teams we played, had anything that resembled full uniforms.

Pro Joe Kennedy reported that during 1938 there had been 15,686 rounds of golf played at the Whittle Springs golf course. Total receipts were $11,768, so the average greens fee obviously was less than a dollar. Twenty years later, Whittles was still the only golf course in Knox County where the average John Doe, who did not belong to a local country club, could take in a round of golf. In modern times, players have so many nice golf courses to choose from that are located an hour or less driving distance from the city that Whittles is often the last place many local golfers go to play. In recent years, those who do regularly play at the Whittles course were sometimes referring to it as "Poverty Hills."

No player on Tennessee's undefeated 1938 football team was named a first team selection on the 1938 Associated Press All American team. However, Bowden Wyatt was named to Grantland Rice's All American team, published in Collier's Magazine.

The Strand Theater was closed for remodeling in late 1938 and reopened on December 19, 1938.

Before the Orange Bowl game between Tennessee and Oklahoma, the Journal pictured Sooner linemen Edgeman and Duncan, weighing 215 and 212 respectively, referring to the pair as "Giants". These days, many backfield players weigh more than either of those two, and even small college teams sometimes now field teams with linemen weighing an average of over 300 pounds.

$125,000 was distributed to property owners in McAnally Flats (the community that today is again known as Mechanicsville) where old dilapidated houses had been purchased to be demolished for the construction of the College Homes low rent units for black residents.

In late December, Charles Bush died in a late night fire at 613 Market Street, in a third floor apartment above Hope's Jewelry Store. Three others managed to escape the blaze. Hope's had moved to Market Square by 1938, and the sidewalk clock -- the one that created some mild controversy in recent years, when Kimball's removed the clock when they moved west to a new location -- stood in front of the Kimball's store for around seventy years.

and elsewhere in the news in 1938 ... In Germany, Nazis destroyed homes and synagogues of Jewish families and sent 20,000 to 30,000 Jews to concentration camps. Six hundred persons died when a hurricane unexpectedly hit Long Island and southern New England in September, 1938. The Fair Labor Standards Act established the minimum wage at 25 cents per hour. The radio broadcast of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, narrated by Orson Wells, resulted in a nationwide panic, when many listeners believed the country had actually been attacked by aliens. The Yankees again won the World Series, beating the Chicago Cubs in four straight games. The Big Ten turned down an offer of an annual Rose Bowl tie-in, for games to be played between its champion and the West Coast champion. They changed their minds a few years later, when an arrangement was made for Rose Bowl games that pitted teams from the two conferences. That arrangement lasted for a half century or so. 1938 movies included The Adventures of Robin Hood, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Angels with Dirty Faces, and Boy's Town. Among the popular songs were Flat Foot Floogey, In the Still of the Night, My Reverie, Thanks for the Memory, and Two Sleepy People.

1939

Tennessee defeated Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl game on New Years Day, 17-0. That Vol team is still considered by many as perhaps the best ever Tennessee team, As previously mentioned, TCU was considered the "consensus" national champion in 1938, and the Horned Frogs also won their bowl game on New Years Day.

Johnny Mauer was named the Tennessee basketball coach for the 1938-1939 season. His first team won 14 and lost seven games, winning 2 games in the SEC tournament before losing to Kentucky.

The Smokies at least escaped the cellar in 1939, finishing the season in fifth place in the Southern Association, with 79 wins and 73 losses.

The Broadway Theater was in business, having opened at 2411 Broadway, in the Arlington section, in late December, 1938.

The S & W Cafeteria had moved from their original Gay street location, just south of the Tennessee Theater, into their new facility a block to the north, also on Gay Street. They advertised talking movies, souvenirs for the children, and a special dinner plate for twenty-five cents. They also arranged to take movies of the children of customers on selected nights, then showed those movies the following week.

In 1939, a proposed "Circumferential Boulevard' around the city was proposed the Knoxville Technical Society. A map of the proposed road appeared in the Journal on August 20, 1939. (see illustration) The proposed road was never built.

1939 was the final year Luttrell Park is listed in city directories. A recreational park south of the river, the park had been in existence at least since the 1880's, when it was the site of picnics and holiday entertainment. That 1939 directory lists the location as being "on the north side of Blount Avenue and Vestal Avenue." Nineteenth century local newspaper accounts reported that the park was at the top of the hill on the opposite side of Blount Avenue from where the Baptist Hospital is now located, and an early illustrated brochure of the sites in Knoxville in 1885 included an artists drawing of the park. However, according to an early 20^th century newspaper report, Luttrell Park was dedicated by the City Beautiful League, where it is described as being located on the bluffs overlooking the Tennessee River. An old long-time South Knoxville resident once advised the author that in the 1930's the park had been extended to a point closer to the river bank, near the location where the hospital stands today. The 1930 Comprehensive Plan for Knoxville compiled by the Bartholomew Company includes a photograph of Luttrell Park, although trees and shrubbery obscure any recognizable view of the park itself in that photo.

Central high school had a prefect record of ten wins and no losses in 1939, allowing opponents a total of only thirteen points. The TSSAA voted against a playoff game and no state champion was declared that year. But Central's record was impressive enough to make their claim for the state title in 1939. The new Evans Collins stadium was the site of the annual Thanksgiving day KHS-Central game in 1939 (although the concrete stands had not yet been completed) when UT refused to permit the game to be played at Shields Watkins field, because the Vols season was not yet completed. Central won the game, 13-0. An interesting sidelight to the City-County game in 1939 was that Bill Lobetti was a member of Central's team and his brother, Pete Lobetti, played for Knoxville High. KHS lost eight of eleven games played in 1939, probably their worst-ever season, and a record that has been either forgotten or ignored in most writings concerning the school's football history. The KHS victories were against teams from Frankfort, Indiana, St. Xavier, Kentucky, and Young High School. Until the final game of the season, the Trojans had scored a total of only 36 points in ten games, an average of less than four points a game. A local headline humorously read "KHS Beats Somebody" when the Trojans finally won a game after four straight losses to begin that season. Why their season that year was so dismal, considering their usual quality of their football teams in the years before and after 1939, is not known. Rule's football team took the field under a new coach in 1939, Ralph Hutchins, who replaced Kenneth Coile. Rule improved to six wins that season, and the coach fondly known by players, teachers, and others as "Hutch" would continue as coach at Rule for years afterwards.. Young High School's team continued its excellent overall record from the previous two years in 1939, losing only to Central high School. Austin High School again claimed the National Negro Championship in 1939.

It would be another eight years before the city's final streetcar made its run down Gay Street in Knoxville in 1947, but Knoxville Transit Lines was in the process of systematically discontinuing streetcars in favor of buses in 1939. They had already abandoned several miles of streetcar lines that year, replacing those lines with bus service.

The Union Athletic Club, at the corner of State and Union, was the site of boxing bouts in 1939.

Attorney and Principal of a law college in Knoxville, John Randolph Neal ran an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 1939. Neal was increasingly eccentric in later years, sometimes wandering the streets of downtown Knoxville in strange attire.

The popular Popeye Club continued at the Tennessee Theater on Saturday mornings, with large crowds of local youngsters in attendance each week.

Two hundred cases of liquor were confiscated in a raid on Clinton Pike, near a dive called Myrtle's Place. and a well-known local bootlegger, Ab Case, was arrested. The Torch Club, on Rutledge Pike, was also raided, with 22 cased of liquor confiscated.

Black residents were living in neighborhood called New Hope, in the northeast section of Knoxville, along the eastern end of Cecil Street. (The community name of "Hope VI" was used many years later for the new residential section that replaced the College Homes housing project in the Mechanicsville area.) The original New Hope section included the four block area along the eastern end of Cecil Street, between Myers and Hardin (now Cherry Street), and streets south of Cecil including Clay, Hardin, and portions of Brown, Hoitt, and Potter streets. It was bordered on the west by a white residential section that originally was known as the Mayfield community.

Watson's, the chain operation that featured "fire sale" goods that is usually remembered today for it's Market Square store in Knoxville, also had two other Knoxville stores in 1939 -- one at 140 South Central, the other at 312 South Gay Street.

The softball diamonds at the new athletic field were completed in the summer of 1939, and the suggestion had been made that the new football stadium, still under construction, should be named Collins Stadium, in honor of Knoxville High School football coach Wilson Collins. Eventually, a compromise resulted in the naming of the stadium as Evans Collins, also recognizing the KHS Principal, W. E. Evans. The softball fields later called Winona Park had not yet been so named, since the following year, when the Tennessee state softball tournament was held at the site, local newspapers reported that those games at the softball fields were held at Evans Collins field, instead of the later name, Winona field.

Tennessee's record was even more impressive in 1939. They defeated all ten teams on the schedule, and held their opposition scoreless for the entire season. For the only time during the years when first team All American selections were limited to only eleven players, two Vol players were named to that team, when Ed Molinski and George Caffego were consensus first team All American selections. Having long heard of the exploits of Bob Suffridge at UT, it came as a surprise to the author to learn that while the Vol guard was a first team All American selection on the somewhat lesser known 1939 New York Sun team, he was not selected either to the widely recognized Grantland Rice All American team, then published in Collier's Magazine, nor to the Associated Press team. For that matter, it was even more astounding to find that Suffridge was relegated as a third team selection on the Associated Press All Southeastern Conference team for 1939. Honors came for Suffridge the following year. Later, in 1943, in a poll conducted by Esquire Magazine, Tennessee tailback Johnny Butler's serpentine 54 yard touchdown run against Alabama in 1939 was voted the sixth greatest play of all time in American football competition. Tennessee was not voted the best team in America, the reason again being the weakness of their schedule. Texas A & M was the consensus national champion in 1939. Following the season, Tennessee accepted a bid to play Southern California in the Rose Bowl, on January 1, 1940.

and elsewhere in the news in 1939 ... Germany invaded Poland, an act considered to have been the beginning of World War Two. FDR proclaimed American neutrality. The New York Worlds Fair opened. The Yankees won the World Series, defeating Cincinnati in four straight games. Oregon defeated Ohio State to capture the national basketball championship. Texas A & M was voted national football champion. Albert Einstein wrote to President Roosevelt concerning the possibility of the possible use of uranium to create a chain reaction, the eventual process behind the atomic bomb. Perhaps the largest number of classic movies ever to come out of was in 1939, when films released that year included The Wizard of Oz, Beau Geste, Dark Victory, Gone with the Wind, Destry Rides Again, Goodbye Mr Chips, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, Wuthering Heights, and Young Mr Lincoln. Popular 1939 songs included Beer Barrel Polka, Deep Purple, If I Didn't Care, Scatter Brain, and Over the Rainbow. Radio programs that were popular in 1939 included Jack Benny, The Lone Ranger, the Hour of Charm with Phil Spiltany's All Girl Orchestra, The Aldrich Family with the popular character Henry Aldrich, and a soap opera The Guiding Light.

1940

The Vols lost the Rose Bowl game to Southern California, 14-0, the Trojans dominating the game with twice as many first downs and nearly twice the number of total yardage gained. That loss perhaps solidified the results of the voting in the final poll in 1939, suggesting that the Tennessee team, despite being undefeated and unscored upon, might not have fared that well against consistent quality competition. A review of the 1939 season reveals that the overall record of Tennessee's opponents that year was hardly stellar, their opponents posting a losing record, with 39 wins, 47 losses, and 6 ties. Undefeated Texas A & M had been rated the number one team in 1939, and won their bowl game against previously unbeaten Tulane. For that matter, while the Southern California team that defeated Tennessee had been undefeated as well, they had two blemishes on their record in 1939, ties in games against Oregon and UCLA.

The basketball Vols won 14 games and lost 7 in the 1939-1940 season.

Gone With The Wind opened for a two week run at the Riviera Theater on January 29, 1940, with all seats reserved. The movie was shown in the uncut version, with Clark Gable's naughty utterance of the then nasty word "damn" retained. The film was shown twice daily, and despite what then were high ticket prices (75 cents afternoons, $1.10 evenings) patrons flocked to the theater, and the run was extended for an additional two weeks.

In 1940, Cas Walker opened another grocery store in East Knoxville, at 2560 Magnolia. He owned another business on that street, the Park Drug Company, at 3420 Magnolia. Earlier, an article describing Walker's meteoric rise in the grocery business in Knoxville had appeared in the Knoxville Journal on March 26, 1933, mentioning that at the age of 30 he had already opened ten grocery stores, having come to Knoxville from the hills of Kentucky.

Not that many families in my neighborhood had a refrigerator in 1940. Most people had ice boxes, and every day the ice man drove through the neighborhood and residents bought the needed large chucks of ice that were placed in the compartment in that box, to keep milk, meat, eggs, etc. from spoiling. A sign with a large number on each side (25/50/75/100) was hung outside the front door, with the number indicating the necessary number of pounds of ice needed that day displayed at the top of the sign. The ice man's flat bed truck contained a huge thick block of ice, he used his ice pick to chip a block of the required amount of ice, hoisted it with ice tongs onto a burlap cloth placed on his shoulder, and carried the ice to each home.

The Sunset Theater opened in Western Heights on May 1, 1940, at the corner of Western Avenue and Deaderick. The suggestion repeated in various writings, that downtown's Bijou Theater was Knoxville's only white theater where black people could also attend, is evidence that often it only seems to take a generation or so for local history to be forgotten. At the Sunset Theater, the 400 first floor seats were for white people, but the 200 balcony seats were for African American patrons. For that matter, way back in 1872, when the magnificent Staub's Opera House first opened, the management had also provided separate seating for African American patrons.

Improvements in streets and building construction, among the recommendations from the Bartholomew Company's final report back in 1929 that had been accepted by City Council, were continuing. Some projects had been completed in 1940, including the reconfiguration and widening of Henley / Broadway, and the construction of the Henley Street Bridge.

In mid-season, Freddie Lindstrom took over as manager of the Smokies in 1940, replacing Neal Caldwell. His presence apparently had little effect, as Knoxville posted a record of 57 wins and 96 losses, again firmly ensconced at the bottom of the eight team Southern Association. Because of the rapid turnover in personnel, with the owners the Allen family ridding the team of players who proved to be talented and worth a few bucks in the trade market, only three of the players who had been team members at the beginning of the season were on the roster at season's end.

Sequoyah Village opened in 1940, with dwelling units renting from $40 to $72 monthly. Adjoining were a barber shop and laundry, and plans for the addition of a flower shop, a theater and other commercial ventures were reported to be in the works.

Two of Knoxville's three new low-rent housing projects opened in 1940 ... College Homes in the McAnally Flats section, and Western Heights, between Beaumont and Lonsdale. College Homes, with 423 units, was designated for Negro families, and the 264 homes in Western Heights were originally designed for white families. The name of the northwest Knoxville units, Western Heights, was the name by which the section centered near what years earlier had been called Mechanicsville, along Western Avenue and Deaderick Avenue was known, but within a few years that original section was no longer known as Western Heights, and today the only place in the city known by that name is where those 1940 housing project units are still located. The College Homes complex was in the University Avenue section, the area that today once again is called Mechanicsville, but then was known as McAnally Flats. In modern times, when the College Homes buildings were demolished and replaced with newly built homes in the Hope VI project, some local news reports and articles suggested that after College Homes was built in 1940, it had become a place of criminal activities that were not previously present in that section of town. The evidence is to the contrary. Similar activity had already been flourishing in that area in 1940, and it was believed that many of those problems would be eradicated with the construction of the new complex. In fact, College Homes represented an immense improvement in the living conditions for many in the community, where the housing units replaced numerous low class shacks and sub standard houses that were demolished when College Homes was built. Verification of the earlier conditions in the community that involved frequent brushes with the law is found in the News Sentinel on August 4, 1940, when an entire section of the newspaper was devoted to the opening of the new housing facilities, and where -- concerning the new College Homes -- it was suggested that "One of Knoxville's worst crime corners for years, the intersection of University and College street, in the heart of McAnally Flats, has come upon better days." While criminal elements were perhaps originally curtailed with the construction of the new housing unit, unfortunately they eventually returned in the area, but any suggestion that such activities were not previously present and were created by the construction of College Homes is a fallacy, either created erroneously by modern writers or through faulty memories. A third low-rent housing project, Austin Homes, with 200 units designed for African American families, was under construction in 1940, not scheduled to open until the following year.

FDR swept to victory in the November election, for an unprecedented third term as President, garnering 447 electoral votes to 84 for Wendell Wilkie.

Austin High School won all eight games played in 1940 and laid claim to the National Negro High School Championship for the third consecutive year. Central had nine wins, including a victory over KHS, with one tie, but eventually their official record was only two wins. In late November, their first seven victories were forfeited, when it was ruled by the TSSAA that four players were ineligible, all being over twenty years old and having falsified their birth dates. A few days later, two more Central players were found to be over the age limit and ineligible. It resulted in the requirement of the verification of birth certificates for all players at Knoxville schools in future years. That circumstance probably resulted in the silly rumors that sometimes circulated around town in later years that when Central played games tough opponents they would sneak former and older players onto their team roster. Knoxville High School managed to improve on their miserable 1939 record with a break-even season of six wins and six losses, including a 25-13 loss to Central. Young won their first city high school championship in 1940, including their first-ever victory over Knoxville High School. Actually, Young lost their game against Central that season, but because of the TSSAA ruling, Central was forced to forfeit the game, giving a victory to the Yellow Jackets on paper.

A community forum met at UT to discuss the need for a civic auditorium in Knoxville. Whether it was due to the war that was then on the horizon, or the fact that it took a while to return to normalcy following that long conflict, it would be twenty years before such an auditorium was built in Knoxville.

The city's first outdoor opera, Carmen, was held at Evans Collins Stadium on the night of August 8, 1940, sponsored by the Junior Chamber of Commerce.

In September, a two hour variety show was featured at the open air stage at the TVA&I Fair at Chilhowee Park. Advertisements promoted "Sixty carloads of tent-theaters" were available on the Midway, then located in the section of the south of Magnolia and across the street from the main park.

Desi Arnaz appeared in person at the Tennessee Theater in October, 1940, giving three performances between movies. Coincidentally, the movie playing then, Too Many Girls, featured his future wife, Lucille Ball.

The Tennessee state softball tournament was held at Winona Park in late August and early September, 1940. Actually, the name of the adjoining field was still being used then, following the construction of Evans Collins stadium the previous year, and the reports in local newspapers continued to refer the softball diamonds as Evans Collins field.

In the fall of 1940, Tennessee repeated its 1939 undefeated season the previous year, winning all ten games, and rarely had much difficulty, their closest games being two touchdown wins over Florida and Duke. Despite their record, attendance apparently was not always stellar, since only 8,000 fans were in attendance to see the 41-14 victory over Virginia, and a photograph taken at that game and appearing in the Journal shows the east stands virtually empty. In his final season, Bob Suffridge won the Knute Rockne award as the nation's best lineman. The consensus national polls rated the Vols the number 4 team in the nation, although two polls - Dunkel and Williamson - rated them the number one team. Tennessee was invited to play Boston College in the Sugar Bowl, on January 1, 1941.

A proposal for development of lake front property adjoining downtown was discussed at UT by representatives of the city, county, state and federal officials. Proposals included the elimination of the shanty town on the river bank, renovation of Chisholm Tavern, construction of a historical museum in the area, and a new riverside drive. Eventually, the shanty town was demolished, the Chisholm Tavern was demolished (although it wasn't actually that original tavern after all), no area museum was built (years later, at Gay and Clinch today, the East Tennessee Historical Center is now standing), and perhaps what is now called Neyland Drive might be considered to be something akin to a new riverside drive.

The old News Sentinel building, at the southeast corner of Gay and Church, was demolished in 1940.

In Knox County, 2,522 men joined the Army in 1940.

In early December, residential lots were offered for sale at auction in the Talahi section of Sequoyah Hills, west of the city. The lots were still available from the failed residential development that had gone into bankruptcy more than ten years earlier.

and elsewhere in the news in 1940 ... The first Social Security benefit checks were paid in January. Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of Great Britain. Adolph Hitler's Nazis invaded Poland, France, Belgium, Denmark, and Lexembourg. The Pennsylvania Turnpike opened. The first McDonald's hamburger stand opened in California. Cincinnati beat Detroit to capture the World Series. Indiana won the national basketball championship and Minnesota was named national football champions. Popular movies in 1940 included Fantasia, Pinocchio, Broadway Melody of 1940, and The Grapes of Wrath. Among popular songs in 1940 were Don't Get Around Much Any More, Imagination, This is My Country, I Concentrate on You, and Sleepy Lagoon.

1941

Tennessee's Vols dropped their second consecutive bowl game, this time in the Sugar Bowl contest, losing to Boston College, 19-13. It was a bitter pill for their fans, particularly since Tennessee had been undefeated during both the 1939 and 1940 regular seasons, only to lose both of their post season bowl games those years.

Lonsdale's first and only movie theater, the Lee Theater, opened at 143 Tennessee Avenue. It was a theater for white patrons, located in the then segregated white section of Lonsdale.

In the 1940-1941 basketball season, the Vols won 18 games and lost 5, and won the the SEC championship, beating Kentucky 36-33 in the SEC tournament finals

Despite having a new manager, Bert Niehoff, the Smokies managed to retain their usual position in the cellar of the Southern League, finishing the season with 62 wins and 91 losses.

Knoxville celebrated its Sesqui-Centennial in 1941.

The old Spence home, at Union and Locust, built in 1866, was demolished in 1941.

Local newspapers reported that Welfare Director John T. O'Conner had fired Lloyd Foree, manager of the Whittle Springs golf course. Foree, a professional golfer, said he had taken the job since he had also been promised he would be appointed the club pro. Joe Kennedy was appointed the pro in December, but eventually Foree did become the Whittles' pro, since local papers reported that he had resigned that position to enlist in the military two years later. Following the war, Foree became the professional at the new Deane Hill Country Club. Playing in area golf tournaments, he developed the nickname of "Pump Handle" among many local golfers, because of his maddening habit of continuously tapping the putter in front of and behind the golf ball when putting. The name was well earned. Watching a tournament at Holston Hills once, the author decided take a count on a particular hole, and on that occasion, after lining up the putt, Foree tapped the green with the base of his putter twenty-five times before finally stroking the putt.

Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine appeared in There Shall Be No Night at the Bijou Theater on November 12, 1941. Ticket prices were the same for matinee and evening performances, from $1.10 to $3.50.

Recreational activities at the North Central playground, at Central and Baxter, included a midget football team that continued to be undefeated in November, 1941.

Policeman Ernest Horton died from a gunshot from his own gun at a Fountain City roadhouse called Sizemore's. The trouble reportedly started in an argument with a waitress, when another customer butted in and a fight ensued, Horton was knocked to the floor, his pistol taken, and he was shot in the stomach. Police were looking for the perpetrator. Horton lived in the Beaumont community and had a wife and two children. He reportedly had gone to the beer joint with County Election Commissioner Charles Brown, and the two were reportedly accompanied by one or two women.

Concrete block homes were becoming popular in Knoxville. An area manufacturer had developed blocks that had an overlapping edge to resemble regular siding. Some years ago, I saw one of those homes that was still standing in East Knox County, the only one I recall having seen, and I was surprised to find that it was a concrete block home. I later inquired around, wondering what ever happened to that type of construction, and was told by a long-time local contractor that problems had been encountered in hauling the blocks to building sites, because the extended edges of the blocks would often chip off during transport.

Knoxville High School won eleven straight games, then suffered their only loss at the hands of Central High School. The trite old saying that when annual grudge matches are played between two competitive rivals you can often "throw out the records" was never truer than that year. Going into the game, Central had three ties on its record, including a scoreless tie against a Young high school team Knoxville High had trounced by the score of 39-0. So what happened? Central won the game, of course, 7-0. Knoxville High School played a post-season game against Jacksonville, Florida in an unusual format, against four different Jacksonville schools, each of those teams playing one quarter. KHS won that game, 14-0. Following the 1941 season, Carter High School suspended football during the war years. Two other Knox County schools -- Halls and Powell -- also suspended football during World War Two. Rule won five games and lost five games in 1941. Stair Tech played a seven game schedule, winning only one game in 1941.

Bob Neyland was recalled into military service in May, 1941, and turned over the coaching duties to John Barnhill. That year the Vols won 8 games and lost 2, the losses being to Alabama, 9-2, and Duke, 19-0.

The price of a package of cigarettes increased briefly from 16 cents to 18 cents, but soon was returned to the lesser price because of the price freeze initiated by the FHA. Neighborhood grocery store owners always kept an open pack or two of cigarettes, to sell individual cigarettes to area residents, often being youngsters, for a penny each, picking up an additional four cent profit when a full package had been sold.

Cas Walker was cited for assault and battery, charged with hitting his brother in law, A. B. Kropff, and taking Kropff's child to an unknown location. Kropff failed to appear in court and the case was dropped. In the meantime, Cas had admitted giving Kropff a black eye, when Walker had gone to the home and found Kropff in a drunken and belligerent state and took Kropff's wife (Cas' sister) and her daughter to a relative's home. It was soon reported that Kropff had a shotgun and was visiting Cas' grocery stores around town looking for him. Cas was quoted as saying he hoped Kropff didn't find him. Kropff was manager of one of Walker's stores, and Cas suggested that he was actually "a good person and would be fine when he had sobered up".

The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and the United States was suddenly plunged into World War Two. Newspapers in the days immediately following the attack reported that U. S. planes on more than one occasion had driven back planes from the West Coast, both in the Golden Gate section of San Francisco and at Los Angeles. The bitter war would last until 1945 and approximately 300,000 American soldiers would lose their lives in the conflict.

The Rose Bowl game between Duke and Oregon State, scheduled to be played at Pasadena, was canceled by government order, because of the fears of enemy attacks on the west coast. The site of the game was changed to Durham, North Carolina, at the field of Duke University. It was the only Rose Bowl game ever played at a different location.

A local resident wrote a letter to the editor of the Journal, suggesting that local residents need not be overly concerned during the winter months with the new blackouts dictated by the government, since Knoxville was already covered with a heavy cloud of smoke all the time.

A vote for the legalization of liquor was held on December 31, 1941. As would be true in similar referendums on various occasions until twenty years later, legalization was defeated.

and elsewhere in the news in 1941 ... The Lend Lease act was passed, giving the President power to sell or lease war supplies to other countries. Germany attacked the USSR and the Balkans. On December 7, a surprise attack by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War Two, and the US and Britain declared war on Japan. The Yankees defeated Brooklyn to win the World Series. Wisconsin was national basketball champion, and Minnesota was voted the best college football team. Top 1941 movies included Citizen Kane. Sergent York, How Green was my Valley, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Dumbo, and The Maltese Falcon. Popular songs included Tangerine, Chattanooga Choo Choo, I Don't Want to Walk Without You, and Take the A Train.

1942

Due to the war, shortages in goods were widespread, and the government initiated a rationing program for all citizens. Sugar was first to be rationed, quickly followed by meat, other foods, gasoline, tires, nylons, and numerous other goods. The ration books contained coupons that were presented by families to stores and suppliers in order to purchase a limited amount of restricted items.

Food was always scarce in those days. I vividly remember my mother making hamburgers that were a mixture of half ground beef and half moistened slices of week-old bread we bought at the half price bread store that sat behind the Merita Bakery in Happy Holler.

The new Western Avenue viaduct was completed and opened in September, 1942, providing easier access to downtown Knoxville from what then was known as the Western Heights area. The original viaduct had not extended over the section of railroad tracks to the west, where previously a street crossing at the tracks had been in existence, often causing long waits for passing trains, and resulting in traffic backups.

The 1941-1942 Vol basketball team posted a sparkling record of 19 wins and only 3 losses. They lost to Alabama in the SEC tournament semi-finals, but that year the upset the national champion Long Island University team in the Sugar Bowl tournament, 36-33, snapping LIU's twenty-three game winning streak. The record was not the best ever at Tennessee at that time. The Vols had posted a record of 11-0 in the 1915-1916 season, the school's only ever undefeated year in basketball. However, it should be mentioned that their opponents in the earlier years were not always the most staunch competition, since although their opponents sometimes included such teams as Georgia and Kentucky, they often played such teams as the Knoxville YMCA, and in the 1920-1921 season they won one game and lost another in a pair of contests played against the Knoxville High School team.

According to an article in the Journal, "creamed beef" was a favorite with American soldiers, and the article even went so far as to publish a recipe for that dish. Over the years I've talked with several men who were in the military in World War Two, and their usual opinion has been a less complimentary recollection of what some considered to be an abomination, one they still refer to as "SOS".

City manager Guy Webb announced that the city-owned Whittle Springs Golf Course would close for the duration of the war. Whittles Pro Lloyd Foree had already resigned his post to enlist in the Army Air Force. I have not determined precisely how long the course was closed, if it actually ever was, but local newspapers reveal that the following year in 1943 the course was in operation, the professional and greens-keeper then being Lon Mills.

The Karns High School gymnasium was destroyed by fire in 1942 and the McCallie School also suffered heavy damage in a fire.

The War Department announced that a five million dollar contract had been awarded to the international construction firm of Stone and Webster, for work on a 56,000 acre tract, recently acquired by the government in Anderson and Roane Counties. The announcement reported that the project would be under the direction of the Manhattan District Corps. Rural towns in the area -- Robertsville, Wheat, Elza and Scarborough -- disappeared from the scene, and a new city called Oak Ridge promptly rose at the site. Essentially nobody knew then, nor until the end of the war in 1945, that the multitudes of hastily constructed dwellings, buildings, and hoards of workers at the new secret city were working on the development of the atomic bomb, in what was known as the Manhattan Project.

The Tennessee Valley Players, a local thespian group, presented the play "Suspect" at Tyson Junior High School. An aspiring young local actress named Patricia Neal, called Patsy in the newspaper account, later to win awards including a Tony and an Academy Award for her stage and screen work, was associated with the local group.

Many able bodied men were serving in the military service in 1942, as World War Two raged, and the quality of professional baseball throughout the country suffered as a result. But in Knoxville, that hardly was a logical excuse for the Smokies, since their position at season's end that year -- once again in the cellar of the Southern League, with a record of 61 wins and 88 losses -- was by then pretty much expected by local fans.

The Knoxville Boy's Club was established in September, 1943. It was located at 312 West Vine, in the first block west of Gay Street. In December, there were 97 members, but the management had a goal of enrolling 300 to 400 members by the following year.

Happy Home was a small community of black residents, living in the section south of Ball Camp Pike in Knox County, west of Third Creek Road, including Rucker and Harris Streets. During World War Two, residents of the community cultivated neighborhood farms, and surprisingly -- for Knoxville -- their primary crop was cotton. One Happy Home resident reported that he had harvested 800 pounds of cotton in 1942.

The Knoxville City School Board adopted a pay schedule to apply to teachers in the school system. A starting annual salary of $800 would apply for all teachers. The top pay, for those with nine years experience and a Masters Degree, was $1350 per year.

A referendum to permit Sunday movies in Knoxville was scheduled in late 1942, but a court injunction to prevent the vote was filed and later the referendum was called off. Sunday movies had been legal in the state since 1935, but required local authorization. Knoxville would not approve Sunday movies until 1947.

Knoxville High School won the State Championship in football in 1942, with a record of ten wins and two defeats, the losses being to teams from Miami and Asheville. The loss to Asheville was particularly one-sided, the Trojans being overwhelmed by the score of 26-0, and it should be mentioned that Asheville's tailback was a young man named Charlie Justice, who went on to become an All American at North Carolina, with the nickname of "Choo Choo". KHS won the trophy as the Number One team in Tennessee based on the Litkinhouse ratings. Central won seven games and lost two. One of their losses was to Knoxville High School, by the score of 19-7, being their first loss to the Trojans in seven years. Central was offered the chance to play in a post-season game in Chattanooga on December 8, 1942, but declined, the reason being that some players were already committed to play in a charity game in Knoxville on that date. The charity high school football game was played in December, at Evans Collins field, between all star teams from the city against the county. The county won, 14-6, the game played before a disappointing crowd of less than one thousand fans. Rule won five games, lost five, and tied one in 1942. Gus Manning led the Golden Bears over Stair Tech, 19-0, in the season's final game. Stair Tech won three games, lost four, and tied the "B Team" of Knoxville High School.

The Knoxville College football team suffered it's worst loss ever in 1942, losing a game to South Carolina State by the overwhelming score of 94 to 6.

The first unannounced blackout, as a part of the Civilian Defense efforts, was hardly a success in Knoxville, as many of those who had already known the meaning of the sirens did not turn off their lights because they didn't hear the sirens. The system was being tweeked in order that all citizens could hear the sirens and turn out all lights, and another blackout was soon held and was much more successful.

Apparently Popeye had gone out of favor in 1942, since the weekly Saturday morning program at the Tennessee Theater that featured contests, live entertainment, and movies for the younger set, earlier called the Popeye Club, was now called the Donald Duck Club.

Under wartime coach John Barnhill, Tennessee won eight games, tied South Carolina, and lost only to Alabama in 1942. Several players on that UT team in 1942 went into the military and later returned to play for the Vols following the end of the war, including Dick Huffman, Walter Slater, and Denver Crawford. The 1942 game against Cincinnati, won by the Vols by the score of 34-13, was played before a crowd estimated at less than 5,000, and that included Boy Scouts and other groups that were admitted free. Larger crowds of course watched Tennessee's more significant home games that year, but the small number of fans that attended that Cincinnati game is perhaps even more surprising considering the fact that 18,000 fans attended the annual game between Knoxville and Central high schools on Thanksgiving day that year, at the same Shields Watkins field. Tennessee accepted the invitation to play Tulsa in the Sugar Bowl on New Years Day, January 1, 1943.

Gerrard "Buster" Ramsey, a guard for William and Mary and former player for Knoxville High School, was a first team All American selection in 1942.

In the Greenway community, Broadway and Tazewell Pike were completely underwater on December 2, 1942, following heavy downpours.

Coffee sales were halted in late November, and rationing went into effect December 1. Families were permitted to purchase one pound of coffee every five weeks. Gasoline rationing also went into effect December 1, 1942. All owners of motor vehicles were required to obtain a Certificate of War Necessity in order to purchase limited repair parts, tires, or gasoline.

Joseph David, Sugar Bowl President, requested that all tickets to the Sugar Bowl game between Tennessee and Tulsa on New Years Day be returned. Defense Transportation Director Joseph Eastman had announced that he wanted no form of travel to the bowl games in the United States. The action was due of the fear of danger to citizens, through sabotage by the enemy. Tennessee coach John Barnhill reported that he had returned 600 tickets, but between 200 and 300 tickets to the game had already been sold.

and elsewhere in the news in 1942 ... Germany's Nazis had established what was referred to as their "final solution" to the Jewish question, the abominable planned genocide of all Jews, in what became known as the Holocaust. American Expeditionary Forces landed on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts in the first major scale American offensive of the war. A fire at the Coconut Grove night club in Boston killed 491 people. The women's military services were established in the U.S. St. Louis defeated the Yankees to win the World Series. Stanford won the NCAA basketball championship and Ohio State was voted the national football champions. Casablanca, Bambi, Flying Tigers, The Big Street, and For Me and My Gal were among popular movies in 1942. Popular songs included I'll Remember April, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Moonlight Becomes You, That Old Black Magic, and Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition. On radio, President Roosevelt's Fireside Chats continued, as Americans listened to his reports concerning the progress of the war. New programs in 1942 included Abie's Irish Rose, Junior Miss, People are Funny, and Voice of America. Popular children's programs included Let's Pretend and The Quiz Kids.

1943

Tennessee won the Sugar Bowl game on New Years Day, 1943, defeating Tulsa, 14-7.

In May, a carnival type exhibition called the Pan American Train Show played in Knoxville, on railroad cars at Depot and Jacksboro streets, featuring a magician, a 'headless woman', a giant octopus, and other attractions.

Newspapers were full of war news daily, including reports of battles on the European and Asian fronts, the Russian - German conflicts. Those papers also reported activities and locations of area servicemen, including the too-often news of soldiers who were either missing in action or who had died in the conflict.

Knoxville High School reported that 160 students were in the Distributive Education program, working part-time in local businesses. Their average hourly wage was 35 cents per hour. In 1943, a reported 400 young people between 16 and 18 years old were working full time jobs in Knoxville, said then to be the largest such number in history.

In the 1942-1943 basketball season Tennessee posted a record of 24 wins and five losses, and won the SEC championship, defeating Kentucky, 33-30, in the final game. Coach Johnny Mauer announced that there would be no basketball team at the University of Tennessee in 1943-1944. Not only were there not enough boys available for a team, but Army Trainees had completely taken over the Alumni Memorial gymnasium.

Coal supplies were at a dangerous low level nationwide in 1943. That year, 55% of American homes were heated by coal, 22% by wood, 11 percent by gas, 10% by fuel oil, and apparently none by electricity. When coal prices were increased to eleven dollars a ton, I remember my mother gravely predicting that we probably would freeze to death that winter,

The Smokies escaped the cellar in the Southern Association, finishing in fifth place with a record of 65 wins and 71 losses. The 1943 season was memorable for having been the first season when lights were installed at Smithson Stadium and Knoxville played night baseball games. Knoxville was the last team in the Southern League to install lights. That baseball hungry fans in Knoxville continued to support their local team, despite the consistent losing seasons for many years, was evident when the first five night games in 1943 attracted 18,400 spectators.

The Draft Law was changed, with new looks being given to men who previously had been disqualified for military service because of being classified "4-F". One newspaper columnist mentioned that the country's highest paid professional fighter had been classified ineligible for military service because he couldn't read, and wondered if the army wanted him to read or to fight. Late in the year it was announced that previously exempt fathers would now be drafted into the military.

100 new dwelling in the NHA housing project were under construction in Knoxville. New homes were being constructed in areas including the Chicago Avenue - Lawson Street section in North Knoxville, on Sutherland Avenue, and in other sections of the city. Most of the new homes were built with asbestos siding, now long since reportedly a substance thought to contain cancer causing properties and a taboo in construction today.

Knoxville High School won ten of eleven games in 1943, the only loss being to Elizabethton, 14-12. They repeated as the state's number one team, according to the Litkinhous ratings. Central's wartime coach was Mike Balitsaris, and their 1943 record was five wins, three losses and one tie, the defeats including their second consecutive loss to KHS, 13-6. Austin High School won the Tennessee Negro High School championship. Rule played a nine game schedule in 1943, losing five games and winning four, including two wins against Stair Tech. Stair Tech won only one game in 1943, against TSD, after playing a scoreless tie with the same school earlier in the season. Because of the war, some county schools did not field football teams, that lack of local opponents being the reason for the dual games played by Rule and Stair Tech that year.

In November, 1943, charges were dismissed in Knoxville Circuit Court suit brought in Knoxville by two African Americans. The suit, asking $500, was initiated by the two who had been removed from a bus and arrested by police, when they refused to give up their seats and move to the back of the bus. Judge Kelly ruled that Jim Crow segregation law required that black and white passengers be separately seated on public buses, and threw out the case. That case verifies that at least some blacks residents in Knoxville had rebelled many years before Rosa Parks did a similar thing a dozen years later in Montgomery, Alabama. But in the Parks case, with the considerable national publicity in the media at the time, including the subsequent Montgomery bus movement, and people like Martin Luther King and many others who were involved in the movement for integration, her name eventually became a household word in the history of the black movement. The incident in Knoxville has been long forgotten.

A crowd estimated at one thousand fans attended the second annual high school All Star football game between teams from the city and county, played at Evans Collins field. The county team won the game, 19 - 7. Proceeds went to the News Sentinel's Empty Stocking Fund.

In a scrap metal drive, Knoxville's city and county school children reportedly had collected 250,000 pounds of scrap metal for the war effort.

Meat shortages notwithstanding, Judge John Kelly ruled that raising or keeping chickens within the city limits was a violation of city ordinances and would not be permitted. However, a few days later, City Manager Guy Webb announced that those living inside the city limits who raised chickens for home use and not as commercial ventures would not be bothered by the police.

Because of World War Two, Tennessee did not field a football team in the fall of 1943, nor did any other conference school. That year, military bases established during the war did field teams, and those teams were listed in the rankings that included the usual college teams. Military teams finishing in the top twenty in the final national polls in 1943 included Iowa Pre-Flight, Great Lakes Navy, March Field, Del Monte Pre-Flight, and Georgia Pre-Flight. Near the season's end, the Great Lakes team upset Notre Dame, previously the winner of nine consecutive games, and knocked the Irish out of a national championship that year. In December, 1943, the SEC announced that at least eight, and possibly ten, football teams would again be fielded for the 1944 fall season.

Coach Johnny Mauer announced that there would be no basketball team at the University of Tennessee in 1943-1944. Not only were there not enough boys available for a team, Army Trainees had completely taken over the Alumni Memorial gymnasium.

and elsewhere in the news in 1943 ... FDR and Churchill met at the Casablanca Conference, pledging that the war would end only upon unconditional surrender of the Axis forces. FDR froze wages and wages, to prevent inflation. The Pentagon was completed, becoming the world's largest office building. The Yankees captured the World Series, beating St. Louis, 4 games to 1. Wyoming was national basketball champion and Notre Dame was voted the national football championship. The pap test was first used to detect cervical cancer. Oklahoma opened on Broadway in 1943. Popular 1943 movies included Casablanca, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Lassie Come Home, Madame Curie, and Cabin in the Sky. Songs in 1943 included Mairzy Doats, My Shining Hour, Moonlight in Vermont, I'll be Home for Christmas, and You'd Be So Nice to Come Home to.

1944

The University of Tennessee celebrated its Sesqui-Centennial in 1947, dating back to the original establishment of Blount College in 1794, in the Territory South of the River Ohio, before Tennessee became a state. Later early names were East Tennessee College and East Tennessee University. It was technically not a celebration of continuous existence of the institution, since the school had closed from 1809 to 1820, and again during the Civil War.

In May, 1944, a mimeographed 29 page publication was issued by the Knox County League of Women Voters, concerning juvenile delinquency in Knox County. Despite the title, considerably more information is contained in that compilation, including revelations of the hardships encountered by many families during World War Two, when husbands had been drafted into the military service, and wives, including many with children, were often struggling merely to survive. Many dwellings in Knoxville were sub-standard, with nearly 40 percent of homes reported to be in need of serious repair, and many houses without toilet facilities. Outside the city limits, on Clinton Pike, were trailer camps, where families lived without running water or sewer connections. Adding to those realities were such obstacles as the fact that laundry often had to be done by hand in a community building, ice could not be obtained because companies would not deliver outside the city limits, and nearby "roadhouses of ill repute" had sprung up in the county. The publication provides a solemn picture of the wide-spread poor living conditions in Knoxville and Knox County for many families during World War II, a circumstance rarely either recalled or mentioned these days.

A Tennessee Coach Company bus overturned on Clinton Pike on August 10, resulting in the deaths of three passengers and injuries to a several others among the 28 passengers on board.

The City Planning Commission studied the problem of the flooding of First Creek, searching for methods to control periodic floods that caused an estimated $100,000 damage annually. Among possible solutions considered was a channel widening from Vine Street north to the city limits. The problem was that the solution would only correct the problem between Vine and Fulcher Street, and additional widening would also be necessary along the creek to the north.

City Manager Dempster said that strict regulation of taxicabs would immediately be implemented, due to numerous reports that taxi companies and drivers were reportedly taking advantage of customers, becoming essentially what were being called "petty racketeers".

Because of the war, the number of minor league baseball leagues had dwindled to less than ten in 1944. The Southern Association continued in existence, as did the Smokies, but in early July, Knoxville's franchise was transferred to Mobile, and the city lost its professional baseball team. Some later accounts suggest that owner Edgar Allen had secretly whisked the team out of town overnight, but local newspapers reveal that before that transfer was announced most people in town had already known about the move, long before the franchise was removed to Alabama. Despite an erroneous report on a current Internet site, suggesting that the Smokies fielded successful teams in the Southern Association, their years in the league were hardly memorable. From 1932 through 1943, they never finished higher than fifth place, and Knoxville finished the season in the cellar on seven different occasions.

Knoxville's Courtland Jeroulman, Jr., son of a Knoxville clothier, made his first film appearance in the movie Together Again. Acting under the stage name Jerome Courtland, he received several glowing reviews. Courtland was once married to Knoxville's Polly Bergen, and after several years as a film actor he became a movie and television producer for Disney Studios, where he produced the show The Flying Nun.

County School Superintendent L. H. Brickey reported that overcrowded classrooms would likely continue throughout the school year. Much of the overcrowding was caused by the influx of war workers and their families into the area.

Gambling raids by police resulted in confiscation of illegal substances and machines, and charges of gambling, lotteries, and illegal whiskey sales were brought against the Turn Verin Club on West Church, the Beaver Club on Western, and the S & W Club, also on Western.

The Knoxville School Board met to discuss post war plans to build three new city high schools and close Knoxville High School within ten to twelve years. The schools would be located in East Knoxville in the Burlington section, in North Knoxville at Scott's Hill, and in West Knoxville at the old Sutherland Avenue airport site. Contrary to so many announcements in local newspapers over the years that later proved to be inaccurate, that information not only turned out to be prophetic, including the sites of the new schools, but those schools were built and in operation sooner than anticipated, opening in the fall of 1951.

The News Sentinel reported that Knoxville was certain to have professional baseball in 1945. It would be called the Tri State League, consisting of teams from Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The league did in fact come into existence, but not until 1946.

Knoxville High School won nine of eleven games played in 1944, with two ties, and won the state championship for the third consecutive year. Central finished the season rated the number two team in the state, winning all their games except the annual clash with Knoxville High School, losing for the third consecutive time to the Trojans, by the score of 8-7. A scheduled game in Knoxville, between Central and MBA, was canceled due to bad weather. Rule High School had its best season to date, winning seven of nine games, including a victory over Young, a 31-0 shellacking of previously undefeated Oak Ridge, and one touchdown losses to Central and Knoxville High School. Rule lost a post-season game against Central High School of Charlotte, North Carolina, 18-7, but still finished rated the sixth best team in Tennessee in the final rankings. KHS played a post season game, competing for one quarter each, against four Knoxville teams. That game was called the Stocking Bowl, a benefit for the Empty Stocking Fund, and KHS won the game, played at Evans Collins field, 14-0. It replaced the city-county all star game that had been played the previous two seasons. Austin High School claimed the State and Southern Negro Championships for 1944. Stair Tech lost its first six games in 1944, then rallied for three straight wins, against Morristown, TSD and Copperhill.

Tennessee again fielded a football team in 1944, as did the other schools in the Southeastern Conference. They finished the season with seven wins, no losses, and a scoreless tie with Alabama. Temple played in Knoxville that season, and the Vols won the game by the score of 27-14, but some people must have almost felt sorry for local radio game announcers who attempted to pronounce the names of some of the Owls' players, including Benincasa, Virshue, Zawoiski, Wuennenberg, Mazckja, Paolichi, and Velleia. Coach John Barnhill was voted SEC Coach of the Year by conference coaches. That year, Alabama lost to Georgia, and also played a tie game against LSU, and Tennessee accepted the invitation to play Southern California in the Rose Bowl. Most national sports observers predicted the Vols would lose from three to five touchdowns. Tennessee's starting lineup included seven freshmen, one sophomore, three juniors and no seniors.

S & W Cafeteria workers went on strike and the popular downtown eatery closed in early October, 1944.

The Lane Drug Store and Wormser's Hat Shop were virtually destroyed in a fire on the night of December 14, 1944, and the adjoining Mangle's ladies clothing store and Chandler's Shoe Store suffered considerable smoke and water damage. The buildings were on the west side of Gay Street, adjoining the Hamilton National Bank building to the north. Lane's had been a popular eating place at lunchtime, and the loss of that eatery, in addition to the fact that the S & W cafeteria across the street was then closed by striking workers, considerably reduced the available luncheon spots for downtown workers. The problem was somewhat alleviated when the S & W reopened on December 20, forced by a decision by the Labor Board. When the cafeteria initially reopened, picketers continued outside the cafeteria, and only the lunch meal was served.

In a $100,000 liable suit brought by Cas Walker, after three weeks of testimony the jury found the Knoxville Journal not guilty. Walker brought the suit based on remarks in articles written by Tom Anderson that had appeared in the Journal in March, 1944.

Knoxville held its sixth War Bond campaign in November and December, 1944.

The circumstances portrayed years later in a 1998 movie, Saving Private Ryan, were obviously a real life possibility during World War Two, evident in Knoxville newspapers in 1944, when it was reported that Mr and Mrs A. C. Duggins, of Greeneville, Tennessee, had eight sons who were serving in the military that year.

In 1944, Knox County recorded 1,322 marriages and 1,813 divorces.

and elsewhere in the news in 1944 ... The Allies invaded Normandy on June 6, known as "D Day". The US, Great Britain, and the USSR jointly proposed establishment of the United Nations. Roosevelt was reelected for his fourth term as President. The GI Bill of Rights was passed, providing benefits for armed service veterans. Harvard scientists created the first automatic digital computer. The Cardinals defeated the Browns in an all St Louis World Series. Utah defeated Dartmouth in overtime to win the national basketball championship. Undefeated Army, with dynamic backfield stars Glen Davis and Doc Blanchard, was named the best college football team. Among movies in 1944 were Double Indemnity, Meet Me in St Louis, Going My Way, The White Cliffs of Dover, and Gaslight. Popular songs that year included Sentimental Journey, I'll Walk Alone, Swinging On A Star, New York - New York, and On the Atcheson Topeka and the Sante Fe.

1945

On New Years Day, Tennessee was never in the Rose Bowl game, losing to Southern California, 25-0. It was the second and last time the Vols ever played in the Rose Bowl. Their opponent in both of those games was Southern California, and Tennessee never scored a point in either of those west coast encounters.

In the 1944-1945 season, the Vols basketball team won 15 games and lost three, losing to Kentucky in the SEC championship game.

Knoxville had no professional baseball team in 1945. That year, a local African American team, the Knoxville Grays, was playing in the Southern Negro League. Their manager was Henry Lewis. They played a two game exhibition against the defending national champions, the Homestead Grays, at Smithson Stadium in early April, 1945. For those games, a section of the grandstand was reserved for white patrons.

The Grand Theater, for black patrons, opened at 216 South Central in 1945. It was located just a few doors south of the long-time Gem Theater, also an African American theater, which was just around the corner, east of Central, on Vine Avenue. The Grand lasted only a few years, and when it closed the Gem was still going strong.

Concord Park was established in 1945.

In the Knoxville Open golf tournament played at Holston Hills County Club, Byron Nelson won by ten strokes over his nearest competitor. It was Nelson's fifteenth win of the year, and he set a record in 1945 by winning eleven tournaments in a row. By December, the Journal reported in December, 1945, that Nelson's victory in the tournament at the Glen Garden country club in Fort Worth, Texas, represented his nineteenth victory of the year. Since then, one of his 1945 wins has been disregarded as an "unofficial event", and he is now only recognized as having won 18 tournaments that year. That difference is immaterial, and the chance that any professional golfer will ever even come close to accomplishing such a feat, even including the amazing Tiger Woods (who only plays in an average of eighteen tournaments each year on the PGA Tour) is essentially zero. It was far and above the most wins ever by a professional golfer in a single season, and that same year he finished second in seven other tournaments, finishing in the top two a total of twenty-six times. The 1945 accomplishment of Nelson ranks as one of only two sports records that many sports fans believe will never be equaled or broken. The other is the record of the 1939 Tennessee football team that finished the season not only undefeated and untied, but held the opposition scoreless for the entire season.

In 1945, most people in my neighborhood washed clothes with a ringer-type washing machine. Clothes dryers, electric or gas, were still essentially unheard of. Clothes were still dried outside, on a clothes line. A newspaper writer waxed nostalgic in a local newspaper column in 2007, raving about the fresh smell and wonderful feel of clothes that had been dried on those outside lines in the old days. Personally, I think that writer's memory must have dimmed over the years. One thing that's firmly entrenched in my mind from my childhood years is that garments from the clothes line were often as stiff as a board, and were anything but comfortable to wear. I'll take the softness and comfortable feel of garments that have been dried in a clothes dryer every time, thank you.

For the second consecutive year, Central's football team won all games going into the annual City-County game, only to have their record blemished in a 7-7 tie with the Trojans. KHS won eight games, had the tie with Central, and lost three games, to Young and Kingsport during the regular season, and a 20-0 loss to Memphis Tech in a post-season game played in that city. Rule played an eleven game schedule, with four wins, six losses, and one tie. Stair Tech again had a losing season in 1945. Young's Yellow Jackets won five games and lost four.

Several playing fields that were in Knoxville in 1945 no longer exist today, where softball, baseball, and football games were played by community amateur teams. Among those were the Brookside field on Baxter in North Knoxville, the Knoxville Iron Company field in Lonsdale, the Rose Bowl (later called Rose Hole) in West Knoxville in the UT section, and Alexander Park on Fifth Avenue.

The Reynolds Company introduced the ball point pen to American in 1945. Their cheapest pen cost around $20.00, some others were much more expensive, and their advertisements promoted the fact that the pens would write under water -- although what inexplicable advantage that feature provided remained a mystery. But they also guaranteed that if a pen stopped working for any reason, customers could return it to for a brand new one. That lasted only a while for most people, since although many of those early pens constantly skipped or stopped writing, people eventually gave up after receiving two or three replacement pens. In the meantime, the Reynolds Company likely made a fortune selling pens that were much less efficient than ball point pens that are available today for around ten cents apiece or so.

Grocery man Cas Walker was elected Mayor of Knoxville. His term would be relatively short-lived (see 1946)

Tennessee finished the season with 8 wins and one loss in 1945, the loss being to Alabama, 25-7. It would be John Barnhill's final year as coach. Barnhill accepted the head coaching position at the University of Arkansas in December, at an annual salary of $10,000. While not mentioned in the Journal article reporting Barnhill's departure, UT had an agreement in place with Bob Neyland that he would again assume the head coaching duties at Tennessee when he was released from the military, and while no announcement had yet been made that Neyland would return for the 1946 season, Barnhill likely realized that would be the case.

The Southeastern Conference voted to continue the rule to permit freshmen to play for sports teams, through July 1, 1947.

$287,782 changed hands during opening day tobacco leaf sales in Knoxville in December, 1945.

At a charity event held at the Tennessee Theater, offering pairs of still all but unobtainable nylon stockings to those who were the successful bidders to purchase E Bonds, W. H. Weaver got the first pair of nylons, buying $2,500 in bonds. Two thousand spectators attended, and the eventual average price to pick up a pair of the scarce stockings was $1,200, with a total of $500,000 in bonds sold at the event.

A suit was filed in Chancery Court, seeking the approval of leases for tenants of downtown buildings, the S. H. George's department store and three other Gay Street businesses -- Wormser's Hat Shop, Lane Drug Store, and Chandler's Shoes. George's had balked at paying a five percent commission to the J. B. Brownlow firm. No mention was made as to whether the legal action had anything to do with the fact that those three adjoining businesses in the 500 block of Gay, Lane's, Chandler's, and Wormser's, had been heavily damaged in a fire the previous December.

Although the war was over, Gay Street was not decorated for the 1945 Christmas season, because of the continuing scarcity of lights.

An explosion at a coal mine near Pineville, Kentucky eventually resulted in the deaths of all but seven of the thirty-one miners who were trapped in the explosion.

and elsewhere in the news in 1945 ... Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met at the Yalta Conference. FDR died and Harry Truman assumed the Presidency. Adolph Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun committed suicide in an underground bunker in April. Germany surrendered a week later. The United Nations was established in June, in San Francisco. Japan refused to surrender, and an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6. Their continued refusal to surrender resulted in the dropping of a second bomb, on Nagasaki, three days later. Japan then did surrender, and signed the official surrender on VJ Day, September 2. Modern critics of those bombings choose to ignore two facts. First, the Japanese had initiated the War, and second that the lives of many more American soldiers would have been lost had sea and ground operations instead have been launched. Japan's imperialistic attitude resulted in the unfortunate additional loss of those lives, because of their initial refusals to surrender. The Tigers defeated the Cubs to capture the World Series. Oklahoma A & M captured the NCAA basketball championship, and Army repeated as national football champions. Popular 1945 movies included The Bells of St Mary's, Back to Bataan, Blood on the Sun, Captain Kidd and Dillinger. Songs in 1945 included Laura, If I Loved You, The Gypsy, You'll Never Walk Alone, and Till the End of Time. On radio, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Queen for a Day, Meet the Press, Philo Vance, Fibber McGee and Molly, and the Bob Hope Show had many listeners, and Arthur Godfrey Time was first on the airways.

1946

Tabes, located on the west side of South Gay Street north of Baum's Flowers, was primarily known as a candy and nut shop, but they also sold items that would probably fit right in with today's downtown "upscale" condominium dwellers, including caviar, smoked oysters, capers, artichokes, shrimp, lobster, and a whole variety of other exotic things. Perhaps it was a business that was in operation in the downtown area sixty years too soon.

The 1945-1946 Tennessee basketball team posted a record of 14 wins and 6 losses.

After being without a baseball team since July, 1944, Knoxville again fielded a team in 1946 when the Smokies joined the Class B Tri-State League, then a six team league. Their manager was Dale Alexander. Other teams in the league were the Asheville Tourists, the Charlotte Hornets, the Spartanburg Peaches, the Anderson A's / Rebels, and the Shelby Cubs. That first year, the Smokies finished in third place in the Tri State League, qualifying for a birth in the Shaughnessy playoff series. Knoxville defeated Asheville in the first series, then lost the final playoff series against league champions, the Charlotte Hornets, four games to three.

A survey of the Knoxville's soot-fall -- the number of tons of soot per square mile per year -- was conducted by the City Smoke Abatement Bureau in 1946. The study revealed that the dirtiest place in Knoxville was along the 400 block of Blount Avenue in South Knoxville. The second worst was West Knoxville (the UT area and including the section known today as the Fort Sanders neighborhood). Other areas among the 'worst' were along Gay Street, and in the Maplehurst Park area. The cleanest section in town was the Lincoln Park community, and other cleaner areas were Mountain View, Island Home, and the area around South Knoxville Junior High School. Because so many people came to the downtown section in those times, the public was particularly aware that section of the city was a dirty place, where the soot from the train engines left a constant film of soot everywhere. Adding to that unpleasantness was the far-reaching stench often encountered from the nauseous odors emanating from the east, at the Union Stock Yards and Lay's Packing Company, in the old Bowery section near Central.

Three new movie theaters opened in Knoxville in 1946 : the Dawn Theater, at 142 Ailor, and just a block away from the Sunset Theater ; the Pike Theater, at 4200 Kingston Pike ; and the Capitol Theater, on Central, near the corner of Broadway. That year, another theater reopened, at the corner of Western and Deaderick, in the same building that originally had been the Sunset Theater, where the new facility was now a movie house for African American patrons, called the Ritz Theater.

The first Bearden High School girl's basketball team played in 1946.

Central suffered one loss and one tie during the regular season, going into the KHS game, which again ended in a tie by the identical score of the 1945 season's game, 7-7. The Bobcats played a post season contest, the Exchange Bowl, in Jackson, Tennessee, losing to Holy Cross of New Orleans, 12-7. KHS won ten of twelve games in 1946, losing to Miami, Florida, 14-13, then playing the tie against Central in the season's final game. That City - County contest drew a crown of 30,000 spectators at UT's Shields Watkins field, proving again that locals back then preferred to show up for that annual bitter rivalry in considerably larger numbers than they did to see the Vols play a patsy like Chattanooga. Young won 8, lost 3, and tied one game. Rule had a losing record in 1946, winning only three of eleven games played. Stair Tech continued its losing tradition in 1946, winning only three of ten games played. Tennessee School for the Deaf had fielded a football team during World War Two and continued after the war. In 1946, they won five games, tied one, and lost three.

Games of Indian Stick Ball between two Cherokee Indian teams, the Wolf Towners and Bird Town, a charity sports event, were held at Smithson Stadium for two days. The teams wore only shorts, each player carried a long stick, and the rules permitted choking and hitting with the sticks. The referees carried and used whips, to encourage participants to keep the action going. On the first day, one Indian broke three fingers and another required several stitches in his head from being hit by a stick. (Some good, clean fun from the Reservation!)

Mountain View was an example of several segregated local communities in Knoxville. Continuing the East Knoxville area that almost exclusively consisted of black residents, in the section of Dandridge Avenue to the west, between Main Avenue and Saxton, virtually all residents were African Americans. East of that point, all residents living on Dandridge were white, as were all residents then living on the streets south of Dandridge in that section, including such streets as Morningside and LeConte. North of Dandridge in that same section, black families lived on streets including Saxton, Crowder, and Surrey. Today, most families living in that section are African Americans, and the original community name of Mountain View is now generally known as Morningside. The author determined the racial make-up of the Mountain View community through information in old city directories. Had the modern politically correct practice of not listing the race of residents been in effect back then, the information would have been impossible to otherwise determine.

With Bob Neyland back at the helm, Tennessee won 9 of its 10 games in 1946. The loss was to Wake Forest, 19-7, in a game played in Knoxville. The author saw that game, as a twelve year old. My most vivid recollection was when Bob Lund returned a kickoff along the east sidelines, what seemed to be all 22 players converged at once at the same spot, the ball popped into the air, Wake Forest recovered the fumble, and the Demon Deacons proceeded to take care of the Vols that afternoon. The game had been scheduled when Neyland was in military service during the war, and taking no chances thereafter, the General never again scheduled another games with Wake Forest. 1946 turned out to be a better year than some had expected, although four of the Vol wins were very close games, by a touchdown or less. Tennessee tackle Dick Huffman was a unanimous first team All American selection, chosen by the AP, Grantland Rice, and the Coaches Association. Undefeated Georgia tied Tennessee for the SEC conference championship. Tennessee accepted the bid to play Rice Institute in the Cotton Bowl game on January 1, 1947.

In round figures, 1,718,00 students were enrolled in universities in the United States in 1946. Of those, 714,000 were veterans.

Voters went to the polls on December 3, 1946, for the second time in less than a month. This time it was to vote in a recall election to determine whether to remove Cas Walker as Mayor, together with two other Council members, N. B. Weaver and J. Fred Peters. Although the Journal predicted just before the election that it was all but certain that Walker would be retained, voters overwhelmingly ousted Walker and the other two. Ed Chavannes was elected Mayor, defeating Cas, 9,937 to 5,673 votes. Paul Morton, of Louisville, Kentucky, was soon named City Manager. Ever the consummate promoter, Cas Walker's grocery advertisements in local newspapers for the several days following the election were called "Recall Specials."

City and County voters again rejected legalization of liquor sales in a referendum, by a majority of 5,077 votes.

John L. Lewis called a Coal Strike of mine workers in December, resulting in critical shortages throughout the country. In Knoxville, two thirds of suppliers were soon out of coal.

Seventy-three year old Savannah Foust was found dead at her residence on Merchants Road, between Central Avenue Pike and Clinton Pike. The coroner initially called the death an axe murder, due to multiple head wounds, extensive blood, and a hatchet found next to the body. Strangely, the following day the coroner ruled she had died from a heart attack. One of her sons had been reported to be in Chicago, but it was revealed instead that he was actually still in Knoxville. Police reported that a month earlier the son had been convicted for throwing an axe at a taxi cab driver. (A man throws an axe at somebody, a few weeks later his mother is found with extensive wounds, and an axe next to her body, and it was determined that she died of a heart attack? Wonder what the coroner and our crack police officers were thinking?)

In the Knoxville area, seven people died and five more were seriously injured in automobile accidents on Christmas Day.

It was announced that 5,000 workers in Oak Ridge would soon lose their jobs. Newspapers reported that the layoffs were the result of new procedures in the process of the separation of uranium 235,

and elsewhere in the news in 1946 ... The first meeting of the United Nations was held in January. At the Nuremberg Trials, 12 Nazi leaders were sentenced to hand, 7 were imprisoned, and 3 were acquitted. Juan Peron became President of Argentina. Winston Chruchill warned of the Soviet Union expansion plans. The US Atomic Energy Commission was established. A December fire at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta resulted in the loss of 120 lives. The Cardinals defeated the Red Sox to win the World Series. Oklahoma A & M won the NCAA basketball championship, and Notre Dame was declared national football champion. The first Cannes Film Festival was held in France. Among popular films were The Best Years of Our Lives and It's a Wonderful Life. Among popular songs were Dancing in the Dark, Tenderly, and Say It Isn't So. Songs included A Gal in Callico, The Old Lamp Lighter, To Each His Own, Rumors are Flying, and How are Things in Glocca Morra.

1947

The Vols lost the Orange Bowl contest to Rice University, 8-0. There was of course no television, and Tennessee fans who didn't attend the game listened on radio. On the air, it sounded like one of the most boring bowl games ever played, and probably it was. On offense, Tennessee managed to gain a total of only 137 yards for the entire game.

Five more movie theaters opened in Knoxville in 1947. Residents were taking in entertainment on a more regular basis now that the war was over and soldiers had returned home from overseas. The new theaters were the Horne, on Chapman Highway across the street from Young High School's football stadium, Duff Field ; the Tillery, on Clinton Pike (then called the "New Clinton Highway") at the corner of Tillery Road ; the Lake Theater, in South Knoxville, at 1100 Sevier Avenue, and two new drive-in theaters, the Knoxville Drive In Theater, at Kingston Pike and Forest Hills Boulevard, and the Skyway Drive In, north of Fountain City.

In February, 1947, Knoxville finally took advantage of a twelve year old state decree permitting the showing of movies on Sunday. All downtown theaters began opening on Sunday, and neighborhood theaters including the Booth, State, Gay, Joy, Horne, and Pike theaters followed suit. In North Knoxville, the Broadway Theater waited a week before opening on the following Sunday. The only Knoxville theaters not initially opening on Sundays were the Capitol, at Central and Broadway, and the Palace, in Fountain City.

In the 1946-1947 basketball season, Tennessee won 16 and lost 5, including a loss to Tulane in the second round of the SEC tournament. Coach Johnny Mauer left Tennessee to accept the head coaching job at West Point.

The new Inskip playground, established through the work of members in the community, opened on July 4, 1947.

Duke Ellington's orchestra appeared at the Chilhowee Park Hall for a concert and dance on March 11, 1947. As was the usual practice for performances at the park by African American entertainers, the balcony was reserved for white spectators.

The Smokies continued in the Tri State League, with Dale Alexander still the manager. Their home schedule that year included a dozen Sunday games but no Saturday contests. For the season, the team drew 100,000 fans. The Reidsville Luckies and Rock Hill Chiefs joined the league, bringing the number of teams to eight. That year, a rare baseball event occurred in a game when two Smokies players, Roy Peeler and Leonard Cross, each hit two home runs in the same inning. Knoxville made the playoffs in 1947, but after winning their first two games in Knoxville against Anderson, lost the seven game playoff, four games to three. A local promotion offered youngsters inexpensive membership in what was called the "Knothole Gang", enabling kids to attend baseball games in selected sections of the bleachers on designated dates.

Our neighborhood Happy Hollow football and softball teams practiced and played our home games against teams from various parts of the city at the Brookside field, on the north side of Baxter Avenue, east of the railroad tracks. That field no longer exists today. We also played games at our opponent's fields, including Fountain City, Moses School, and Lonsdale. Another site was Alexander Park, sometimes called the Fifth Avenue Park. It was located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Arthur Street, bordering Clark Street. The park was abandoned when Interstate 75 was constructed, and sections of the streets and homes in that area were eliminated from the scene. Some homes have since been built near the park site. A while back I drove out there, parked my car, and asked a few of those in the neighborhood if anyone recalled that old recreational park. Although a few of them were obviously of the older generation, nobody I talked with that day had ever even heard of Alexander Park.

Local golfer Tommy Wright hit the pro circuit in 1947. His best showing that year was a second place finish in the Denver Open.

For the first time at Chilhowee Park, the Merry-Go-Round took second place in ticket sales, when the new shooting gallery was the most popular attraction. New rides, the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Silver Streak, also did well in 1947. The permanent rides at the park were only open during the summer months, while the bowling alley and the skating rink were full time operations. In 1947, gross receipts at the park were $84,000, with the city realizing a profit of around $24,000.

A new eatery, the Five Points Restaurant and Drive In, specializing in hickory smoked barbeque, opened in December, 1947, at McCalla Avenue and Olive Street, advertised as being located "In the heart of Park City". The name of the restaurant obviously was chosen since it was the location of the community in that section of Park City called "Five Points", about which additional information will be found here under the year 1952.

Basketball leagues, with extensive participation by local amateur teams, were operated by the City Recreation Bureau, with games held at the gymnasiums at Tyson, Christenberry, South Knoxville, and Rule, including a "Ladies League". A league for African American teams was also in operation, those games played at the Payne Avenue Recreation Center.

After a number of years, as buses had gradually replaced streetcars on the city's public transportation routes, the discontinuation of pubic electric rail streetcars in the city was complete, when the "Final Run" of the last Knoxville streetcar took place on Gay Street on August 1, 1947. Buses have since been the city's public transportation mode. Most if not all of the old rails were simply covered over with new pavement, and even today the old tracks still appear through worn places on local streets, downtown and elsewhere in the city.

The Rhea home, on Walnut Street next door to the Humes home at the northwest corner of Walnut and Church, was demolished in 1947.

Knoxville High School's football team won eight of eleven games in 1947, losing to Kingsport, Miami, and Central. Central won nine games, lost to Baylor. and was tied by Stair Tech in 1947. Central High defeated Knoxville High at UT's Shields Watkins field, where continuing local interest in the annual rivalry was obvious, as 25,000 fans attended the game. Carter High School fielded its first team since the beginning of World War Two. They played nine games, winning three and losing six. Powell High School fielded its first football team since before World War Two. They played an eight game schedule, losing their first six games before defeating Oneida, 13-6. Rule won only one game in 1947, with one tie, that year having scheduled many of the stronger high school teams in East Tennessee. Stair Tech won only three of eleven games in 1947. Like Rule, their schedule continued to include several larger East Tennessee schools, but they did manage to record a 6-6 tie with a heavily favored Central team. Farragut High School fielded its first team since the early twentieth century in 1947. They played a nine game schedule, and five of those games were played against the "B Teams" of Knoxville High School, Young (twice), Central and Stair Tech. TSD had an outstanding record of eight wins and no losses in 1947.

Knoxville's Doris Sams, playing for the Muskegon, Michigan team in the All American Girls Baseball League, was named the league's most valuable player in 1947.

The first escalators in Knoxville went into operation at downtown's Millers Department Store.

John Kirby was shot and killed at a Clinton Highway dive called the Irish Drive In. Refused service by the owners because of his apparent intoxicated condition, Kirby reportedly had menaced owner Raymond Harvey's wife, Pauline, who promptly shot him through the heart.

Knoxville's insurance class rating was reduced from Class 3 to Class 4 by the Tennessee Inspection Bureau, to the outrage of local officials who maintained they had done everything required, and beyond, to maintain the lower rating. The bottom line was that fire insurance costs would be increased in the city of Knoxville. That was before the days of the "homeowners" policy, coverage, which included insurance on the home, the contents, and liability coverage, in a single policy. The city's classification was later dropped back to Class 3. Then, and for many years afterwards, there was no fire department protection for most residents living outside the city limits. City residents paid twice the amount of taxes, and those payments were adequate to provide for fire protection with adequate water line supplies. The insurance rates for those living in the county were then much higher. Eventually, county residents were given lower rates if they had volunteer fire department memberships, and even later when a county fire department was established. But the truth is that in most instances, because of the unavailability of fire hydrants and sufficient separate water lines in the county, fire protection inside the city continued to be far superior. In the majority of instances, the city service at least sometimes results in partially saving homes and buildings. Outside the city limits, substantial fires still often results in the entire loss of such properties.

Inside America, by John Gunther, was published in 1947. Gunther's adverse opinion that Knoxville was the nation's ugliest city has since often been repeated in Knoxville newspapers and other local writings, sometimes in connection to what is almost akin to a call to arms in defense of the city. In his book, Gunther described Knoxville as a city with "intense, concentrating, degrading ugliness." Some of the reasons that resulted in that opinion are today apparently either unknown, or have been forgotten, by those who continue to mention Gunther's statements in print. Among Gunther's complaints in his assessment of the city as the nation's ugliest were that there were no Sunday movies, no Sunday baseball, and no available legal liquor. Hardly earthshaking matters, but ones that apparently were of significance to Gunther. All of those situations have of course long since been changed. The Smokies were actually playing Sunday baseball games by the year his book was published, Sunday movies were being already being shown that same year, but it would be 1961 before he could have acquired his seemingly required "fix" by buying liquor legally in Knoxville. On the other hand, while his description of the city was obviously harsh, based on a report by the City Smoke Abatement Bureau the previous year, in 1946, describing the soot-covered conditions in many sections of the city at that time, at least in terms of the dirty physical condition in Knoxville at the time, Gunther perhaps had a point. For that matter, perhaps he had heard our esteemed City Councilman and short-time Mayor, Cas Walker, making embarrassing statements like one he occasionally uttered years later during his early morning television country music show, when -- referring to his time in that office - he would begin with "... back when I were Mayor ..."

As a note of interest, I find a reference to Knoxville as a "dirty city" more than a half century before John Gunther's book was published in 1947. It was in 1894, when preacher J. S. Jones, in a sermon at Staub's Theater, used the same phrase, referring to Knoxville and telling a large group of persons in attendance that day, "This is an awful dirty town." At the time, Jones was referring to the prevalence of drinking at shady locations, and gambling dens in the downtown area.

A fire that soon turned into a blazing inferno destroyed the Veech-May-Wilson hardwood plant on Gillespie Avenue, with initial estimates of the damage being as much as $350,000.

It was revealed that Tennessee Congressman Estes Kefauver, running for a Senate seat, had been one of 23 sponsors of a reported Communist controlled organization called Win the Peace Movement, that group having been placed on the Justice Department's blacklist. On the other hand, so many organizations and groups had been blacklisted at that time, it's difficult today to determine which were truly subversive. In any event, the news apparently had little effect on Kefauver's career, since he was elected to the Senate in 1949, later made a run for the Presidential nomination, and was Adali Stevenson's running mate in the 1956 Presidential Election.

Joe Louis, knocked down twice, bleeding from the nose and with a swollen eye, was awarded a split decision victory against Jersey Joe Walcott in a heavyweight championship fight, an explicable decision that upset most boxing fans, since virtually everyone except the officials who rendered the decision thought Walcott had clearly won the fight.

The Vols fell on hard times in the fall of 1947, one of Bob Neyland's worst-ever seasons. That year, they won 5 and lost 5, and two of the victories were against patsies (TPI and Chattanooga). They lost to Georgia Tech by 27 points and to Mississippi by 30 points.

and elsewhere in the news in 1947 ... The Soviet Union rejected the US plan for atomic energy control by the United Nations. The Marshall Plan for European recovery was announced. The Dead Sea scrolls were discovered. The Taft Hartley Act passed. Jackie Robinson became the first black player in the major leagues, signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Hollywood "Black List" was created by the House Un-American Activities Committee. The microwave oven was invented. The Yankees beat the Dodgers, 4 games to 3, to capture the World Series. Holy Cross won the NCAA basketball championship. In the first year of the Rose Bowl agreement between the Pacific Coast and the Big 9 (now Big 10) conferences that eventually would last for a half century, favored UCLA was humiliated by Illinois, 45-14. Notre Dame captured the football championship. and Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire opened on Broadway. Popular movies included Miracle on 34^th Street and Great Expectations. Among popular songs were Woody Woodpecker, That's My Desire, and Confess.

1948

Newer residents in Knoxville, who sometime apparently believe modern statements that downtown was always something of a ghost town until all of those old buildings were converted into condominiums in the area in modern times, may find the following information of interest. I included this information in an earlier book, A Half Century Ago, but feel that it reveals information worthy of inclusion here. In downtown Knoxville in 1948 there were nineteen hotels, twenty department stores, eighty-four eating places (cafes, restaurants, cafeterias), thirty-seven furniture stores, fifty-six clothing stores, fourteen photographic studios, twenty-one barber shops, fifteen beer parlors, seventeen shoe repair stores, fifteen grocery stores, twenty-one jewelry stores, ten laundries, five hat shops, twelve drug stores, eight theaters, twenty-two beauty shops, and ten pool halls. In addition, often in multiple locations, there were printers, service stations, book stores, arcades, funeral homes, radio stations, automobile dealers, radio service ships, sporting goods stores, bus lines, office supply stores, cab companies, bowling alleys, hardware stores, Attorneys, Doctors, Dentists, Optometrists, 5 and 10 cent stores, meat and fish markets, florists, bakeries, tailors, wholesale houses, industrial establishments, and other businesses in the downtown section, all located between (and including ) Central west to Henley / Broadway, and from Front Avenue south to Jackson Avenue. Those numbers do not include many other businesses then located in what today has become a somewhat expanded definition of the boundaries of "Downtown Knoxville."

James "Jimmy" Elmore, Jr. was sworn in as Knoxville's newly elected Mayor.

Knoxville's newspapers reported that it was merely a formality before an official announcement would be made that the city had acquired a Southern League baseball franchise, and would open the 1948 season in that league. Long accustomed to reading reports that often were unfounded, it's doubtful that many fans were surprised when the Smokies opened the season that year once again in the Class B Tri State League.

Newspapers reported that large rats were being sighted regularly outside the Market House, where one had apparently wandered away from the group and chewed on someone's shoe at City Hall. The YMCA was offering young boys who purchased the inexpensive "Gray Y" card the periodic use of their facilities. A few blocks to the north, some youngsters also often went to the Boy's Club on Vine Avenue, up the hill in the block west of Gay Street, but a place where there were fewer available facilities and where only a single and much smaller gymnasium was available.

Weekly dances were held at Whittle Springs Hotel each Friday and Saturday night. One weekend Vaughn Monroe and his orchestra appeared at Chilhowee Park.

Emmett Lowery became Tennessee's basketball coach in 1947. In the 1947-1948 season, with Tennessee using the fast break for the first time, the Vols won 20 games and lost 5. Tennessee lost to Kentucky in the SEC basketball tournament finals, 70-47, and the Wildcats went on to capture the National Title, defeating Holy Cross in the final game.

Moving from its original Gay Street site, the new Sears store opened on Central Avenue in North Knoxville in April, 1948. The S. H. George department store across the street from the site later that year opened their new "Farm and Home Store" in the former Sears location. Today, that move by Sears from Gay Street is generally considered to have been the beginning of the eventual desertion by most retail establishments from the downtown area.

Initial plans for a new Knoxville zoo at Chilhowee Park were announced. That original zoo did become a reality, but in the initial years it a small, cramped, stinking, and sometimes seemingly unkempt place.

The Board of Directors of Ossoli Circle endorsed the preservation of Chisholm's Tavern and the establishment of a plan to establish a historical Blount Park in the area in 1948. The Journal published a drawing of the original plan that had first been published back in 1941, when the historical park was originally proposed. World War Two had put a damper on that original proposal. The Blount Park Association was still in existence later, in 1954, but the plan was still in limbo, and the association had postponed a request to the state for funds to renovate the tavern, as the elimination of the general blighted area was then taking place. When it was realized that in fact the structure was not the original tavern, the plan for its restoration and the establishment of a historical park was abandoned.

A multi-million dollar new high school building plan was in the works. The new school in North Knoxville would be called the Weston M. Fulton High School. West and East High Schools would be chosen for names of the other new city high schools, with Knoxville High School and the Stair Technical Institute being closed.

Plans for extensive changes in downtown traffic patterns were announced, including the conversion of a number of streets into one way thoroughfares. The plan went into effect, and it worked just fine for many years thereafter. Unfortunately, in recent years, a number of those changes have been reversed, several of those narrow downtown streets have now changed back to two way streets, and if indeed people ever decide to come back to the downtown area in substantial numbers -- as they are being encouraged to do these days -- the traffic will likely be a nightmare.

A sudden surge in prices between 1947 and 1948 had resulted in an increase in housing costs in Knoxville. The average cost of a new home had increased to six thousand dollars.

The Tower Theater opened in 1948, at 3600 North Broadway, near Fountain City. The post-war boom in new theater openings then ended abruptly, and it would be nearly twenty years before another new movie house opened in Knoxville, when the Capri Cinema opened on Kingston Pike in 1967. Actually, another of those many no longer unexpected newspaper articles that would later prove to be inaccurate appeared in local newspapers in the late 1940's, announcing that a new movie theater would be built in Happy Holler, on Central, between Oklahoma and Scott. No such theater was ever built.

The National Advisory Board on Aeronautics verified in 1948 that the breaking of the sound barrier -- originally and today still being credited in 1947 to pilot Charles "'Chuck" Yeager -- had already previously been broken many times by a man named Herbert R. Hoover, a research pilot from Knoxville, Tennessee. Someone should research Hoover's career and background, and give him his due credit for that accomplishment after all these years.

The Oliver Springs, Elza, Solway, and Edgemore gates at Oak Ridge were opened to the public for entrance into the city. Access had still been restricted since World War Two, and special passes / badges were required before entering the "secret city" of Oak Ridge.

Three of sixteen polio patients died in Knoxville during a polio outbreak, and the city's two public swimming pools, Whittle Springs and Sixth Avenue, were closed.

The Joy Theater in Happy Holler was renamed the Center Theater in 1948.

Sixty people, looking down at an automobile that had gone over an embankment near the Peters and Bradley Mill at Broadway and Cecil Street, were injured when a foot bridge collapsed.

In 1948, the Florence Steelers replaced the Reidsville Luckies in the Tri State League. That year, the Smokies manager was Dave Garcia. The Smokies finished the season in sixth place in the eight team league, with 69 wins and 77 losses. Center fielder Bob Churchfield went three for three at the plate in the final game and won the league batting championship that year, becoming the first Smoky ever to hit over .400 for the season. A pitcher on the 1948 Smokies' team was Hoyt Wilhelm, the knuckleballer who later played for several different teams in the major leagues, and still holds the major league record for victories by a relief pitcher, with 124 wins.

In a one week period, two different men were run over and killed by a train beneath the Fort Sanders viaduct.

A fire gutted the Max Friedman Jewelry Store on Gay Street. The fire was in the same two block section of buildings on the east side of Gay street, the 300-400 area, that through the years has been the site of a number of destructive fires. Another fire previously had damaged the same Friedman four years earlier, in 1944.

Spike's Cafeteria, located just south of the Tennessee Theater on Gay Street, was purchased by Dolph Brown and renamed Brown's Cafeteria. The site had originally been the location of the S & W Cafeteria.

At a City Council meeting, a number of residents of the Beaumont area expressed outrage about comments attributed to Cas Walker, concerning the need for improvements at the Beaumont School. Walker reported had said "the oldest school building in town is good enough for those Beaumont folks".

The Tennessee School for the Deaf, with a record of eight wins and one loss, claimed football's National Deaf School Championship in 1948. Central won four games and lost six in 1948. KHS won eight games, tied Miami, and lost three games in 1948, including a one-sided loss in Knoxville to Kingsport's Dobbins Bennett, 40-7, a shocking result at the time, since those teams had been rated as the number one and two teams in the state entering that contest. Young High School compiled the best record in Knoxville in 1948, winning nine straight games before losing in the season's final regular season game, 27-0, to the same Kingsport team that earlier had demolished KHS that year. In a conversation I had a couple of years ago with Rick Hill, all star wingback on that Yellow Jacket team, he still insisted that back then Kingsport recruited players from many places for their team. I have no reason to doubt that circumstance did exist, because at least one school in an adjoining county, even in modern times, has long been known to recruit players from Knoxville for one of its sports teams. In a post-season game in Knoxville that year, Young defeated Memphis Humes High School by the score of 13-7. Rule won seven of ten games, the defeats including close one touchdown losses to Knoxville High School and Central. Halls fielded a team in 1948, coached by Buddy Pike. The new Halls team was called the Red Devils, a change from the original name of their football team back in the 1930's, when they had been called the Deers. The 1948 Halls team won only one of nine games played, the contest against Maynardville. Stair Tech recorded four victories in 1948, in addition to playing inspired games in one touchdown losses to Knoxville High School and Rule. 1948 was the second year of the Farragut football team. Their record was five wins and six losses. Carter played an eleven game schedule in 1948, winning four, losing six, and playing to a 6-6 tie against Newport. Powell played a full ten game schedule in 1948, their second year to field a team since World War Two, winning three games.

Tennessee opened the season in a newly enlarged stadium, where the addition of 20,000 seats had increased the seating capacity to 50,000. Unfortunately for the Vols, the first game at the enlarged stadium was a loss to Mississippi State, 21-6. The author witnessed that game, when a star player for the Maroons was "Shorty" McWilliams, (who actually was six feet three inches tall) and who had played for the national championship Army team in 1945 with Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard. I also saw other Tennessee games that season, including the victory over Alabama, 21-7. For the season, Tennessee didn't fare any better than the 1947 team, with 4 wins, 4 losses, and 2 ties. Season ending losses to Mississippi and Vanderbilt, and a scoreless tie against Kentucky, didn't help matters. But I did enjoy the chance to see Kentucky's George Blanda punt the ball -- once like a bullet on a straight line and out of bounds deep in Tennessee territory, then late in the game from deep in his territory, launching a long spiral that towered higher than the stands as it sailed over safety Hal Littleford's head, hit the turf in the end zone, and bounced into the stands. Kentucky and Tennessee games were often played in rain, snow, and/or otherwise inclement weather, but the 1948 game was played on a nice, cool afternoon, complete with a bright sun.

It was announced that postal rates for air mail would be increased in January, 1949, from five to six cents. First class mail would continue at three cents.

and elsewhere in 1948 ... In a decision that's rarely remembered today, the Supreme Court ruled in 1948 that the University of Oklahoma must admit a Negro girl as a student. Babe Diedrickson Zaharias was named Woman Athlete of the Year. For winning the Texas Open golf tournament with a record score or 264, Sam Snead won a whopping two thousand dollars. Citation won the Kentucky Derby. Defense Secretary James Forestall confirmed that Russia had the secret of the atomic bomb. In August, Satchel Paige, the 42 year old African American pitcher who had finally made it to the major leagues when the color barrier was eliminated, pitched his fourth consecutive shutout for the Cleveland Indians. Harry Truman was reelected President of the U. S., upsetting Republican Tom Dewey. Among popular songs in 1948 were I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover, Twelfth Street Rag, and Nature Boy. Popular movies included The Treasure of Sierra Madre, the Babe Ruth Story, and Easter Parade. Radio programs in 1948 included Life with Luigi, The Louisiana Hayride, and Voice of Firestone. Virtually nobody in Knoxville had a television set, but those in cities that had TV stations watched such shows as Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle, Toast of the Town (later called the Ed Sullivan Show), and popular programs for youngsters including Kukla. Fran and Ollie and Howdy Doody.

1949

The newly constructed Powell High School building opened in 1949. Schools had been in the Powell community since the middle nineteenth century, and in 1874 the school at Powell's Station was the county's first graded public school.

In 1949, the Smokies continued to play in the Tri State League. That year, the Sumpter Chicks replaced the Fayetteville Cubs. The Smokies had a new manager, Frank "Chick" Genovese. At season's end, Knoxville had a record of 72 wins and 73 losses, finishing in fifth place, just behind fourth place Rock Hill, and out of the playoffs. That year, City Council declined to authorize a new baseball stadium unless Knoxville could secure at least a Class AA or higher minor league franchise. Local citizens would change their minds for them in 1953, when a referendum was passed authorizing the construction of a new stadium.

Dr. H. E. Christenberry, Knoxville Housing Authority director, told a gathering of Southern builders in Atlanta that President Truman's new plan to bar funds from FHA for segregated communities would not have any effect in Knoxville. In 1949, 70% of Knoxville's public housing projects were occupied by African American families, whereas the city's black population was only sixteen percent.

In Emmett Lowery's second season as coach of the Vols, the Tennessee basketball team won nineteen games, but lost to Kentucky in the semi-finals of the SEC tournament in Louisville, their third loss of the season to the Wildcats.

Central's Bobcats had the best area high school basketball team in 1949, beating Farragut in the finals of the District Tournament.

Announcement was made that the site of the new University of Tennessee memorial hospital and research center would be off Alcoa Highway, at the Cherokee farm site.

The name of the UT library was changed to Hoskins Library, honoring President Emeritus James D. Hoskins, then 80 years old.

The Boy's Club announced that it now had 300 members. Offices were still at 312 West Vine, but new playground facilities in North Knoxville, in the section of Folson, Caswell, and Baxter Avenue, had been made available for use of the club by the Civitan Club. A building on Baxter Avenue, previously a private dwelling, was initially used as an office for club activities near the playground site. The construction of a large brick facility would come later. The Girls Club was established in Knoxville in 1963, and in 1990 the two clubs merged, becoming the Boys and Girls Club of Knoxville.

Cowan Park, a recreational park for African Americans named for local black attorney Carl Cowan, was completed and opened in 1949. Located in the Farragut section, it adjoined Concord Park.

In a daylight robbery at the corner of Gay and Main, two bandits held up an office manager of Kerns Bakery, stopping his vehicle at gunpoint and getting away with more than $18,000.

The home of Dr. Harcourt Morgan, at Kingston Pike and Alcoa Highway, was demolished by University of Tennessee officials, "to beautify the campus". Over the years, they've "beautified" away many other old homes in the UT area.

The Daylight Building, in the 500 block of Union Avenue, was heavily damaged in a fire on December 7, 1949.

Knoxville High School recorded nine victories and only one defeat in 1949, again losing to Kingsport's Dobbins Bennett. For the second consecutive year Central's record was four wins and six losses. Young won 8 of 10 games, losing only to KHS and Kingsport, and the Yellow Jackets Rick Hill was a selected a member of the first team all city team for the third consecutive year. Rule High School again won seven games, including their first ever victory against Central, and lost closely contested games to Young, by six points, and to Knoxville High School, by five points. Rule also played the first-ever game at the Rule High School site, defeating Bell County, Kentucky, 27-0. (That game was played on a field just north of the school building, where the team that season had moved its practice facility from the previous site at the Knoxville Iron Company. It was the only game ever played at the field. The stadium later built adjoining the school included some of that site but was located further to the north.) Stair Tech won four of eleven games in 1949, their most significant victory being their only-ever victory over Central High School by the score of 6-0. Bearden's first football team hit the playing field in the fall of 1949. They lost six of their eight games played, winning games against Gibbs and Lanier. Gibbs fielded its first football team since the late 1920's in the fall of 1949. They played six games in 1949.

The Vols started to turn things around in 1949, winning seven games, losing to Duke and Georgia Tech, and playing to a 7-7 tie with Alabama. In the North Carolina game, they finally managed to contain Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice in his final year as a Tar Heel, although the team that Tennessee defeated that year, 35-7, was not nearly as strong as the ones of the immediately previous years. In the season's final game, Tennessee barely defeated Vanderbilt in Knoxville, 26-20, and Commodore coach Bill Edwards, outraged that two Vanderbilt touchdowns had been called back, charged an umpire at the end of the game and had to be subdued by his own players and coaches.

Work continued on city educational facilities, including the new Fulton High School and the addition of an auditorium and new gymnasium at Rule High School.

A new one and one half million dollar women's dormitory was nearing completion at Eastern State Hospital.

Through the first eleven months of 1949, 1,162 new homes were built in Knoxville. 786 were outside the city limits in the county, obvious evidence that families increasingly were preferring to live outside the city. At that time the city limits had not been expanded to include a much larger area as would be done in the early 1960's, and many who had built or purchased homes in the county, where they assumed they would only be paying county taxes, later found themselves annexed into the city, with their property taxes doubled.

Salesman Bill Hamilton was murdered in his apartment on Parkview Avenue, when a night time intruder was discovered by his wife and Hamilton was shot by the intended burglar. Police initiated a wide intensive hunt for the African American killer. A few days later, James Brown, a 49 year old sign painter, was arrested and confessed to the crime.

Knoxville's new professional football team, the Rebels, lost both money and games in the 1949 season, most of their home games at Evans Collins field having been played in the rain.

In his not unexpected practice of writing about things having noting to do with sports -- and this time not even about real people -- in his sports column in the Journal Tom Anderson wrote about comic strip character Dick Tracy. Anderson bemoaned the fact that although Chester Gould, creator of the imaginary detective, had guaranteed that Tracy would never marry, it had been revealed that soon Tracy would be married to Tess Trueheart. Today, it might cause wonderment as to why a sports columnist would have mentioned a comic strip character to his readers, but then you had to know Anderson, his readers, and his sometimes oddball writings.

I doubt that many people around today remember the disgusting habit of some of the ragamuffins around town. In my neighborhood in Happy Holler it was called "shooting ducks". Young boys would walk along the sidewalks near the curb, looking for partially smoked cigarettes lying in the gutter, and if they found one with a couple of puffs left they would pick it up, light the thing, and take a drag or two. Between those non-filtered weeds and possible disease from a previous smoker, one shudders to think about the chances those kids took back then

Repair work on the Gay Street bridge continued. The project was scheduled to be finished sometime in 1950. Architects advised that when the work was completed the bridge would be "as good as new", and that the repair project was costing only one fifth of the cost of a new bridge, which would have been around one million dollars. That repair job seemingly worked for more than fifty years, and was apparently much more efficient than the next extensive repair project on the same bridge, That later project, begun in 2004, lasted for more than two years and cost more than fifteen million dollars, yet in 2007 inspectors reported that the bridge had been given a low safety rating, despite the extensive work just completed. The author had a summer manual laboring job with the city back in the summer of 1950, when I was assigned to whatever crew needed extra help each day, including such sparkling experiences as garbage pick-up, sewer work, weed and tree cutting in alleyways, and other similar jobs. But my worst and scariest assignment by far was the two days they put me to work on that Gay Street bridge project, where my job was to carry pieces of broken concrete from the north end of the bridge to a truck, toting those heavy pieces along exposed beams, while trying not to look down and see through the openings, unprotected with nets or anything else, the ground beneath the bridge that looked like it was at least a mile away.

The contract to build the new West Knoxville high school was awarded to Johnson and Willard. The firm's bid was $871,203.

In December, fourteen candidates became citizens in ceremonies at the Federal District Court in Knoxville. Years ago, a fellow worker who was a naturalized citizen told me a funny story. When he applied for citizenship, he had gone with a friend who was there for the same purpose, and when leaving his friend mentioned that he was unsure about his answer to one of the questions that had been asked. The question was "what proudly flies above this and all other Unites States courthouses". The friend said his answer had been "Pigeons".

and elsewhere in the news in 1949 ... The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was signed by twelve nations. West Germany was established. In China, the People's Republic of China was established. Racial separation known as Apartheid was enforced in South Africa, where eventually the non-white population was forced out of cities and into poverty-ridden rural areas. The United States officially recognized the state of Israel. The Yankees beat the Dodgers to win the World Series. Kentucky won the NCAA basketball championship. Notre Dame was declared the national football champion. The first Emmy Awards were held. 45 rpm records were first sold in 1949, soon to replace the larger and easily breakable 78 rpm records that had been around for a half century or so. Popular movies included Sands of Iwo Jima, Twelve O'Clock High, and The Third Man. Among popular songs were Some Enchanted Evening, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and Ghost Riders in the Sky.

1950

The Sunset Drive-In Theater opened on US Highway 25W / Clinton Highway on September 1, 1950. Tickets cost fifty cents for adults, and children were admitted free ( there was no charge for people hidden in the car's trunk, unless they were discovered.) At that time, few scattered businesses were located on Clinton Highway, and nearby Merchant Road just to the north of the theater was essentially a street of private residences.

The Vol basketball team posted a mediocre record of 15-11 in 1950, but along the way

they upset Utah State and Drake to win their first ever holiday tournament, and beat Kentucky, then the number 2 rated team in the nation, 66-53, before a sellout noisy crowd at Alumni Memorial Gym in Knoxville.

Knoxville High School's Trojans made it to the finals of the state basketball tournament before losing to that year's champion, Happy Valley.

In what turned out to be a preliminary to the more extensive and widely publicized national confrontations that reappeared a few years later, a suit was filed in Anderson County, seeking to permit Negro students to attend the white public schools. The county continued to refuse to build separate facilities for black students. As incredible as it seems today, those students were then required to attend schools in adjoining counties, at distances from 35 to 55 miles away, in places including Knoxville, LaFollette, Jefferson City, and Rockwood.

A golf driving range was in operation in 1950 in the area between what then was the split between Clinton Highway and Old Clinton Pike. Golf lessons were available from professional Rabbit Groves.

A segment was shown on a Knoxville TV station in 2007, mentioning that people in Maryville were delighted that an ice cream parlor and eatery at the site of the closed Kay's ice cream store recently opened in that city, as people in that Blount County city had long enjoyed that store and its offerings. That program made no mention of the fact that the same Kay's had operated several different Knoxville stores, and that folks around here likewise had frequented those popular operations for many years. In 1950, Kays had ten stores in operation in Knoxville. Since apparently the majority of the personalities seen on Knoxville's TV stations are actually not from around here, they're not likely to know, nor inclined to take the time to find out, about such things. In any event, Kay's ice cream parlors were a long-time popular operation in Knoxville, making tasty milk shakes and malts, and selling a variety of ice cream. They also served sandwiches and other items, including hot tamales. Those served at Kay's were Ruby's tamales, for some years perhaps the most readily available homemade tamales around here in those times. But tamales made by Andrew Jones and other local producers were also readily available in Knoxville back then, a circumstance that seemingly has changed in recent times, when even modern "Mexican" restaurants in town sometimes don't even offer hot tamales, (or, if they do, they're nothing remotely resembling those that were sold around here a half century ago.)

Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart's song, The Tennessee Waltz, hit the jackpot in 1950 when Patti Page released her recording of their song, originally written in 1947. That version sold millions, and the sheet music publication with Page pictured on the cover is still by far the most readily available and easily located old Tennessee-related sheet music. Perhaps attempting to cash in on the enormous success of that song, King and Stewart soon wrote another song, called the Tennessee Tango. I doubt that many people have ever heard of that one.

The Knoxville City School Board approved plans to build a new high school for African Americans, but at the same time said there was no money available to build the facility.

In 1950, approximately twenty-five percent of American homes had a television set. In Knoxville, where television was still three years away, a guesstimate is that the percentage of those owning TV sets was probably less than five percent.

In 1950, the Smokies were Tri State League regular season champions, with a record of 89 wins and 58 losses. Jack Aragon was the manager that year. It was the only year the Smokies ever won the regular season Tri State League championship. Knoxville then promptly was eliminated in the playoffs, losing all three of their games against Rock Hill. The Smokies' Al Neil led the league in home runs in 1950, hitting 32 round trippers.

The Knoxville Journal increased the price of their Sunday edition from a dime to fifteen cents, and the seven day subscription price was also increased, to forty cents a week.

A small privately issued newspaper called the Karns Community News was first published in 1950. Although Karns High School had been in existence since 1913, the general community had long been known as Beaver Ridge, and that newspaper seems to be one of the earliest know printed mentions of the community name as "Karns". In fact, maps of Knox County published later in the 1950's continue to show the community name as Beaver Ridge, and the last time I drove through the section there were local firms that still retained "Beaver Ridge in their business names.

Knoxville High School's final football team won ten of eleven games played, failing to compile a perfect season's record when they lost to Young High School by a single point, 7-6. Central had five victories and five losses in 1950, extending to three consecutive years the trend of losing as many (or more) games as they won. Their final game against Knoxville High School was a blowout, a 40-7 loss to the Trojans. Young won eight of eleven games in 1950. Rule won five games, their most significant victory being a 12-0 conquest of Young High School, who in turn defeated Knoxville High School. In its final year of existence, Stair Tech recorded its most dismal record ever, losing all ten games played and managing to score but a single touchdown during the entire season. In its second year of competition, Bearden won five of their seven games, including a win against Farragut, who had defeated the Bulldogs the previous year in the initial game of a rivalry that still continues. Farragut had three wins, one tie, and six losses in the 1950 season. Powell High School played eight games in 1950, losing four games, playing to a tie against Farragut, and defeating TSD, Bearden, and Gibbs. After several consecutive successful seasons, the TSD team fell on hard times in 1950, losing six of eight games played, with one win and one tie. Carter High School completed its most successful season in the post-war era, recording seven wins and one tie. Halls continued to improve, posting a record in 1950 of seven wins, two losses and one tie. Rule High School's Jay Sentell became the first Knoxville player ever named as a first team selection to the All City team for four consecutive years.

Following their mediocre seasons in 1947 and 1948, the Vol football team continued their post-war improvement from the 1949 season by winning 9 of 10 games in 1950. The loss was to Mississippi State's Maroons (it wasn't until later they were called the Bulldogs.) in the second game of the season. The most significant win was against Kentucky, that game played in Knoxville in freezing weather and a twenty inch snow that fell the night before the game. It was Kentucky's only loss that season, and the only game when the Wildcats, led by All American quarterback Vito "Babe" Parelli, were held scoreless. It also continued Bob Neyland's record of never losing a game to a team coached by Paul "Bear" Bryant. Neyland was named SEC coach of the year in 1950, his third time to win the award. Tennessee accepted the invitation to play Texas in the Cotton Bowl on New Years Day.

While most people probably would think that cattle rustling had usually not only been restricted to places in the "Wild West", but that it also had long since been eliminated in the United States by the middle twentieth century. Apparently not, because four men were tried and found guilty of rustling cattle in nearby Campbell County, Tennessee, in 1950. They had stolen the cattle and taken and sold them across the state line into Kentucky.

Based on the congestion caused by the Christmas Parade, and the problem of potential injuries to bystanders, City Councilman U. G. Turner proposed to the Council that all parades be banned on Gay Street. Vice Mayor Milton Roberts agreed that changes needed to be made, but favored restrictions on parades rather than their complete elimination. Obviously, parades have not been a problem in modern times.

University of Tennessee Trustees voted to raise Memphis State College to a four year university status, and also change two year courses at the Martin State College to four years. The Knoxville Chamber of Commerce fought the decision, and later the UT Alumni Association joined the opposition to the change.

University of Tennessee Swedish exchange student Alf Homberg won the Sugar Bowl mile run.

For the first time, the Associated Press All American team included twenty-two players instead of eleven, the change brought about because of the use of the two platoon system in 1950. Tennessee's guard Ted Daffer was the only Vol named as a first team selection.

In what today sounds like an improbable sports observation, the majority of sports writers in the country replied to an Associate Press inquiry concerning college football in 1950 by mentioning that the most significant change that year had been the abandonment by many teams of the "T Formation" and the return to the "Single Wing". Assuming that was an accurate assessment, the trend was short-lived, since virtually no teams today use what is now considered the outmoded and archaic Single Wing offense, although some teams sometimes do still use variations of the formation today. Tennessee was one of if not the last major college team to exclusively use the Single Wing, not abandoning it until the 1960's.

Times were often troubling in international affairs in 1950, and rumors of war were commonplace, with regular headlines reporting such events as the shooting down of American planes by Russians, President Truman's threat to use the Atomic bomb in Korea, a huge surge of the Chinese army into Korea, and similar unsettling events.

An idea of the size of the personnel necessary to operate downtown's Tennessee Theater in 1950 is evident in a picture of the employees of the theater published in the Journal. Employees donated their free time to work when a movie was shown at the theater to aid in that newspaper's annual Christmas charity, the Milk Fund. Nineteen employees are shown in the photograph. Besides ticket sellers, ticket takers, concession stand operators, and projectionists, the theater also employed ushers in full uniforms.

and elsewhere in the news in 1950 ... Communist forces from North Korea invaded South Korea, starting the Korean War. President Truman ordered the development of the hydrogen bomb. 1950 was the beginning of McCarthyism, when Senator Joseph McCarthy accused seemingly everyone he could think of as being Communists. His assaults continued until following the McCarthy hearings in 1954, when the Senate censured him for contempt and abuse of power. Puerto Rico nationalists unsuccessfully attempted to shoot their way into Blair House and assassinate President Truman in Washington in November, 1950. The Yankees beat the Phillies to capture the World Series. CCNY won the national basketball championship and Oklahoma was declared national football champions. Guys and Dolls opened on Broadway. Peanuts, the Charles Schultz comic strip, first appeared in newspapers. Sunset Boulevard, All About Eve, and Born Yesterday were among popular movies. Popular songs included Mona Lisa, Harbor Lights, My Heart Cries for You, and Music, Music, Music.

1951

Tennessee won an exciting Sugar Bowl game, defeating Texas, 20-14. They had finished behind Oklahoma in the final polls following the 1950 regular season, the Sooners being named the number one team both by UPI and AP. A few references, and some diehard Vol fans, suggest that Tennessee was the 1950 national champion, and if the voting had taken place following the bowl games, that might well have been the case. Kentucky, a team the Vols had defeated during the regular season that year, defeated Oklahoma in the post season Sugar Bowl game. On the other hand, using that same logic, those claiming that Tennessee was the national champion in 1950 will probably find it necessary to strip the Vols of their national title the following year, and award that one to Maryland, based on the fact that undefeated Tennessee lost to the Terrapins in the Sugar Bowl game on January 1, 1952, just as Oklahoma lost their bowl game in January, 1951.

The Greenwood Spinners replaced the Florence Steelers in the Tri State League in 1951. Jack Aragon again was Knoxville's manager. Knoxville finished the 1951 season in fifth place, with 60 wins and 79 losses. Al Neil, who had led the Tri State League in home runs the previous year while playing for the Smokies, played for the Spartanburg Peaches in 1951. He again won the league home run title in 1951, hitting a league record 43 home runs that year. Three year's later, while he was not in listed on the Knoxville roster when the season opened in 1954, at season's end he was again playing with Knoxville, in the Smokies final season in the Tri State League.

The Amos and Andy television show originally first aired in 1951, before Knoxville had a television station. Developed from the long-time popular radio series that featured two white actors portraying black characters, Charles Correl and Freeman Gosden, that show remains one of the funniest television shows ever. The show lasted for only two years, although for years afterwards it was consistently shown in reruns on local Knoxville stations, until around 1966, when protests from the NAACP finally ran it off the air. Usually displaying the silly bungles of Andy and the shady shenanigans of the Kingfisher, the show was very humorous, and it is sad that neither the younger black or white audiences today have access to those classic shows, other than to purchase a VHS tapes or CD of the shows that are available today. Anyone who has not previously seen any of those shows and views them for the first time will discover that they are well-acted and classic television episodes, none containing the vulgarities, vile language, or other suggestive and disgusting things that are readily available to young people these days, not only on television, but in many recordings that are referred to as "music".

The Vol basketball team won ten and lost twelve games in the 1950-1951 season.

Tennessee's baseball team posted its best-ever season, winning the Southeastern Conference and was runner-up in the national championship series played at Des Moines, Iowa.

Kentucky's Ralph Beard and Lou Groza were found guilty in a basketball point shaving scandal in 1951. Both were prohibited from playing in the NBA, and Kentucky was banned from fielding a basketball team during the 1951-1952 basketball season.

B. E. Sharp was a physical education teacher, first at Knoxville High School, then later at the Fulton High School. While at Fulton, he developed an exercise apparatus for use by individuals for physical conditioning. It may have been one of if not the first such exercise units in the country. I've not determined if Sharp ever marketed the unit, but probably he didn't, and it's unlikely that he ever never made anything from his invention. Later, such outfits as Bowflex and other firms have manufactured and sold home exercise units to the public for home use, although perhaps more elaborate contraptions, and some have probably made a fortune in the process.

On the local football scene in 1951, Knoxville High School and Stair Tech closed in the spring and three new high schools were opened in the fall session -- East, West, and Fulton. Knoxville High School won the state basketball championship in its final season, the Trojans defeating Selmer in the finals to win the crown. In football, no local champion was crowned, since all of the new schools and Rule High School lost at least three games during the season. East High School, with several players who the previous year had been members of the team at recently closed Knoxville High School, posted the best record of the new local high school teams, and barely lost to the region's undefeated Oak Ridge team, 14-13. Fulton's Falcons lost all but one of eleven games played, their only victory being against West. That dismal record apparently had an adverse effect on the school first graduating class, or at least on the staff of the school's initial yearbook, the Falcon, since while picturing members of the football team, that school annual makes no mention of their opponents, nor the results of any of the games played during their first season in the fall of 1951. West was winless in its first season, losing all games except for a scoreless tie against South High School. Rule posted a record of five wins and six losses, and Central won six games while losing five.

The bearded traveling basketball team, the House of David, continued in barnstorm, playing an exhibition game in 1951 at the old Knoxville High School gymnasium.

Tennessee posted its first undefeated and untied season since 1939, winning all ten games played. The Vols won all games handily until the season's finale, when Vanderbilt, a team with four losses already that season, but with passing sensation Bill Wade at quarterback, gave Tennessee all it wanted and more, before the Vols finally managed to pull out a 35-27 victory. That year, the normal attire for adults attending Tennessee games continued to be 'Sunday Go to Meeting' clothing for the women and suits and ties for the men, and the only 'orange' that was evident was perhaps a hand held banner, a small Vol button in a man's lapel, and perhaps an orange and white flower attiring the lady. The sea of orange, other than in the student section, had not yet arrived. Tennessee was named the national champion for 1951 in the most recognized polls, UPI and AP, although undefeated Maryland was actually named national champion in more of the polls than the Vols. Tennessee had a chance to justify its Number One ranking by accepting the invitation to play the Terrapins in the Sugar Bowl on New Years Day, 1952. Eastern and Midwestern sportswriters saw to it that Tennessee tailback Hank Lauricella finished a distant second in the Heisman voting to Princeton a tailback, Dick Kazmaier. While Kazmaier played for a team that was undefeated in 1951, none of Princeton's victories were against a nationally ranked football team that season. For that matter, his talents must have been evident only against Ivy League competition, but not to owners of professional football teams, since he was not selected until the fifteenth round in the 1957 NFL draft, as the 176^th draft pick. In later years, Vol supporters would eventually come to consider the Heisman trophy as a meaningless popularity contest, controlled by voters from places other than in the south.

A Chattanooga firm, headed by C. H. Simpson, took over the operation of the Riviera Theater on Gay Street. The change was a result of a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling that the Wilbur-Kinsey organization, then operating all of the theaters on Gay Street including the Tennessee, the Bijou, and the Strand, in addition to community theaters the Booth and the Park, must dispose of one of its downtown theaters.

Two new public housing projects, the new Lonsdale Homes and the Western Heights addition, were rapidly approaching completion in late 1951.

The Bureau of Recreation operated the Negro Basketball League at the Payne Avenue Recreation Center, where nine boys teams and six girls team's competed.

On Christmas Day, the body of 48 year old Royette C. Rydings was found on Second Creek, near Security Mills, the victim of a stabbing. Five suspects were arrested, and soon Buford Majors had confessed to the crime, revealing in his statement that the murder had take place in a heated argument over who would get to drink a can of shellac thinner.

Following a dance and party sponsored by Central High School's Bachelor Club, held at the Jessamine Street Recreation Center, a midnight brawl took place in front of the KTL terminal on Magnolia Avenue. when what the Journal described as a group of former Knoxville High School students came by and the altercation ensued.

In December, 2007, extensive articles concerning Cormac McCarthy appeared in the Knoxville News Sentinel. Born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1933, McCarthy's family moved to Knoxville in 1937, where he lived until around 1952, again in the late 1950's, then later in adjoining Blount County for some years, before moving west. The Sentinel articles inexplicably only briefly mentioned McCarthy's book Suttree, his novel that is set primarily in Knoxville, and the book that one would think would be of particular interest to locals. The usual assumption is that the time setting in Suttree is around 1951 or so. Despite the usual statements by those who have written comments and reviews about that book, suggesting that McCarthy "created" the characters, his imagination was considerably aided by knowledge of and possibly even occasional association with real people in Knoxville. Examples of some of those persons mentioned in Suttree include Harry Meredith ('Harry the Horse') , Eddie Taylor ('The Knoxville Bear'), and one-armed Jimmy Sheldon ('Flop').

and elsewhere in the news in 1951 ... The Korean War continued. The 22^nd Amendment to the Constitution limited the President to two terms. Julius and Ether Rosenberg. American Communists, were convicted of treason and sentenced to be executed, for passing nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviet Union. The US and Japan signed a security treaty in 1951, allowing American troops to be stationed in Japan. General Douglas MacArthur was relieved of his command in Korea after disagreeing with President Truman's war strategy. The Yankees defeated the Giants to win the World Series. Kentucky won the NCAA basketball championship and undefeated Tennessee was named national football champions, their first ever consensus national championship. Color television was first introduced. Disc jockey Alan Freed came up with the term "Rock and Roll" for blues and rhythm music, fearing adverse reaction if it were referred to as "black music" to his predominantly white audience. On television, Edward R. Murrow first broadcast his See It Now show. Other new shows that debuted in 1951 included Dragnet, I Love Lucy, What's My Line, Roy Rogers, and Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the previously mentioned Amos and Andy Show. Television's first late night comedy show also was airing on television that year, Broadway Open House, hosted by Jerry Lester and starring a tall buxom blond named Dagmar (Jennie Lewis.) Popular 1951 movies included The African Queen, An American In Paris, A Streetcar Named Desire, and A Place in the Sun. Among popular songs were Because of You, How High the Moon, and Kisses Sweeter than Wine.

1952

Knoxville fans, and U. T. football followers elsewhere, were shocked and disappointed when Tennessee lost to Maryland, 28 to 13, in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's day. The final 1951 UPI and AP polls had given Tennessee its first ever consensus national football championship, but in hindsight, to people elsewhere that selection now seemed in question, since Tennessee was never really in the game against an apparently superior and undefeated Maryland team.

The Savoy Theater, for black patrons, closed in 1952. It had opened in 1950, at the corner of Western and Deaderick at the site where the Ritz Theater had opened in 1946, then later closed. Earlier, the theater had been called the Sunset Theater, a theater for white patrons, but where seating was also provided for African American audiences. Following the closing of the Savoy, the theater reopened briefly as the Booker T. Theater in 1953, but ceased operation that same year. At that location, The Ritz / Savoy / Booker T. was the only movie theater for African Americans that ever existed in the section that a few years later would again be known as the original community name, Mechanicsville. When those theaters were in existence from 1946 to 1953, the local communities in the area were called Western Heights and McAnally Flats. The only other neighborhood theater in 1952 in the same section was a theater for white patrons, the Dawn Theater, located a block south of Western, on Ailor Avenue.

So This Is Love, a movie based on the life of Tennessee's Grace Moore, featuring Kathryn Grayson and Merv Griffin, premiered at the Tennessee Theater in 1953.

It seemed obvious that police were unlikely to solve the 1951 murder of a Fountain City housewife, Mary Hankins. She had been shot and killed in her home by an unidentified assailant, and the case had long since gone cold. The murder is still unsolved. Since writing about that case a while ago ("An Unsolved Murder in Knoxville - the Hankins Incident"), I watched an old episode of TV's Law and Order, where detectives were working on an old cold case. In that show, they contact a retired detective, who has scads of original old records concerning the crime at his home, and that information was used to eventually solve the case. I've now discovered that the scenario is accurate, and is likely a primary reason the Hankins case will never be solved. In Knox County, detectives likewise often take records and paperwork concerning unsolved crimes to their homes. Later, after they retire, those records are rarely if ever returned to the police department, and eventually those records are apparently disposed of. It appears likely that most of the original records concerning the Hankins murder that might have shed additional light on the case, and lead to the possibility of solving that crime, no longer exist.

Television didn't make it to Knoxville until the following year. Some adventurous souls had taken an early plunge, buying a TV set and putting an antenna to their roof, but generally they received only snowy and unreliable reception from distant stations from such cities Atlanta and Asheville. There were occasions that today perhaps sound like fairy tales, but in those times it was not unusual on overcast nights when television reception in Knoxville came from places as far away as Canada, Cuba, Texas, and Colorado, but usually after only a few minutes things returned to normal, and the screen provided only its usual display of snowy reception from closer cities, such as Atlanta and Asheville. In the meantime, most people were still listening to their favorite radio shows in 1952, a few of the more popular programs including The FBI In Peace and War, The Great Gildersleeve, The Lone Ranger, What's My Line, Mystery Theater, and The Hardy Family. It would be years before the majority of households in Knoxville had TV sets, and for quite a while those and similar radio programs continued to be popular with the public.

Sears and Roebuck had gone into the automobile business, selling a vehicle called the Allstate. The car was identical to the Henry J vehicle, made by the Kaiser-Fraser corporation. The Allstate cars were displayed in the windows at the Sears store on Central. The plunge into the car business was a short lived venture by Sears.

In baseball, the Smokies continued their usual losing ways, finishing in seventh place in the eight team Tri State League. Even so, baseball hungry voters approved a half million dollar city investment for a new stadium at Caswell Park, and Mayor George Dempster announced to 1200 local fans at the Smokies' final game of the 1952 season in Knoxville that he soon would announce plans for the construction of a new facility at Caswell Park, to replace the old Smithson Stadium.

J. C. Goosie won the Southern Appalachian tournament and the city golf championship. Goosie had a beautiful smooth golf swing. He later turned professional and played on the PGA tour, where he occasionally came close but never managed to win a tournament. He moved to Florida, where he won the Florida State Open in 1963, and established the country's first professional mini-tour, the J. C. Goosie / Space Coast Tour, where many golfers who were later prominent on the PGA Tour got their start. Goosie once held the record for the longest recorded drive in a professional tournament, a blast of 457 yards in 1988, in a Senior Tour tournament.

Catholic High School's new school building on Magnolia Avenue opened in 1952.

In the 1951-1952 basketball season, Tennessee won 13 games and lost 9, with a 7-7 record in the conference, then made it to the semi-finals of the SEC tournament before losing to perennial champion Kentucky. That season they somehow managed to defeat LSU, who was led by All American Bob Pettit. Pettit was as graceful a center as you're likely to ever see.

Although I lived in Lincoln Park, I attended Rule High School, and I naturally became somewhat familiar with the Lonsdale community back then, since my usual method of getting to school was a walking trek of some distance, beyond Central Avenue, and along Tennessee Avenue, then up the hill to the school. So I was surprised when an article appeared in a Knoxville publication in recent years, suggesting that since the 1950's "not much has changed in Lonsdale". In those times, the Lonsdale population was approximately 80 percent white, and the main drag was along Tennessee Avenue. There were not only dwellings on Tennessee Avenue, but several businesses as well, including, besides the Knoxville Iron Company, four restaurants, two beauty shops, two variety stores, four grocery stores, three barber shops, a furniture store, a shoe repair shop. a dry goods store, a drug store, a radio repair shop, a movie house (the Lee Theater). a pool room, a dry cleaning store, and five other businesses. On August 22, 2007, I took a drive along Tennessee Avenue, just to see if anything has changed. That trip revealed that most of the original old dwellings (about forty or so) are still standing on Tennessee Avenue. However, except for the iron company (now called Gerdau Armisteel) there now are only a small handful of businesses in the entire length of the street, and none of the twenty-eight businesses that were there in the fifties exist today. As I suspected, Lonsdale is like most other city neighborhoods, where businesses that once provided services, goods, and entertainment for local residents, have long since disappeared. The scene on Tennessee Avenue today provides undeniable evidence that much indeed has changed in Lonsdale during the past fifty years. One eerie circumstance was that the Lonsdale Baptist Church was standing on Tennessee Avenue the afternoon when I drove along that street, and that same evening local television news reported that the church had partially burned later the same day. It was sad and tragic occurrence, but one humorous comment from a gentleman associated with the church was heard on the local telecast ... "we've been asking for a sign from the Lord, but we didn't know he would burn the church down".

Motels had not yet come on the scene in 1952. That year's city directory lists no motels, but reveals that forty-five tourist courts and tourist homes and thirty hotels were in Knoxville that year.

"Cry", a song recorded by singer Johnny Ray in late 1951, was still popular in 1952. The lead-in by background singers on the recording repeats three consecutive times the essentially meaningless sounds - "Ooo-Ah, Ooo-Ah, Ooo-Ah". I'm perhaps alone in my opinion, but I still tend to believe it's likely that the modern term for a later genre of songs, played at a faster pace and today known as "Doo-Wop", originated with that similar but earlier sound heard in that old Johnny Ray song, and that sound has become alliterated over the years from "Ooo-Ah" to "Doo-Ah" to "Doo-Wop".

Another 1952 song was Wimoweh. Recorded by the singing group The Weavers, it was quite popular among high school students Knoxville. The Weavers rendition had no discernable lyrics, merely melodic chants and utterances. WKGN disk jockey Eddie Parker often played the song on his radio show, at the request of local youngsters. Years later, the song was once again released, but this time with words added, and called The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

In basketball, Central High School's Bobcats won the district title. East High School also had one of the area's better teams in 1952, making it to the semi-finals before losing in the state tournament. A long -forgotten rule was briefly in existence during the 1951-1952 basketball season, at least at the high school level in the East Tennessee area. If a non-shooting foul occurred, the player who was fouled was given a one-and-one opportunity at the free throw line, but it was not the rule that's now long been in effect -- if you make the first shot you get a bonus shot. Instead, under that initial rule, if the player MISSED the first free throw, he was given a second opportunity. The author vividly remembers a game in 1952 when our Rule team played Karns, and with a couple of seconds left in the game I missed the first foul shot in that situation, then made the second to tie the score and send the game into overtime, and we eventually won the game. Incidentally, I recently read a local newspaper article suggesting that the "jump shot" was first used by players in the 1960's, but that maneuver actually dates much earlier, as several local high school players who were using that shot in 1952.

The Tennessee basketball team went 7-7 in the SEC, then lost to perennial nemesis Kentucky in the SEC tournament.

After operating in a tent at the site, the University of Tennessee's permanent Carousel Theater building was completed on the campus in 1952. The first play presented at the new theater was You Can't Take It With You.

Knoxville High School and Stair Tech had closed in the spring of 1951, and three new high schools in Knoxville graduated their first classes in the spring of 1952 -- East, Fulton and West. The same year, South High School was remodeled, a new addition at Rule High School included an auditorium and gymnasium, and in the county the new Bearden High School opened on Kingston Pike. On the local football scene, in the fall of 1952 Fulton High's Falcons made a remarkable turnaround in their second year of competition by winning nine games and suffering only one loss. The previous fall, in their first year of existence, Fulton had lost all but one of its ten games. Fulton's 1952 loss was to Rule, who also had only one loss during the season, and claimed the city championship by virtue of its victory against Fulton. But in a post season game in Jacksonville, Florida, Rule more than met their match, when a superior Andrew Jackson High School team blew the Golden Bears away, 40-0.

Downtown Knoxville still bustled in 1952, with numerous stores, restaurants, and various other businesses where many local residents came to shop, eat, wander along Market Square and through the Market House, take in a movie at the Strand, Tennessee, Bijou, or Roxy, or maybe wander down to the first block of South Gay Street to watch the Midday Merry Go Round, the daily live country music show at the WNOX auditorium. Performers at the daily radio show sometimes issued illustrated paperback publications, including some of their songs, examples being Bill Carlisle's Merry Go Round Album, issued by the stage personality with the stage name of "Hot Shot Elmer", and "The Carl Story and Rambling Mountaineers Song Book".

The Five Points community in East Knoxville was a thriving section in 1952. Rarely mentioned in modern writings is the fact that it was then a considerably different neighborhood. In those times, in the Five Points section along McCalla Avenue and several adjoining streets, the residents were white, and most all of the neighborhood businesses, including a barber shop, several grocery stores, a variety store, a service station, a dry cleaner, and a hardware store, were owned and operated by white people. African American families did live on the fringes of the community, and in later years eventually resided in most of the Five Points section, moving into the area following the displacement of many of those families from the original black community immediately east of Central Avenue, which was essentially wiped out when the downtown loop was built and the Mountain View redevelopment project took place. Five Points is now essentially a black community, where nothing similar to the number, types and variety of businesses that were in the area in 1952 exist today. But attempts to revitalize the community are continuing.

Cowboy movie actors made live appearances in Knoxville in 1952, including Gene Autry, at the UT Memorial Auditorium, and Gene "Red" Barry, who appeared on the stage at the Dawn Theater on Ailor Avenue.

A sports writer for the Knoxville Journal in 1952 was John Ward. He was also the sports director at radio station WKGN, and in the early days of television, on station WTSK the following year, he was sports announcer for that station. Ward later become the long time popular "Voice of the Vols" in radio broadcasts of Tennessee basketball and football games.

Rich's department store of Atlanta purchased George's of Knoxville. The store continued to operate at the Gay Street location for a couple of years, then later built a new large Knoxville store, three blocks west of Gay Street, and moved to that location.

City and County authorities approved the construction of a new civic auditorium and parking facility in 1952.

Frank Clement defeated Gordon Browning in the Democratic Primary, then won the election and became Governor of Tennessee. Under new state constitutional guidelines, his first term was the last two year term served by a Tennessee Governor. In 1956, he was reelected and served a four year term.

George Holbert, a well-known local beer parlor owner and police bootlegger, was indicted for the murder of his wife and wounding of his teenage son. Holbert shot both during in an altercation at his home on Rutledge Pike.

Despite smarting from their loss to Maryland in the Sugar Bowl, Tennessee regrouped, won eight games, lost one and tied one during the 1952 season, and received a bid to play Texas in the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1953. The Vols were the top defensive team in the nation in 1952, allowing opponents an average of only 166.7 total yards per game. Tennessee's John Michaels, Andy Kozar, Francis Holohan, Doug Atkins, and Mack Franklin were first team selections on the AP All SEC team. Michaels was a consensus All American selection. Coach Bob Neyland was under a doctor's care a few days before the bowl game and turned the temporary coaching reigns over to Harvey Robinson. It was reportedly doubtful that Neyland would be on the sidelines for the bowl game, and rumors persisted that 1952 would be his last year as head coach of the Vols.

It was announced that bids for the demolition of Smithson Stadium, for the construction of a new half million dollar baseball facility, were to be opened in January, 1953. But Smokies manager Jack Aragon came before City Council to request that they delay the demolition until after Labor Day, 1953, in order that the team would have a place to play their games. The Council initially delayed the matter in late December, but eventually the plan went forward, the new stadium was built, and the Smokies dropped out of the Tri State League in 1952.

18 year old UT student John Spires, from Maryville, died when he fell seventy feet from atop the east side of the Shields Watkins football stadium.

The frozen body of 32 year old Charles Thurmer was found December 1, on the banks of Powell River arm of Norris Lake. He had been missing since November 21, when he was lost on a deer hunt. Others in the same group of hunters had also become disoriented and stranded, but all except Thurmer had been rescued.

Electricity was finally restored to all residents by December 1, following power outages resulting from an 18 inch snow that hit Knoxville on November 21-22.

"Flattops", the numerous pre-fabricated houses that had been hastily built in Oak Ridge when that city was established early during World War Two, were being offered for sale to the highest bidders in late 1952 by an agent for the US government.

Two tragedies occurred On Christmas Day, 1952. 24 year old Jack Caldwell broke into the home of his former wife and was shot and killed by Elmer 'Bud' Nichols, who reportedly was a roomer at the dwelling. The same day, Mrs Ruby Moss was found dead at her home on West Oldham Avenue. Her husband, Edgar Moss, initially told police she had died of a heart attack, but examination of the body revealed that she had been shot, probably by the husband. Police reported that Edgar Moss had been drunk, and his father-in-law, Fred Wright, also found at the premises, had been "half-drunk".

and elsewhere in 1952 ... King Edward VI of England died and Elizabeth ascended to the throne. King Farouk of India was ousted in a military coup. The United States detonated its first hydrogen bomb, at Enewetak Island. Dwight Eisenhower was elected President. Richard Nixon made his famous "Checkers" speech on national television. The Yankees beat Brooklyn to win the World Series, Kansas won the NCAA basketball championship, and Michigan State and Georgia Tech shared the national football championship. The Summer Olympics were held in Helsinki in 1952 and the USSR, returning to the Olympics after a 40 year absence, won eleven more gold medals than the USA, beginning a decades long competitive cold war atmosphere to the events for decades afterwards. Mad magazine debuted. Among popular songs in 1952 were You Belong to Me, Blue Tango, Half as Much, and Why Don't Your Believe Me. The Today Show debuted on NBC television, with Dave Garrison as the early morning host. Jackie Gleason's Honeymooners first appeared in 1952, beginning a twenty year run of the popular TV comedy. Popular 1952 movies included High Noon and Singin' in the Rain.

1953

On New Years Day, 1953, Tennessee was defeated by Texas in the Cotton Bowl, in a game that was more one-sided than the final score of 16-0 indicated. The superiority of the Longhorns on both sides of the football was obvious, Texas gaining over three hundred yards while holding the Vols to a paltry 32 yards in total offense for the entire game. Backfield ace Andy Kozar had been injured earlier and did not play in the game. Coach Bob Neyland, who had been ill and under the care of physicians in Florida before flying to Dallas two days before the game, conceded that Tennessee had been thoroughly beaten, and called Texas one of the finest teams he had ever seen. The rumors proved to be correct, and Neyland retired, but retained the position of Athletic Director at UT. Assistant Harvey Robinson was named head coach of the Vols for the 1963 season. Neyland was given a testimonial dinner at Cherokee Country Club in August, the speakers including Grantland Rice, Howard Baker, Estes Kefauver, and old Vol players including Beattie Feathers, Gene McEver, and Bobby Dodd. Although Neyland's sparkling record as head coach of the Volunteers established him as one of the nation's elite football coaches, he was rarely successful in preparing or inspiring his teams for success in bowl games. His overall record in bowl games was a dismal three wins and six losses, although his 1931 team did defeat New York University in a post season charity game.

Construction was well under way on the new State Supreme Court building at the corner of Cumberland and Locust in 1953. Besides Supreme Court offices, other state offices that were scattered all over town would now be housed in the six story building.

The Smokies dropped out of the Tri State League after the 1952 baseball season, and the league was reduced to six teams -- Asheville, Charlotte, Rock Hill, Spartanburg, Anderson, and Gastonia. Although Mayor George Dempster had made a last ditch effort exploring the possibility of repairing old Smithson Stadium instead of building a new facility, the cost of renovation was too expensive, and the demolition of Smithson Stadium began in early April, in preparation for the construction of a new stadium at the same site. That year, a team from adjoining Blount County, called the Alcoa-Maryville Twins, played in the Class D Mountain States League. Frank Aragon, who had managed Knoxville's Smokies the previous year, was the manager of that team, and their home games were played at the Seivers and Hunt field, located in Sevier County on Chapman Highway. Perhaps the proximity of the Blount County team that played in 1953 is the reason some writings still refer to it as having been a Knoxville team. The Twins team made national headlines at the Sevier County field during the 1953 season, when they ran out of baseballs and were forced to forfeit a game to an opponent, possibly the only time a professional baseball game was ever forfeited due to lack of baseballs. The new Municipal Stadium was completed at Caswell Park in 1953, at the same site where Smithson Stadium had been demolished the previous year, but Knoxville still had no baseball team to play at the new field that season. Ironically, back in 1931, Knoxville also did not have a professional team when Smithson Stadium was completed, and the new stadium was dedicated with a game played by amateur teams from Knoxville and Morristown.

Knoxville's first two television stations, Channel 6, WROL (later WATE), a VHF station, and Ultra High Frequency station WTSK (later WTVK ), Channel 26, first came on the air in October, 1953. One problem was that most television sets at that time would not pick up UHF stations, and the relatively small number of people who actually owned a TV found it necessary to buy a separate device, a converter that enabled viewers to view station WTSK. It would be another ten years before the government ruled it mandatory that television manufacturers produce sets that were compatible for both VHF and UHF reception. WROL was scheduled to broadcast Knoxville's first telecast on October 1, but technical difficulties delayed their broadcast that evening, and people around town sat for hours staring at a test pattern on their TV screens. According to newspaper accounts the following day, WROL did get finally on the air late that evening, but at our house nothing ever showed up on channel 6 that night. In the meantime, Channel 26, not scheduled to go on the air until later that month, decided to televise an old movie, and in truth WTSK was the first TV station to broadcast in Knoxville. Back then, local television stations didn't come on the air until around five O'CLOCK or so in the afternoon on weekdays, and by eleven PM both stations had packed it in for the night. On one night in Knoxville in December, 1953, Channel 6 was offering viewers the Colgate Comedy Hour, Channel 26 showed the Jack Benny Show, and that was about it for all practical purposes. Otherwise, the unexciting evening fare that night included such gems as Industry on Parade, The Christophers, Bible Puppets, Sunday Harmonies, Victory at Sea, and Exploring with X-Rays. WTSK offered a combination of news, sports, and weather at 6 PM, and the program was over by 6:15, long enough then, and likely quite adequate for such local newscasts today, if they would get rid of the overabundance of commercials and stop giving people generally unneded information, such as predicting what the weather will be the following day in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. On Sundays, local stations began broadcasting in the early afternoon. That year, WTSK went off the air at 9:45 PM, and WROL left the air at 11 PM. In late 1953, the telephone company provided only one coaxial cable to carry network television broadcasts, and there was a debate between the two stations as to which would carry one bowl game -- the first to be televised in Knoxville -- on New Years Day, 1954. By the following year, the problem had been solved, and new equipment had been installed by the telephone company, allowing as many as three separate network programs to be shown at the same time.

The question had arisen in some quarters as to why southern college and university football teams never scheduled games against some of the prominent teams in other sections of the country, including such midwestern schools as Michigan, Illinois, Ohio State, and others. News Sentinel sports writer and later sports editor Tom Siler sent an inquiry to football coaches in the Southeastern Conference, asking about the matter. One of them was sent to Bobby Dodd at Georgia Tech (Tech was then still a member of the SEC.) Dodd had been the quarterback at Tennessee during Bob Neyland's early years as Vol coach. Dodd replied in confidence that he would personally like to play such games, but couldn't do so because he would be chased out of Atlanta by people who would be outraged if he even attempted to schedule games against any of those teams, where black players were on the team rosters. That same attitude had been evident for many years in the south, including in Knoxville itself. A situation had occurred in Knoxville back in 1936, when at season's end plans for a game to determine the mythical national championship between two undefeated teams, Central High School of Knoxville and the team from Masillon, Ohio, was canceled. Central had refused to play the game if the Masillon team used its black players, and the Massillon team of course refused to play the game without those players.

Country music entertainer Hank Williams died near Oak Hill, West Virginia, while on his way to a concert. On that trip, he had stopped overnight in Knoxville the previous evening, and had received sedatives from a physician, "to relieve pain and discomfort from an earlier spinal operation" (at least, according to the original newspaper reports). The bottom line was that Williams, a popular country music singer and songwriter who was a known heavy drinker, had died. But more than a half century later, the curious apparently still choose to speculate as to the cause and circumstances of his demise, at least to the extent that many people have written books and published accounts concerning the matter, and today the subject continues to provide various writers with literary fodder concerning the circumstances surrounding Williams' death.

Small inexpensive hamburgers were available in Knoxville at either the Krystal or the Blue Circle. Two Krystal Kitchens were in the downtown area, and six of the seven Blue Circles were also downtown, the other one being just a short distance away, on Magnolia Avenue. In 1953, the burgers cost just seven cents at either place, and were served with fried onions, pickles and mustard.

The Fountain Citizen, a weekly four page community newspaper for residents of Fountain City, Inskip, Norwood, Halls and Powell, began publication in 1953.

Happy Holler had a considerably smaller business district that did the Lonsdale community mentioned in the previous chapter. It extended primarily in the two block section of Central from Baxter north to Oklahoma, with Anderson in the middle (although what was essentially just a narrow alley, Radar Place, also separated Anderson and Oklahoma). Community businesses still flourished in those two blocks, including three grocery stores, five restaurants / eateries, two drug stores, a movie theater, two furniture stores, five dry goods and department stores, a Five and Dime, two pool halls, a shoe shop, a hardware store, two service stations, a plumbing company, a Western Auto store, and a radio service. As in Lonsdale and other local communities in those days, several of those businesses were service oriented. Actually there were other places in Happy Holler in 1952, businesses that extended east and west along Anderson, including a couple of beer joints, two barber shops, and a beauty parlor. None of those places exist today, where neighborhood stores have disappeared and most of the businesses now offer such things as antiques and used goods. I should mention also that an ice cream stand was located at the northwest corner of Central and Oklahoma in 1952, a business that's obviously been an exception, having managed to survive for more than a half century at the same location, at least as of this writing.

In high school competition, Central won the local prep league football championship, losing only to Young and playing a scoreless tie against Oak Ridge. In post season, Central played to a 7-7 tie against Landon High School of Jacksonville, Florida, in the Mennanik bowl in that city. The previous two years, Knoxville schools East and Rule had played and lost games in the same Florida post season bowl.

Harvey Robinson's first year as head coach of the Vols was hardly in the tradition of Bob Neyland's most recent teams, although his 1953 team did post a winning season, with six victories, four losses, and a scoreless tie against Alabama. Their opening season game that year was a 26-0 loss to the Mississippi State, when the Maroons' quarterback, former Knoxville Young High School player Jackie Parker, thoroughly confused the Tennessee defense all day with option plays. Parker was later named the most outstanding player in the SEC for 1953, for the second consecutive year. One of Tennessee's victories in 1953 was a 59-6 trouncing of a University of Louisville team, whose quarterback was Johnny Unitas, later to lead Baltimore to championships in the National Football League, and now in the professional football Hall of Fame. Against Tennessee, Unitas displayed his versatility and durability during that game, passing, returning kickoffs and punts, making many of his team's tackles, and running for Louisville's only touchdown.

The Brownlow building, at the corner of Market and Wall, was demolished for a parking lot.

A UT coed was attacked and criminally assaulted and her male companion was beat up by three young men, in an attack on Sunset Road. The three were captured a couple of days later by police. A screaming headline in the Journal reported that the pair were to be charged with robbery and assault, and that the death penalty would be sought.

During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Sears and Roebuck was offering free bus rides to and from Gay Street to their Central Avenue store, probably further encroaching on some downtown businesses following their 1948 move from Gay Street to North Knoxville.

A report in the Journal in December, 1953, apparently verifies that occasionally local sports events were played between black and white teams. The Knoxville College basketball team defeated Knoxville Business College, 127-69, in a game played at the college gym. Certainly it had not been particularly uncommon when local community black and white football and baseball teams had played games against each other back in the 1940's.

Tennessee wingback Bert Rechichar had been the tenth selection in the 1952 NFL draft, going to the Cleveland Browns. In 1953, Rechichar was traded to Baltimore, and in his first game with the Colts he kicked a 56 yard field goal, a record that lasted for seventeen years until Tom Dempsey of New Orleans kicked one 63 yards in 1970. An unusual sidelight to the story is the fact that although Rechichar handled the kick-off duties when he played for the Vols, he apparently never attempted a field goal during his entire career when he played for Tennessee. But for that matter, Tennessee coach Bob Neyland apparently didn't in kicking field goals, preferring to punt even when deep in the opponent's territory, depending on his defense to either create a mistake by the other team, or to hold the opponent and require punting the ball back to the Vols. I once saw a Neyland-coached Tennessee team punt on fourth down from the opponent's twenty yard line.

Basketball phenon Bevo Francis, playing for tiny Rio (pronounced Ree-O) Grande College in Ohio, was leading the nation in scoring, with an average of more than 47 points per game. Newspapers throughout the country carried reports of the number of points he scored in each game played by the small college throughout the season. While some accounts today perhaps realistically downplay his performances in those days, because of weak competition, in December, 1954, his Rio Grande team lost to a good Villanova team by a single point, 93-92, and defeated the University of Miami team, 98-88.

A star running back for the Vols was in one of my classes at UT. At least, he was there for the first couple of sessions, but then rarely attended class for the rest of the quarter. On the day that class took its final exam, in the middle of the test the class instructor walked towards the entrance door, where that same player and some football coaches were standing in the hallway. The banter lasted for several minutes, and it obviously appeared that the coaches were attempting to persuade the instructor to either change the player's grade, or possibly suggesting that the course be shown as one that had been dropped rather than failed. I never knew the outcome of that particular confrontation, but the player did continue as a member of the UT football team for a couple more years, before playing professional football for several years in the NFL.

Two different rail tragedies occurred in December, 1953. At an unmarked crossing at Millroad Road in Vestal, the vehicle of two young women was hit and both were killed. Shortly thereafter, a train hit a car at the Ludlow Avenue crossing in North Knoxville near Broadway, and four young people, two males and two females, were killed.

and elsewhere in 1953 ... Russian Premier Joseph Stalin died and Georgi Malenkov became Premier. The Korean War armistice was signed. Russia exploded its first hydrogen bomb, and the cold war rapidly was escalating. Dwight Eisenhower became the U.S. President. Charlie Chaplin, then an alleged Communist, was banned from entering the United States. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed as a result of their convictions for aiding Russia in developing the atomic bomb. TV Guide first hit the news stands. The first Cinemascope movie, The Robe, was in theaters. Other popular movies were Shane, From Here to Eternity, and Roman Holiday. The first issue of Playboy magazine was published, with Marilyn Monroe pictured in the buff on the cover, and in the buff in the centerfold. The Yankees again defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers to win the World Series, Indiana defeated Kentucky to win the NCAA basketball championship. Undefeated Maryland was declared national football champions for 1953. In 1952, they had upset undefeated national champions Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl, and the crown likewise proved to be a bit too heavy for the Terps, as they were upset by Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, 7-0. Popular songs in 1953 included Rags to Riches, I'm Walking Behind You, Song from Moulin Rouge, and Vaya con Dios.

1954

Homes advertised for sale in Knoxville in 1954 included a new house on Sunset Road in Holston Hills, with three bedrooms, two baths, and a full basement, priced at $22,500, and a two story home on Forest Glenn Drive, off Kingston Pike, for $12,500.

Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter, and Raymond Massey appeared in person in a performance of John Brown's Body, at UT's Alumni Memorial Auditorium, on January 13, 1954.

The fiftieth anniversary of Farragut High School was celebrated in 1954. Local newspapers reported that Farragut had been Knox County's first high school, although in fact other county schools, such as Powell's Station and Heiskell, had been referred to as high schools in the nineteenth century. In 1904, Farragut did become the first county school established separately as a "high school", although it was initially a training school, where agricultural and farming practices were taught. Central High School was actually the country's first school to provide students with a well-rounded educational background, and courses preparatory for entrance into college.

Television was still in its infancy in Knoxville, and there still were two stations, WATE and WTSK. Local radio stations, including WNOX, WROL, WBIR, and WKGN, continued to broadcast popular night time programs. Besides still listening to their favorite radio programs, for other entertainment the public had its choice of several area drive-in movie theaters, including the Community, Dixie Lee, Family, Horne, Druid Hill, Skyway, Chapman Highway, Family, Knoxville, Lakemont, River Breeze, and Star Lite. Families often packed the kids into the car and headed to the relatively inexpensive night time outdoor entertainment facilities. Young couples also took advantage of those drive-in theaters, and rumor had it that occasionally, although perhaps rarely, they actually watched the movie.

Tennessee's basketball team finished the season with seven wins and seven losses in the Southeastern Conference, and an overall record of 13-8.

West High School outlasted Central as the city's best basketball team in Class AA, but both teams lost early in the district tournament. Powell had the best Class A team. Catholic made a late season run and made it to the finals of the district tournament before losing to Powell.

George W. Stringfellow, the Director of Thomas Edison, Inc. of West Orange, New Jersey, was the guest speaker at the annual Knoxville Chamber of Commerce meeting in 1954. Stringfellow made several predictions of what things would be like in Knoxville fifty years hence. Among those predictions were the following. The Knox County population would be one million (to date, it's only about two-thirds of that number) ; the corporate limits would be extended (that was done in the early 1960's) ; there will be less traffic congestion, and moving sidewalks will be commonplace (he struck out on both of those) ; the average income will be at least $20,000 or more (he was right on that one - and more) ; there would be a greater percentage of aged men and women (he was right again). Sadly, his glowing prediction that by 2004 political parties would "represent integrity, decency, and economy, and be opposed to the instrument known as political patronage" missed the mark badly.

The new "George's - Rich's" store was beginning to take shape in December.

Burlington is another local community that has considerably changed since a half century ago. In 1954, businesses on McCalla Avenue in Burlington included grocery stores, restaurants and eateries, a service station, bank, a movie theater, hardware store, pool hall, laundry, flower shop, barber shop, shoe shop, jewelry store, furniture store, bank and dry cleaners. Like many other one-time thriving city business communities, far fewer local businesses exist in that section in the Burlington community today.

Knoxville again fielded a professional baseball team in 1954, rejoining the Tri-State League, and playing their home games at the newly constructed Municipal Stadium, built at the site where the Smithson Stadium had been demolished the previous year. The Blount County baseball team that had played at a Chapman Highway stadium the previous year, still erroneously referred to in some writings as Knoxville's baseball team, continued to play in the Mountain States League in 1954, but that year the name had been changed to Maryville / Alcoa / Morristown. In 1954, the manager of the Knoxville Smokies was Knoxville's Pat McGlothlin, who also was a pitcher for the team. The Smokies finished the season in second place in the league, with a record of 74 wins and 63 loses. Asheville won the regular season championship. However, in the post season playoffs, the Smokies defeated Asheville in the finals to capture the playoff title. It was the last Knoxville team to play in the Tri State League, as the Smokies again dropped out of the league after the 1954 season. Today, the Tennessee Smokies web site provides a glowing but hardly accurate report of the record of the Smokies during the years from 1946 through 1954, in the Tri State League, claiming that Knoxville won the league title four times. In fact, the Smokies only won one regular season championship when playing in that league, in 1950. As mentioned above, one other year, their last year in the league in 1954, they did win the playoffs. But the 1950 championship team was the only time the Smokies ever finished even as high as second place in regular season league play in the Tri State League.

West High School fielded its best football team to date, losing only to Oak Ridge. In Class A, South High School's Rockets won the local championship with an upset victory over Powell.

Popular Knoxville professional golfer, 38 year old Tommy Wright, was killed in Texas when he was hit by a truck.

The Knoxville Housing Authority began taking options on properties in the slum clearance section project of the Riverfront - Willow Street development section, east of Central, eventually resulting in the relocation of around 650 families in that area.

The Dawn Theater, on Ailor Avenue in the community that then was still known as McAnally Flats, closed its doors in 1954. The State Theater, on Washington Avenue, also closed in late 1954.

Harvey Robinson's second season as head coach of the Vols in 1954 was more dismal, winning four games while losing six, including a season ending 26-0 loss to Vanderbilt at Nashville. The Vols even barely managed to beat Chattanooga, 20-14, on a long touchdown run by tailback Tom Tracy late in the game. Athletic Director Bob Neyland saw the writing on the wall, and in what he called his most difficult decision, did not renew Robinson's contract on December 31, 1954, and the entire coaching staff was fired. Perhaps not known by everybody are some early connections between UT and Knoxville's Central High School, one being that Robinson had earlier been the successful football coach at Central from 1935 to 1941, and another, that when Tennessee's head coach M. B. Banks was replaced by Bob Neyland back in 1925, he became the head football coach at Central the following year. Following Robinson's departure from UT, rumor was that former Vol Bowden Wyatt would be hired as the new head coach. Wyatt was the coach at Arkansas, and in an attempt to retain Wyatt a $20,000 fund had been raised by Razorback supporters, plus it was reported that they were giving him a new Cadillac. Those gifts were significant, considering the fact that Wyatt's annual salary as head coach at Arkansas was only $12,000, although a $3,000 raise was reportedly also in the works. Tennessee tailback Tom Tracy, a junior, was named a first team member of Associated Press All Southeastern team. Proof that those selections are always conjectural was evident when Tennessee's Darris McCord, already previously named as a member of Look Magazine's All American team that year, was relegated as a second team member of the AP's All SEC team.

City Council voted to close the General Hospital and get out of the hospital business when the new UT Research Center and Memorial Hospital eventually opened, scheduled for 1956. Later, in December, 1956, the General Hospital was demolished.

The US Post Office announced that beginning in 1955 it no longer would deliver "Junk" mail, defined as simplified mail sent at a minimal cost and addressed to such unspecified names as "patron" or "householder". They obviously changed their mind somewhere along the way, since so much of that stuff still appears in my mailbox I sometimes wondered if my name had unknowingly been officially changed to "patron" or "occupant".

To the delight of a large crowd, Tennessee reserve center Bill Jarvis, substituting for injured Carl Widseth, tied the school scoring record with a 32 point performance against South Carolina at Alumni Memorial gymnasium in Knoxville.

Deitch's Department Store left Market Square, after 33 years, citing changing the habits among shoppers as the reason. One example given was that in earlier years the firm annually had sold 300 or so dozen pairs of heavy long underwear, but in 1954 only a dozen or so of those "long handles" had been sold.

The Blount Park Association postponed plans to ask the state legislature for funds to restore Chisholm's Tavern, until the demolitions in the First Creek redevelopment project were further along. Not long afterwards, it was pointed out that the antiquarian structure with a plaque identifying it as the Chisholm Tavern was in fact a different old building, being located somewhat west of Chisholm's original site, and not that original tavern.

On Christmas Day, twenty-one people safely escaped but were left homeless when a fire destroyed an apartment building on Atlantic Avenue. The two story frame building had been the original site of the Lincoln Park school, before a new school had been built on Chickamauga Avenue.

and elsewhere in 1954 ... Gamel Abdal Nasser became Premier of India. Vietnam was divided at the seventeenth parallel. West Germany was granted sovereignty and admission to NATO. The Supreme Court unanimously banned racial segregation in public schools. The McCarthy hearings were broadcast on television, eventually resulting in the censure by the Senate of Joseph McCarthy. The New York Giants swept the Cleveland Indians in the first World Series televised in color. La Salle defeated Bradley to win the NCAA basketball championship. In Southeastern Conference football, Alabama was upset for the second straight year by Mississippi Southern (that school's name now long since reversed to Southern Mississippi.) Ohio State and UCLA shared the national football championship. Popular movies included On the Waterfront, Rear Window, and The Caine Mutiny. Among the popular songs were Mr Sandman, Wanted, Hey There, and Secret Love.

1955

Frank Clement began his four year term as Governor of Tennessee, having easily won reelection.

Many Tennessee basketball fans remember the Ernie and Bernie show (Ernie Grunfield and Bernard King), but you've been around a while longer if you remember watching the Vol's two "W's", center Carl Widseth and sharpshooting forward Ed Weiner, who starred for the Vols in 1955. Tennessee won 15 games and lost 7 in the 1954-1955 basketball season. One of Tennessee's guards was Herman Thompson, who had played for Alcoa High School. I played on the Rule High School basketball team, and when I was a senior in 1952 we played Alcoa at their home gym and they blew us out of Blount County, winning by about 50 points, as each of their players had a favorite shooting spot on that floor, and seemingly none of them ever missed a shot. A month of so later, we played them again at the Rule gym, they were ahead of us by only two points late in the game, and Thompson was attempting to dribble away the final seconds of the game. I was guarding him, managed to steal the ball with a few seconds left in the game, and headed towards the other end of the floor for a tying basket, with nobody in my path. On my second dribble, an anxious teammate came too close and inadvertently kicked the ball right back into Thompson's hands. Thompson was quickly fouled, he made the free throws, and we lost the game, 48-44.

Knoxville's Holston Hills Country Club was the site of the NCAA national championship golf tournament in 1955. Purdue's Joe Campbell, who would later make his home in Knoxville, won the championship.

Knoxville's Webb School was founded in 1955. A private school, it initially was advertised as a college preparatory school for boys, offered only the eighth and ninth grades, and was a small institution that held classes in a local church.

Rich's - George's department store abandoned the original location on Gay Street and opened its newly constructed store, becoming Rich's, the building occupying the entire block from Henley west to Locust and between Church and Clinch. When buildings in that area were demolished for the new store building, another of Knoxville's original historical homes bit the dust, when a house located on the south side of Church between Locust and Henley was torn down. Known as the Bride's House, the house had been built before 1850. There was initially some talk of attempting to save the house in 1954, but eventually it was to no avail, and another of Knoxville's old historical dwellings was demolished.James Agee, born in Knoxville in 1909, died in 1955. His novel, A Death in the Family, was first published two years later, in 1957. A fictional account based on actual events, the book relates his childhood memories in Knoxville, including the death of his father in an automobile accident. In 1958, three years after Agee's death, the book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for literature.

Knoxville had no professional baseball team in 1955.

The first Dogwood Trail opened in the spring of 1955 in Sequoyah Hills. Later the Holston Hills Trail was added. The first Dogwood Arts Festival itself would be held six years later, in 1961.

Zenith introduced an odd looking contraption for use with their television sets in 1955. It was called the "Flash Matic", and looked somewhat like a smaller version of an antenna, about 1 ½ to 2 two feet long. It had miraculous features that permitted viewers to turn the set off and on and change channels from the comfort of their chair or sofa. The forerunner of the remote control.

The many changes that have taken place in sections of Knox county that were essentially rural areas a half century ago are evident on an old large wall map that was issued by the Herne Brothers Map Company. A date is not shown on the map, perhaps because the company didn't want current purchasers to know the map was perhaps slightly outdated, but it was published around 1955 or so. The map is titled "Greater Knoxville". A separate and smaller map on the upper portion of the sheet depicts the entire county ("Greater Knox County"), but the primary and much larger map shows what then was considered to be cosmopolitan Knoxville, exclusive of rural areas. The northern limit of the primary map extended just beyond Crippen Gap Road, showing the race track on the west side of highway 441, or Maynardville Pike, north of Fountain City, but showing nothing of Halls Cross Roads. To the east, the map extends just beyond the John Sevier area. On the south, it extends as far as Tipton Station Road and Crenshaw Road. The map identifies as "West Knoxville" the section of the city west of Henley to the railroad tracks, and from UT north to near Western Avenue, including the section that in modern times is known as the Fort Sanders neighborhood. The western edge of the "Greater Knoxville" map terminates around Gallagher View Road, a bit west of Morrill Road and Deane Hill Country Club. Since the area west of that point was essentially a rural area, the publishers probably deemed it unnecessary to include the area beyond there on a detailed map of Knoxville at the time.

Channel 6 went off the air at 11 PM on week nights. Channel 26 often did likewise, but on some evenings showed local wrestling bouts from 11 to 12 PM.

Willard Creech, co-owner of the C'est Bon Restaurant on Alcoa Highway, shot Dick Vance in the back, killing the Knoxville bootlegger in front of the Dixieland Restaurant on Kingston Pike. Creech later was tried and sentenced to a term of 3 to 10 years for the shooting.

Bowden Wyatt, as anticipated, was lured from Arkansas and named head football coach at Tennessee. His first team in 1955 won six, lost three, and tied one game, at least a better record than Harvey Robinson had compiled in either of his short two year term as head coach of the Vols, following Bob Neyland's retirement. A total of 144,000 fans attended the six home games in Knoxville during 1955, an average of under 25,000 per game.

Georgia's Governor Marvin Griffin, a segregationist, attempted to block the scheduled Sugar Bowl contest between Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh, because Pittsburgh had a black player on their roster. Georgia Tech students rebelled, held protest demonstrations, and hung Griffin in effigy. Knoxville Journal sports writer Tom Anderson, obviously taking a jab at the racist gesture by the Georgia Governor, signing off his column with one of his short poems he called "Today's Sermon", wrote "Should I ever get to Heaven, and find a Negro there, I'll hang my hat up quickly, and not dash off anywhere." The bowl game was played as scheduled.

Station WTVK, Channel 26, broadcast the city's first live television program produced and written by a Knoxvillian. It was a Christmas cantata titled The New Light, written by David Van Vactor. It was performed by the Knoxville Symphony, conduced by Van Vactor, together with the University of Tennessee singers and local featured performers.

In yet an attempt to legalize sales of liquor, a referendum was held in 1955. Once again, voters rejected the petition, by a considerable margin of 6,997 votes. As had been true in 1947, county voters swayed the results, with city voters slightly favoring the petition.

The Fielden Furniture Company purchased the building adjoining their store at 216 South Gay, to expand their business. The Sherwin Williams Company had occupied the building for the previous ten years, and for more than 30 years before then it was the site of Chapman Drugs. None of the buildings that existed then in that block of South Gay Street remain today.

Knoxville's first building built entirely of aluminum panels and glass opened in 1955, at Hannah Avenue and Clark Street. Called the Cloverleaf Building, it was built by local insurance man Chester Massey.

Knoxville set a record for the date on Christmas Day, 1955, when the temperature reached 73 degrees.

and elsewhere in 1955 ... Nikolai Bulganin replaced Malenkov as Russian Premier. Dictator Juan Peron was ousted as President of Argentina. President Eisenhower suffered a heart attack, but recovered and was reelected as President. Martin Luther King led a black boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama bus system. The AFL and CIO merged into the AFL-CIO labor union. Brooklyn's Dodgers defeated the Yankees in seven games to win the World Series, San Francisco won the NCAA basketball championship, and Oklahoma was named NCAA football champion. Popular movies included Picnic, Rebel Without a Cause, and East of Eden. James Dean died in a car accident. Gunsmoke debuted on television and became the longest running western on TV. Popular songs included Rock Around the Clock. Sixteen Tons, Autumn Leaves, and Moments to Remember.

1956

Jack Dance succeeded George Dempster as Knoxville's Mayor.

Cas Walker's country music television program was shown on WATE, Channel 6, in 1956. The show aired from 7 to 7:30 on week nights. The television station he's usually associated with, WBIR, didn't come on the air until late September that year.

Tuition for in-state students at the University of Tennessee remained the same in 1956, $56.00 a quarter, or an annual total of $168.00 for the full three quarters of the school year (back then, the school operated on the quarter system, instead of semesters.) At this writing, including the most current increase in tuition, the cost today is reportedly around $5,200.00 a year, and it's almost a certainty that by the time you read this tuition costs will have increased again. While inflation has obviously been rampant since 1956, few things have increased as much as the cost of a college education ... around three thousand percent during the last half century or so.

Television station WBIR first went on the air on September 26, 1956. It was Knoxville's third television station, Channel 6, WROL (later WATE), and ultra high frequency Channel 26, WTSK (later WTVK), had already been broadcasting for three years in Knoxville, beginning in October, 1953. Channel Six was the most popular local station then, and continued to hold the lead in viewership for a number of years. WTVK was a horse of a different color, mixing its shows with local programming that was perhaps the best in town back then, sometimes being downright innovative, if you were into such entertainment in those early days of TV in Knoxville. WTVK broadcast Knoxville's first late night local television talk show. Years later, in the early 1970's, Channel 26 weatherman Johnny Mountain had obviously realized the futility of attempting to accurately forecast the weather in Knoxville, and entertained local audience by giving his nightly weather forecasts with a humorous touch, often dressed in outlandish garbs, such as appearing in a dress as a hairy-armed woman, and once as a soft talking gay blade. The name of the old hotel adjoining the Bijou Theater at Gay and Cumberland, once called the Lamar House and renamed the Shannon Hotel in 1954, was again renamed in 1956, this time as the Monroe Hotel.

Tennessee's basketball team posted a losing season in 1955-1956, winning ten games and losing fourteen.

All buildings on the east side of the 800 block of South Gay Street were demolished in 1956, including the Lyric Theater and the adjoining Colonial Hotel building. The Lyric originally opened in 1872 as Staub's Opera House, and was the first building exclusively devoted to entertainment in Knoxville. Had it been preserved, today it would likely be considered the jewel in downtown Knoxville's preservation efforts. But it wasn't to be.

In his geology classes at the University of Tennessee, Dr. James G. "Jimmy" Walls continued to remind students that Knoxville was what he called a "graveyard for weather forecasters", where it is always a crap shoot to accurately forecast the weather around here. While local television forecasters are now meteorologists, and reportedly have more of an educational background and sophisticated equipment, modern forecasts often verify that the trend of inaccuracies in weather prediction in Knoxville continues to this day. It's all but inexplicable that they continue to end their program with a seven day forecast, when they rarely even know what the weather will be in a day or two. One Monday evening at random a while back, I made a note of the seven day prediction of a high temperature of 73 degrees for the following Monday. A week later, when that day arrived, the temperature was 89 degrees. I'm also still trying to figure out the meaning of a previously unknown modern phrase that seems to be repeated with nauseous regularity on all local weather forecasts these days ... "patchy fog". Recently, I even heard a prediction of "dense patchy fog" on a local forecast. Apparently, we don't have just plain fog anymore. I suppose one can readily assume that term was created just like other phrases, including "wintry mix" and "20% chance of rain", as crutches that render any forecast accurate, no matter what type of weather shows up. My brief poetical contribution is as follows ... "Knoxville's meteorologists are often TV apologists."

In 1956, an increasing number of residents were moving into suburban areas that were more distant from downtown Knoxville. New sub divisions were cropping up in various sections of town. The average cost of the first homes in the West Hills subdivision, opened in the Parade of Homes in the 1950's, was around $14,000 or so. Other suburban sections rapidly developed, residents moved into those areas, and soon grocery stores, movie theaters, department stores, and shopping centers were cropping up in those sections, to accommodate the growing population.

In December, 1956, a new Thom McAn shoe store opened on Gay Street, north of the Hamilton Bank building, having moved into a larger facility from their previous location at 523 Gay. At that new location, a sales clerk named Brenda worked at the store and was one of Gay Street's star attractions, particularly to downtown business men who passed by. She was short of stature and had attributes that made Dolly Parton look flat chested. The rumor was that the store sold more shoelaces during her stay there than at all other local shoe stores combined, as men would come into the store under the guide of purchasing that inexpensive accessory, while in reality wanting a closer look at the downtown wonder.

An adult book shop selling sex magazines and similar materials later opened in the section of the 600 block of Gay where the shoe store was previously located. From my second story office window in the Burwell Building across the street I sometimes peered down to watch the goings-on in front of that store. Men including downtown office workers and businessmen would stop and observe the various magazines displayed behind two large windows that bordered the entranceway to the store. Some would casually walk towards the entrance door while viewing the magazines, then quickly dart into the store. The funniest thing was observing their exit, when sometimes the door would open, they would leave the store, quickly turn their back, and casually walk backwards towards the sidewalk, obviously attempting to give the illusion that they were simply looking at the magazine displays and hadn't actually been inside the store itself, in case a passerby might think they had actually entered the "nasty"establishment.

Several theaters in the heart of the city had already bitten the dust, including the Strand, the Rialto, and the Grand. The Tennessee, the Bijou and the Roxy were still in existence in 1956. The Lyric had closed and the building was demolished in 1956, together with the adjoining Colonial Hotel building. The majority of Knoxville's neighborhood theaters had also dropped by the wayside since the end of World War Two. In Happy Holler, the name of the Joy Theater had been changed to the Center in 1948, then closed its doors in 1955. The Palace in Fountain City, the Lake on Sevier, and the Booker T. (originally the Sunset) on Western, had closed their doors. The last movies were shown at the State Theater on Washington Avenue in late 1953, and in 1954 the Dawn on Ailor Avenue had closed. In 1955, the Horne Theater on Chapman Highway and Lonsdale's Lee Theater joined the list of defunct neighborhood movie theaters in Knoxville.

The slowly evolving shopping habits of the public away from downtown were already becoming to be somewhat evident. Many people still shopped at downtown stores in 1956, but many were shopping at Sears, that store having left Gay Street back in 1948 and built a new and much larger store in North Knoxville. Sears' business had boomed to such an extent that even the large parking lot that adjoined the store, north to Baxter and the block east from Central, was sometimes often not sufficient to handle the vehicles. Sears had leased or purchased property on three of the four streets adjoining the store, for additional parking lots, then also acquired the Mynders School site behind the store when that building was demolished, for another parking lot. Sears eventually was open every night, a practice that generally was unheard of at the downtown stores in those times (other than on single weekday nights, and during holiday seasons.) While a student at UT, the author worked nights and weekends at that Sears store, in their shoe department. One night things were going unusually slow, and an old gentleman wearing overalls wandered into the shoe department. Hoping for at least one sale that evening, I rushed in his direction before another clerk could get to him. He looked me over briefly, then dropped a classic -- although it was rather mystifying, since the department walls and standing racks displayed nothing but men's, women's, and children's shoes -- "Do you uns' sell men's underwear?"

A reminiscence of Knoxville College was published in 1956, "Fifty Years After. Knoxville College, Knoxville, Tennessee," written by Sophia C. Johnson, who had been a member of the "Normal Class" at the college in 1896,

Ticket prices at local movie theaters had increased. Adult tickets were 75 cents, and 90 cents during the evening. Ticket for kids under age twelve had increased from 9 cents to a quarter.

City residents were still required to have their automobiles inspected, to assure that the cars were sound mechanically and otherwise. County residents who used the city streets as often as two days weekly likewise were required to have the inspection. A windshield sticker was furnished to owners whose vehicles passed the inspection, and if your car did not pass inspection you were required to have the necessary work done on the vehicle to bring it up to safety standards. I don't know why that program was discontinued, but one would think it would still be a good idea to require such inspections today.

During a heated debate at a City Council meeting, Councilmen Cas Walker and J. S. Cooper squared off, and Journal photographer Tom Greene,, Jr. snapped a picture of Walker taking a swing Cooper. The photo made the pages of newspapers throughout the county, and national publications including Life Magazine carried the picture. Some perhaps wonder what people might call a place where such antics were taking place - maybe scruffy?

Professional baseball returned to the city in 1956. Under the long familiar name the Smokies, Knoxville secured a franchise in the South Atlantic League, replacing the Montgomery Alabama Rebels in mid-season. The Alabama connection seem to have been rather repetitive, since the Smokies originally replaced Mobile in 1931 in the Southern Association, later lost their franchise when the team moved to that same city 1944, and now once again were replacing an Alabama baseball team, this time in the South Atlantic League. In 1956, despite the fact that the city provided the new baseball stadium rent-free to the Smokies organization, the management reported at year's end that the operation had lost $6,000.

The Crystal Theater, on Market Square, closed. Sometimes under different names but always a downtown theater, it had been in operation since 1910. At the original location at 425 Gay, the theater had added live stage shows to the movie fare in the early 1930's, but that experiment lasted only until 1935, when the theater moved to 31 Market Square, showing only movies at that location, where it continued in business until 1956. By late that year, attendance had dwindled to the point that it was open only on Fridays and Saturdays, and the management gave up the ghost at the end of December, 1956.

Nearby Clinton was a hotbed of conflict in Anderson County in 1956, when integration at the city's high school took place. The school was briefly closed in December, 1956, when the school Principal was beaten by a crowd while escorting black children to school. The integration in Clinton occurred a year before the Little Rock Nine confrontation, but over the years it has not received anything like the publicity given to the later Arkansas episode.

Tennessee Governor Frank Clement was the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention. As has often been true for keynote speakers at national political conventions, his speech repeated a selected 'catch' phrase, in Clement's case being what seemed to be the much too-often repeated words, "How Long America, How Long ..."

Tom Anderson's daily column-ending "Sermon" in the Journal one day concerned the practice on college campuses of "panty-raids" in those days ... "It takes at least three pair, for the modern maid -- one to wear, one to wash, and another for the raid."

Powell High School won the District Basketball Championship in 1956. Young captured the Class AA football Championship, and South High School was the Class A football Champion.

1956 was Bowden Wyatt's best season as head coach. He guided the Vols to an undefeated season, winning ten games with no losses, and he captured the National Coach of the Year award along the way. Probably the most significant victory that year was the Vols 6-0 victory over then undefeated Georgia Tech, in Atlanta, in what still is considered one of Tennessee's greatest football victories. Remembered probably by only a handful of people today is that one of the players on that Georgia Tech team was Jim Johnson, who earlier had been a fullback/linebacker at Rule High School, where he was one of the most prolific combination runner and linebackers ever to play high school football in Knoxville. In December, 1956, the annual Heisman Trophy was awarded to Paul Horning, of Notre Dame. Tennessee's All American tailback Johnny Majors came in second in the voting, and it was not the first nor the last time eastern and midwestern sports media seemingly were determined that no player from Tennessee was ever going to win that award. Hornung played for a lousy Notre Dame team that lost eight of its ten games that season, and obviously there was no logical way to justify his selection for the award. For that matter, Majors was a consensus first team All American that year, playing on an undefeated team. Essentially the same thing had happened back in 1951 (which see) Years later, the award of the Heisman trophy was de ja vu all over again in 1998, when what probably was the most glaring example ever of the shameless irregularities in the Heisman voting occurred (see that year.)

Knoxville newspapers reported in December that tickets to that Sugar Bowl game between Tennessee and Baylor were available at the UT Athletic Department to UT students, alumni, and season ticket holders, where all tickets were priced at six dollars each. Prices to see bowl games obviously were just a tad less than the are these days!

In 1956, Dr Frank Rogers issued a reprint of the Knoxville Cook Book, originally published in 1907, adding commentary and including not only the maps from the Sandborn volume depicting Knoxville at the turn of the twentieth century, but also reproducing the names of inhabitants that had appeared originally in the 1900 city directory. It seems somewhat amusing that Dr Rogers decided to eliminate from his reprint the names of Madams who were operating houses of prostitution in Knoxville in 1900, and whose names were also listed in that original city directory

Bids were taken in December for the construction of UT's new Armory - Field House.

The home of Mr and Mrs J. F. Brown, at 3418 Rose Bud Avenue, was destroyed in a fire on Christmas Day, 1956. The Browns and their two sons escaped, with nothing other that a few clothes. The city fire department did not respond to fires outside the city limits, and the family did not subscribe to the Community Fire Department on Chapman Highway, so that fire department did not respond to the blaze. But with no fire hydrants, and only pump engines available, that county unit likely wouldn't have been capable of doing much to save the house anyway.

Georgia Tech defeated Pittsburgh in the Gator Bowl on December 29, 21-14. It was coach Bobby Dodd's eighth consecutive bowl victory without a loss. Considering Tennessee's mediocre bowl record over the years, when Bob Neyland retired from coaching to assume the position as Athletic Director at Tennessee back in 1953, maybe he should have pulled out all stops to find some way to rope in his one-time Vol quarterback to coach the Volunteers.

and elsewhere in the news in 1956 ... Autherine Lucy, the first black student at the University of Alabama, was expelled from school. The first aerial hydrogen bomb was tested, on the Bikini Atoll. The Yankees beat the Dodgers, 4 games to three, to win the World Series. Oklahoma was college football champion, with ten wins and no losses. Elvis Presley first appeared on the Ed Sullivan television show. The hip gyrations were considered too shocking for a genteel TV audience, and his performance was televised only from his waist up. Giant and Around the World in Eighty Days were among most popular new movies. Giant was James Dean's last film, and was not released until several months after he died in an automobile accident in 1955. John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage was published. Carl Perkins Blue Suede Shoes was released, but Elvis Presley's recording of the same song later in 1956, together with his Hound Dog and Heartbreak Hotel and others, made him the most popular recording artist that year. In December, recordings at the Sun Studios in Memphis by a group called the Million Dollar Quartet was released, featuring Presley, Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash. 1956 was the first break-through year of Rock and Roll music, when popular recordings by artists including those already mentioned plus Little Richard, the Platters, and Chuck Berry were released.

1957

Coming off their undefeated season in 1956, and a final ranking as the nation's number two team, the Vols hoped to convince others around the country that perhaps they were the best team in the nation, when they played Baylor in the Sugar Bowl, on January 1, 1957. It was the first time a Tennessee game was televised in Knoxville. Unfortunately for Tennessee fans, they lost the game, 13-7. Head coach Bowden Wyatt was a disciple of Bob Neyland's defensive coaching philosophy, which relied heavily on the mistakes of the other team to win many games, but writing about the loss to the Bears, Knoxville Journal sports writer Tom Anderson reflected on the irony of the fact that Tennessee's mistakes cost them the game. The Vols had more passes intercepted (4) than they completed (3), and a fumble by tailback Johnny Majors turned the ball over to Baylor on Tennessee's fifteen yard line, leading to the winning touchdown. Tennessee's offense sputtered throughout the game. Vol fans had a scare when Tennessee guard Bruce Burnham was carried off the field and rushed to the hospital after being kicked in the face by a Baylor player, probably as vivid a memory from that game for old time Vol fans as was the loss itself. While I've never read a suggestion that Bowden Wyatt had particularly lax rules for his team's visit to New Orleans, Knoxville newspapers in late December, 1956, reveal that several members of the Tennessee team were accompanied to the Sugar Bowl game by their wives, one player having been married just a week earlier. In view of their uninspiring performance in the bowl game, some fans perhaps wondered if the Tennessee players went to the Crescent City to play games or to play football.

Knoxville's first suburban shopping center, the Broadway Center, opened in 1957. It was one of the earlier examples of new businesses in strip malls, and in places other than the downtown area, since Sears had moved from Gay Street to North Central back in 1948. Sears had provided parking facilities for its customers at the new store, and the same was true at the new strip mall on Broadway. In area communities previously, local businesses had long been in existence, but not with the strip mall concept. Examples of those earlier community business sections that were beginning to show signs of deterioration by the late 1950's included such places as Happy Holler, Burlington, Lonsdale along Tennessee Avenue, Arlington, and Vestal. Another stip mall opened the following year in 1958, the Bearden Shopping Center.

Ramsey Pollard, pastor at Broadway Baptist Church, was the Chairman of an organization called United Christian Forces, opposing legalized liquor sales in Knoxville. A referendum was held on December 19, 1957, and residents once again defeated legalization, by 7,985 votes.

Tennessee won 13 games and lost 9 on the basketball court in 1956-1957, In one high scoring game, the Vols defeated Furman, 114-106. Tennessee standout center Gene Tormohlen went on to a successful career in the NBA.

Goose Tatum had left the Harlem Globetrotters and formed his own basketball team, the Harlem Stars. They played an exhibition game at the Chilhowee Park arena on Christmas Day, 1957.

Billy Meyer was a popular Knoxville native and sports figure who had been a member of the Knoxville Reds baseball team back in 1912, became a player in the American League, managed minor league teams, and later was manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Following his death in 1957, the new Municipal Stadium was renamed Billy Meyer Stadium, in honor of the city's native son.

Jack Paar hosted the tonight show on WATE. WBIR showed old movies during that time slot. WIVK had Friday Night Fights, and on Saturday evenings broadcast their Studio 26 program from 10:30 to midnight.

The Smokies continued in the South Atlantic League in 1957. That year they were affiliated with Baltimore. In December, it was announced that season ticket prices for Smokies home games would be less for the 1958 season, $50 for general admission, $68 for reserved seats, and $75 for box seats. Not bad to see seventy home games!

The Metropolitan Planning Commission met to consider the site for a proposed new Knoxville Auditorium - Coliseum.

A publication written by Donald Davidson, the Tennessee author who had originally founded the Nashville poetry group called the Fugitives at Vanderbilt University, was issued in 1957, titled "Tyranny at Oak Ridge. An account of how integration was forced upon certain public schools." Davidson was an active segregationist, and the pamphlet was a tirade against the forced integration of public schools in Oak Ridge. Its publication reportedly resulted in Davidson's loss of credibility among several of his associates, and others.

Halls High School won the Class A district football championship for 1957

A young Dolly Parton made an appearance on the Cas Walker Farm and Home Hour, a daily early morning television program then shown on WBIR. The author saw that program when Dolly first appeared, and truthfully though the little girl's voice sounded so bad and scratchy that she may just as well stay in Sevier County, thinking she obviously had no chance at a singing career. My powers of prognostication haven't gotten that much better over the years. I'm sure those old black and white films of Parton's original television appearances in Knoxville have long ago vanished -- at least the old reruns I've seen depicting her when she appeared on that program are obviously of a later vintage than when she was an eleven year old. One Internet site mentions that Dolly appeared on the WBIR Cal Walker television show as a nine year old, but that's obviously incorrect, since that was her age in 1955, and there was no WBIR television station until late 1956.

The Broadway Theater closed in 1957, further adding to the number of neighborhood theaters that had rapidly bitten the dust in Knoxville.

The Vestal Lumber Company was issuing a monthly publication called Clear Cuttings. The Knoxville firm had five other lumber yards, in Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, and Kentucky.

The Meade elementary school, in the Island Home section of South Knoxville, was closed in 1957.

Downtown's S & W Cafeteria was going strong in 1957, a cafeteria where shoppers and visitors to the downtown area, in addition to many downtown workers, regularly had lunch, and, although on most days with considerably less frequency, breakfast and/or dinner. With two lines on the main floor and a third leading to a downstairs serving counter and seating area, the lines of customers sometimes extended all the way out onto the sidewalk, as Lois Harris played background music at the organ in the lobby. It lasted for many years before a combination of the lack of downtown customers plus a rapid decline in the quality of the food served eventually resulted in the closing of the S & W. In recent years, the building was entirely gutted, with the interior walls, the brass circular staircase, the fixtures, and all other interior amenities removed. Although the beautiful interior had already been removed, some people managed to convince local officials that the facade the building was worth preserving, about the same time work on the new downtown multiple screen movie theater began. Local newspapers reported that the facade would be saved, but at a ridiculous additional cost of a million dollars. When the new multi-screen theater was finally completed and opened, it turned out that the S & W is not even a part of that new theater complex, but indeed the facade had been retained. Questions obviously arise. Did taxpayers actually pay a million dollars to retain the facade on that old building? If so, since apparently the building is owned by a private individual, why in the world was a million dollars of taxpayer money spent for a building that isn't even owned by the city? The phrase 'fleecing the public' quickly comes to mind.

The new Knox County Health Center, being built on Cleveland Place at the site of the old General Hospital, was nearing completion in December, 1957.

The new Holston High School was completed and opened in East Knoxville in 1957.

The Vol football team posted a record of seven wins and three losses in the fall of 1957, ended the season ranked number 13 in the nation, and accepted the invitation to play Texas A & M in the Gator Bowl. Tennessee won the bowl game, played on December 27, 1957, 3-0. A & M coach, Paul "Bear" Bryant, had already accepted the head coaching job at Alabama, but had agreed to coach the team in the bowl game. It took a while for Bryant to get the upper hand on the Vols, since his record at other schools against Tennessee through that 1957 bowl game had been one victory, six losses, and two ties, and he never defeated a team coached by Bob Neyland. The winning field goal in the Gator Bowl was kicked by Sammy Burklow, and to illustrate how the field goal was such a seldom used offensive weapon by Tennessee in those days, it was four years earlier when the Vols had kicked another field goal, when Pat Shires kicked one to beat Florida. That Gator Bowl would be Tennessee's last trip to a bowl game under Bowden Wyatt, who eventually was dismissed as the Vol head coach five years later, following the 1962 season.

and elsewhere in the news in 1957 ... Russia tested its first ICBM and also launched Sputnik, the first earth orbiting satellite. The "Little Rock Nine" integrated Central High School in Arkansas. In sports, Milwaukee defeated the New York Yankees, four games to three, to win the World Series, the Boston Celtics defeated the Hawks to win the NBA championship, North Carolina beat Kansas, 54-54, to win the NCAA basketball championship, and there was a split vote for the national football championship, Auburn (with a 10-0 record) being selected by the Associated Press, and Ohio State, with one loss, selected by the United Press. In entertainment, West Side Story debuted on Broadway, popular movies included Bridge on the River Kwai and Twelve Angry Men, Leave It to Beaver premiered on television, and Charles Van Doren won $129,000 on a popular TV quiz show, Twenty-One. (It would later be revealed that Van Doren had been given answers in advance, creating a scandal that resulted in the removal of that and similar quiz shows from television for a number of years.) Actor Humphrey Bogart died in 1957.

1958

Of the numerous places to grab lunch in the downtown area in 1958, one probably was not as well known to the public as it was to local pool players and gamblers. It was Comer's Sports Center. As previously mentioned, some of the characters in Cormack McCarthy's novel, Suttree were men who worked at or hung out at Comers. Some would go up the stairs from the back alley entrance, but most people entered Comers by ascending a long narrow stairway between what had been the Thom McAn shoe store (that store having moved a block to the north in 1956) and Hardy's shoe store. You walked up the stairs and past the counter and the pool tables to turn right the eatery. There were a half dozen or so permanent stools at the counter, and each day a nice plate lunch was available for a quarter, or a good full sized hamburger, with all the trimmings, for fifteen cents. In November, 1958, federal agents raided Comer's Sports Center in downtown Knoxville, confiscating a sack full of parlay sheets and $30,000 in cash in the process. That makes one wonder if the small handful of players of parlay sheets who actually correctly picked the winners that week ever received their winnings.

Tennessee's basketball team won 16 and lost 7 games in the 1957-1958 season.

Knoxville Journal sports writer Tom Anderson continued to produce interesting, humorous, and popular columns. He was as entertaining as any Knoxville sports columnist who ever came down the pike. The reason for a good bit of his popularity was his ability to come up with off-the-wall subjects, ideas, and comments.

Early Knoxville discount stores in operation in 1958 included Atlantic Mills, located in the old Cherokee Mills building at Sutherland Avenue and Concord Street, and the Brookside Mart, located in the Brookside Mills building on West Baxter Avenue. The Brookside Mart site later was the location of another discount store operation, Zayre's.

The Smokies continued play as a Baltimore affiliate in the Southern South Atlantic League in 1958. The finished in fifth place in the Sally League, with a record of 67-73.

Cas Walker's Farm and Home Hour continued on WBIR from 7 to 8 AM, and his half hour country music show was still aired on WATE at 7 PM.

In football, Central High School won the District AA football championship and Powell High School won the A crown. West High School took the city championship.

The Federal Government granted $45,510 to help rebuild the dynamited Clinton High School.

Dick Comer and Fred Owens, owners of downtown's Comer's Sports Center, were each fined $750 for possession of federal gambling stamps.

Gorgeous George wrestled at the Chilhowee Park Arena in 1958.

Property totaling an estimated value of nine million dollars had been taken for the construction of the new expressway and other local projects.

The new Webb School buildings, located 8 miles from the city, were nearing completion and would be ready for occupancy in the Spring of 1959, when the school would graduate its first senior class. The private school had rapidly expanded since originally opening in 1955, now with an enrollment of approximately 200 boys and 59 girls.

Tickets to movie theaters again increased, with new adult prices of $1.25 and children's tickets now costing fifty cents.

The daily newspaper entertainment logs now included programs for the three Knoxville television stations, but continued to list the programs for seven local radio stations.

The News Sentinel's new building was completed at the corner of State and Church. The Journal completed the move of its offices to the new building. Time marches on, since then the Sentinel has built a new facility west of the downtown area on Western Avenue, and the building that was new in 1958 has now been demolished.

After an undefeated regular season in 1956 and a 7-3 record in 1957, followed by a victory over Texas A & M in the Gator Bowl in December, 1957, Bowden Wyatt's Vols dipped to a miserable record of only four wins against six losses in 1958. A loss to Chattanooga, 14-6, in a game played in Knoxville (and the only loss the Vols ever suffered at the hands of the Moccasins) was the low point of the season. Following that game, fans stormed the field, and firemen had to resort to unleashing water hoses to eventually disperse the crowd.

The new Edgemoor concrete bridge was completed, across the Clinch River leading to Oak Ridge. It replaced a rickety old one lane wooden bridge.

The Country Squire Motel opened on Kingston Pike. In an area that was then considered by most local residents as being "out in the country", it was located near what later would become West Town Mall.

Following the opening of bids, the estimated cost of the proposed new civic auditorium-coliseum had escalated to the point that Mayor Jack Dance said that he would seek a new referendum to approve the increased amount.

Mrs. Juanita Savage, Jr. and her invalid mother-in-law died when a fire destroyed their home on Topside Road. Her husband and son managed to escape from the second story.

The UT Armory / Fieldhouse opened in 1958, with a seating capacity of 5,600, replacing the Alumni Memorial gymnasium as the home court for the men's Volunteer basketball team, It was a considerable improvement over the outmoded Alumni Memorial, which had seated only 3,200, and where many of the seats offered poor vantage points for viewing basketball games. The capacity at the Fieldhouse was later expanded and the armory was renamed the Stokely Athletic Center. In the early 1958-1959 season, Tennessee opened the season at the new facility on December 2, defeating Wyoming 72-71. Within a couple of weeks they were 4-0, after beating Wake Forrest, and the AP had the Vols ranked the number 5 team in the country. It was then one of the higher ranking ever for a UT basketball team, but it was short lived. Later that month the Vols lost convincingly to Butler, 81-66, then after defeating Virginia, they lost to West Virginia, 76-72 in Knoxville, when All American Jerry West scored 44 points to lead the Mountaineers to victory.

In December, thirty-nine recruits had been signed by the Vols to football scholarships. That list appeared in local newspapers, and a review of the names reveals virtually no recognizable names of players who later became either well-known or outstanding players at Tennessee.

and elsewhere in the news in 1958 ... Bulganin resigned and Nikita Krushchev replaced him as the Russian Premier. Charles DeGalle became the French Premier. President Eisenhower sent US marines to Lebanon . The Supreme Court ruled that United States schools must integrate (Brown vs Brown decision.) Explorer 1, the first US satellite, was fired into orbit. Charles Starkweather and 15 year old Caril Ann Fugate went on a killing rampage, murdering eleven people in Nebraska and Wyoming. The First transatlantic jet passenger service was by BOAC, from New York City to London. NASA initiated Project Mercury, designed to put an American in space within two years. With considerable ballyhoo in the press, singer Elvis Presley was inducted into army. In sports, the Yankees beat Milwaukee Braves, 4 games to 3, in the World Series, the St Louis Hawks beat Boston for NBA championship, Kentucky won the NCAA basketball championship, defeating Seattle 84-72 in finals, and LSU, with an 11-0 record was the NCAA football champion. Golfer George Bayer won the Sanford, Florida PGA tournament in December, collecting all of $2000 for the top prize. Top movies included Vertigo, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Gigi. Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's was published. In music, mainstream artists continued to issue popular recordings, but inroads were made by recordings issued by the new breed of alternative rock and roll and similar artists, including Ritchie Vallens, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Silhouettes, Dione and the Bellmonts, the Platters, and Buddy Holly.

1959

A separate telephone directory was issued in 1959, listing the names telephone numbers of residents living in the Knox county communities of Powell Station, Fountain City, Halls Cross Roads, Claxton, and Concord. That directory contained just 16 pages, and listed a total of only four thousand residents in all five of those communities who had telephone service that year.

In 1959, the average cost for the construction of a nice dwelling in Knoxville, including built in kitchen appliances and cabinets, central heat, and two bathrooms, was about $10.00 a square foot for a single story house, and $12.00 a square foot for a dwelling with a full basement. These days, the cost has soared unbelievably. It's difficult to determine precisely the costs today, but apparently $150.00 or more per square foot is now considered cheap in Knoxville, and the square foot cost for condominiums in those renovated old downtown Knoxville buildings now sometimes ranges from $200 to $300 a square foot. While it's true that the majority of new houses around here were still being built without central air conditioning in 1959, it's all but astounding to realize the tremendous increase in building costs during the last half century or so.

In a book written by Knoxville native Milo Fisher and published in 1978, "The Boy from McAnally Flats", the author refers to the time when the house where he lived when growing up in Knoxville, and where his mother was still living, was taken by the government, when many other homes in those communities were also taken, for the construction of Interstate 75 through Knoxville (the section now called Interstate 275.) The city was also purchasing property on behalf of the State for the new west expressway. A total of 248 parcels from the end of Unaka Street to Middlebrook Pike at the juvenile home were eventually taken. Fisher bitterly recalled that when officials took his mother's home, located in the McAnally Flats section, the total amount she received for the house was "a price you could not buy a good hog pen for."

A committee of men who were residents of Fountain City was formed and a petition for the incorporation of the area had been signed and filed, in opposition to the likely annexation of Fountain City by the city of Knoxville. By December, the committee had disbanded, and apparently residents were resigned to the idea that annexation of the area was a done deal. That probability became a reality when Fountain City was annexed soon afterwards, as were several other sections in the county.

The Northside Kiwanis Club donated funds and initiated plans for a new Senior Citizens Center in Knoxville. The city would pay for the facility, and it would be operated by the Bureau of Recreation.

Tennessee's basketball Vols, playing in the new Armory Fieldhouse, won 15 games and lost 8. Coach Emmett Lowery resigned in July, 1959, to go into private business. Lowery won only once against Kentucky during in his coaching career, in 1950. His final lost in the spring of 1959 was to Kentucky.

Knoxville Mayor Jack Dance died suddenly and unexpectedly, from a broken blood vessel and a resulting hemorrhage.

Work on downtown's Promenade began in May, 1959. It was an attempt by merchants to make shopping more attractive and convenient in the downtown section. Included was the demolition of old buildings, along State Street north of Union, and building a surface parking lot with an escalator leading up to a covered walkway at the rear entrances of the refurbished Gay Street stores along the east side of Gay in that area. In contrast to the millions of dollars spent by taxpayers and/or provided through various "incentives" in modern times for downtown business and residential developers, the majority of the cost for the Promenade project was paid for by the building owners and merchants.

Out on Walker Boulevard in North Knoxville at Archie's Drive In, a meal consisting of Salisbury Steak with brown gravy and two vegetables set you back fifty-five cents.

The Roxy Theater closed in April, 1959. The daily burlesque stage shows that had originally been a regular attraction at the theater had already been dropped nine years earlier, and only movies had been the fare at the theater since 1948.

On May 29, 1959, six people died in a head on collision on Chapman Highway.

Knoxville's Smokies won the regular season Sally League pennant in 1959. That year, they had dropped their association with Baltimore and were an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers.

A popular local eating place in 1959 was the Dixie Land Drive-In on Kingston Pike, in the Bearden area. One favorite was their Double Whammy, a double hamburger with a slice of pineapple and cheese ... including french fries, it set you back all of thirty-five cents. The same restaurant later operated for a number of years under another name, Peros Restaurant.

The city of Oak Ridge voted to incorporate in 1959. The school system, previously operated by the AEC, would be taken over by the city as of January, 1960.

Don Varner shot a 60 to set the course record at Whittle Springs golf course. Years later, the author was playing golf at Whittles in a foursome that included Varner, Glen Chandler, and Herky Simpson, when Simpson broke Varner's record, shooting a 57 at the Whittles layout. I shot 76 that day, so even if Herky had given me a stoke on every hole he still would have beaten me.

In an overwhelming vote, Knoxville voters rejected metropolitan government, 34,533 to 6,916. County residents will likely never vote for consolidation, a primary reason being the possibility of paying additional property taxes. On the other hand, city residents, who are also residents of the county and pay both city and county taxes, long ago realized that there would be little if any equalization of taxes or financial benefit to them if consolidation were passed. The evidence is clear, since when the major change of combining the city and county school systems took place, that was exactly what happened, and those living inside the city limits still continue to pay twice the amount of property taxes as are paid by those who live in a similar residence outside the city limits. Schools are far and above the most expensive item on the annual budget, so if combining those systems didn't result in any equalization of property taxes between city and county residents, no such equalization is ever likely to take place.

Neil Ashe, President of Ashe Hosiery Mills, was convicted of tax evasion in Federal Court and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The Tillery Theater, on Clinton Highway, closed in 1959, after being in operation for twelve years. The owner and operator of the theater was Ples Tillery, who died the following year at the age of 80.

Football fortunes at UT continued to slip in 1959. However, the Vols opened the season with consecutive victories over Auburn and Mississippi State, and the Auburn victory, 3-0, snapped the Tigers winning streak at 24 games. Tennessee finished the season with five wins, four losses and one tie. Inexplicably, on November 7, they managed to hand LSU their first loss in twenty games, winning that game, played in Knoxville, 14-13, when they stopped All American halfback Billy Cannon at the goal line on his two point attempt to win the game. (Although to this day, Cannon still maintains that he scored on that play). Following the "high" of the season by winning the LSU game, it's not usually publicized around here that the Vols followed the improbably victory in by falling apart, with consecutive losses to Mississippi, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt, those teams scoring a total of 71 points, and Tennessee was held scoreless against both the Wildcats and Commodores and managed to score only a single touchdown in those three outings, against Mississippi.

Movie actress Joan Blondell appeared in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, at UT's Memorial Auditorium.

Most of the local sports programs about the Tennessee Vols teams were shown on WTVK.

The Western Plaza suburban shopping center was in operation, with seventeen business firms.

The new Karns community club house was completed and opened in December, 1959.

Fire caused considerable damage to the Market House on December 7. It was just two weeks following the announcement that City Council had ordered the structure demolished. While considerable damage occurred in the fire, the building was far from being a total loss, but fourteen businesses were unable to continue operation, Service Director Roy Gentry announced that the structure would be "cleaned up and made safe for merchants and customers", and other businesses continued in operation at the Market House.

City Council voted to annex Fountain City. Cas Walker and two other Council members opposed the action. The final annexation was approved December 22, 1959. It was the first expansion of the city since 1917, when areas including Mountain View and Oakwood were annexed. A petition signed by 4500 citizens was presented, calling for the preservation of the Market House, but Council refused to reverse its previous decision and voted to go ahead and have the Market House torn down.

Tom Anderson mentioned in his Journal sports column that the fear of coaches and officials concerning "fixes" in college basketball games were real, because only one or two of the five players on a team needed to be approached and swayed by gamblers. Two years later, his words would prove to be prophetic, when such a scandal hit the UT team in 1962. .

The State Highway Department announced on December 31 that it would be another six months or so before the final plans for the ten to twelve million dollar downtown loop were completed.

and elsewhere in the news in 1959 ... Fidel Castro replaced Fulgencio as Cuban Premier. Nikita Krushchev visited the United States. Alaska and Hawaii become the 49^th and 50^th states. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened. Revelations of television Quiz Show cheating created a national scandal that resulted in termination of such programs for some while into the future. The Lunik II probe captured the first pictures of the dark side of the moon The first Grammy music awards were presented. Perry Como won the best male vocal performance for "Catch a Falling Star", Ella Fitzgerald won the best female performance for her "Irving Berlin Song Book" album. The L A Dodgers defeated the Chicago White Socks, 4-2, to win World Series, the Boston Celtics defeat Minneapolis Lakers, 4 games to 0, to win NBA championship. California defeated West Virginia, 71-70 to win NCAA basketball championship, and Syracuse won the NCAA football national championship, with 11-0 record. Baltimore, led by Johnny Unitas and Lenny Dawson, defended its NFL title by defeating the New York Giants, 31-16. Among popular movies were Some Like It Hot and North by Northwest. 1959 books included James Michener's Hawaii and Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago. Deaths in 1959 included Lou Costello, Cecil B. Demille and Frank Lloyd Wright.

1960

On New Years Day, 1960, television station WATE broadcast the Sugar and Rose Bowls. WBIR showed the Orange and Cotton Bowls. WTVK offered the American Bandstand that afternoon. That evening, WATE broadcast the nightly news at 11 PM, followed by Jack Paar hosting the Tonight Show. WBIR still had no late night news program, continuing to show old movies in that time slot. WTVK went off the air at eleven PM.

The Monroe Hotel -- once called the Lamar House -- was once again renamed, now called the Lamarr Hotel (why the extra "r" was then added to the hotel name is not known.)

Downtown's new Promenade opened in 1960. Those who were involved in the creation of the project insisted that it be pronounced "Prom-en-Aaud", not "Prom-en-Aid", although during the dedication ceremonies speaker Russell Briscoe unintentionally but humorously slipped up and initially referred to it -- then quickly corrected himself -- as the "Prom-en-Aid ...uh... Aaud"

The city's first televised classroom was broadcast in 1960. Shown on WTVK, it was a Science class taught by Mrs Edward Clark, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Schools participating were Fort Sanders, Maynard, Belle Morris, Park City Lowery, South Elementary, and Flenniken, the only schools then provided with TV sets. Equipment was being ordered to enable twenty-six other schools to participate.

The Market House, having been partially damaged in the December fire, was demolished in 1960, to the chagrin of those who thought the old landmark building should be renovated and saved. Plans were in the works to build a new Market Square Mall at the site.

In November, 1960, a mass annexation by the city of Knoxville was passed that would triple the physical size of the city from 26 to 81 square miles. It would not become effective until February, 1962.

By 1960, Andrew Taylor had moved his tamale stand from Willow Street to the corner of Linden and Bertrand, in the Park City area of East Knoxville.

Knoxville city schools, Knox County schools, and the University of Tennessee all agreed to admit African American students. Meanwhile, black protestors and demonstrators were seeking to have all Knoxville restaurants, hotels, theaters, and other places desegregated. It was not initially a smooth transition. A printed flyer was distributed, listing the names of a number of Knoxville businesses and restaurants that vowed to continue their practice of serving only white customers. Those tactic were relatively short lived, but apparently those firms suffered few if any repercussions after they soon changed their positions and were serving black patrons, since they all were still in business long after desegregation had become a reality in Knoxville.

Johnny Sines, an assistant under Emmett Lowery, had been elevated to the head coaching position at Tennessee. Tennessee upset Kentucky on the Wildcats' home floor at Lexington, 65-63, on a last second shot by Dalen Showalter. It was the Vols' first victory over Kentucky in ten years. That season, in Sines first year, Tennessee won twelve games and lost eleven.

Joe Campbell, who had won the NCAA title at Knoxville's Holston Hills Country club in 1955, was now the golf professional at Beaver Brook Country Club. In 1960, he played on the PGA tour and made a hole in one at the Palm Springs Invitational tournament. Campbell won $50,000.00 for the feat, then the largest payout ever for a single shot in golf history at the time, but Campbell only took home $25,000, his backer Charlie Faust getting the other half of those winnings.

Knoxville's Smokies continued play in the South Atlantic League, with Detroit as their parent club. They finished the season in fourth place.

Rule High School won the district basketball title, defeating Karns in the final game. Central High School's football team won nine of ten games, losing only to the Pensacola, Florida team. Central then defeated East High School, the AA champion, in the Optimist Bowl.

In golf, the four day city amateur championship was played on four of five different local courses, with one course out of the rotation each year. The sites were Holston Hills, Cherokee, Whittles, Deane Hill and Beaver Brook. The tournament was held under the auspices of the Knoxville Country Club Association. John Sterchi captured the 1960 title, shooting a 69 on the final day at his home course, Cherokee.

In a grim statement, it was revealed that the United States now had a stockpile of atomic weapons equaling 50,000 of the atomic bombs that had been dropped on Japan at the end of World War Two.

Herman Wayland replaced E. B. Bowles as Knox County Sheriff. Produce dealer Bowles was long known as the "banana man" around town.

The Tennessee football team's record was six wins, two losses, and two ties. Bowden Wyatt continued as head coach. Among the few highlights of the season was a 10-3 upset win over Auburn in the opening game of the season at Birmingham, and the Vols were the only team to defeat Alabama in 1960. Following that game, Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, having noticed that a section of the stands in the upper part of Neyland Stadium had been mostly empty for the game, predicted that there would never again be empty seats when Alabama played the Vols in Knoxville as long as he was the coach. His prediction proved to be accurate.

Five perfect 300 games were recorded in bowling in Knoxville in 1960, but all of those games were in practice and not in league play. Based on newspaper reports these days, it seems that one or more bowler rolls a 300 weekly around here -- once in 2007, four Knoxville bowlers accomplished the feat in the same week.

While references vary, some maintaining that the supposed disorder known as A.D.H.D. (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) has been around for a century or more, most Internet sites I've checked seem to agree that the disease was first recognized, or "discovered", around 1960 or so. But some in the medical profession still discredit the suggestion that it's a disease at all. The fact that millions of American children now have been diagnosed with the "disease", and that many are taking prescription drugs for the disorder, is a bit frightening. When I was a youngster, I too occasionally had difficulty maintaining a long attention span, and sometimes stared out the school window during classes, as did some of my fellow classmates. Likely, I also probably sometimes displayed inattentiveness elsewhere. Few if any of us were diagnosed as having a "disease", and certainly we were not given medication. On the other hand, even though we managed to survive, perhaps some harried parents and teachers back then may have wanted to take advantage of such medication, had it been available -- although in my neighborhood, none of the families could have afforded the cost of the pills anyway.

Jackie Parker, former Young high and Mississippi State football star, was named the outstanding player in the Canadian Football League for the third consecutive year.

Accused murderer Clarence Raby was being held in the Knox County jail. His daughter and girl friend somehow managed to smuggle a gun to the prisoner, and he escaped his cell and attempted to shoot his way out. He was shot and killed by deputies as he was attempting to leave the building.

All the Way Home, based on James Agee's book A Death in the Family, opened on Broadway in November, 1960. Although it received good reviews, the second night performance played to a very small crowd, and it was announced the play would close after five days. But in what producers considered something of a miracle, public support and disapproval of the closing soon resulted in sold-out crowds, and it was announced that the play would continue indefinitely.

The Journal published a long series of articles, often on the front page, concerning business practices of local bootleggers. Details of the operations and locations of such well known bootleggers as Sam Poston, Carl Scates, Jack Hawkins, and Bill Knowles were described in the articles. The newspaper claimed the Sheriff had made arrangements with selected sellers, giving favored treatment to preferred bootleggers, and that those not on his list of preferred sellers were being put out of business.

A fire seriously damaged the Home Lumber Company on Millwood Road, and two nearby dwellings and a trailer also burned to the ground, leaving twenty people homeless.

Rock and Roll entertainer James Brown performed at Chilhowee Park in late December, where the customary separate section for white spectators was provided.

James Day, 18 year old Fulton High School student, died when he lept from the Henley Street bridge. Reportedly he had been despondent following an argument with his girl friend.

The announcement that Ramsey Pollard had accepted the pastorate at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis and would be leaving Knoxville's Broadway Baptist Church probably sent excitement through pro legal liquor advocates throughout the county. Pollard had been at the forefront of attempts of those opposed to the legalization of alcohol in Knoxville, and his influence was instrumental in the defeat of several earlier attempts at legalization in past referendums. Whether it was true or not, it didn't take long for pro-liquor forces to arrange for yet another referendum the following year, and with Pollard having left town they finally won the battle.

KUB was appointed as agent for the city to provide the necessary services to proposed new annexed sections, assuming the annexation was successful.

The temperature plunged to three degrees on December 23.

Knoxville recorded it highest ever total snowfall on record in 1960, recording more than 54 inches during the year. I remember that winter, the second year were living in our new home, when a leak from our kitchen created a large ice cycle that hung along the outside wall all the way to the ground, and remained there for about six weeks or so.

and elsewhere in the news in 1960 ... Russia shot down an American US spy plane, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, over the Soviet Union. President Eisenhower initially denied any knowledge of the existence of the plane. His later apology to enraged Soviet Premier Khruschev wasn't enough to save a planned summit meeting in Paris. Adolph Eichmann, infamous Nazi accused of murdering Jews during World War Two, was captured is Argentina by Israeli. Eichmann was tried in 1961 and executed in 1962. Nine hundred American military "advisers" were now in South Vietnam. A black sit-in at Greensboro, North Carolina, drew national attention. The first national Presidential television debate was broadcast, between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Some thought later that Nixon's sallow and uncomfortable appearance during the debates was instrumental in Kennedy's narrow victory that fall. Achievements in 1960 included the first working laser, the first communications satellite, and the first weather satellite. In sports, Pittsburgh defeated the New York Yankees, 4 games to 3, to win the World Series, Ohio State defeated California, 75-55, to win the NCAA basketball championship and Minnesota was the consensus national football champion, although their record was 8 wins and two losses. Popular movies included Psycho and The Apartment. 1960 books included To Kill a Mockingbird and The Sot Weed Factor.

1961

In February, Sheriff Herman Wayland and his deputies raided every country club and private social club in the city and county, confiscating large amounts of illegal liquor and slot machines. It obviously seemed likely that those activities had been designed to strengthen the position of those who were supporting the legalization of alcohol sales in Knoxville, by making it more difficult for people to acquire liquor at their normal haunts.

The first Dogwood Arts Festival was held in Knoxville. The Dogwood Trails themselves had already become an annual Spring event beginning in 1955, first in Sequoyah Hills, then later including Holston Hills. One of the features was a jazz festival, held at the UT Fieldhouse, where for $2.50 you could see and hear the star attraction, Al Hirt. Upon conclusion of the Festival, it was declared a success by most who attended and/or participated in the various events.

The Vol Basketball team suffered through a losing season, winning ten games while losing fifteen. In April, 1961, a pale was cast over the program, when it was revealed that Tennessee players Dick Fisher and Eddie Test had been involved in a point shaving scandal, in a case that involved New York gamblers who had contacted the players before a game against Kentucky that season. Both players were dismissed from school.

Prohibition in the United States, the "Great Experiment", had ended back in 1933. But in Knoxville, local ordinances had kept the city "dry". Not to say that people didn't partake of liquor around here ... they got it from local bootleggers, or hauled it to town in the trunks of their cars, from such places as Bristol, one of the closer locations where liquor stores legally existed. Proponents had previously attempted to secure legalization through local referendums, but each time voters had turned down the proposals. As previously mentioned, one of the principal local anti-booze leaders, Broadway Baptist Church's Ramsey Pollard, had left town in 1960 to assume the pulpit at Bellevue Baptist in Memphis, and supporters decided the time was ripe to strike again. To assure the likeliness of success this time, some who promoted legalization assured voters that only at a limited number of closely controlled liquor stores would liquor be available if legalization was passed, and more or less assured voters that liquor by the drink would not become a consideration, then or later. The pro-liquor Committee of 1000 was opposing a group known as the United Christian Forces. Among other things, the pro-legalization committee argued that legalization would keep teenagers from getting liquor. (That one has obviously has been proven to be a laugher.) When the votes were counted in May, 1961, legalization had become a reality, but only by a relatively small margin of only 4,400 votes, among more than 65,000 votes cast in the referendum. Two interesting results of that election are evident today. While there had been a number of earlier unsuccessful referendums, once liquor was legalized more than forty years ago it has been permanent, and there has never again been even a suggestion that another referendum be held, in an attempt to repeal legalization. Also, once the foot was in the door, that "guarantee" made by a number of supporters of legal liquor back in 1961, that voters need never worry about later attempts to authorize liquor by the drink, predictably lasted only a few years. One humorous 1961 incident involving the battle between the drys and wets took place before the referendum was held, when a local bootlegger, Carl Scates, waiting to testify before a grand jury investigation into bootlegging activities in the city, told reporters that he opposed legalization, of all things, "on moral grounds"!

A new branch library in Sequoyah Hills was completed and opened in 1961.

In 1961, the demise of the daily Mid-Day Merry Go Round program, broadcast on radio station WNOX, was to the dismay of local country music fans. The program had been on the air since 1936, and its master of ceremonies had always been Lowell Blanchard, who was responsible over the years for promoting the careers of a number of legendary country musicians.

The new Knoxville Civic Auditorium - Coliseum opened in 1961.

The UT Athletic Board approved a one million dollar project to double deck the west stands at Shields Watkins field.

The Rebel Railroad opened in Pigeon Forge, between Sevierville and Gatlinburg. It would later close and reopen under various other names until finally the much larger attraction, Dollywood, opened at the site.

The Market Square Mall project was completed, on Market Street between Union and Wall, where the demolished Market House once stood. Again, as had been the case when the Promenade had opened, merchants and property owners paid the for the canopies and building improvements, the city funding only the section in the center of the mall.

We bought our first color television set in 1961. It was a Sears product, but actually made by RCA Victor, and cost about $400.00 less than the identical set with the RCA label that was displayed in the window at George's department store downtown. I obviously jumped the gun somewhat, since people who owned color television sets had little to watch in that format on television. For example, on Wednesday nights, only three one half hour programs were broadcast in color on Channel six, WATE (NBC), and neither WBIR nor WTSK were broadcasting any programs in color then. On Sunday nights, WATE was showing two programs in color, The Wonderful World of Disney and Bonanza.

The Smokies finished the season in second place in the Southern League.

In high school football, Young High School won the AAA championship, Karns High School took the AA crown, and Webb High School was the A division champ.

Knoxville's first hockey team hit the ice in 1961. Called the Knoxville Knights, they played their home games at the new Civic Colosseum.

Ken Donahue and Dick Hitt had left Bowden Wyatt's staff, and the Vol coach hired his old former teammate Bob Woodruff and popular fifties tailback Johnny Majors to the football staff. The Vols posted a record of six wins and four losses in 1961. Sophomore tailback Mallon Faircloth was one of the few bright spots on the team. Probably the most shocking loss to Tennessee fans that season was when Auburn came to Knoxville. I witnessed that game, when Tennessee jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead, then lost the game, 24-21. Bowden Wyatt's job appeared to be on shaky ground.

The Journal ran a series of front page articles revealing the open gambling at sports centers and pool halls in downtown Knoxville. Most of the articles, including the photographs, concerned the Starlite Club on Commerce Avenue, located just west of Gay Street, where butter and eggs, dice games, numbers games, poker games and slot machines were in operation. While little was written in the articles concerning Comers Sports Center on Gay Street, the first article in the series included several pictures taken inside that place that was owned by Dick Comer and Fred Owens, being photos of some of the employees and customers, and where many of the same gambling activities were taking place.

As 1962 approached, Farragut High School's boys basketball team had lost thirty-nine straight games, dating back almost two years, when their last victory had been against TSD, in February, 1960.

A nine piece box of fried chicken at Kentucky Fried Chicken cost $2.15 in 1961. Holy cow!

Fire destroyed the new Colonial Hills Country Club off Alcoa Highway. The new construction had been two thirds complete at the site of what had been the old Hillvale Country Club. It was a project headed by Willard Creech, and newspaper accounts reported it was the third fire that had occurred at locations involving Creech or his brother, the others having earlier occurred at the DixieLand on Kingston Pike and at the C'Est Bon on Alcoa Highway.

Cable television wasn't yet on the scene, with those "pay for view" specials such as championship boxing matches, where the cost to see such bouts today is sometimes as much as fifty bucks. Even so, boxing promoters had already found ways to squeeze money from fans who wanted to view such contests. Championship fights were televised on a large screen at local venues around the country, where patrons paid an admission to watch them. One example was Floyd Patterson's fight with heavyweight champion Ingamar Johansson, who had taken his crown more than two years earlier. The fight was shown at Knoxville's Civic Auditorium, and the ticket cost was from $3.50 to $4.50. Promoters managed not only to keep that fight off regular television, but also arranged that the fight would not be broadcast on radio. Newspapers reported that fans who paid to watch some of those early closed circuit broadcasts were unanimous in their complaints that the picture quality was usually lousy, at best.

and elsewhere in the news in 1961 ... John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as President of the U.S. The U. S. broke off relations with Cuba. 1200 US sponsored exiles invaded Cuba in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. All were killed or captured, and the infamous failed Bay of Pigs invasion became a black mark on John F. Kennedy's Presidency. East Germany erected the Berlin Wall, separating East and West Germany. The USSR detonated a 50 megaton hydrogen bomb, the largest man-made explosion in history. There were now 2000 US military advisers in South Vietnam. Commander Alan Shepard rocketed 116.5 miles high, becoming the first U. S Astronaut. Russia sent the first man into space in an orbital flight around the earth, Major Yuri Gagarin. The Yankees's Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's home record by hitting his 61^st homer against Boston, and New York went on to defeat Cincinnati, four games to one, to win the World's Series. Alabama won the consensus 1961 national football championship, finishing the season with 11 wins and no losses. Top movies included West Side Story and The Hustler. 1961 books included Catch 22 and Tropic of Cancer.

1962

An eight inch snow crippled the city on January 9, 1962, and the temperature dropped to five degrees below zero the following day.

New tax appraisals by E. T. Wilkins and Associates, of Cleveland, Ohio, had citizens up in arms all over Knox county.

The annexation by the city of Knoxville became effective in February, 1962. People who previously lived outside the city limits in the county, including such areas as Fountain City, Cumberland Estates and West Haven, were now in the city, their property taxes had doubled, as they now would be paying not only Knox County taxes but also city taxes, in essentially the same additional amount. Initially, those citizens got little for their money. They received services including city police protection, garbage pick-up, and lower home insurance rates, but little else. The roads in the "city" would of course continue to be available for the use of all residents in the city and county, but residents in those new city neighborhoods would now contribute more to the bill for the maintenance of those city thoroughfares. There would eventually be able to eliminate the use of septic tanks when newly installed sewer lines were in place, and the "new" city residents also were now eligible for protection from the city's more efficient fire department. However, few fire departments were anywhere near the annexed areas at the time, and it took years for the city to built new stations and install adequate separate water lines and fire hydrants that were necessary to fight fires in the newly annexed areas, and new sewer lines. In my neighborhood, I paid the additional city taxes for seven years before the city got around to installing new water and sewer lines and hydrants. The city also finally also nearby fire station. But soon afterwards, when a fire broke out at a dwelling across the street from our residence, it took more than a half hour for the city's fire trucks to finally arrive on the scene, even though the trucks could be heard in the area, with sirens screaming, as the fire trucks -- the drivers apparently having no clue of the location of the street where the fire was raging -- raced up and down neighborhood streets, before finally finding the right place. The annexation of those areas was obviously premature, too extensive in scope, and in the early years managed to leave a bad taste in the mouths of many of the original residents in those neighborhoods, since they got little for their money for several years. Some of those annexed residents still question today whether they get their money's worth. Even today, articles periodically appear in the local newspaper concerning matters involving "Knox County", when sometimes the county is mentioned as if it includes only who live outside the city limits, when in fact Knox County likewise includes city residents, who continue to pay the same county taxes as are paid by those living outside the city limits, and also pay the same annual amount of taxes to the city.

The Charles H. Hudson home, located on Circle Park in the University of Tennessee area, was demolished in early 1962. The home, built around 1892, sat next to the newly constructed McClung Museum.

Patricia Ann Crippen was shot to death at Larue's, a dive on Clinton Highway. Mrs. Phyllis Halburt was later charged in the shooting.

A total of 102,000 fans were in attendance during the Knoxville Knights hockey team's first season in the city in 1961-1962. The Knights lost to Johnstown in the semi-finals of the playoffs.

With the basketball team decimated from the loss of Eddie Test and Dick Fisher in the gambling scandal, Tennessee suffered through a miserable 4-19 record. John Sines resigned, having posted a three year record of 15 wins and 45 losses. He never got to see the improvement in the following teams, much resulting from his signing of two talented freshman, A. W. Davis of Rutledge, Bobby Hogsett of Holston Valley, plus Danny Schultz, who had played at Hiwassee College.

In an upset, Carl Ford defeated Herman Wayland to become Knox County Sheriff. Ford announced that gambling and sales of illegal liquor would be his initial targets, and by December he and his deputies had raided various places where such activities were taking place, downtown and elsewhere.

For the second straight year, the Smokies finished in second place in the Southern League.

In high school basketball, Gibbs went 31-3 to capture the A division championship, East won the AA crown. Both East and Fulton advanced to the semifinals of the state tournament.

Three streets in Knoxville, all originally paved in the early twentieth century with 6" x 17" concrete rectangles, were still in use in 1962, with virtually no required maintenance. One was on 15^th Street (paved in 1907), a second was 13^th Street, and the third was Kenyon Avenue in North Knoxville (those two streets paved in 1909). As of 2007, all three streets were in use, still with those century old surfaces. There must be a message in there somewhere!

In 1962, ground beef was 39 cents a pound, sirloin steak 89 cents, and whole hams cost 49 cents a pound. A new 1962 Pontiac Bonneville was priced at $4,000.00. A two year old brick home with three bedrooms, located on Strawberry Plains pike and including two acres of land, was advertised for sale at $10,900.00.

During the week of March 3-9, 1962, the most popular song among Knoxville's listeners of radio station WKGN, according to their weekly survey, was Robert Mitchum's Thunder Road.

African American comedian and actor "Stepin Fetchit" (Lincoln Perry) entertained at the Executive Club, a supper club at 1702 West Cumberland Avenue, on December 8, 1962.

Helen Hayes and Maurice Evans appeared at the Civic Auditorium on December 12, 1962, in A Program for Two Players. Ticket prices were $2.50, $3.75 and $5.00.

City Council voted to purchase Dickinson's Island (Island Home Airport)

Bob Neyland, Tennessee Athletic Director and legendary coach, died in March, 1962. The stadium surrounding Shields Watkins field was named Neyland Stadium in his honor, and dedicated on October 20, 1962. Unfortunately, the Vols lost to Alabama that day, 27-7, and Tennessee continued in mediocrity, with four wins and six losses. The wolves were at Bowden Wyatt's door, not only because of the team's record, but also because of reported behavioral patters of the once popular head coach. However, UT President Andy Holt gave Wyatt a vote of confidence in November and assured him of another year as Tennessee's head coach. The gesture was short lived.

Finishing the year with a similar cold snap as the one that had occurred when 1962 began, the temperature dropped to three degrees on December 12, and to two degrees on December 13.

Tennessee's basketball team reeled off five straight victories in December. Bill Gibbs served as the interim coach while new coach Ray Mears spent time in Florida, reportedly recovering from a virus. Mears returned, the Vols dropped a couple of games, and the reigns were again turned over the Gibbs, when Mears again took an absence from coaching, newspapers reporting that he "had not recovered from his early season illness".

and elsewhere in the news in 1962 ... The Cuban Missile Crisis took place in 1962, when the U. S. discovered that Russia was placing ballistic missiles in Cuba. A navel blockade by President Kennedy repelled Soviet ships carrying missiles to Cuba, Soviet Premier Krushchev agreed to remove the missiles and withdraw the sights. In return, the U. S agreed not to invade Cuba, and secretly removed missiles previously installed in Turkey. Later, Cuba released 1,113 prisoners captured in the aborted 1961 invasion attempt. James Meredith, an African American, escorted by Federal officers, enrolled at the University of Mississippi. The Yankees defeated the San Francisco Giants to win the World Series. Pat Brown was elected California governor, winning over Richard Nixon. Marilyn Monroe died at the age of thirty-six, her death reported as a drug overdose, although the mystery continues today as to the actual cause of death - - and the names of some possible participants in a cover-up of the circumstances. Colonel John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth. Mariner II, the first planetary probe, reached Venus in 1963. Johnny Carson began his long run as host of television's Tonight Show. The government reported that African Americans represented 9.5% of the country's population, but they held 13 percent of federal government jobs in the U.S. Boston defeated the LA Lakers to win the NBA championship. Cincinnati defeated Ohio State to win the NCAA basketball championship. Southern California won the NCAA football championship, with 11wins and no losses. Green Bay defeated New York Giants 16-7 to win the NFL football championship on December 30, 1962, Among those who died in 1962 were Ernie Kovaks, William Faulkner and Eleanor Roosevelt. Popular books in 1962 included The Tin Drum and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Where author Ken Kelsey got his title for Cockoo's Nest I'm uncertain, but a similar phrase appeared in a 1901 book written by Annie Fellows Johnson, The Little Colonel's House Party, where chapters titles include One flew into the Cuckoo's Nest, together with chapters titled One Flew East, and One Flew West. The exact words later appeared in a 1913 book of poetry written by a Knoxville woman, Frances Reed (Mrs. Henry) Gibson, The Moon Maiden and Other Poems, where one of her poems is titled "One Flew East, One Flew West, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

1963

Elected to Knoxville's City Council were Milton Roberts, Vic Arning, Howard Kessell, Howard Temple, Dwight Kessell, and - still inexplicably to some, yet once again - Cas Walker.

It was announced in February, 1963, that extensive remodeling was being done at the Mercantile Building. The improvements were a part of the ongoing activities of downtown businesses and property owners in an attempt to revitalize the downtown area. Again contradicting some modern reports, that the recent attempts to revitalize downtown are a new and revolutionary idea.

A re-enactment of the Battle of Fort Sanders, sponsored by Civil War Centennial Committee, was held Nov. 16, 1963, on the centennial of that Knoxville battle. Bill Dunford, the president of the downtown insurance firm where I worked for forty years, grew up in that West Knoxville neighborhood in the 1930's, and he once mentioned that as a youngster he would walk through the section west of the site of the original fort and pick up mini balls, more than seventy years after the 1863 battle took place.

The old J. Addison Rayl home, located at the southeast corner of Main and Walnut, was demolished in 1963.

City voters rejected another referendum to consolidate Knoxville city schools and county schools by a vote of 19,203 to 15,537.

Ray Mears, who had coached the Wittenberg, Ohio University team to a Division Two national title in 1961, had replaced John Sines as the Tennessee basketball coach in 1962. The Vols did not have a spectacular season in 1962-1963, posting a 13-11 record, although they defeated Kentucky's Wildcats twice, a seldom accomplished feat by any team in any year, and certainly still a rare novelty for a Tennessee basketball team. Mears' teams would bring many new fans and local interest in Volunteer basketball, with the unique pre-game antics of his team, including such things as players riding unicycles and doing fancy warmups to the background music of the song made famous by the Harlem Globetrotters, Sweet Georgia Brown. Mears knew how to coach, how to win, and also how to sometimes get into the minds of opposing coaches. His popularity among fans was evident despite the deliberate style of play and slow-down tactics of his earlier UT teams. In his early years, large banners hung along the walls of Stokely Center, proclaiming that Tennessee led the nation in defense. By the 1970's, when offensive threats had been recruited, including such high-scoring players as Ernie Grunfeld, Bernard King, and Mike Jackson, the slowdown tactics had gone out the window and his teams had become more high scoring outfits. Mears would coach the Vols until 1978, posting an enviable winning record of 278 wins and 112 losses. But during his career at UT, the Vols never came close to winning, or, when the rare opportunity was presented, advancing very far in the NCAA tournament. Mears then spent eight years as Athletic Director at UT Martin. When he turned age 68 in 1994, Mears revealed that he had suffered through years of depression and had even considered suicide, before he was diagnosed by a Memphis doctor as a manic depressive. He said that diagnosis and the use of the drug Lithium had saved his life. Those revelations explained the absences at various times during his UT career for reported various sickness. Ray Mears died in June, 2007, at the age of 80.

Most of WATE's Sunday night television programs were now being shown in color. Neither of Knoxville's other two television stations, WBIR and WTVK, were yet broadcasting any programs in color in 1963.

The Riviera Theater was all but destroyed in a fire in June, 1963. The theater was rebuilt the following year. None of the recent articles I've read, concerning the theater's history and the fact that a new and much larger multi-screen theater has now been built and opened at the site, have mentioned the fact that less than six months before the theater burned in 1962, an announcement appeared in local newspapers reporting that the theater would soon be closed. Back in the 1940's and 1950's, many people in town called the theater the 'Riveera" ... that statement not being a clouded and perhaps faulty remembrance from the author's childhood, but a fact verified by many old acquaintances and other residents who were living in Knoxville back then, all recalling that pronunciation and having gone to movies at the theater. (I originally mentioned that quirk in local pronunciation in my book, "A Half Century Ago", back in 1998.)

The movie All the Way Home, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Knoxville native James Agee, A Death in the Family, premiered in Knoxville in 1963, at the Tennessee Theater. Another local connection was that Knoxville native John Cullum, who has since had a successful stage and television career, made his movie debut in that film. The movie apparently was only mildly successful at best. I saw the movie back then, but then not having yet read Agee's novel, perhaps I didn't really appreciate it, and I'd like to see it again if and when it shows up on one of those numerous cable movie channels. But for some reason, during recent years, while diligently looking at the TV guide that lists movies being shown on all available cable channels each week, it seems that All the Way Home hasn't been shown on televison anywhere for many moons. I have no explanation as to why that movie has seemingly been relegated into oblivion.

The Pike Theater, at 4200 Kingston Pike, was renamed the Capri Cinema in 1963.

Chapman Highway's Horne Drive In theater continued to show seedy and risque "adult" movies.

In golf, UT's Bert Greene won the state amateur tournament, the city championship, and led qualifying for the US Amateur tournament. Joe Campbell won the Southeastern PGA title at Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Ann Baker, phenomenal female golfer from Maryville, was awarded a scholarship to the UT golf team. A par three course on Chapman Highway, the Colonial, was opened, a new golf course in Bay's Mountain was in the works, and plans for a new course in South Clinton were announced.

Fulton won its fifth straight district baseball championship, under coach Earl Wells. Johnson City won its second consecutive state baseball title, led by an all sports athlete who then matriculated to Florida on a football scholarship and later won the Heisman Trophy. He was Steve Spurrier, now often known as the "ol' ball coach",

Two large hotels in the block of North Gay Street between Depot and Magnolia, the Fairway and the Watauga, were demolished in 1963.

South High School's Jay Cole averaged 36.5 points per game to shatter the Tennessee basketball scoring record. South won the district basketball title by defeating Young in the finals.

The Smokies finished in fourth place in the Southern League standings in 1963.

Each fall we took the kids to the annual TVA & I Fair at Chilhowee Park. One year in the 1960's we went to a free tent show held at the northern end of the Jacobs Building, where among the entertainers were the Osmond Brothers. I think there were just four of them at the time, although it may be that Donnie had then joined the singing group, as a tyke. An amateur talent contest was held at the same show, and the crowd inexplicably seemed to enjoy an old fellow in overalls who played the Jews Harp. He played three songs, but for the life of me I never heard anything that remotely resembled any of those songs, since there was no discernable melody at all, only the monotonous continuous sounds of "twang, twang, twangy, twang, twang".

Powell High School won the district A football championship. Sevierville beat Central for the district AAA title.

For as little as two bucks, you could buy a ticket to see John Ireland in A Thousand Clowns, at the Civic Auditorium. The best seats in the house cost $4.50.

Bill Gibbs temporarily coached the UT Basketball team when the 1962-1963 basketball season opened, with Ray Mears again reportedly recovering from illness.

Despite the vote of confidence given to Bowden Wyatt by UT President Andy Holt in November, 1962, the Tennessee head coach was fired, then replaced by assistant coach Jim McDonald. McDonald continued the single wing offense, and the team's mediocre record of five wins and five losses in the fall of 1963 spelled doom for McDonald after only one year, and he was dismissed as head coach following the season. He remained on the staff as Assistant Athletic Director. On December 2, UT Athletic Director Bob Woodruff announced that Doug Dickey, coach at Arkansas, had been hired as Vol head coach. The UT selection committees apparently have had an affinity for Arkansas coaches over the years, since they had also hired Bowden Wyatt away from that same institution. But while Wyatt had been a player for Tennessee, Dickey had played football at Florida, and Woodruff had earlier been the head coach at the same school. Woodruff got the AD job at UT after being fired as head football coach at Florida, and those with a memory will recall that Dickey later left Tennessee to coach at his alma mater at Florida, eventually was fired from that position, and years later was himself named the Athletic Director at UT. Some Vol fans never particularly cared for UT's practice of hiring cast-offs from Florida.

First Creek was rerouted with a new deep and wide channel to solve the constant flooding problem in the Whittle Springs area, including the section where the new Northgate Shopping Center was located.

and elsewhere in the news in 1963 ... Pope John XXIII died and was replaced by Pope Paul VI. The 'Hot Line" communication link between Washington and the Soviet Union was established. Frank Sinatra, Jr., unharmed, was released by kidnappers upon payment of the demanded $240,000.00 ransom. The popular singer/actor and father of the nineteen year old aspiring singer had brokered the ransom, according to newspaper reports. There were now 15,000 military "advisers" in South Vietnam, more than fifteen times the number in 1960. The first human heart implant was performed by Dr. Michael DeBakey. The recipient, Barney Clark, lived for 112 days. The "March on Washington", led by Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, took place in 1963. According to contemporary news reports, an estimated 200,000 participated in the march. Los Angeles defeated the Yankees in four straight games to win the World Series. The pill Valium was developed by Roche Laboratories. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. The headline of an extra edition of the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported "President Kennedy killed by Assassin's Bullets", when virtually no details concerning the assassination were yet known. Vice President Lyndon Johnson assumed the Presidency. Lee Harvey Oswald, accused of the crime, was killed by bar owner Jack Ruby two days later, while being transferred to jail. The public witnessed the shooting via television cameras that were in place to record Oswald's transfer to another jail. To date, despite the later conclusion by the Warren Commission that Oswald acted by himself, many people still believe that others were involved in the assassination. For that matter, Oswald's death at the hands of Ruby, before anybody had a chance to hear much of what he actually had to say to police when he was in custody, likewise raised questions and still remains a mystery. "Beetlemania" hit Great Britain as the popularity of the Beatles singing group soared. The same year, another group, the Rolling Stones, also came onto the scene. Loyola defeated Cincinnati in overtime to win the NCAA basketball championship. Texas won the NCAA football championship with a 11-0 record. Tom Jones and Lilies of the Fields were top movies in 1963. Among popular 1963 books were Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Charles Schultz' Happiness is a Warm Puppy. In modern times, a survey similar to the one that was published in Newsweek magazine in March, 1963 would not only be considered politically incorrect, the findings would probably be labeled as racist. The survey was not taken among residents living in the South, but people who residing in Northern states, and revealed the views of white people then living in that section of the country. Some of the results of that survey were : Three out of four whites believed that blacks were less ambitious than whites ; seventy-One percent thought that black people "smelled different" ; sixty-nine percent thought that blacks had less morals than whites ; forty-nine percent thought that blacks wanted to live on hand-outs ; and forty-four percent thought that black people breed crime.

1964

Schools remained closed for the rest of the week following an additional ten inches of snow that fell on New Years eve. The snow and low temperatures wrecked havoc with traffic and most everything else in Knoxville on New Years Day, 1964.

The rebuilt Riviera Theater opened on January 22^nd, 1964, The new seating capacity was 756, compared with the original 1,006 seats before the theater was all but destroyed in a fire the previous year.

The Vols basketball team finished in second place in the SEC race, posting a overall record of 16 wins and 8 losses. A gloom was cast over the season when assistant coach Bill Gibbs was killed in a plane crash in Florida in February, 1964.

Construction on the Gay Way was completed in 1964. It came on the heels of earlier downtown projects that included the Promenade and the new Market Square Mall, following the demolition of the Market House, in attempts to attract customers back to the downtown area. The Gay Way project included the installation of overhead sidewalk canopies along both sides of the street between Wall and Clinch avenues, to protect pedestrians from the rain, the widening of the sidewalks, installation of urns with trees, and a new lighting system. The city paid for widening the sidewalks and the lighting system, but downtown merchants and property owners again paid for the majority of the work.

Instead of watching the Ed Sullivan show on Sunday evenings in 1964, our television set was usually tuned to the Walt Disney show on WATE, Channel 6. Then an NBC affiliate, it was still the only Knoxville station broadcasting in color. We watched that show not only because it was in color, and our children naturally preferred the program, but also because the black and white Ed Sullivan show in the same time slot was not particularly entertaining, often being a hodgepodge of weird and unappealing acts that were herded on and off the stage by the stiff and untalented Sullivan. But I had read the publicity, and decided to watch the Sullivan show one Sunday evening in February, wondering what all the fuss was about when an English group called the Beatles were to scheduled to appear on the show. I wasn't particularly impressed with their appearance, featuring quite a bit of what sounded like noise disguised as music, nor with the shots of very young screaming girls broadcast during the performance. Apparently, I wasn't alone. Today, the media often suggests that from the time of their first appearance, American viewers were immediately captivated by the long-haired English singing group. Perhaps that was true of the youngsters back then, but newspaper reports immediately following that performance by the Beatles on the Sullivan show made it obvious that the majority of the country's adult population was critical of the appearance, sound, and antics of the English singing group, verified the general negative opinion of the Beatles by much of that audience at the time.

The Tower Theater, at 3600 Broadway in the Fountain City area, was renamed the Lenox Theater.

The federal Civil Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, was passed in 1964. The Knoxville City Board of Education submitted a plan that provided for the complete desegregation of all schools, effective with the school year beginning in September, 1964.

Coach Chuck Rohe's Tennessee's track team won both the SEC indoor and outdoor championships.

Nine holes of the new Melton Hill golf course were open in Anderson County. Located on Ridgeview Drive in South Clinton and bordering the lake, it was a private course, 7,200 yards long, with one par 5 hole measuring over 600 yards. Nine holes of the new Bays Mountain Course were also completed in 1964, with the remaining nine holes under construction.

The South Atlantic League became the Southern League and the classification went to AA in 1964. The Knoxville Smokies finished in fifth place in the league. Later that year they cut their relationship with Detroit and announced that they would replace the Macon, Georgia franchise in 1965, and become associated with Cincinnati.

A new four bedroom home with 2400 square feet was for sale in Kingston Woods, near Deane Hill Country Club, priced at $19,000.

The Southeastern Conference was reduced to ten teams, when Tulane dropped out of the league.

After 66 years in existence, the Fort Sanders Presbyterian Church announced that the church would dissolve. Located at the corner of 16^th and Laurel, the announced primary reason was that much of the congregation had moved to more distant suburban sections of town.

West High School won the KIL Division A football championship and South High School captured the AA championship. Knox County schools and Catholic were now in the A Division, and all city schools, plus Carter, were in the AA Division. Progress in segregation was surfacing. A star basketball for the Catholic High School basketball team was an African American, Joe Proctor.

Doug Dickey was the new Tennessee football coach in 1964, replacing Jim McDonald, who served only one season as head coach. Since Bob Neyland's retirement after the 1952 season to become the Athletic Director, Tennessee had continued to hire coaches who adhered to the philosophy of the old Vol coach, including the use of the single wing offense. Neyland had died in 1962, and a new direction was immediately evident when Dickey scrapped the single wing in favor of the T formation. However, his first team's record in the fall of 1964 was not much better than those of the immediately preceding years, winning four games and losing five, with one tie, the one bright spot of the season being a tie with LSU, 3-3. The low point was at the end of the season, when Tennessee lost to Mississippi, 30-0, they also lost consecutive games to Kentucky and Vanderbilt. The Hertz Rent-a-Car at 703-705 South Gay Street suffered extensive damage in a fire on November 8, 1964. A mechanic and four fireman were injured in the blaze.

Robert Crossley became interim Mayor in December, replacing John Duncan, who resigned office to assume his new position as newly-elected US Congressman.

Stage One of the Mountain View Redevelopment program started, and options on 217 of 1064 parcels had already been secured.

The last line of the inside the city link to the Interstate west of Gay Street was dedicated in December, 1964, and the section of Interstate from Sharps Gap to Lenoir City was now completed. (The beginning of Malfunction Junction.)

Austin High School, still essentially a black school, competed in the KIL basketball jamboree in November, the first time ever the African American school had competed against a predominantly white Knoxville school. However, Austin did not compete against other local basketball teams during the regular season that year.

UT announced that it would lease a 300 unit apartment complex then being constructed off Sutherland Avenue, for married students, to be called Golf Range Apartments.

Tennessee's seven game winning streak was stopped in convincing bur perhaps questionable fashion in late December, 1964, when they lost to Oregon State in the finals of the Far West Classic, in Portland, Oregon, 48-27. Of that loss, coach Ray Mears said it had been the worst officiating he had ever seen. His opinion appeared to have merit, considering the fact the Vols scored only 8 points in the first half, and were held to what probably was an all-time low shooting percentage for a Tennessee team, 14.6 percent for the entire game.

KUB opened its new showcase headquarters building at the northeast corner of Gay and Clinch in late 1964. A public open house was scheduled for early January, 1965.

and elsewhere in the news in 1964 ... Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. Alexei Kosygen resigned as Russian Premier and was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev. Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Warren Report on the Assassination of John F. Kennedy concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone to kill the President. Among the adults who were alive when the dastardly deed took place, many still don't believe that conclusion. China detonated its first atomic bomb. ABC's Peyton Place became the first prime time television soap opera. Ranger VII returned the first high resolution photographs of the moon. The song of the year was Days of Wine and Roses, by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer. St. Louis defeated the Yankees, four games to three, to win the World Series. Controversy surrounded the national football championship in 1964, Alabama being named number one by the AP and UPI before the bowl games were played, but Arkansas receiving the honor in other polls following their Cotton Bowl victory over Nebraska and Alabama's loss to Texas in the Orange Bowl, and another poll selecting Notre Dame as national champions. Counterculture bands such as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane enjoyed success among the younger set. Successful 1964 movies included Dr. Strangelove, Mary Poppins, Zorba the Greek, and My Fair Lady. 1964 books included Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast and Donald Barthelme's Come Back Doctor Caligari.

1965

Construction on the Gay Way project had begun in 1964, and the newly refurbished Gay Street officially opened in June, 1965. The Downtown Knoxville Association, an association of downtown property owners and merchants that had been instrumental in the earlier Promenade and Market Square Mall projects, likewise promoted and primarily financed the project. The sidewalk was widened, reducing the width of Gay Street. In modern times, that fact has obviously been ignored, since parking is now permitted on that narrow downtown thoroughfare. It makes little sense today to encourage citizens to come downtown when the main street has become a narrow one way passage in each direction, and where some downtown workers, merchants, and possibly even residents, have an obvious penchant for parking their vehicles on Gay Street for several hours at a time, apparently aided by the fact that they are undisturbed by local police. That's not an assumption, it's a fact -- or at least it was back in 2005. That year I went downtown with a camera, and have the photographs to prove it, including evidence that several cars were parked for at least six continuous hours in clearly identified limited time zone spaces, and one vehicle was illegally parked for that same period of time in a 30 minute handicapped zone. Yet there were no traffic tickets ever placed on any of the windshields.

For the first time, television stations WBIR and WTVK were showing some of their programs in color in 1965. By then, most of the evening shows on WATE were already being broadcast in color, and that station had offered color programs since 1961.

The Knoxville Knights finished in fifth place in the league, then lost in the second round of the playoffs. The season's final regular season game was televised locally.

The site where the Lyric Theater and Colonial Hotel buildings had been demolished back in 1956, originally reported to be the future site of a new Miller's department store building (a structure that never got off the ground), continued to be a vacant property in 1965. Earlier, it had been announced that the property would be the site of a new multi-million dollar Voyager Inn. One of the men who at the downtown insurance firm where I worked said he would jump out of the window onto Gay Street if that Inn ever actually materialized. Like the proposed but imaginary Miller's building at the site, naturally it was never built. The name was later reportedly going to be changed to the Vanguard Center, but that also was a false alarm. A small motel with the same name did later crop up out on Alcoa Highway, but my fellow worker said it was much smaller and was obviously located in the wrong place, so naturally he refused to jump from his window as earlier promised. Later, in 1969, the property was sold, with reports that a new downtown motor lodge would be constructed at the site. Of course, that likewise didn't materialize. It would be more than twenty years following the 1956 demolition of the buildings in that block of Gay Street before the City County Bank building was built at the site.

Millers department store advertised an RCA Victor all-channel television set for $189.00. Of course, those were black and white sets. A color set then cost about three times as much, or more.

The university, the UT football team, and the entire city were shocked and saddened when three assistant coaches on Tennessee's football team -- Charles Rash, Bill Majors, and Bob Jones -- were killed, when their automobile was hit by a train at a Knoxville railroad crossing.

Young High School was still in operation in 1965, but it was bursting at the seems, with an enrollment that had doubled from 700 to 1400 students in sixteen years. The school would eventually close in 1976, as would South High School, both replaced by the new larger South Young school.

Announcement was made that four African American schools in Knox County would close in 1965. All were small one teacher schools. The schools closed were Armstrong, Solway, Concord and Sunrise.

Local ice skaters enjoyed rinks in Knoxville at the Civic Auditorium and at the Ice Chalet.

In high school basketball, Gibbs won 29 straight games including the District title, before losing to Alcoa in the Regional tournament. In football, after two early season losses, Central came back to tie Fulton for the AAAA district honors with Fulton. Central then defeated Fulton in the Optimist Bowl. East won the AAA football title and Rule won the AA title.

Zayer, a discount department store located in the old Brookside Mills building on Baxter in North Knoxville, was in business in 1965.

Renovation on the early nineteenth Craighead Jackson home at 1000 State Street was nearing completion and would be ready for viewing by the public for the 1966 Dogwood Arts Festival.

The UT basketball team posted a record of 20 wins and 5 losses for the 1964-1965 season, and lost to Kentucky in the SEC tournament, 69-61.

In Doug Dickey's second season as head coach, Tennessee's Vols posted a record of seven wins, one loss, and two ties, and were invited to play Tulsa in the Bluebonnet Bowl. Linebacker Frank Emanuel captured first team All American honors. The average attendance for Tennessee's home games in 1965 was 42,588. Tennessee defeated Tulsa, 27-6, in the bowl game, played on December 18, 1965, and was eventually voted the number seven team in the nation for the 1965 season, in the final polls. For the first time, those votes were taken following the bowl games, instead of in December. However, the following two years the voting returned to the old method of declaring the national champion in December, before voting was permanently changed to taking the final poll following all bowl games, beginning in January, 1969. While it had been a common practice back in the late 1940's to help fill the UT stadium for such home games as Chattanooga and TPI by providing free admission to local high school bands, Boy Scouts, and other groups, free admission was sometimes offered to alumni by UT as late as 1965. It's hard to believe today, but that year, the athletic department offered free tickets to children of all alumni to attend the homecoming game against South Carolina.

Gibbs High School was the last remaining Knox County School where all grades, one through twelve, were being taught. That situation had been common in the county in earlier times, but the practice had been abandoned at all other schools, and would soon be changed at Gibbs.

Night clubs with dance halls in Knoxville in 1965 included Pat and Libs and the Oak Grove on Asheville Highway, and the Shagri-La and Legionnaires Club on Alcoa Highway.

A local professional basketball team was organized in late 1965, called the Knoxville Trojans. Playing their home games at the South High School gymnasium, the team included former players from Tennessee, Carson Newman, and ETSU. Former Vol players on the new team included A. W. Davis and Pat Robinette. A twenty game schedule was announced.

As the 1965-1966 high school basketball season began, previously segregated Austin High School was now competing in the local scholastic league, in the Class A Division. They were leading the league standings at the end of 1965.

On December 20, Kentucky announced it had signed the SEC's first Negro to a football scholarship. He was Nat Worthington, an offensive back.

The city rejected the Knoxville Real Estate Boards appraisal of $95,000 for the property where the new junior high school would be built (eventually called Northwest Junior when completed.) Instead, they chose to condemn the property and accepted the condemnation commissioner's appraisal of $72,000, and paid the landowners that amount for the property. Drop by there sometime and take a look at the size of the school and its adjoining property, scratch your head at the amount the city gave that landowner for his property, and cross your fingers that some "condemnation commissioner" doesn't decide the city wants your property.

Sports Illustrated named former Tennessee guard Ed Cifers to its Silver Anniversary All American football team.

The speed limit in Tennessee on Internet highways in 1965 was 75 miles per hour. In what today sounds like a gross mistake by officials, the speed limit applied to the highway inside the city limits. It's difficult to imagine automobiles swooping over the old Coster Shops site on Interstate 75 (now I-275), along the sharp curve between Woodland and Heiskell Avenue, at 75 miles per hour. In recent years, there were problems with vehicles skidding and losing control along that stretch of Interstate in Knoxville when the speed limit was 55 MPH.

Construction on Knoxville's first condominiums were well underway in December, 1965, the Carriage Lane Condominiums, on North Broadway. Developers were converting a previous apartment complex. Each condo contained two bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, 1 ½ baths, a balcony, and included built-in refrigerator, stove and garbage disposal. All units were offered at the same price, $14,950. Residents would pay a monthly maintenance fee of $29.50. Today, you can buy a condominium similar in scope and size in one of those converted old buildings in the downtown area -- for around $400,000 or so!

Broadway Baptist Church suffered significant damage, including loss of the sanctuary, in a fire that was started by an arsonist on Christmas Eve day, 1965. The fire was on a Friday, and church members pitched in on Saturday to hastily erect a temporary plywood sanctuary at a covered parking facility, under the educational building, where members worshiped the following day, and for many Sundays afterwards, until the newly constructed sanctuary was completed.

and elsewhere in the news in 1965 ... A Gallup Poll survey revealed that the two most unpopular groups in the United States were the Ku Klux Klan (76%) and the John Birch Society (40%), followed in unpopularity by the NAACP (32%) and CORE (17%) Following the most ambitious space venture to date, US astronauts James Lovell and Frank Borman safely splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, after 14 days in space. The first United States troops landed in Vietnam. By year's end, 190,000 American soldiers would be in that country. Martin Luther King and 2600 others were arrested in Selma, Alabama, for demonstrations protesting voter registration rules. Black nationalist leader Malcom X was murdered in Harlem. Blacks rioted for six days in the Los Angeles Watts section. Thirty-four were killed, more than 1000 were injured, and more than 4000 were arrested. Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov became the first man to walk in space. Less than three months later, American Edward White repeated the feat. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series, defeating Minnesota. UCLA defeated Michigan for the NCAA basketball championship. Alabama and Michigan State, each with one loss, shared the national NCAA football championship. The most popular movie of 1965 was The Sound of Music. Bill Cosby, in I Spy, became the first black to star in a television show. Deaths in 1965 included Winston Churchill, Nat King Cole, and Adeli Stevenson. For the first time ever, four of the year's five most popular recordings were issued by rock and roll groups, one by the Rolling Stones (I Can't Get No Satisfaction), the other three by the Beatles (Help, Ticket to Ride, and Yesterday.)

1966

Social Security taxes were increased effective January 1, 1966. The increased cost was to finance health benefits under the new Medicare program. The maximum annual Social Security payment rose from $174.00 to $277.00 annually. As of 2006, those who earned an annual minimum wage of $12,000.00 contributed $860.00 each year to Social Security, and based on the current wage base of $94,200.00, the maximum annual payment for individuals (with employers also still annually contributing a like amount) was $5,840.00.

The Earle Hotel, at the southeast corner of North Gay and Depot, originally opened as the Atkin Hotel in the early twentieth century, the later named the Milner Hotel, was demolished in 1966. The same year, the May Hotel, at 410 Commerce, was also demolished, following a partial collapse of the building.

Ray Mears' Tennessee's Basketball team finished the season with 18 wins and 8 losses. In the final game of the regular season the Vols upset Kentucky, 69-62. Coming into that game the Wildcats were riding a 24 game winning streak and were rated the number one team in the nation.

The 1966 Parade of Homes was held in July, at Broadacres, in Powell Station. Twenty-nine new homes were offered for sale. Today, according to published reports, among the reasons for the astronomical prices of new houses is that customers demand more space and amenities, and for some of those humongous homes now being built around here that sounds logical. But looking back forty years ago, one wonders if that's more hype by home builders and sellers rather than a true assessment of the situations then and now. For example, One of the homes offered in the 1966 Parade of Homes was an all-brick two story colonial, with approximately 2,800 square feet of living area, three bedrooms, hardwood floors, living room, dining room, family room, central heat and air, built in kitchen appliances and cabinets, a two car garage, built in intercom and vacuum systems, and a terrace with a gas grill. Not bad for both space and amenities for a new home that was priced at $29,500.00.

The Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966. Prompted by threats and racial slurs, Milwaukee star player Hank Aaron, an African American, avowed that under no circumstances would he move to Atlanta and play for a team in the racist southern city. Speaking at a local Knoxville civic club, a well-known local sports personality (now deceased) was asked the question as to whether Aaron would in fact move to Atlanta and play for Atlanta. His blunt and racist reply was "Sure he will - - if he doesn't, he'll have a hard time trying to make $100,000 a year shining shoes." Aaron of course did join the team in Atlanta, where he overcame the initial catcalls and bigotry, converted most Atlanta sports followers into genuine fans, and eventually set a new record for the most home runs in a career, 755, a record that stood until Bobby Bonds hit his 756^th home run in 2007.

A 25 inch screen Dumont color television set cost $695.00 in 1966. The price dropped considerably in later years, but prices have again increased today with the newly required digital broadcasts to begin in early 2009, plus the increase in the demand for sets with large screens. By 1966, local television stations were showing many programs in color. NFL football games were being shown in color that year.

Grocery store magnet / City Councilman Cas Walker used his country music television show not only to sell groceries, he sometimes also promoted his political favorites. Once, he brought one in front of the TV cameras, and expounded on his candidate's good points. Mentioning that the opponent had played up the fact that he had been a soldier held prisoner during World War Two, Cas said his candidate's war service had been no less significant, and (while pronouncing the word "wounded" as if it were pronounced like the word "sounded") said that his candidate had been injured from a bomb fragment during the same war ... "Say neighbors, Joe here was not only a soldier in the war, he was wounded by the frigment from a bum."

A 1966 referendum produced the same result as an earlier vote for school consolidation back in 1963, as city voters overwhelmingly rejected a plan to transfer city schools to the Knox County school system, 28,014 to 14,890.

The Rebel Railroad in Pigeon Forge was renamed Goldrush Junction in 1966.

In the Fountain City area, the Lenox Theater, originally opened in 1948 as the Tower Theater, closed its doors in 1966, after being in operation for only two years under the new name.

On October 16, the Tennessee Theater closed for renovations. The project took over two months, and the remodeled theater reopened on Christmas Day, 1966. Extensive renovations included new oversized reclining seats, a new tile entrance floor, a new concession stand, new draperies, a new screen, new entrance doors, new carpeting, new curtains, a renovated box office, a new screen, new entry doors, and other amenities. The seating capacity was reduced from 1900 to 1450 seats, to accommodate the new larger and more comfortable seats. Inexplicably, many of the same renovations would be made once again at the theater, only fifteen years later, in 1981.

It was announced that the cost of lunch at Knoxville city schools would increase from 25 cents to 30 cents.

The Knoxville Smokies, in their second season with Cincinnati as the parent club, went into a late season tailspin and finished dead last in the Southern League.

In high school athletics, Holston High School won the district basketball crown, with Central finishing second. In football, Holston and Bearden shared the AA division title, and East captured the A division crown.

John Sterchi won the city golf championship and Ann Baker captured her sixth KAWG title.

A half million dollar gift from William B. Stokely provided the primary funding for the expansion of UT's Armory-Fieldhouse, opened in 1966, with the seating capacity increased from 7,800 to 12,700, and renamed the Stokely Athletic Center. It was a welcome venue for the UT basketball team, where more than 12,000 fans could now watch home games. It also provided a new larger campus facility for entertainment, including road shows and other performances. Tennessee opened the new center with a 72-54 victory over Michigan in December, 1966.

The east stands addition increased the seating capacity of Neyland Stadium by nearly 5,900 seats, Tennessee won seven games while losing three in the 1966 season, and Doug Dickey's team defeated Syracuse, 18-13, in the Gator Bowl on December 31, 1966. In that game, the Vols built an early lead, then managed to barely hold on for the victory against a Syracuse team that featured two touted runners, Franco Harris and Lydell Mitchell. Dickey's salary in 1966 was $22,000, but he was soon expected to receive a raise. Tennessee linebacker Paul Naumoff was named a first team All American by both UPI and AP, and the Vols' Ron Widby led the nation in punting, averaging 43.83 yards per kick.

All that remained in December, 1966, of what long had been thought to be the original old Chisholm Tavern, at the corner of Front and original Gay Street, was the foundation and chimney. The building was in the urban renewal area, and was torn down in the slum removal projects in that section of the city. Some of the woodwork from the old structure had been used in renovation of the Craighead Jackson home on State Street the previous year. Earlier interest in saving the building had quickly waned when it had been realized, after many years, that in fact it had not been the original Chisholm Tavern, but was located west of that structure that had been actually located at the corner of Front and State. Nonetheless, it probably was the second or third only to the Blount Mansion in terms of antiquity in the original downtown area. It wasn't the Chisholm Tavern, built around 1792, but it was an early nineteenth century Knoxville structure that today would be more than 200 years old, and it should have been preserved.

The Barn Theater opened on Kingston Pike, at the Dixie Lee junction.

McDonald's announced it would increase the price of its hamburger from 15 cents to 18 cents effective January 1, 1967. The fifteen cent price had been in effect for more than ten years, since 1954. I've already commented in an earlier work concerning McDonald's clever marketing ploy of substituting ketchup for tomatoes on their burgers, creating a whole generation of people (excluding the author) who today readily accept that abomination.

and elsewhere in the news in 1966 ... India suffered its worst famine in twenty years. The Medicare program began on July 1, 1965. The Supreme Court handed down the Miranda decision. In Arizona, Ernesto Miranda had confessed to the kidnaping and rape of a female, and was convicted. Because he did not have a lawyer, the conviction was thrown out. Since that time, police have been required to provide any suspect with his or her legal rights, now known as the Miranda warning. The deciphering of the DNA code was finished by MIT physicist Har Khorana. The contraception "pill" was declared safe for use by the Food and Drug Administration. Baltimore defeated Los Angeles in four straight games to win the World Series. In an upset, Texas Western defeated Kentucky, 72-65, to win the NCAA basketball championship. The Texas Western players were African Americans, and Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp had previously refused to schedule games against teams with African American players. Notre Dame was the consensus national football champion. The first episode of the television series Star Trek was broadcast September 8, 1966. Successful 1966 movies included Alfie, A Man for All Seasons, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Truman Capote's In Cold Blood was published. Cassius Clay, now calling himself Muhammed Ali had joined the Islam religion and refused induction into the armed forces. He was later stripped of his heavyweight boxing title for that action. The fact that he used his newly chosen religious affiliation for what seemed to many to be an excuse to stay out of the army apparently was essentially later forgotten by much of the public, and his popularity again soared.

1967

The Gay Street urns, including the dogwood trees, were removed in September, 1967. However, the overhead canopies did remain on Gay for some years afterwards. So much for that part of downtown's "Gay Way" experiment, after having been in existence for only two years. Apparently, the decision was to made to abandon such thoughts about beautification of the city's main downtown thoroughfare.

The Capri 70 Theater opened in 1967, at 5308 Kingston Pike.

Plans for the new City-County public library were released. To be built at Church and Walnut, the McClung Room would be housed on the second floor of the building.

Tennessee won 21 games and lost 7, capturing their first SEC basketball championship in 24 years, beating Mississippi State in three overtimes, 78-76. Unfortunately, they promptly lost their first game in the NCAA tournament to Dayton, 53-52, in the mideast regional tournament.

East High School and Austin High School were merged in 1967. The name became Austin - East High School, and the combined facility would operate at what had originally been the all-white East High School on McCalla Avenue in East Knoxville. Austin High School, previously the city's only African American high school, was closed. The change was mandated by new government regulations that forbade segregation, and was a part of the attempt to equalize school populations racially. Whether the consolidation of those two schools eventually accomplished very much in terms of integration at that particular institution is questionable today. Knoxville's black population is what it has always been, 15 to 18 percent, but the student population at Austin East today is still predominantly African American. In 2006, of the 744 students who attended Austin East, 667 were African Americans, and the decreasing number of white students who would normally be expected to attend Austin East, as the nearest high school in Knoxville -- and who normally would be assigned to attend that school -- have been routinely approved for transfer to other schools, where the student population is primarily white. For that matter, the parents of the Austin East African American students, as well as those students themselves, almost universally voice the preference that those students continue to attend that school.

The author opened an old book shop in 1967, in the L & N Hotel building, across the street from the old L & N passenger station on Western Avenue. I had already been dealing in old books as a mail-order business for a few years. The store was a short lived venture, lasting only a year of so before the doors were closed. Used book stores seemingly sometimes succeed in Knoxville, but only places that sell generally inexpensive "used" books, and it's not a city where there are many, if any, collectors of old and rare books, During the forty years or so I was actively selling old books, virtually all of those books were mail order sales, to collectors and libraries in cities other than Knoxville, except for those I sold to a couple of local libraries, and to one legitimate Knoxville rare book collector. It turned out that I probably would have had more success selling pornographic books and sex paraphernalia at that Western Avenue location, to the numerous men who were regularly going up and down the stairway in the center of the building where the book shop was located, leading up to what apparently was a second story brothel.

Mildred Doyle was the Knox County School Superintendent. Among other accomplishments during her tenure, teacher qualification standards were raised, and the equalization of the pay level of Knox County teachers with teachers in the city school system was accomplished. In her earlier teaching career, when she was the Principal at Vestal Grammar School in 1929, an attempt was made by some members of the County Board of Education to dismiss her from the position, one member quoted in local newspapers as stating that Doyle was "a product of the thoughtless, don't care flapper age, thinking of everything save the serious side of life". She obviously weathered that storm, and when the new Doyle High School opened in South Knoxville in 1967, it was named after her family

Aside from drive-in theaters, only five movie theaters remained in Knoxville in 1967 -- the Tennessee, the Riviera, the Capri, the Capri Cinema, and the Park.

The University of Tennessee Faculty Club opened in December, 1967, at Kingston Pike and Neyland Drive. In recent times, UT decided to use the property for other purposes, closed the Faculty club, and terminated the lifetime honorary membership I had received from the university back in the late sixties, as a charter member of the university's President's Club (which obviously turned out NOT to be a lifetime membership after all!)

Sevierville's Dolly Parton's star was on the rise when she was introduced to a larger audience as a regular singer on the Porter Waggoner country music television show. On that show, Waggoner referred to his background pickers and singers, the Troubadours, as the "Troopadours".

In high school football, East High School won the A division, Fulton took the AA crown, and Karns was the county champion.

For the first time in history, Tennessee signed two black players to football scholarships, Albert Davis, from Alcoa, and Lester McClain, from Nashville. Davis failed to qualify academically and was never admitted to the school. McClain became the Vols' first African American football player, graduating in 1971. Tennessee won nine of ten games played in 1967, winning the SEC championship for the first time since 1956. They ended the season ranked number two in the nation in the AP final poll, which was taken that year on November 27, 1967. They accepted the invitation to play Oklahoma, the nation's number three rated team in the final poll, in the Orange Bowl, on January 1, 1968.

Ground was broken for the new 3.5 million dollar Bearden High School, on Kingston Pike.

In golfing local circles, Joe Campbell left the PGA tour and leased the Whittle Springs golf course from the city, announcing plans to renovate the course and build a new clubhouse. Until then, there had been essentially no clubhouse, just a small rickety building that sat between the street and the first hole. Former Cherokee Pro Garnett Neil announced in December that the Fore Seasons golf course, near Corryton, would be ready for play within a few weeks. The innovative course was the first in the nation to have tees and greens made of Astroturf. Danny Berrier captured the city men's golf championship, Ann Baker (now Mrs Sam Furrow) won an unprecedented seventh KAWGA title.

Long a popular campus hangout for UT students, the E & 'E (Ellis and Ernest) Drug Store building was demolished in December, 1967. The building, at the corner of Cumberland, in front of the University Center, had been bought by the university in 1965.

Newspapers reported the vicious murder of Mrs. Von W. (Ginger) Turner. The killer had knocked the victim's ten year old daughter unconscious, then attacked the North Knoxville wife, stabbing her more than 100 times in what one detective described as the most brutal crimes he had ever investigated. On December 30, Berlin "Butch" Ellison had been apprehended and charged with the murder and also the attempted rape of the victim's ten year old daughter.

Johnny Majors, former UT football All American, was named head coach at Iowa State.

The new Area Vocational - Technical School was completed, at Liberty Street and Division Avenue. It was announced that the new facility would absorb the vocational and technical center previously located at Fulton High School. The center had been located at Fulton since it originally opened in 1951, when vocational programs previously offered at the closed Stair Tech were transferred to the new North Knoxville high school.

KHA approved two new 13 million dollar housing project. for elderly citizens. One would be located in North Knoxville at the site of the old Whittle Springs swimming pool and the other on the east side of Bruhin Road.

Madame Charlotte Brailey died at age 88. She had originally been Knoxville's lone contribution to the big time opera stage.

Initial work began on the new Safety Building on Church Avenue, two blocks east of the Civic Auditorium Coliseum.

In the second annual Vol basketball Classic, Bobby Knight's Army team lost to Tulsa, 55-53, then won the consolation game against Illinois. Tennessee won the Classic, defeating Tulsa 56-48. In December, Tennessee would rise to a lofty ranking of number four in the nation, before promptly losing to Iowa, 64-59, in the west coast Los Angeles Basketball Classic.

City Council commissioned a feasibility study in December, for a possible major traffic artery to Kingston Pike in Bearden, extending Cherokee Boulevard between Kingston Pike and Sutherland, and extending Painter Street westward from Concord Street. Newspaper accounts at the time mention that the project involved possible extension of roads from the "Fort Sanders area", one of the earlier instances I have found referring to that neighborhood Fort Sanders instead of West Knoxville.

Bearden High School's Kathy McGuffey was named Knoxville's Junior Miss in the pageant held at the Civic Auditorium. The Northside Kiwanis Club sponsored and conducted the event annually in Knoxville. The author was production manager of the pageant for many years.

Reported unspecified obscene displays by members of the cast of a Wilson Pickett show that played at the Civic Coliseum in December had some people up in arms. The Coliseum management reported that it had been unaware of the displays, but that the show would have been immediately stopped had they been notified during the show.

and elsewhere in the news in 1967 ... Israeli and Arab forces battled in the Six Days War. Communist China exploded its first hydrogen bomb. The United States and the USSR proposed a non-proliferation treaty. Racial riots occurred in several American cities, Detroit being the worst, where 7000 National Guardsmen aided police in putting down the violence. The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) was established in 1967. Thurgood Marshall became the first black U S Supreme Court judge. Astronauts Virgin Grissom, Edward White II, and Roger Chaffee died when a fire broke out in their space capsule on the ground at Cape Kennedy, Florida. Doctor Christian Barnard and his team performed the world's first successful heart transplant. The patient died eighteen days later. Green Bay defeated Kansas City, 35-10, in the first Super Bowl. The St Louis Cards beat the Boston Red Sox to win the World Series. UCLA defeated Dayton to win the NCAA basketball championship. Southern California won the NCAA football championship. Top 1967 movies included The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, and Cool Hand Luke.

1968

Tennessee's Vols lost an exciting Orange Bowl game to Oklahoma, 26-24, on New Years Day, 1968.

Publication of the Knoxvillian magazine began in 1968.

Lowell Blanchard, the long time host (1936-1961) of the popular radio show Mid Day Merry Go Round, died in 1968. A country music program in his honor was held at the Civic Auditorium. I played golf with Lowell a number of times at Holston Hills Country Club. His dialect were one of a number of examples I've encountered over the years that led me to my belief concerning regional speech patterns. I've now long been convinced that people who move to Knoxville from eastern or midwestern states continue to speak much like they did before they arrived, even after living here for many years. But those who move from Knoxville to those areas are quickly influenced by their new environment, and soon pick many of those speech patterns. I've known several people who moved to a northeastern state, and within two or three years were already sounding like a Yankee. On the other hand, those who move to Knoxville from northern climes tend to continue to speak much in the same way they always did. In Blanchard's case, he had been living in Knoxville for more than thirty years by the late 1960's, but he still retained some of his original dialect, one example being when we would stop at the turn shack during a round of golf, and he would order a hot dog by asking for a "hat daag".

The Vol basketball team finished second in the SEC race, losing the game that decided the conference championship by a mere two points to Kentucky.

East High School won the District basketball championship, defeating Fulton in the finals, then Fulton turned the tables and won the Regional tournament.

In a meeting held at Fort Sanders Baptist Church on December 13, 1968, a group calling itself "Defenders of Fort Sanders" was established. The purpose of the organization of approximately one hundred residents was to have a voice in the city's Urban Renewal plans. While today Fort Sanders is commonly the name by which the area is known, most of the contemporary references before around 1967 still referred to it as West Knoxville. Of course, "West Knoxville" was by then the name for the section of town that had rapidly developed along both sides of Kingston Pike, west of Bearden. Within a couple of weeks following the announcement of the formation of the community organization, newspaper reports concerning proposals for houses in the area being considered by the Knoxville Housing Authority also referred to the section as Fort Sanders, and that's been the generally accepted name by which the area has since been known.

All area super market grocery stores were using trading stamps as a gimmick to attract customers. White Stores had S&H stamps, Krogers Top Value Stamps, and Winn Dixie Southern Stamps. After initially stating on his early morning country music program that those tactics, and the stamps themselves, were essentially worthless, Cas Walker quickly changed his tune when other grocery stores had promptly increased their business, and Walker began offering and promoting CR stamps, which of course he naturally claimed were far more valuable than those offered by other stores.

Acey Boy was the on-the-air moniker of a disk jockey for a local black AM radio station, WJBE, which broadcast from the basement of the Farragut Hotel. He once had difficulty coming up with the pronunciation of the Triumph automobile when reading radio spots for Clayton Motors, announcing that among the vehicles sold at Claytons were Volvos, Peugeots, "and Trumpets!"

The FCC reported that within a couple of years it was probable that Pay Television would be in operation in larger cities in the United States. At that time, to many people the prospect seemed improbable, since many wondered who would be willing to pay to watch television when they were already receiving television programming through their local stations at no cost. Later, the accessibility to cable systems and satellites changed the minds of many, particularly considering the multitude of offerings that eventually came available, and in view of the limitation and sometimes sad state of offerings by major networks and local stations.

A new Gymnastic Center was in operation at the former Austin High School gym, where the city's Knoxville Adult Center and Evening High School were also operating.

LSU's Pistol Pete Maravich was leading the nation in basketball scoring, averaging a whopping 48.3 points per game. He had won the honor the previous year with an average of 43.8 points per game.

Knoxville had no professional baseball team in 1968. Another team would not reappear until the 1972 season.

The movie Finian's Rainbow, with Fred Astaire, premiered in Knoxville at the Park Theater on Magnolia Avenue, with single matinee and evening showings, and with all seats reserved.

East High School was renamed Austin East High School in 1968, combing the all white school with what previously had been the city's only African American high school, Austin High School. Students previously assigned to Austin would now attend the newly named combined school, located on McCalla Avenue, and Austin High School was closed. Fifteen years later, an explicable and ill-advised attempt to rename the school failed (see 1983)

In high school football, Doyle posted a record of 10-0 in the regular season in its second year of competition and won the county championship, but lost to AA champ Bearden in the Optimist Bowl. Austin East won the Class A football crown.

The central YMCA completed its Athletic Club addition, with a health service club, handball courts, and steam and sauna rooms.

Tennessee golfer Mason Rudolph and country western singer and movie actor Tex Ritter were among passengers on a plane hijacked to Cuba. Eldridge Cleaver was suspected in the hijacking.

The Knoxville Knights hockey team went bankrupt and out of business in 1968.

On November 18, Mrs. Harry Busch was stabbed to death in her Sequoyah Hills home. In December, police continued to search for the killer.

In golf, the country's first professional satellite golf tournament, played long before the Hogan/Nike/Nationwide Tour existed, was held at Knoxville's Holston Hills Country Club in 1968. Called the Rebel Yell, the tournament was won by Larry Mowry in a sudden death playoff over Chris Blocker. Garnett Neil's innovative Fore Seasons course with Astroturf greens and tees had opened in May, 1968, but had already gone out of business. The new Fox Den Country Club course was under construction. Ann Baker Furrow won her eighth KAWGA golf crown in ten years, then later won the State Women's tournament that year.

The city's annual golf championship had previously been played on five different golf courses, with one of the courses dropping out of the competition each year on a rotating basis. The tournament was held under the auspices of the Country Club Golf Association. Participating courses were Cherokee, Holston Hills, Deane Hill, Beaver Brook, and the city's public course, Whittle Springs. While segregation was now a thing of the past in public facilities, the local country clubs continued their white-only membership practice and not only did not to admit black members, they didn't allow African Americans to play golf at those courses. Choosing not to change that practice, in 1968 the country clubs withdrew from participation in the city tournament, leaving only Whittle Springs as a viable location. Blacks could now play at Whittles, then being a relatively recent practice dictated by government requirements to desegregate all public facilities. Knoxville's City Golf Championship for 1968 was held at Whittle Springs that year, and for all years since then it has been played at the North Knoxville layout. Danny Berrier repeated as champion in 1968, the initial year the tournament was played at Whittles. The circumstances as outlined here were not overly publicized in the local media.

The east side upper deck was added to Neyland Stadium, increasing the seating capacity to 64,429. Tennessee finished the season with eight wins, one loss, and one tie during the 1968 season. They accepted a bid to play Texas in the Cotton Bowl on New Years Day. Popular John Ward began broadcasting the radio accounts of Tennessee Vols football games in 1968. He had already been broadcasting Vol basketball games since 1964. He took over the broadcast of UT football games in 1969. The previous announcers had been George Mooney and Bob Foxx. Mooney had been the radio voice of the Vols since 1961, and had developed a few phrases that had become repetitive, such as his usual comment anytime the Vol pass defense was being pummeled by the opposition, when he would say"Well, Bob, looks like they flooded our zone again!"

The Helen Ross McNabb mental health center was dedicated in December, 1968. On Christmas eve, merchants reported that business from last minute Christmas shoppers in the downtown area had been brisk, stores had been filled with customers all day, and all parking lots had been full. Millers department store reported that it might have been a record day for sales. Those newspaper reports obviously provide evidence that contrary to some modern writings, business was still going strong and merchants were doing well in downtown Knoxville in the late 1960's.

and elsewhere in the news in 1968 ... North Korea seized the US Navy ship Pueblo, holding 83 on board as prisoners. The prisoners were freed in late December, 1968. North Vietnam launched the Tet Offensive, temporarily capturing several South Vietnamese cities. The cities were eventually recaptured, but the offensive was a turning point in the war, coming just after America had declared that the war was all but won. American soldiers massacred 347 citizens at My Lei, South Vietnam. The incident contributed to continued dissatisfaction in the United States with America's participation in the war. Martin Luther King Jr. was slain in Memphis Tennessee. James Earl Ray was later indicted for the murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison. Robert F. Kennedy was shot after winning the California Presidential Primary and died from the gunshot wound. 66 year old South Carolina Congressman Storm Thurmond was married to Miss South Carolina, 22 year old Nancy Janice Moore. Apollo 8's three Astronauts safely splashed down after their historic trip around the moon. Detroit beat St Louis to win the World Series. Boston defeated Los Angeles to win the NBA championship. UCLA won the NCAA basketball title, defeating North Carolina in the finals. Ohio State was named NCAA national football champions. 60 Minutes was first aired in 1968. Today it is the longest running prime time television news program. The rock musical Hair opened on Broadway. 1968 movies included 2001 a Space Odyssey, Funny Girl, and The Lion in Winter. Up, Up and Away won the Grammy for the year's best song.

1969

Doug Dickey's Tennessee Vols were soundly defeated by Texas, 36-13, in the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1969.

Tennessee's basketball team won 18 games and lost 6, and came within two points of winning the SEC crown, losing to Kentucky in the season's pivotal game. However, for probably the only time in UT basketball history, Kentucky was never in the game in the other encounter between the two teams that season, when the Vols trounced the Wildcats, 87-59. Tennessee played in the post season NIT tournament, making it to the semi-finals before losing to Temple, then capturing third place by defeating Army.

The price of a new Fiat 124 Spider automobile in 1969 was $3,396.00.

The Fox Theater opened at 7900 Kingston Pike in 1969.

In high school football, Austin East was AAA champion and South captured the AA crown.

The per capita income in Knoxville in 1969 was $2,671.

The Knoxville Weather Bureau would begin its 100^th year of operation on January 1, 1970, having been originally established in 1871. But earlier, in the 1840's,daily weather conditions in Knoxville had been recorded at the University of Tennessee, where the month's daily high and low temperatures were recorded and published in the school's student publication, the East Tennessee University Magazine. However, those records are only available in copies of the magazine that are complete, since the information was published on the rear paper cover of the monthly, and more often than not the few available copies of that periodical are usually found in bound volumes, where the original printed covers were discarded before being bound.

Tennessee finished the 1969 season with a record of nine wins and only one loss. Steve Kiner and Chip Kell were named to the first All American team by Associated Press. The Vols finally played their last game against Chattanooga that year, long a perennial patsy for the Vols. The Moccasins had only won a single game since the teams first met way back in 1907, that victory being the infamous 14-6 win in Knoxville in 1958 in a game that ended in a riot. Tennessee's only loss in 1969 was at the hands of the Mississippi Rebels. That game featured still-remembered pre-game antics on the part of some Vol fans, and also the comments by Tennessee linebacker Steve Kiner. Before the game, concerning Mississippi's All American quarterback Archie Manning, Kiner answered a reporter's question as to whether the Vols could contain the elusive quarterback with the sarcastic reply, "Archie Who?" Some Tennessee supporters obviously overreacted, and unidentified zealous Vol fans arranged to have leaflets dropped on the Rebel's practice field during the week before the game, those floating printed sheets reading "Archie Who? Archie Mud, That's Who!" The Mississippi players were more than fired up, and rushed onto the field at game time with obvious revenge in mind. In a one-sided affair, Ole Miss then proceeded to massacre the Vols, 38 - 0. Following the regular season, Tennessee accepted a bid to play Florida in the Gator Bowl, on December 27, 1969. In the meantime, although it had not been "officially" announced, everybody in town already knew that Doug Dickey would accept the head coaching position at his alma mater, Florida. He coached the Vols in that bowl game, losing to the Florida team by the score of 14-13. The official announcement of Dickey's departure was made two days later, on December 31. Many Vol fans thought Dickey should have stepped aside, rather than coaching in a game against the school where he had already committed to become head coach. The move left a bad taste in the mouths of many fans, and the Journal reported that local fan reaction was almost 100% anti-Dickey. Years later, when Dickey returned as the Athletic Director at Tennessee, it was to the chagrin of quite a number of the UT faithful, who still held that grudge.

Seedy sex movies were still being shown daily at two downtown movie theaters, the Bijou Art Theater and the Gay Street Cinema.

Downtown was crowded and parking was at a premium during the week leading up to Christmas in December, 1969. On the way to lunch I ran into Bob Wampler, an old friend and fellow Rule High School graduate, who for many years was a downtown beat policeman. He told me a funny thing that had happened that morning. A shopper had approached him at the corner of Clinch and Gay, asking Bob if he would please allow him to run across the street to the Park Bank for just a few minutes, and not give him a parking ticket, since he had discovered that the parking meter was broken where he had just parked his car. Bob said he courteously agreed, and asked where the car was parked. The shopper said the car was at a meter just down the street, on the north side of Clinch between Gay and State, pointed in that direction, and said "it's right down there, in the middle of the block ..." then he hesitated and quickly added in an obviously disgusted tone "right there where that damned meter maid is putting a ticket on the windshield!"

Construction of the new four million dollar Central High School was underway.

Ed Bowling succeeded Andy Holt at President at the University of Tennessee.

The body of thirteen year old Glenda Sirmans of Knoxville, her throat cut, was found in a wooded area of Loudon County, near the Knox County line. Within two days rewards of more than $10,000 had been offered for the discovery of the perpetrator.

Knoxville had a white Christmas in 1969, when four inches of snow was on the ground.

Knoxville's first Nativity Pageant was held at the Civic Coliseum on December 22 and 23, 1969.

UT swimming star Edwin Collins Jr, was discovered shot to death in Denton County, Texas.

Flooding, particularly in North Knoxville and along the Broadway section, was again a serious problem on December 31, following heavy rains.

And elsewhere in the news in 1969 ... The US, USSR, and other countries sign the nuclear non proliferation treaty. Richard Nixon was inaugurated at US President. Patrons of a Greenwich Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, fought police in a raid, provoking three nights of violence. The episode is considered to have been the beginning of the gay liberation movement. Senator Edward Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal accident, receiving a suspended two month sentence. Although escaping essentially free of responsibility from his questionable involvement, his reputation was soiled to the point than any future presidential aspirations were forever squashed over the incident. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr. became the first men to walk on the moon, during the Apollo 11 landing. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll music were prevalent at a four day gathering at the small town of Bethel, New York, near Woodstock. Since then known merely as "Woodstock", the event drew a crowd estimated at one half million. The FCC banned all TV and radio advertising for cigarettes. While those and later claims suggest that secondhand cigarette smoke may cause cancer and other diseases, to date the FCC has yet to ban advertising for alcohol, although alcohol continues to be the cause of numerous annual deaths, due both in automobile accidents caused by inebriated drivers, and health problems that lead to the deaths of those who drink excessively. During an episode of television's "Rowan and Martin's Laugh In", the audience howled with laughter when hearing what they obviously considered to be an outlandish possibility, as during the show's "Laugh In Looks at the News" segment, concerning imaginary news from the future, Dan Rowan mentioned "Today, President Ronald Reagan reported ..." UCLA defeated Purdue for the NCAA basketball championship. The New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts to win the Super Bowl. Texas won the NCAA national football championship. Midnight Cowboy won the Academy Award as best picture. Popular 1969 books included The Godfather, The French Lieutenant's Woman, and Portnoy's Complaint.

1970

As approved in an earlier referendum, the city for the first time elected its Mayor for a four year term, and the size of the City Council was increased from seven to nine members. Council members were selected for a four year term, but elections would be staggered in two year elections. Leonard Rogers was Mayor, and City Council members were David Blumberg, Bernice O'Connor, Milton Roberts, George Sliger, U. G. Turner, Theotis Robinson, Kyle Testerman, Morris Best (who resigned and was replaced by Conner Burnette), and the ever present Cas Walker.

The Northside Kiwanis Club received a letter of resignation from a member who had been in the club for a relatively short period of time. Originally, he had worked for a local television station, but had recently opened his own business. His resignation letter suggested that he was a "professional", which made it impossible to spend time as a member of a civic club, and he made the suggestion that those who were members of the club had fewer obligations and therefore could devote their time to community matters. At that time, among those "non-professional" members who, according to that assessment, apparently had lots of time on their hands, were Knoxville's Police Chief, several physicians, a number of prominent business owners, and a Congressman. The club readily accepted his resignation.

That same civic organization initiated a plan to assist the poor and elderly who suffered from hearing problems but were financially unable to acquire hearing aids. The plan was to collect unwanted hearing aids from the public and arrange to have qualified specialists assist needy people, based on testing to adequately fit those persons with the hearing aids. Arrangements were made for gratis assistance through the courtesy of the UT audiology department. But when the collection boxes and signs had been prepared and were in place, one local individual who owned a store that sold new hearing aids objected, and even threatened a lawsuit. Some in the club members wanted to continue the program, but the Board of Directors decided it would not be worth the time and effort, and the project fell through. A local civic club had a similar program to provide used eyeglasses for the needy, but apparently the difference was that while indigent people could purchase eyeglasses at the dime store for a trifle, hearing aids were not available at such places, and were only obtainable from retail dispensers, and at expensive prices, and one of those local businesses wanted to maintain the monopoly.

Tennessee's basketball team won 16 and lost 9, finishing in fifth place in the SEC. The highlight of the season was the season's opening game, when the Vols traveled to Columbia and defeated South Carolina, 55-54. The Gamecocks were the number one rated team in the country going into that game. That victory was Tennessee's second against a top-rated team in four years, the Vols having defeated Kentucky in 1966 when the Wildcats were rated number one in the nation.

When some new electronics gadgets first came on the market, prices were hefty. In 1970, the price for a Toshiba 1202 electric calculator was $595.00. I seriously doubt that calculator had as many features as one you can pick up today for around five bucks or so.

Knoxville's Webb School captured the state tennis championship in 1970.

The fact that rebellious college students were not confined to such places as San Francisco or Chicago was evident in Knoxville, when the Knoxville Journal headline read 'Queen for a Day'. In the annual vote, University of Tennessee students had selected a write-in candidate Vince Staten, a male graduate student, as the 1970 Homecoming Queen. The university declared the election invalid, to the dissatisfaction of the Student Tribunal, which said no time remained for another vote, and disputed the decision to disregard the election results, when more than 60% of the votes had been cast for Staten.

In high school football, Holston high school won the local AAA division and Halls captured the AA division crown. Central, with an 8-2 record, defeated Church Hill, 22-6, in the Optimist Bowl played at Evans Collins field. Evidence of changes that have occurred since then in the football playoff system in Tennessee is the fact that these days sometimes teams make the playoffs when they lose as many or more games as they win, but in 1970, although Holston was undefeated for the season, Tennessee High of Bristol was selected for the playoffs instead of the Knoxville school.

In 1969-1970, Ray Mears coached the Vol basketball team to a record of 21 wins and 7 losses. In his early years at UT, Mears prided himself on his team's defensive accomplishments. Pistol Pete Maravich still holds the career NCAA record, with a total of 3,667 points in three years, a scoring average of 44.2 points per game, and he scored more that 50 points twenty-eight times. He played from 1968 through 1970 (freshmen were not then permitted to play in varsity games.) But in games played against Tennessee, Maravich averaged less than half his usual point output, and Tennessee won 5 of 6 games against the Tigers.

Former Knoxville High School and UT football player "Deke" Brackett was among seventy-five who were killed when a chartered jetliner crashed and killed the staff and entire Marshall University football team.

The final passenger train left Knoxville on August 12, 1970, heading for Birmingham. Those who tend to wax nostalgically about the thrill and pleasures of rail passenger service in older times obviously were riding those much nicer special trains. The author remembers taking those journeys in regular passenger cars, or "locals", on scratchy mohair seats in dust-filled cars with open windows, on trips that took forever and a day, when the trains seemingly stopped at every cow pasture along the way.

The Billy Graham Crusade was held at Neyland Stadium during the week of May 22-31, 1970. Those appearing during that week included Johnny Cash, Ethel Waters, and President Richard Nixon. More than a half million people attended the services during that week. On the night of Nixon's appearance, Viet Nam war protesters who objected to his appearance at a public religious event, were booed loudly by the crowd when they began screaming, shouting vulgarities, and holding up signs. Cheers rang through the crowd when more than forty of the disruptive protesters were hauled from the premises. Some modern writings that suggest the altercations that evening consisted of a "huge throng" of protesters are misleading. According to the original newspaper accounts, there were an estimated 400 protestors among a crowd that numbered somewhere between 50,000 to 60,000 people who had come to that service, and it was obvious that the huge majority of those in Neyland Stadium that evening -- and likely most other people in town who later read of the situation -- were more that glad that the more disruptive of those protesters had been escorted from the stadium. A report by the University of Tennessee Senate was later issued, on October 5, 1970, being the report of a committee assigned to investigate the demonstrations and activities that night. It concluded that a political demonstration could indeed be permitted to take place at a religious ceremony, despite the unruly, impolite, and vulgar activities that had taken place that evening.

The Mann's Mortuary property on Church Avenue was sold. St. John's church purchased the garage, for expansion of its parking facilities, and the Volunteers of America later moved into the mortuary building.

The new Clarence Brown Theater opened of the UT campus on Friday the 13^th in November, with Clarence Brown , Jane Wyman and Claude Jarmon Jr in attendance for a showing of the movie, The Yearling.

Ethel (Mrs. James G.) Beck died in the hospital on August 14, 1970, after having been first been charged with drunk driving and taken to jail. The arresting officers reported that she had a strong smell of alcohol on her breath. Report of the arrest before her hospitalization resulted in criticism in the local black community.

Mary Starr's Greystone Cookbook was first published in 1970. She was a regular on WATE, Channel 6, a station that was perhaps the most popular local television station at the time. By then, WBIR had managed to cultivate a decent sized audience, often being those whose viewing habits gravitated towards country music, as the station's local programming continued to offer such shows as the early morning Cas Walker's Farm and Home Hour, and J. Bassell Mull's gospel singing show.

Christenberry Heights, a new low rent housing project off Dutch Valley Road, was completed. The American Bowling Congress championships were held in Knoxville at the Civic Auditorium in March, 1970.

The Tennessee freshman football team was still playing games, losing all five of their games played in 1970.

Addition of the southwest upper deck to Neyland Stadium in 1970 increased the seating capacity to 70,650. Tennessee hired 28 year old Bill Battle, a former player at the University of Alabama, as head coach of the Vols. In his first season, Tennessee posted a sparkling record of ten wins and one loss, and finished the season rated the number five team in the nation. They accepted a bid to play the Air Force in the Sugar Bowl game. Chip Kell and Jackie Walker were named first team All Americans by Football News.

and elsewhere in the news in 1970 ... US troops invaded Cambodia. An earthquake in Peru killed more than 50,000 people. Four Kent State University students, holding demonstrations to protest the Cambodia invasion, were killed by National Guard Troops. IBM introduced the floppy computer disk. The singing group, the Beatles, broke up. Baltimore defeated Cincinnati to win the World Series. UCLA defeated Jacksonville to win the NCAA basketball championship. Nebraska, Texas and Ohio State shared the mythical NCAA football national championship. Monday Night Football debuted on television on ABC. Mash, Love Story, Patton and Airport were popular 1970 movies. Deaths in 1970 included former heavyweight champion Sonny Liston at age 39, and entertainers Janis Joplin and Jimmy Hendrix (both from drug overdoses.)

1971

On New Years Day, Tennessee handily defeated Air Force in the Sugar Bowl, 34-13, moving the Vols up the number four in the final rankings, and giving Bill Battle a record of eleven wins and one loss in his first year as Vol head coach.

The Bijou Theater was donated to the Church Street Methodist Church, a circumstance that presented something of a dilemma for that church, in view of the fact that it had become a burlesque theater called the Bijou Art Theater, showing exotic and seedy sexually oriented movies.

The old Strong home, originally built in the nineteenth century and last occupied by the Volunteers of America, was demolished in 1971.

Tennessee's basketball team won 21 games in the 1970-1971 season and played in the NIT Tournament. They defeated St Johns in the post season tournament, 84-83, then lost to Duke, 78-64.

A desegregation plan for schools was presented to Judge Robert Taylor by the Knoxville Board of Education. Knoxville's Board of Education said it had no available funds to pay for court ordered segregation, such as busing students. Mayor Leonard Rodgers echoed the statement, also saying that he had no authority to levy a tax for the purpose of transporting students.

It was announced that 200 new homes would be built under the Mountain View Renewal project, in the Morningside urban renewal area. According to information published in local newspapers, it would be a boon for families that had been relocated during the project. One example mentioned that a typical three bedroom home would be priced at $18,500. However, those who had been relocated would receive $3,000 for their original houses (apparently regardless of its size and/or condition), and also would receive a $12,000 relocation payment, thus reducing the net cost to qualified applicants for the new home to $3,500. A pretty good deal by any standard.

Movies in a series called Epworth Weekend were shown at 16^th and Highland Avenue.

On week nights at 11:30 PM, the Dick Cavett show on WTVK was now competing with Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show on WATE. WBIR was still showing old movies in the time slot.

In December, local high school basketball games were played at the Civic Coliseum, on a newly installed floor.

A fire caused extensive damage to the sanctuary of the Smithwood Baptist Church in June, 1971. It was rebuilt and reopened in December.

Area night clubs in Knoxville in 1971 included Lynn's at Halls Cross Roads ; the Corral Club, the Village Barn and the Oak Grove, all on Asheville Highway ; the Ivanhoe Club and the Navaho Club on Rutledge Pike ; the Rainbow Club on Commerce Avenue ; and Talk of the Town, on Dale Avenue. On December 21, the Corral Club (formerly Pat and Lib's) was destroyed in a fire.

Proposals by TOPICS (Traffic Operations to Improve Capacity and Safety of streets) for radical changes on Kingston Pike in West Knoxville were already under fire from several sources.

In high school football, Rule completed its season 10-0 for its first ever undefeated season, winning the AA Division title. Bearden High School won the AAA crown, and Powell High School captured the county division title.

Tennessee continued it winning ways under coach Bill Battle, finishing the season with nine wins and two losses. In the season's final game, played in Knoxville, the Vols knocked Penn State from the undefeated ranks with a convincing 31-11 victory. Tennessee accepted a bid to play Arkansas, in the Liberty Bowl. Tennessee won that game, 14-13, in a game played on December 20, 1971, giving Battle his second consecutive bowl victory as Vol coach.

The first performance of the Carpetbag Theater was held in 1971. The play was performed at the East Side YMCA.

The Share Bowl was held at Evans Collins field, with Carson Newman demolishing Fairmont State, West Virginia, by the score of 54-3.

The Halls branch bank of the Hamilton National Bank on Oak Ridge Highway was robbed of $13,000. The photograph of the facility that appeared in the Journal made it look like a relatively easy target, being nothing other than what apparently was a small trailer.

Five members of Broadway Baptist Church wrote to the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board, asking for an apology for the exclusion of an article that included a portrait of a black youngster that had appeared in a teen publication. It was one of a number of the controversies at the church, where an article by Broadway pastor Lewis Rhodes had been published in a Baptist publication regarding race relations, and when he also had also announced in the pulpit that his interpretation of the Bible was that Christians could not prohibit blacks or anyone else from fellowship or attendance. Not long afterwards, some members of the church were sending anonymous brochures to church members, among other things inexplicably calling Rhodes a Communist. Unable to convince a majority of the church members in an attempt to oust Rhodes from the Broadway pulpit, that faction -- although many were long-time friends of those who supported Rhodes, but because of their activities and sub rosa unsigned mailings were now assumed by many members of the Broadway congregation clearly to be racists -- eventually split from Broadway Baptist and established their own church elsewhere in town.

Victor, A 455 pound trained bear, was advertised to appear at the annual Vol Classic basketball tournament in Knoxville in December. The newspaper account does not make it clear who instigated the stunt, but is certainly sounded like another in the series of activities sometimes dreamed up by innovative Vol basketball coach Ray Mears.

After many moons, Cas Walker announced his retirement from public office in 1971.

Short skirts -- and sometimes even shorter skirts -- continued to be the trend. In fact, Journal sports writer Tom Anderson's long-time imaginary Leg Watcher's Society had lost its significance, since those knees and thighs he periodically reported he had spotted on Gay Street during windy days through the years were now in full sight, without the aid of the wind.

City Council expressed concern concerning traffic bottlenecks that would result when the new West Town Mall opened. Their concern tuned out to be well justified.

Police Operation Acquarius in Knoxville resulted in warrants for thirty-one drug pushers. Fourteen had already been arrested by December 30.

Knoxville would field a baseball team again in the Southern Association, in 1972. However, the team name would be changed from the Smokies to the Knoxville Sox.

Residents of Hardin Valley showed up in force at a meeting of the Knox County Aeronautical Society, protesting a proposed 1.5 million dollar industrial airport in the Hardin Valley community. In modern times, residents of Hardin Valley protested a bypass highway in that area. Lots of residents would like to have the scenery and much of this section like it was in earlier times, but unfortunately modern progress continues to override those concerns..

Leonard Rodgers would leave office and Knoxville's newly elected Mayor Kyle Testerman would take office in January, 1972.

Gridiron Magazine named Iowa State coach Johnny Majors its coach of the year. Iowa State finished the season with a record of 8 wins and 3 losses.

and elsewhere in the news in 1971... The Supreme Court ruled that busing students to achieve racial desegregation could be legally ordered. Anti War demonstrators attempted to disrupt the government in Washington. 12, 000 were arrested - - most later released. The Twenty-sixth amendment to the Constitution lowered the legal voting age from age 21 to 18. The Pentagon Papers, concerning the US involvement in southeast Asia, was published. Mariner X orbited Mars, sending back photographs of the planet's surface. Pittsburgh defeated Baltimore to win the World Series. UCLA defeated Villanova to again win the NCAA basketball championship. All in the Family debuted on CBS, the first "socially conscious" television program. Popular 1971 movies included A Clockwork Orange, The French Connection, and The Last Picture Show.

1972

A few examples of prices in 1972 : a fifth of Pompal Portuguese red wine cost $1.81; the cost of a Panasonic video camera, video recorder, and color monitor was a staggering $6,850.00 ; and the cost of a "Record-O-Phone" telephone answering machine was $295.00. Those last two examples provide stark evidence that prices of electronics have plummeted since then, not to mention that most are much more reliable and efficient today.

Liberace performed at the Auditorium in January, one of a number of appearance the popular pianist- entertainer made in Knoxville over the years. Ticket prices ranged from three to six dollars.

Masked robbers got away with $32,000 in a hold up of the Broadway Branch of the Valley Fidelity Bank in March, 1972.

Liquor by the drink was passed in a referendum in Knoxville in 1972. The vote came eleven years after a referendum to legalize the sale of liquor had been passed. It verified the original meaninglessness rhetoric from some the original supportive legalization groups in 1961, when the statement had been made that the establishment of bars and liquor by the drink would never become an issue in Knoxville, and that only closely controlled sales at liquor stores would be in town. Bars quickly cropped up all over town. Today, alcohol has apparently become the driving force behind many of the downtown activities.

Local newspaper articles concerned dilapidated homes in the Fort Sanders area.

Voters approved the fluoridation of the city's water supply in a 1972 referendum, despite warnings from some fanatics that surely everybody's teeth would fall out, or maybe worse. Perhaps local citizens figured that drinking a regular supply of liquor at the newly available bars would counteract and kill any of the supposed harmful effects from the fluoride.

The West Side Story, a weekly four page community newspaper published in Concord, was in its fifth year of publication in 1972.

The local newspapers continued to publicize the annual weather predictions of a woman who lived in Crab Orchard, Tennessee. Her name seemed to crop up locally every year, concerning her supposed amazingly accurate weather predictions. But if one carefully followed her annual forecasts and compared them with what actually occurred, more often than not her work wasn't much more accurate than local Knoxville weather forecasters. In other words, she was wrong as often than she was right.

The Sarah Moore Greene school opened in 1972.

Professional baseball returned to Knoxville in 1972, but not as the Smokies. They became an affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, played in the Southern League, and were called the Knox Sox.

In the 1971- 1972 season, UT's basketball team posted a record of 19 wins and 8 losses and shared the SEC title.

The West Town Ultra Vision Theater opened in West Town Mall, seating 800 patrons.

Neyland Stadium opened in 1972 with a new west side upper deck, adding 6,100 new seats. Average attendance the year was 68,198, up from 58,264 in 1971. Tennessee again won nine of eleven games, and accepted a bid to play LSU in the Astro Bluebonnet Bowl. It was coach Bill Battle's third consecutive winning season, and the third straight time his Tennessee team had finished among the top ten teams in the nation. The Vols won the LSU game, 24-17, giving Battle his third consecutive bowl win.

In December, Vol offensive coordinator Walt Harris accepted the head coaching position at the University of the Pacific. Johnny Majors promptly promoted Philip Fulmer, on Major's staff since 1980, to take over Harris' job.

Between Thanksgiving and December 1, eight armed robberies had taken place in Knoxville. Bowen's Jewelry in Bearden was the latest victim.

Tennessee's basketball team lost to Marquette, 56-30, the Vol's worst lost since 1962.

The Gay Street Cinema and the Bijou Art Theater were fined a total of $5000 in Criminal Court for showing obscene movies.

Old Diamond, an elephant at the Knoxville Zoo, had become difficult to manage and maintain, and zoo officials were attempting to get rid of the pachyderm. Public opposition soon surfaced, and a campaign called "Save Old Diamond" resulted in funds sufficient for the construction of a new pen and walking area for the sometimes unruly elephant. The new facility replaced a section where the elephant had been relegated to a blacktop surface area for the previous nine years. Old Diamond lived until 1980.

The US Pavilion was still standing, having been bought by the city for $950,000. The group Riverfronts of Knoxville had withdrawn, following its appointment three years earlier to develop the World's Fair site, apparently with essentially nothing accomplished. Plans now were for the demolition of the pavilion, but Bill Rolen was promoting a plan to use the building as a preview venue in the United States for the upcoming 1992 World's Fair in Seville, Spain.

The revised downtown trolley schedule from the Civic Coliseum was drawing complaints from workers at TVA, because the new route did not drop workers directly at their doorstep.

A new loan program, plus a $100,00 contribution by the city, were among incentives being offered to encourage renovation and restoration of old homes in the Mechanicsville community. That reference is one of the earlier modern references I've found referring again to the section as Mechanicsville, the name by which it had been known many years earlier.

Knox County Chancellor Sharon Bell upheld the state's Adult Establishment Act of 1987, ruling that local dance clubs must either cease nude dancing, or give up their licenses to sell beer. Club owners quickly attempted to circumvent the ruling by having female dancers perform with carefully placed scanty bits of "clothing", and police said they would carefully monitor the situation.

James Brown performed at the Civic Auditorium on December 10. Two days later, Brown filed a million dollar lawsuit against the city, stemming from his arrest with two of his aides outside the facility following the performance. Local police reported that the show had ended at 11:30, Brown's contract required that he leave by midnight, and he had been arrested for disorderly conduct at one o'clock AM. Local authorities attempted to settle the issue, but after several negotiations, on December 28 Mayor Kyle Testerman said he would spend no more time with Brown and his attorneys, because of their intolerance and rude attitude. Brown and the attorneys showed up five hours late for a meeting with Testerman, who said that Knoxville would not be defamed for the purpose of publicity in brown's attempt to rebuild his waning career. Until a few years shortly before Brown's death, Testerman's observation seemed to be prophetic concerning Brown's career. In later years, Brown's record included at least seven arrests, and he had been sentenced to six years in prison in South Carolina. In 1988, he gave a performance at a concert, in an auditorium that seated 7,500, where only 400 people were in attendance.

Originally opened in 1950, the Garden Restaurant closed in 1972. Located on the west side of Gay Street between Church and Clinch, it was a popular downtown luncheon spot, and long a place where some downtown businessmen gathered for a late afternoon cup of coffee and conversation.

Missouri ended Tennessee's six year victory run in the Volunteer Classic, defeating the Vols in the finals 67-57. Coach Ray Mears' foot was in a cast, from surgery caused by an Achilles injury.

Construction on the new Park National Bank building at Gay and Union was well underway, projected to be ready within a year.

A large combined newspaper advertisement by J. C. Penny's, Woodruff's, and Fowler's, promoted the "Uptown Knoxville" area along Gay Street. It was one of the few advertisements I've seen referring to the area as "Uptown" instead of the more commonly used phrase over the years, "Downtown Knoxville".

Downtown stores reported that business had continued to be good during the holiday shopping season in December, 1972.

and elsewhere in the news in 1972 ... President Nixon made an eight day visit to Communist China. Eleven Jewish athletes and four Arabs were killed by Arab terrorists at the Olympic Village in Munich, Germany, during the Olympic Games. Five men were arrested by police in an attempt to bug the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate in Washington, D. C. The scandal eventually resulted in Nixon's resignation from the Presidency. The Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. Alabama Governor George Wallace was shot at a political rally in Laurel, Maryland. HBO, the first pay for view television cable network, went on the air. Apollo XVII, the final moon landing, returned to earth with moon surface samplings. The video disk was introduced by the Phillips Company. The original disks were large - - about the size of a 33 1/3 rpm record - - few among the public initially seemed interested in the new innovation, and the first video disk system essentially flopped. Dallas defeated Miami in the Super Bowl. Oakland won the World Series, defeating Cincinnati. UCLA defeated Florida State for its -- consecutive NCAA basketball championship. Southern California won the NCAA mythical football championship. MASH premiered on CBS. 1972 movies included Deliverance, The Godfather, and Cabaret. Electronic mail (Email) was introduced this year.

1973

The KCDC continued buying property in the section beyond the north end of Market Square, those purchases started originally in January, 1971, for the purpose of the construction of the TVA Twin Towers. One acquired, all buildings in the section were demolished, including historical structures on Wall Avenue such as the St James Hotel, and other buildings to the north, including the Lawson McGhee Library on Market Street. The land was sold to the developers, and construction of the towers began the following year, in March, 1974.

Millers Department Store closed in 1973, the building was renamed the Bierbaum Building, and it was converted into an office building.

In February, Blount County's Friendsville Academy basketball team finally won a game, defeating St Camilius, Kentucky, after losing 144 game consecutive games.

In the early 1970's when Cas Walker briefly decided to go into the used car business. Promoting that venture on his nightly country music television show, he told viewers he was interested in purchasing used vehicles in decent condition, including one make that was particularly popular, requesting that anyone who had "one of them good used Ta-yaters" for sale at a reasonable price to get in touch with him. (For those unfamiliar with Cas-eeze, he was attempting to buy second-hand Toyotas.) His request for those types of used vehicles coincided with the general trend at the time, as American and import compact cars were hard to come by, due to the scarcity of gasoline. Sales of full sized vehicles were down significantly, with both new and used automobile dealers overstocked with those automobiles. The following year, Cas had branched out ever further, with an unclaimed freight business at 4678 Broadway.

The site the new City County building was announced, between Main and Hill.

The local cable television franchise was awarded to Athena Cablevision.

The Capri Terrace Theater opened in 1973, at 315 Mohican Street in Bearden.

Tennessee's basketball team finished the season in the SEC with 12 wins and 2 losses, tying Vanderbilt for the second place in the conference. They lost to Kentucky in the season's final game, giving the Wildcats the conference title. Their overall record was 15 wins and 9 losses.

The Amherst School closed in 1973.

The new Hyatt Regency Hotel opened in 1973, atop the hill south of the Civic Auditorium - Coliseum.

The Knox Sox finished the season in third place in the Southern League, with a record of 70 wins and 69 losses.

The new downtown loop opened in 1973.

Governor Winfield Dunn asked the state legislature to issue 110 million dollars in bonds for the completion of Interstate 640 in Knoxville, from Rutledge Pike to Middlebrook Pike.

Blocking foreclosure, a Bankruptcy Referee refused to dismiss a petition to put the Andrew Johnson Hotel in involuntary bankruptcy. The hotel had defaulted on a 272 million dollar loan, an incredible sum for a building that according to newspaper reports had recently been appraised at a value of just over one million dollars.

The St. James Hotel building was razed in 1973. It was on Wall Street, just west of the alley behind the S. H. George department store. The building had originally opened as the Van Deventer building before becoming a hotel, and for a brief period was the site of a studio where early country musicians and others recorded now scarce disks. The name of the hotel had been changed around 1930 to the Knox Hotel, but the name was soon changed back to the St. James.

The Knox Sox finished in third place in the Western Division of the Southern League in 1973, with 70 wins and 69 losses.

Central High School won the 1973 state baseball championship.

Tennessee posted a record of eight wins and three losses in 1973, it's fourth straight winning season since Bill Battle became head coach. While it didn't immediately have any effect on Battle's job, the Georgia game would remain a bitter memory in the minds of Vol fans. With less than three minutes left in the game, Tennessee held the lead, 31-28, and seemingly was on the road to victory. But on fourth down and one inside their own thirty yard line, Tennessee inexplicably faked the punt and snapped the ball to a running back. The play fooled the entire stadium full of fans, but not the Bulldog defense, which promptly dropped the runner for a loss. When the Tennessee player was wrestled to the ground it was perhaps one of the few times in the history of Neyland Stadium when one could have heard a pin drop, at a crucial point during a football game and with a sold out throng of spectators looking on. But the silence lasted only a couple of seconds, then as if in one voice the thunderous sound of "BOOS" swelled throughout the stadium. Georgia's offense took the field, quickly moved into the end zone, and won the game, 35-31, while a stunned crown watched in agony. A local joke soon made the rounds following the game (When were the only two times in Knoxville when more than fifty thousand people simultaneously stood to their feet and screamed 'Jesus Christ'? Both were at Neyland Stadium. The first time was during the Billy Graham Crusade in 1970 ... the second was when Tennessee tried that fake punt late in the Georgia game in 1973.) Tennessee accepted a bid to the Gator Bowl following the season, and lost that game to Texas Tech, 28-19, on December 29, 1973.

A group of local businessmen purchased the Bijou / Lamar House site for $225,000, from Church Street Methodist Church. The Knox County Bicentennial Committee was attempting to acquire the building. The "art theater" was still in operation, showing sex movies at the theater.

The new Park West Hospital opened in December, 1973.

Bus service was extended to the Pleasant Ridge area, and routes to Cumberland Estates were being considered.

Convictions for lewdness were upheld in Circuit Court for two women who worked at local massage parlors, one at Miss Masseuse on West Church Avenue and the other at Executive Massage Parlor at Gay and Church. Based on the activities at a similar place back then, out on Central Avenue -- the 'Tender Touch Massage Parlor', (see illustration) -- the definition of a "massage" by the owners and employees at some of those parlors apparently somewhat differed from the opinion of the court.

The School Board approved a 6.5 million dollar bid for the construction of a new South Knoxville comprehensive high school.

Construction continued on a new Karns middle school, the scheduled completion date being December, 1974.

Fluoride would be added to Knoxville water supply beginning in January, 1974. Approved in a referendum back in 1972, there had been a delay in the delivery of the storage tanks.

In December, the UT men's basketball team set a scoring record, defeating South Florida by the score of 117-90. That same month, in the Volunteer Classic, Temple mostly just stood on the court holding the basketball, using the "freeze" in a boring loss that upset fans in attendance, losing to the Vols by the score of 11-6. Such tactics later led to a new 30 second clock rule.

A nationwide gas shortage continued, resulting in gas rationing at some Knoxville stations. The federal government was considering gas rationing.

and elsewhere in the news in 1973 ... A cease fire was signed, ending American involvement in Vietnam. On national television, President Nixon accepted the responsibility, but not the blame, for the Watergate scandal. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned, then pleaded no contest to income tax evasion while governor of Maryland. Gerald Ford replaced him. The Supreme Court ruled (Roe vs Wade) that abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy was legal. Skylab, America's first space station, was launched. Miami defeated Washington to win the Super Bowl. Oakland defeated the NY Mets to win the World Series. UCLA again won the NCAA basketball championship. Alabama and Notre Dame shared the mythical National Championship. Popular 1973 movies included American Graffiti, The Exorcist, The Sting, and Last Tango in Paris.

1974

In 1974, a work compiled by Mrs Charles Warterfield, "The Historical Buildings of Knoxville, Tennessee ...", was issued in Nashville. It listed a number of historical old structures that were still standing in the downtown Knoxville business district that were considered worthy of preservation. Sadly, despite claims that Knoxville has done a significant job in preserving it's historical downtown buildings in modern times, as of 2007, just slightly over a quarter century later, the majority of those building have now been demolished. Some of those buildings that are no longer standing include the Lawson McGhee Library on Market Street, the Fouche building at Gay and Clinch, the 1876 building next door to the Fouche, the Elks Club building at State and Clinch, dwellings on Walnut and Cumberland, all buildings in the 200 block of Gay, the Southern Railway office building at Jackson and Gay, several Vine Street buildings, and buildings on State, Church, Hill, and Locust. Reading not long ago an article in our local newspaper suggesting that promoters of downtown Knoxville may wish to visit Charleston South Carolina as a place to learn ideas about preserving Knoxville's old buildings was a laugher. Including the number of structures that were already town down before that 1974 publication, and those that have been demolished since then, we've sadly already done away with the large majority of the city's significant old downtown buildings long ago.

Elvis Presley performed to a sold out audience at the Stokely Center on the UT campus, on March 15, 1974.

A downtown fire in July, 1974, destroying the Union Bus Terminal and the Dollar General Store, located in the same building. There was also heavy damage to three adjoining stores in the 300 block, including the Knox Dry Goods store. Once again, the east side of the 300-400 blocks was the site of a significant fire, as had happened earlier and would occur again later.

The West Town Mall opened in 1974.

City Councilmen Smiley Blanchard and Tee Ballah asked City Council to investigate possible conflicts of interest concerning a possible connection between Councilman Paul Howard's family and a company doing work for a new addition to the Gresham Junior High School.

Primarily because of the scarcity of gasoline, by March, 1974 all states had adopted the federal 55 miles per hour Interstate speed limit. That it had improved highway safety was obvious, since that year there were 4,000 fewer national road fatalities that year. But fuel eventually again become more plentiful, and by 1987 Congress had permitted states to increase the Interstate speed limit in rural areas to 65 mph. By 1995, the act was repealed and states were permitted to set their own Interstate speed limits. Since then, 32 states have increased the speed limit to 70 mph or higher.

Jake Butcher bought 30,000 shares of Hamilton Bank stock, at a reported cost of nine million dollars. He then was CEO of the City County Bank of Lake City, but reportedly had divested his interest in City County Bank of Knoxville. He also sought the Democratic nomination for Governor of Tennessee, but lost to Ray Blanton, who was later elected Governor, defeating Lamar Alexander.

UT professor David Etnier opened a can of worms by claiming the snail darter was an endangered species that was found only in the Little Tennessee River. It was a tactic to stall or cease the Tellico Dam project. Congress first put the darter on the endangered species list, the later rescinded and President Carter signed legislation exempting the Tellico project. It later turned out that the snail darter was actually to be found elsewhere.

Mayor Kyle Testerman announced major multi-million dollar plans for downtown, including the construction of Summit Hill Drive, a new fire department near Western and Henley, and new police assistance centers. The total cost for the downtown projects was announced to be sixty-two million dollars. Many original old buildings would eventually be lost during the Summit Hill construction project.

David Madden's novel, Bijou, was published in 1974. The Knoxville native captured many of his personal experiences while growing up in Knoxville, where Knoxville is thinly disguised as a city called Cherokee. David grew up in the Lincoln Park area, where he then was then called Jerry Madden, and lived just a few blocks from the author -- although we didn't meet until many years afterwards.

The Knox Sox finished in third place in the Southern League pennant race in 1974, but won the playoff championship that year. Knoxville's Nyls Nyman was named the league's most valuable player.

Eight millimeter movie cameras and projectors were still being advertised by local firms, and still in use extensively by the general public. Video cameras equipment was just becoming available, but initially at very expensive prices.

Fulton High School took the local AAA football title, then went to the finals of the state championship before losing to Father Ryan, 29-28. Rule won the area AA football crown.

One time Alcoa football star Albert Davis, uneffective and released by Philadelphia in the NFL, played for Hawaii in the World Football League in 1974.

A local resident, Mrs. Patricia Morsch, weighing 248 pounds, had her teeth wired together in an attempt to lose weight.

Tennessee won six games, lost three, and tied two in 1974. They accepted an invitation to play Maryland in the Liberty Bowl, playing that game on December 16, 1974. Tennessee won the game, 7-3. In a tragic circumstance, Tennessee coach Bill Battle's father suffered a fatal heart attack while attending that game.

More than 40,000 fans stayed away from the football game in Atlanta between the Falcons and Los Angeles. Atlanta lost the game, 30-7, played before a crowd of only 18,648.

Tennessee's basketball team won the Big Sun tournament in St Petersburg, Florida, defeating Missouri 99-77. It was the first away tournament victory for the Vols since 1945. Tennessee's Bernard King was named the tournament's most valuable player.

The demolition of the Lawson McGhee Library building, on Market Street between Commerce and Vine, was underway in December, 1974.

Interstate 40 opened between Knoxville and Jefferson City in December, and a considerable portion of Highway 11-W, long called "Bloody 11-W", had been converted to four lanes.

and elsewhere in the news in 1974 ... President Nixon and Premier Brezhnev met in Moscow to discuss arms limitation agreements. Patricia Hearst, grand daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst, was kidnaped by radicals calling themselves the Symbionese Liberation Army. Later, she joined the kidnappers in robbing a bank, and later served time in prison for her participation in those criminal activities. The House Judiciary Committee adopted articles of impeachment against President Nixon. A week later, Nixon resigned the Presidency. Gerald Ford assumed the Presidency and later issued a full pardon to Nixon. The first issue of People Magazine hit the stands. North Carolina State won the NCAA basketball championship. Oklahoma and Southern California shared the NCAA football championship. Popular 1974 movies included Blazing Saddles, Chinatown, and The Towering Inferno. According to the Philadelphia Magazine in January, 1974, the average price of a new 3 bedroom Florida condominium in 1974 were as follows : Boca Raton $ 45,000 ; Bayshore $ 50,000 ; DelRay Beach $ 60,000 ; Fort Lauderdale $ 45,000 ; Fort Myers $ 62,000 ; and Palm Beach $ 60,000

1975

Magnolia Avenue's Park Theater was renamed Studio One in 1975. The theater eventually closed in 1982.

The Gay Street Cinema closed in 1975, after six years in operation. Probably the theater's most dubious claim to fame was that it was the site of a Knoxville showing of the porno movie, Deep Throat. The theater was located at 215 South Gay, on the west side, between Vine and Commerce. That block of Gay Street no longer exists today, where all buildings were demolished when Commerce Avenue was eliminated west of State Street, and Summit Hill Drive was created.

The Dogwood Special, a train excursion along the Southern Railway line from Knoxville to Murfreesboro and back, took place on April 26 & 27, 1975. The trip was sponsored by the Smoky Mountain Railway Historical Museum.

Knoxville's Krystal Restaurants were selling fried chicken in 1975. I have not determined how long that experiment lasted before they went back to primarily peddling only their original small hamburgers, but perhaps the fact that their offer in January, 1975, of five pieces of fried chicken for $1.40, was even for those times a bit low to realize much of a minimal profit. In later years, Hardee's likewise offered some decent fried chicken for a while, before going back to their hamburger only menu, just as Krystal had done earlier.

The UT basketball team shared third place with Auburn in the SEC race.

Tennessee women's basketball team defeated Western Carolina, 62-44, in Pat Head's first game as head coach. That year, girl's high school basketball teams in Tennessee were still played games under the boring six player format, but soon would change to the five player format.

Randy Tyree was elected Mayor of Knoxville.

In 1975, Tennessee suffered through its most mediocre season to date under coach Bill Battle, winning seven games while losing five. The Vols ended the season by playing a game in Hawaii, defeating the University of Hawaii, 28-6. End Larry Seivers was a first team selection to the AP All American team.

Doug Atkins, one time Tennessee All American and later a professional all star football player, was the only unanimous selection to the quarter century All SEC team, selected by the Birmingham Quarterback Club.

Eight track tapes were still in vogue in 1975.

After twenty-eight year, Doc Johnston would no longer be heard on his morning "Date with Doc" show on radio station WBIR The station would go to an all-news format in January, 1976.

A plan proposed by the firm of Lawler, Wood and Associates, to convert the Andrew Johnson hotel building into a housing facility for the elderly, fell through.

The singing group "The Drifters" performed at Gringos on Kingston Pike in December.

Unless financial assistance could be found, it was announced that the Bijou Theater - Lamar House would be razed in early 1976.

A plan was in the works to move the Football Foundation's Hall of Fame to Knoxville. The plan fizzled.

Scandalized reports concerning John F. Kennedy were in the news. Following sensational reports, several different women denied ever having had affairs with JFK.

City Council voted 6-1, with one member passing, to make Martin Luther King Day an official city holiday, effective January 15, 1976.

The repeal of fair trade liquor prices in Tennessee resulted in higher prices for booze in Knoxville.

Athena Cablevision was offering "Home Cinema", major motion pictures without commercials. The offering of course cost subscribers more money, and was in addition to the twelve channels then being offered by the cable company (some of which were local Knoxville stations.)

Some North Knox County residents were expressing concerns about possible traffic problems and commercial activities in the development of the 900 acre Sterchi farm.

Hamilton National Bank announced that a new thirty story City County Bank building would be built at the vacant site on the east side of Gay Street, between Man and Cumberland. 1978 was the projected date for occupancy. Ground breaking ceremonies took place on December 31, 1975.

Announcement was made that the Boston Store would open in 1976, in the previous Gay street location of the Knox Dry Goods store that had been extensively damaged in a fire in July, 1974.

There were 42 traffic deaths in Knoxville in 1975, an all-time high.

The Knox County School Board met in December and recommended that the name of the new high school in South Knoxville be Liberty High School. Protests from alumni of South and Young high schools later resulted in delaying naming the new school, which eventually was named South Young.

and elsewhere in the news in 1975 ... Remaining American troops left Vietnam, ending the war. The Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft linked up in space. President Ford escaped two different assassination attempts in September, 1975, both in California. Home video systems had been developed in Japan, including Sony's Betamax and Matsushita's VHS. Betamax ruled the industry until the middle 1980's, when the VHS process, including four hour recording format, eventually took over the market. In Boston, virtually all high school students boycotted school in protests against integrated initiated busing. In 1975, the cost of a Betamax video that only played tapes was around $1200.00, and units that also recorded were priced around $1400.00. The Altair home computer kit enabled customers to build their own computers. UCLA won the NCAA basketball championship. Oklahoma won the mythical NCAA football championship. Cincinnati defeated the Red Sox to win the World Series. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Jaws were among the popular movies in 1975.

1976

TVA began occupying offices in the newly completed TVA twin towers in early 1976.

The Bijou Theater - Lamar House was placed on the list of National Historical buildings, and a campaign to save the Bijou eventually resulted in $350,000 in donations, saving to the building from demolition. The building was purchased by Knoxville Heritage, apparently from the same group of local businessmen who had purchased the building three years earlier for $235,000. In early December, a benefit performance by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra was held at the Bijou to raise funds in a restoration project for the theater. According to initial newspaper reports, the building would be used as a community center. That same month, a $1,425,000 renovation of the site was announced by the Lamar House - Bijou Theater Preservation Committee of Knoxville Heritage.

Committees had been appointed, and plans were already well under way for "ENERGY EXPO '82", the original planned name for the International Energy Exposition, to be held in Knoxville in 1982. Six years later, when the exposition opened, it was called the Knoxville World's Fair of 1982.

Knox County's Bi Centennial was celebrated in 1976.

The adult theater called the Gay Street Cinema, in the 200 block of South Gay, had closed in 1975, but another similar theater was in operation in 1976, called the Swedish Art Cinema, located a block away, at 145 South Gay Street.

Tennessee's basketball team finished 21-6, with an SEC record of 14-4, finishing in third place in the SEC. Ernie Grunfield barely beat Bernard King for the league scoring title, averaging 25.3 points per game to Kings 25.2 average.

The Knoxville Magazine building at Lovell Heights Industrial Park was destroyed in a fire in late November. Within a week the magazine was back in business at its original site at 6140 Clinton Highway.

The Southern Railway freight office building at the northwest corner of the Gay Street viaduct and Jackson Avenue was demolished in 1976. It's twin, the railroad's office building located on the opposite, or northeast corner, was still standing at that time, but it was likewise later demolished. Also in the 1970's, some of the buildings on the north side of Jackson Avenue between Gay and Central were likewise demolished. Those buildings were owned by the wife of Mayor Kyle Testerman. According to local newspaper reports, when local preservationists promptly asked why those buildings had been torn down, the owner said that she had been unaware that the buildings had previously been placed on the National Register of Historical Places.

The University of Tennessee continued its Cultural Attractions with shows, movies, and guest entertainers at various campus sites including the Carousel Theater and Clarence Brown Theater. The UTK Bicentennial Committee presented a series of plays and shows called the New Knoxville Chautauqua, at the Carousel Theater.

The Riviera Theater officially closed in January, 1976, although it later was again opened for the showing of a series of summer movies that year. Following that closing, local newspaper articles reported that several different new businesses would occupy the space, including a new office building (1977), a new dinner theater (1980) and a new Krystal Restaurant location (1981). As is so often the normal course of events in Knoxville regarding such announcements, naturally none of those businesses ever materialized.

Three movie theaters opened in Knoxville in 1976, The Cinema Six, at 1640 Downtown West Boulevard, the Kingston Four, at 8315 Kingston Pike, and the Cedar Bluff Theaters 1 and 2, at 9137 Cross Park Drive. From 1967 through 1976, it was obvious that Knoxville's population was moving rapidly to the west, since five new theaters opened on Kingston Pike during those years, and a sixth theater had opened just off the Pike, on Mohican Street.

The new south Knoxville high school, South Young, opened in 1976, replacing both Young High School and South High School.

Guy Lombardo's orchestra appeared at the Civic Auditorium on March 2. Ticket prices ranged from $3.50 to $6.50. A Little Night Music played at the auditorium in November, starring Julie Wilson. Tickets were from $5.00 to $8.00.

Dunkin Doughnuts was offering a special, a dozen doughnuts for a dollar.

The Norris Hotel, at 309 Depot Street, was demolished in 1976.

Seven people died in a house fire in the Mentor community, 6 miles from Maryville.

Doc Simpson succeeded D. M. Miller as Principal at West High School. Doc was both an interesting and colorful character. My daughter was a student at West when he was the Principal. His family and friends were shocked when just after the end of one school year he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease, and before the end of that year Doc was gone.

Ralph Spears, Jr., a member of a motorcycle gang called "Devils Disciples" was charged with shooting a security guard in Knoxville at Bradley Station on Cumberland Avenue. Before going to trial, he was killed in December in a shootout with police in Birmingham, Alabama.

Tennessee again failed to crack the top twenty in the final football rankings, and coach Bill Battle's contract was not renewed. In Battle's defense, in seven years at Tennessee, his teams posted a record of fifty-nine wins and twenty-two losses. for a 73 % winning percentage, and Battle's eighty percent winning percentage in post season bowl games -- four wins and one loss -- is still the best overall bowl game percentage ever posted by a Tennessee coach. On December 4, Johnny Majors left Pittsburgh to accept the head coaching position at Tennessee.

CB radios were a hot item, not only for private individuals but for thieves in Knoxville. Police reported that 1,834 CB's had been stolen from automobiles in Knoxville in 1976.

East Tennessee high schools were overwhelmingly supporting a change in girls basketball to five player teams instead of six.

The Social Security wage base would increase in 1977 from $15,700 to $16,500. Workers would now pay up to a maximum of $965.15 annually.

Announcement was made that the first Knox County fire department would open in 1977, in the Solway - Byington Industrial Park.

A full page article appeared in the local newspaper, with photographs, describing the work of court artist Anna Sandu. A Virginia native, she was employed by television station WBIR on a free lance basis, for sketches that were shown on the station's evening news. She would be heard from again later when she married James Earl Ray, when he was in prison convicted of the slaying of Martin Luther King.

The Clinton Chapel AME Baptist Church at 546 College Street in Mechanicsville was destroyed in a fire on December 20, 1976.

On December 27, the body of Hollis Kitts, Maynardville sports store operator, was found off Roaring Springs road in west Knox County. On December 31, Robert Sands and Ronald Dukes were arrested for the murder. They had robbed Kitts's store, abducted, and then killed him.

The previously announced East West Mall between Gay and Locust had fallen through. A parking lot between Church and Clinch was approved by City Council.

The Tennessee basketball team played a series of games in Spain in December, 1976. They defeated Real Madrid, 96-82, and an All Star team, 112-85, with Bernard King scoring 55 points. The lost the final game. During that trip, Cliff Whittig, coaching for Ray Mears, who was absent from reported nervous exhaustion, was stricken with kidney stones, and Stu Aberdeen took over the coaching duties.

The Adult Book Store at Gay and Jackson was damaged in a fire on December 22.

City Council voted to retain the eleven dollar city sticker fee for private vehicles.

New proposals in the seemingly never-ending projects for downtown redevelopment were presented by Mayor Randy Tyree. Included were a revamped Market Square adjacent to Millers with a new skating rink, night clubs and athletic facilities, new commercial operations, overhead walkways with boutiques, and a new plaza east of Gay Street.

The Kingston Cinema Four Theater opened in December. The Cavetton Forest apartment complex on Bridgewater Road in West Knoxville suffered $150,000 damage in a fire on December 30, 1976.

and elsewhere in the news in 1976 ... The Supreme Court reversed its earlier decision, ruling that the death penalty was a constitutionally legal form of punishment. The country celebrated its Bicentennial celebration in 1976. A mysterious disease at a convention in Philadelphia affected more than 180 people and eventually resulted in the loss of 29 lives. It became known as Legionnaire's Disease and was eventually determined to have resulted from contaminated water in an air conditioning system. Jimmy Carter was elected to the US Presidency. The supersonic passenger service, the Concorde, made its first flight in 1976. The Viking I spacecraft landed on Mars. Pittsburgh defeated Dallas to win the Super Bowl. Indiana defeated Michigan for the NCAA basketball championship. Pittsburgh won the NCAA mythical football championship. Their star player was tailback Tony Dorsett. Throughout his career, everyone pronounced his name as "DOOR-sit", but later, when he became a professional player with the Dallas Cowboys, the pronunciation inexplicably became "Door-SET". Top 1976 movies included Rocky and All the President's Men.

1977

The McCallie elementary school, at Gratz and Lovenia streets, closed in 1977.

Elvis Presley died suddenly and unexpectedly in Memphis in August, 1977, at the age of 42.

The Social Security wage base was increased as of 1977, from $15,300 to $16,500. Workers would now pay a maximum payment of $965.25 annually in social security taxes.

Austin East won the state AA basketball championship, defeating Memphis Hamilton in the finals, 72-59. It was the first state basketball title for a Knoxville team since Knoxville High School had won the title in its final year of existence back in 1951.

Tennessee's basketball team won 22 games and the SEC Championship. In the post season NCAA Tournament, the Vols lost their first game to Syracuse, 93-88. It was Ray Mears final year as coach.

Goldrush Junction in Pigeon Forge, originally called Rebel Railroad, was again renamed in 1977, this time as Silver Dollar City. Later it would become Dollywood.

KCDC announced a 225 million dollar contract to develop an East - West Wall Street Mall, between Gay and Walnut. The street would be landscaped but not closed to traffic. $200,000 had already been secured through federal funds, and included in the plans was the demolition of the Bower's building at the corner of Market and Wall and the construction of a new building at the site. I still wonder whatever happened to some of that plan, and to those funds. It was around that time when an inexplicable street construction project took place on Wall Avenue. I worked downtown every weekday, and remember periodically seeing the work crew as that project took place. I'm sure it was a government funded project, when the job of resurfacing Wall Avenue, from Gay westward -- at least to beyond Market Square -- was commenced. Carefully and painstakingly, workers replaced the street surface with new glazed bricks. It took a while, but just about the time it was completed, all of the bricks were suddenly removed. I assumed it was because of some mistake encountered during the work, because workers immediately began paving the street with bricks for a second time. The second resurfacing was again completed, but soon afterwards once again the bricks were again removed, and the street was returned to its original surface. To this casual bystander, it looked like a lot of government funds had been wasted on that project.

The old Jefferson Woolen Mills in South Knoxville was demolished.

A friend who dabbled in antiques mentioned that an estate sale was taking place north of town. I got the address and drove out there, on the chance that there may be some old books of interest. The old house was located south of Clinton Highway, a bit out of town. When I arrived I immediately realized there were no old books, but there were tables with old prints, drawings, and paintings. I was shocked when I began examining those items, quickly recognizing that some of the paintings and drawings were signed by Eleanor or Catherine Wiley. I asked about the prices, and they were so inexpensive the people in charge were all but giving them away. I gathered everything that was identifiable, and a number that were not but seemingly likely were by the same artists. I kept a few of them, eventually selling the rest. One of those items was an early Catherine Wiley sketch books, containing pencil drawings and also including a number of loose drawings. I later donated that sketch book to an area library. I never knew, and didn't think to ask the people who were conducting that sale, whether those paintings and drawings were located in the house where either of the Wiley sisters had been living. I did later learn the Eleanor Wiley had died that year. Catherine Wiley's artwork is very collectible today, as are works by her sister Eleanor, although Catherine's are considered to be more important and desirable.

Tennessee football coach Bill Battle had been fired following the 1976 season, and local fans hailed the return of former Vol tailback Johnny Majors, who had just won the national championship as the head coach at Pittsburgh. In Majors' first year, the Vols lost seven of their eleven games, a record far worse than any of their seasons under Battle's tenure. Tennessee's only wins in 1977 were against Boston College, Oregon State, Memphis, and Kentucky.

It was revealed that in the late 1960's and early 1970's the FBI had conducted a campaign in Knoxville against radical college students.

In April, it was announced that Knoxville had been officially approved as the site of Expo 82.

Renovations of the Customs House were well underway. It was originally proposed to be part of a new East-West Mall, from Gay to Locust, between Church and Clinch Avenues. It was not dissimilar from another proposed but eventually abandoned supposed "mall" that was proposed the same year, along Wall Street, between Gay and Walnut.

The price of video recorders/players hadn't changed much since they had first been introduced to the public in the early 1970's. A Sony Betamax was still priced at around $1000, and a Zenith VCR cost about $800.

City Council voted to increase the number of retail liquor stores in Knoxville from 52 to 59. By then, there were probably only a handful of people who any longer wondered whatever happened to the "limited number of carefully controlled liquor stores" that had been promised by supporters when legalization of liquor had finally been approved in Knoxville in 1962.

KUB raised its water rates to consumers by 24 percent in September, 1962.

Steve Spurrier joined Doug Dickey's staff at Florida in 1977, as quarterback coach. Dickey would be fired the following year. Eventually, in 1989, Spurrier would become the head coach at Florida, where he had originally played and won the Heisman Trophy.

In October, City Council canceled the vehicle inspection ordinance. Whether or not that was a wise decision could be debated, but the fact remains that since that time there is no ordinance or requirement to assure that any locally owned vehicles on the city's streets are in sound working condition. Some may believe that perhaps such a requirement should still be in effect for all vehicles, in both the city and the county.

A petition for the recall of Mayor Randy Tyree was seemingly going nowhere, and in late December was being questioned for its legality.

Hazen Davidson was arrested and charged with operating a prostitution ring. Her name had been connected with such operations for many years, and she had been mentioned as having connections with a number of prominent local men.

The Tennessee Theater officially closed as a full time movie theater in 1977. While it would later be the site of periodic showing of old movies and as a live entertainment venue, it would never again be in operation as a daily movie theater.

Police Chief Joe Fowler reported that the city patrol force was down from 350 to 310, and that some areas were not even being covered by patrol cars. He said the budget must be increased in order to provide adequate police protection in the city.

The television series Roots drew an estimated audience of 130 million. Later, it was revealed that some portions of author Alex Haley's book, on which the series was based, were plagiarized from an earlier work titled The African, by Hal Courlander, and more than one source suggested that Haley's claims of having connected characters in the book with his own ancestors were not factual.

A three bedroom home on Jefferson Avenue was advertised for sale in the local classified newspaper section in 1977, in area that was once in the larger community known as Park City, but today is called Parkridge. With a full basement, a playroom, carpeting, and built-in kitchen appliances, the price was $18,000.

A devastating fire caused an estimated two million dollars damage at warehouses on Dale Avenue.

An airplane approaching the Powell airport came in too low and hit a truck on Interstate 75. Three persons were killed in the accident.

In July, Bernard King, star on the Tennessee basketball team, was charged with burglary, when he was caught carrying a television set from a university building. Less than a week later, he was charged with prowling at apartments in West Knoxville, marijuana possession, and resisting arrest. In August, he was fined $100 on the marijuana and resisting arrest charges, given a suspended sentence, and the charges for burglary and prowling were dropped. The newspaper report makes no mention of whether any UT coaches, or the school administration, were either present or influential at the hearing, but one can make a calculated guess.

In November, the torso of a man, minus arms, legs, head, and genitalis, was found on Cherokee Trail in Knox County. It was identified as the body of Paul W. Hurst, age 54. Police were continuing to search for clues in the murder, concentrating on the Blount County section in late December.

Tennessee basketball coach Ray Mears was again sidelined with illness. Cliff Wettig was serving as interim coach.

Real Estate man Gene Monday transferred the deed and 35 year lease of the Northgate Plaza Shopping Center, located on Broadway, to the United Way.

In December, high winds toppled a temporary classroom at Hall Primary School. Eleven of fifty students present at the time were treated at local hospitals, but no serious injuries were reported.

and elsewhere in the news in 1977 ... A non-proliferation pact, to curb nuclear weapons, was signed by the U.S., Russia, and thirteen other countries. President Carter pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders. The Supreme Court ruled