Vols Spirit in Knoxville Tennessee

Fall is orange in Knoxville, Tennessee. And I don't mean the beautiful foliage that graces the Smoky Mountains in shades of yellow, red, and orange. And I don't mean the pumpkins that dot the hillsides and porches here in Knoxville, Tennessee.
No, fall is time for Knoxville to turn orange sporting the color of University of Tennessee's football team's colors. The Volunteers (Vols in affectionate shorthand) is the beloved college football team of the University of Tennessee, located in Knoxville. We don't really need the football schedule that gets handed out to know the game schedule.

On Friday before a home game, porches are draped with orange and white banners, proclaiming "Go, Vols!" or simply sporting the big "T" that stands for University of Tennessee. Pom-poms or pennants fly from the antenna of every third car you see. Women wear earrings dangling the big orange T; babies wear bibs and onesies with the orange and white colors of University of Tennessee's beloved Volunteer football; I've even seen manicures and pedicures in orange and white with the "T" on the big toe or index finger; cell phones are encased in orange and white covers; and everywhere, everywhere people are wearing t-shirts, polo shirts, sweatshirts, and hats in orange and white with the ubiquitous "T".

We moved to Knoxville, Tennessee from Phoenix, Arizona. Certainly the ASU (Arizona State University) team had its share of supporters, but the town didn't turn red on Fridays. Perhaps because Phoenix is populated by people who moved from elsewhere, like the Midwest and Northern United States, and Mexico, the team spirit wasn't as strong. So we had to ask a lot of questions about the "Vols".

The name Volunteers for the athletic program is drawn from the name associated with Tennessee from as far back as the War of 1812. Tennessee became known as the Volunteer State when Andrew Jackson mustered 1500 volunteers from his home state of Tennessee to fight. The nickname further applied when 30,000 Tennesseans volunteered for the Mexican War. The name is affectionately shortened to the "Vols" when referring to the University of Tennessee's athletic teams, and is more universally known as referring to the football team in particular. The area code (865) for Knoxville and surrounding areas stands for - you guessed it!- V-O-L.

The school colors of orange and white were chosen in 1921. It is said the colors were chosen from the color of the daisies that proliferated the famous "Hill", the focal part of the University of Tennessee campus. The football players began wearing those colors in 1922.

The love of Knoxville, Tennessee for their Vols and the orange-and-white even extends to Sunday mornings in church. Even without watching the game or checking the scores, you can guess if Tennessee won or lost. A win usually has about half the congregation dressed in their orange University of Tennessee garb. A particularly spectacular win (or especially dismal loss) gets a mention from the pulpit. Of course, in Knoxville, Tennessee, it sometimes appears as though love for God and love for football exist on the same plane.

We've grown to enjoy University of Tennessee's football games, too. Sometimes, we even contribute to the sea of orange. After my husband figured out that the way to be allowed to dress casual on Fridays was to sport a big "T" orange and white shirt, he went out and purchased his own official University of Tennessee shirt for home game Fridays. Even conservative, wear a tie every day companies must honor the Big Orange.

There's a lot more I could say about University of Tennessee's football team like the fact that they draw an average of well over 100,000 fans per football game. Or that their home stadium, the Neyland Stadium has been ranked number 1 by The Sporting News and is the third largest in the nation. But it's the sea of orange that Knoxville becomes in the fall that is most outstanding.