Battle was a good coach, better person
In November of 1973, my family was about to move from Florida to Tennessee and my dad flew us up here to give it a look-see.
I remember staying at what was the Holiday Inn in Milan, watching TV. The Bill Battle Show was airing. Tennessee had just beaten Vanderbilt and earned a place setting at the Gator Bowl, opposite Texas Tech.
I recall Doug Dickey having a similar show in Florida each Sunday. I watched Battle’s slow, Southern delivery and his disarming smile and charm. That was my first indoctrination with Coach Battle.
This week, I learned the former Tennessee coach had died at the age of 82.
When Battle took over for Dickey, who bolted for Florida after losing to Florida in the Gator Bowl, he continued a winning legacy. Dickey was the guy who took over a tough situation by changing the offense and taking over for an interim, Jim McDonald, who wanted the job after a 5-5-1 season in 1963. Dickey also established a couple of traditions: the Power T on the helmets and the players running through the “T” formed by the Pride of the Southland Band.
Tennessee was on solid footing. That’s when it decided to give Battle a try. But he wasn’t the favorite going in. I remember the late Tom Elam telling me that he thought then-Iowa State coach Johnny Majors should have gotten the job, but athletics director Bob Woodruff inclined toward Battle. Elam said he couldn’t overrule the AD.
And so it was.
Battle, at age 28, became the youngest D-1 coach in the nation. In his first year, his team hosted Alabama, Battle’s alma mater. The Vols manhandled the Tide 24-0 at Neyland Stadium that year. Tennessee picked off eight Bama passes, Tim Priest snagging three of them, both, at the time, were school records. The Vols went 11-1 that year and beat Air Force in the Sugar Bowl 34-13. The Vols finished No. 4 in the wire-service polls. A year later, Battle led the Vols to a 10-2 mark, a victory over Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl and a No. 9 final ranking.
In 1972, the Vols were once again 10-2 and victors over Lousiana State in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, finishing eighth in the AP poll. In 1973, the Vols went 8-4, bowing to Texas Tech in the Gator Bowl. They finished ranked No.19 in the polls. A year later, the Vols were 6-3-2 and beat Maryland 7-3 in the Liberty Bowl. Randy Wallace hit Larry Seivers for a touchdown with about three minutes to play.
I was at that game. It was a bittersweet night. Two rows behind me on that bitterly-cold night in Memphis, after the touchdown, I heard a woman yelling, “doctor! Doctor!” I turned around and saw an elderly man slumped over in his seat.
It was Bill Battle’s father. He had a heart attack after the TD pass and later died. I remember Condredge Holloway telling me, after he left the game with a concussion, that he thought the team had lost by the players’ expressions as the entered the locker room. Holloway said he asked one of his teammates if Tennessee had lost. That’s when he heard to awful news.
Holloway had a special relationship with Battle. One game, Holloway suffered a blow to the head in a game and had to sit out. The next week, Battle called Holloway into his office. Said Battle: “Peanut (Battle’s nickname for his quarterback), you have a baseball career ahead of you, so if you want to hang up the cleats and helmet, there would be no dishonor in that.”
Holloway told Battle that he had to get ready for practice. Holloway, by the way, opted to play professional football in Canada. But that was the kind of guy Battle was.
The Vols weren’t bad in 1975, but they weren’t great, either. They went 7-5, including a puzzling 21-14 loss to North Texas State. The dogs were howling and Battle instead of tarnishing the program, opted to step down. That’s when Johnny, as in Majors, came marching home.
The story doesn’t end there with Battle. He went into business. Prior to 1981, anybody could have silkscreen equipment and print his-or-her own Tennessee t-shirts, sweatshirts and caps without offering so much of as a dime to the university who owns the name. Battle started the Collegiate Licensing Company, which ensured that for every bit of memorabilia that bore the name Tennessee (or Alabama, or Texas or Ohio State, ad infinitum), the school would get a royalty cut. Battle changed merchandising forever.
He later served as Alabama’s athletics director.
Battle was a good football coach and a better person. He always treated me with much kindness and respect. He never was too busy to talk to me. I’ve talked to tons of people who played for or worked with Battle and I heard nothing but good things. Former Tennessee running back and UTM head coach Don McLeary said he was the best coach Tennessee ever had. During the last Bill Battle television show, John Ward said, “Bill Battle…made us proud to be from Tennessee.”
Bill Battle was, indeed, a good coach and a better person.
Jim Steele is a correspondent for Richardson Media Group who can be reached on X @steelesports or via email at pressbox1@gmail.com.
