Every good visit has a moment when you realize you’re about to leave—but you’re not quite ready.

That’s how I felt as Tom and I took in the last two rooms of Larry Smith’s museum.

The “File Room” contains massive volumes for decades of documentation. This room’s boxes contain duplicates and even triplicates of documents. “I take them to the reunion and give it to them or their kids.”

Throughout our tour, Larry introduced us to remarkable players, unforgettable seasons and championship moments. As I have said, somewhere along the way, however, the museum became about something much larger than basketball.

Larry says that he takes these volumes to the reunion and the players love to read the past news articles and challenge their team mates on the box scores. Larry tries to get the full page that contains the past news article, because it provides more than basketball history: “It shows what things sold for.”

It became a reminder that history doesn’t preserve itself. Someone has to care enough to save it. Larry says he researches every piece of history related to his collection from a mint condition 1899 UT Yearbook to current. “I look every player up for their picture and look under every club. Did they run track, did they play football, were they in the band, in chorus, what fraternities they were in to see what all they were involved in.”

He maintains five multi-drawer fireproof cabinets with expandable folders for every year. Following up on that, there are multiple file drawers with files on each player. He includes information from elementary school to their obituary.

Watching Tom experience the museum made me appreciate the collection even more because he had experienced many of the milestones the memorabilia documented. We didn’t leave talking about trophies. We left talking about people.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Larry Smith’s museum, don’t rush. Take your time. Ask questions. Listen carefully.

The artifacts are impressive. The stories are unforgettable. And I think you’ll leave with the same appreciation Tom and I did—not only for University of Tennessee basketball, but for the people who quietly make sure its history will never be forgotten.

Want to see for yourself the collection we barely touched on: Contact Larry Smith at rlsmithins@yahoo.com

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