Playing football at Tennessee is a big deal. So it has been since the early days of Robert R. Neyland.
“Vol for life” is real. People never forget. What happened with three minutes to go in the fourth quarter of this or that game is guaranteed guy conversation material at your favorite breakfast stop or barber shop.
Two people from Powell are forever linked to the Volunteers. John Bruhin and Daryle Smith were offensive linemen for John Majors’ teams in the middle-late 1980s. Phillip Fulmer was line coach.
Bruhin and Smith were part of the famous 1985 Sugar Vols, the team that routed Miami in the New Orleans bowl game. Both played in the National Football League.
Smith told some really good tales. He was twice signed and released by the Seattle Seahawks. He played for Tom Landy at Dallas. He had the distinction of being the first player Jimmy Johnson traded when he became coach of the Cowboys.
Daryle played three seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles. He became a free agent and saw a chance to make better money – an $80,000 bonus and $450,000 contract with the Minnesota Vikings. On the last day of training camp, the Vikes decided Smith’s knee would not last. The big payday evaporated in thin air.
Daryle’s knee felt better when the Toronto Argonauts offered $100,000 for the remainder of that year plus $2,500 a week in living expenses.
Eventually, he learned the truth. The Canadian dollar was worth 67 cents. The Canadian tax rate for his level of income was 45 per cent.
Smith died in 2010. He was 46.
Bruhin grew up a Tennessee fan. A neighbor, Ray McCloud, told him about the Vols. McCloud had known General Neyland. He knew about Tennessee tradition. He gave John an occasional ticket when there was one to spare.
Bruhin was a starting guard for three seasons. He long ago decided the Sugar Vols were his best football experience. He said that team was really a team. It had Tony Robinson but not a lot of other stars. It had heart. It did not have riches.
Great quote: “Eight of us used the same sports coat to have our pictures taken for the brochure. Seven of us didn’t have one.”
Bruhin says nothing in the NFL could ever match the excitement of that Sugar Bowl.
John was drafted by the Tampa Bay Bucs. They paid a signing bonus of $72,000. His rookie contract was for $110,000. He was a starting guard. Three years later, he was a free agent. New England offered a small fortune. Bruhin signed what he thought was a better deal with the Eagles. It wasn’t.
It is indeed interesting that the most famous Powell football story includes only a touch-and-go with the University of Tennessee. Some dreams just don’t come true.
John Cooper
John Cooper, as a boy, sold soft drinks at the stadium. When the team was on the road, he never missed a game on radio. He knew all the player names and numbers. He envisioned being a part of every play he saw or heard.
“I dreamed of playing football for Tennessee.”
John grew up in Heiskell as a tough, lean, leathery country boy, 155 pounds. He was Powell High football captain.
“I would have crawled from Heiskell to get to play for Tennessee.”
In 1954, Powell had the best team in Knox County. Tennessee awarded scholarships to Jim Monroe and Butch Johnson. They did not become legends.
The Volunteers acted as if they had never heard of John Cooper. He joined the army. He did a hitch in Germany. He gained weight, up to 173. He wrote letters to college coaches all over the country asking for an opportunity to play football. Iowa State said OK.
Cooper exceeded expectations. He became an outstanding player. He was elected captain as a senior. Upon graduation, he became freshman coach.
He moved on and up, as an assistant at Oregon State, UCLA, Kansas and Kentucky. He would have given anything to coach at Tennessee. He talked with Doug Dickey and, later, with Bill Battle a couple of times. Thanks, but no thanks.
Cooper became head coach at Tulsa (1977-1984). His teams won five consecutive Missouri Valley Conference championships. One team went 10-0.
John went up in class, to Arizona State, won a Pac-10 title, whipped Michigan in the Rose Bowl and was named national coach of the year. Ohio State people, watching from a distance, couldn’t stand it. They had to have Cooper.
He did pretty well with the Buckeyes – 111-43-4 in 13 seasons, twice second in the final polls, a share of three Big 10 titles, one Rose Bowl victory and a ride on players’ shoulders.
Cooper’s peers recognized his accomplishments, considered him honest and elected him president of the American Football Coaches’ Association.
Alas, he did not win every game against Michigan. Ohio State finally paid him $1.8 million to go away.
A little later, the University of Tennessee tipped a cap to Cooper. He was honored with a Neyland Award. That elevated him to a place among the best coaches in the country. Better than that, he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Think about that – from Heiskell to Powell to the top of the football world with no help, zero, from the Big Orange.
Marvin West welcomes reader comments or questions. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com