Remember this quote: “I am a Volunteer.”
So said John Majors.
This weekend, Pitt people will claim the focal point of the Johnny Majors Classic as their own.
“Win another one for Johnny” will be the theme.
The Panthers won last year when they really shouldn’t have. It is definitely Josh Heupel and Tennessee’s turn.
The Vols will be favored by a field goal or more Saturday at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, 3:30 kickoff, ABC TV. The NFL arena is a short story. It used to be Heinz Field with big ketchup bottles as landmarks. An insurance holding company purchased naming rights. There is money instead of tradition.
As I have said all along, I applaud the Tennessee-Pittsburgh partnership in the Johnny Majors Classic, to honor the memory of the former coach at both places.
John led the 1976 Panthers to the national championship. The single best thing he did was beat Penn State in a recruiting race for Tony Dorsett.
Against the advice of family members, Majors came home and started rebuilding the Tennessee program in 1977. The stay-at-Pitt recommendation was logical. Football was entertainment. It is one notch up from life-and-death in Knoxville.
What’s more, he was facing a pay cut to make the move.
Success took a while but he ended up 116-62-8 with the Vols, three Southeastern Conference titles, no nationals. His combined record at Iowa State, Pitt, UT and Pitt again was 185-137-10. Everywhere he went, reconstruction was waiting.
Regarding “I am a Volunteer,” Majors was an all-American tailback in 1956, twice SEC player of the year and runner-up for the Heisman Trophy he deserved to win. He is in the College Football Hall of Fame.
There is no statue on the UT campus but there is a street, Johnny Majors Drive. Like the Classic, it is misnamed. His mother insisted that his name was John and that’s that.
The Classic is win-win.
“Coach John Majors was, and always will be, an important part of the University of Pittsburgh’s history,” said Chancellor Patrick Gallagher.
“We are honored to join the University of Tennessee in celebrating the life of Coach Johnny Majors,” said Heather Lyke, Pitt director of athletics.
“This is an incredibly fitting tribute for Coach Majors, a true coaching legend who made such a lasting impact at both Pitt and Tennessee,” said Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi.
Tennessee said OK. It got to sell the first shipment of Classic souvenir T-shirts, $39.95 each.
With the Panthers, Majors orchestrated one of the most dramatic turnarounds in college football history. It was a remarkable four-year transformation considering they were 1-10 the season prior to his arrival.
First prize in a giant recruiting haul, Dorsett won the Heisman Trophy. Depending on who you believe, Pitt signed 76 or 97 in that initial roundup of prep stars.
Majors gave his staff a simple directive: “Bring in anybody who can help us win.”
There is one heck of a story behind the recruitment of Dorsett. Jackie Sherrill, lead salesman, discovered that Tony’s closest friend, Hopewell High teammate Ed Wilamowski, was critical to the chase.
“Ed is white and Tony is black, and at every school they visited, they were separated (in dorms),” Sherrill recalled. “I don’t know if I was smarter than the others, but I didn’t separate them. I knew Tony was very, very close to Ed. We kept them together.”
Dorsett remembers.
“There’s a whole lot of validity to that.”
Majors and Dorsett led the Panthers to three bowl games. The big one was the 27-3 Sugar Bowl thumping of Georgia that finished a 12-0 season and clinched the national title.
Majors’ fame at Tennessee was based on Shields-Watkins Field but his two best days as coach were on the road – the Miracle at South Bend and the Sugar Vols. His 1985 team defeated Miami in the Sugar Bowl, 35-7. That season included Tennessee’s first SEC championship in 16 years.
His 1991 team came back from what appeared to be certain defeat at Notre Dame, rallying from a 31-7 deficit just before halftime to a 35-34 triumph. Unbelievable.
I thought Majors erred in going back to Pitt after Tennessee discarded him. It was a weak ego trip, ointment for the bitterness. All it said was somebody wanted him. There was no way to duplicate his previous magic – four seasons, 33-13-1.
The second fling, another four seasons, ended 12-32.
Festivities at the Johnny Majors Classic can skip that part. Stick with happiness. His player-coach career was legendary.
“Words could never express what he meant to me.”
So said Tony Dorsett.
Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com