Sledding at the Winter Relays
In the winter of 1968 (my first in Knoxville, I arrived in Fall of ’67) the team took the bus to VMI for The Winter Relays. With the snow coming down in ‘buckets’ as we arrived, the stage was being set for a terrific and memorable evening. After getting situated in our dorm accommodations, a few of us found our way to the cafeteria, secured several trays, and made our way to the steepest incline we could find. Now, for us boys from the Deep South we’d never seen or experienced anything like this. What fun!!! Well as you can figure out by now, all of a sudden this booming voice (we’re all familiar with) comes ringing thru the night. “WHAT THE HELL’S THE MATTER WITH YOU? WE’VE GOT A MEET TOMORROW, ARE YOU ALL NUTS?” Yeah we probably were a little crazy. Coach Rohe wrangled us all up, got us back in the corral (dorm), and we proceeded to kick ass the next day. Still…a great night!!
all of a sudden this booming voice (we’re all familiar with) comes ringing thru the night. “WHAT THE HELL’S THE MATTER WITH YOU? WE’VE GOT A MEET TOMORROW, ARE YOU ALL NUTS?” Yeah we probably were a little crazy. Coach Rohe wrangled us all up, got us back in the corral (dorm), and we proceeded to kick ass the next day.
Richmond Flowers (1966-1969)
In February or March of 1969, Richmond Flowers was invited to a special ‘Invitational’ hurdles race in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Most of the top hurdlers in the country were there: Irv Hall (Villanova), Willie Davenport, Earl McCullough, Tom Hill (Arkansas State) and I believe ours truly Ralph Boston. Maybe another but you get the point…world-class field. Keeping it short, Richmond won the race, and after a private plane trip back to Knoxville he called me the next morning, on a Sunday. “Gee, you’ve got to help me, I’ve got bugs crawling around in my refrigerator and don’t know what to do.” Seems like some of the good folks in Louisiana had given to Richmond a 50 lb. sack of live crawfish. I went over, rescued both the crawfish and Richmond, took them to the ATO house, used the big pots from the kitchen, got some crab boil, and used a big favor and secretly secured a 1/2 keg of beer [on Sunday]. Turned out everything was consumed that afternoon.