University of Tennessee Athletics
1967 National Champion Vols Celebrate 50th Anniversary
October 06, 2017 | Football
By Addie Morton
UTSports.com
All-Americans and College Football Hall of Famers reunited in Knoxville to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1967 national championship team on Friday, Sept. 22. The team was honored at Neyland Stadium during the win over UMass.
Doug Dickey—who was UT's head coach in 1967—along with four other coaches and 63 players and their families were in attendance for the weekend-long celebration. Before Saturday's game, the team played in a golf tournament, toured Tennessee's impressive new football facilities and gathered for a reception in Smokey's Sports Grill.
"The 1967 football team really reset Tennessee football, and these guys are responsible for the modern accomplishments of Tennessee football," Coach Dickey said. "They set the standards."
The 1967 team posted a 6-0 record in the SEC, making them one of two Tennessee teams to go undefeated in conference play since 1957. The other was Phillip Fulmer's 1998 National Championship team. The 1967 Vols team boasted eight All-Americans and three College Football Hall of Fame inductees.
When Dickey was hired in 1964, Tennessee had not won an SEC title in seven years. He would go on to lead the team to two SEC Championships during his six-year tenure, the first in 1967 and another in 1969.
"I think everyone here will admit if there's one guy who made it happen, it was Coach Doug Dickey," team center Bob Johnson said. "He taught us how to treat people, how to run something... it was a great fortune for us to be involved with Coach Dickey."
Johnson, captain of the 1967 team, was an All-American in both 1966 and 1967, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989 and was the first player drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the franchise's initial season.
Joe Graham, a senior lineman on that 1967 squad, said he cherishes the relationships he formed with teammates and coaches.
"It's surreal seeing all the guys. It has been great," Graham said.
During the team's reunion gathering at Smokey's, Dickey described the 1967 season as the peak of athletic accomplishment.
"This team had a lot of pride in what we accomplished, so to come back and be together for a weekend is a wonderful experience for me and the players," Dickey said.
After a season-opening loss to UCLA, the Vols won nine straight games and earned a spot in the Orange Bowl. The team lost, 26-24, to Oklahoma, but Litkenhous polling selected them as national champions. In that era, voters from several media outlets crowned national champions prior to bowl games.
Dickey was recognized as SEC Coach of the Year in 1965 and 1967, and he returned to Rocky Top in 1985 where he served as athletic director until 2003. While Dickey is mainly known for leading the Vols to their fifth national championship, he also instituted some of Tennessee's most beloved traditions such as the checkerboard end zones, running through the Pride of the Southland Band's 'T' before games and the addition of the "Power T" on the helmets.
"As I was riding up here (to Knoxville from Florida), I began reflecting and thinking about the memories," Dickey said. "There's a song by Barbra Streisand about the way we were. It goes, 'If we had the chance to do it all again, tell me, would we, could we?'"
"Absolutely we would. We would do it again."
