University of Tennessee Athletics
Former Vol Townes' Story of Character
November 29, 2007 | Football
Tim Townes knows everything there is to know about beating the odds. He did it as a football player at Tennessee, and he has helped many others do it with his medical research and teaching at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Townes' is one of Tennessee's six "Stories of Character" recognized by the Southeastern Conference in its 75th anniversary season.
He was undersized-5-9 and 165 pounds-and unlikely to be a college football player, but he chose to walk on at Tennessee in 1971 anyway.
"I love the game of football," Townes said of his decision in the 1973 football media guide. "Being from Knoxville, of course I always wanted to play at Tennessee. I told myself I was going to try and if I made it, fine, but if I didn't make it at least I wouldn't have to wonder 10 years from now if I could have played. I don't know if I could have ever really been satisfied if I hadn't tried."
He did try, and he earned not only a spot on the team, but a spot in the starting lineup in his first season on Rocky Top. He played in every Tennessee game for three years, making 168 career tackles from his defensive back position.
"Tim was absolutely one of the most dedicated football players that I have ever seen, and one of the greatest human beings that I have ever known," Tennessee head coach Philip Fulmer said of Townes, whom he played with during the 1971 campaign.?? "He always had a smile on his face and was always personable."
Townes may have been a nice young man, but he was a fearsome football player. He developed a reputation as one of the hardest hitters on the team, a man wideouts feared on crossing routes and running backs shied away from when they reached the secondary.
He was also one of the hardest-working players in orange and white. Never one to take a play off, Townes made up for his lack of size with his refusal to be outworked.??
"When he went to practice, he went with the intent of doing his best in every drill and every play," Fulmer said. "He was a little guy, a walk-on when I first met him as a freshman, and then he turned into an outstanding football player. He was one of the guys that was glue on the football team, one of the guys you really enjoyed being around. I've followed him from afar all of this time, and I'm really proud of his accomplishments in his field."
Towne's field is medical research, and he has more than excelled at it. He has an undergraduate degree, a master's degree in zoology and a Ph. D. in microbiology from Tennessee. He has studied and taught at the University of Cincinnati and at UAB, where he currently serves as Chairman and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics.
In the midst of his research there, he developed a method in which genetically engineered mice could be used to study human diseases. His efforts have allowed new therapies to be tested and implemented in search for cures to genetic disorders like sickle cell anemia.
Townes believed that the reason he was successful as a football player was because he studied his position and learned from the game around him. It's no surprise that those very same things led him to success in the medical field.
He simply went from beating the odds to helping others do the same.
