University of Tennessee Athletics
Former Vol Frank Emanuel earns hometown honor
May 13, 2008 | Football
Former Tennessee linebacker Frank Emanuel will be inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame of the Lower Virginia Peninsula on Saturday, May 17. Emanuel joins five other former athletes native to the area being inducted this year. The Athletic Hall of Fame of the Lower Virginia Peninsula opened in 1971 and currently has 46 members.
Emanuel is already a member of College Football Hall of Fame and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.
A native of Newport News, Va., Emanuel played under head coaches Jim McDonald and Doug Dickey and earned All-SEC and consensus All-America in his senior season of 1965. He was the leader of the Vol defense on a team that was 8-1-2 and earned the school???s first bowl bid since 1957, a 27-6 win over Tulsa in the Bluebonnet Bowl. That season, Vol defenders gave up just 98 points in 11 games, 34 in one game against UCLA, the famed ???Rosebonnet Bowl??? in Memphis. Ten other teams earned 64 points against the Vol defenders with only two garnering more than 10 points.
In many ways, Emanuel was a prototypical defensive player from this era of Tennessee football, fast and aggressive and with a nose for the football. At 6-3, 220, Emanuel roamed from sideline to sideline disrupting opponent offenses. After his senior season, he played in the 1965 East-West Shrine Game, the 1966 Senior Bowl and the College All-Star game.
A second round choice of the Miami Dolphins, Emanuel played professionally with the Dolphins (1966-69) and the New Orleans Saints (1970).
Emanuel???s induction will take place at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Va.
