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Darwin Bond
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Feb. 17, 2005
 Darwin Bond |
Darwin Bond was a prep and collegiate sprint champions whose records lasted longer than anyone could have expected. He was a member of the 1974 NCAA National Championship team and seven SEC championship teams. He now lives in Cooper City, Fla. Bond, a native of Kingsport, was a prep standout at Dobyns-Bennett High School who continued his assault on the record books once he got to Tennessee. . His UT 400-meter record time of 45.08 was set in 1974 and was broken after standing for 29 years. |
 Richmond Flowers |
Richmond Flowers made his mark in track and football, at a critical period of time in the history of both programs at Tennessee and in the Southeastern Conference. A high profile recruit of his era, Flowers set a standard of excellence in both sports that the recruits of today strive to emulate. He is now a real estate developer in the Destin, Fla., area.
Flowers was Doug Dickey's most famous recruit in his early years at Tennessee, the product of a pitched recruiting battle between the Vols and Alabama, between Dickey and Paul "Bear" Bryant. A graduate of Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Ala., he was the speed merchant Dickey wanted to get into his program, a game-breaker who could turn a game around with his speed. Flowers came to Knoxville at time Dickey and Chuck Rohe and the coaches who were to follow them went after and signed many of the combination football/track athletes who helped turn both programs around. "Looking back, I found something that was very glaring," said Flowers, who joined Justus in the highly-successful football recruiting class of 1964-65. "Everything I accomplished came as a result of amazing speed. I worked hard to put it to the best advantage. Speed was a gift. It could have been given to someone else. We all have gifts, all have advantages. Speed was nothing I did. It came from above." Then there were the considerable advantages of the University of Tennessee, not the least of which was geography. "Tennessee adopted me. It was near the Smoky Mountains and was a great melting pot of students from north and south and all over the country." |
 Haywood Harris |
Haywood Harris has, for more than 40 years, been a quiet, behind the scenes advisor and mentor to coaches, athletic directors, fellow staff members and student-athletes, always being part of the athletics department putting its best foot forward. A man of unquestioned loyalty and integrity, the name of Haywood Harris carries great weight within and without the department.
Harris came to UT in 1961 as Sports Information Director, hired by the legendary coach and athletics director Gen. Bob Neyland. Over that time, when he was SID and later Assistant Athletic Director and Associate Athletic Director of Media Relations, he became a much-respected member of the Vol administrative staff, showing great acumen and insight into whatever problems and/or opportunities faced the Tennessee athletic program. "I grew up a Tennessee fans," Harris, a native of Maryville, said. "It has been a pleasure to be a part of helping make others lifelong Tennessee fans. It's been a joy doing what I've loved all my life." |
 Bill Justus |
Bill Justus made the game-winning free throws in the title-clinching game of the 1967 SEC championship season and won All-America and Academic All-America honors during his career. Vol fans fondly remember his all-out style of play, giving no quarter and asking none. He was known as the "Adrenaline Kid" for his frenetic style of play. He now lives in Nashville, and is with Giant Photos in Goodlettsville, working with high schools and colleges.
Justus followed in the footsteps of fellow Fulton alum Ron Widby at Tennessee as a multi-talented athlete who could play any sport that involved a ball. Justus played freshman football and basketball at UT in 1965, but found his true calling as a member of Ray Mears-coached Vol teams from 1967-69. He joined fellow sophomore Bill Hann in the Vol backcourt for three of the most prosperous years in Tennessee hoops history. "The 1967 SEC championship team was something special," said Justus. "That three overtime game in Starkville with the SEC title on the line is something everybody remembers." Justus got a second chance that night to win the game and the title. He had missed two free in an earlier overtime that would have given Tennessee the win and didn't back down from the opportunity when it was presented to him a second time. "I didn't think it would happen, but I hoped it would," Justus said of his fateful free throws with seven second left in the third overtime. "If I had coached Mississippi State, I would have said foul me, too. Coach Mears called time out and outlined the defense we would be in after I made the free throws. That helped and I believed my teammates had a lot of confidence in me." |
 Ed Murphey |
Ed Murphey was a three-time SEC champion in the mile run in the mid-1950s and went on to a successful business and professional career. He is now in private business in Memphis, heading Ed Murphey and Associates, an estate planning company with emphasis on life insurance.
Murphey came to Knoxville from Brownsville, Tenn. After his freshman year, when he was a trumpet player in the band and an assistant track manager, he asked track coach John Sines if he could go out for track, Sines' response was succinct: "You can, but stay out of the way." He stayed out of the way, generally at the front of the pack. He made his mark by winning three SEC titles in the mile from 1955-57 and the SEC cross-country title in 1956. He was a 1956 All-America, finishing sixth in the NCAA mile run. He set a school record in the NCAAs and was the fourth best collegiate miler that year. He also made the Olympic Trials. "I didn't know I could run until I got the opportunity," said Murphey. "There wasn't a track program at my high school in Brownsville. You never know what's inside of you until you get an opportunity." He has continued to be active in the Vol track program, awarding the best performance of each season's track season with an award bearing his name. |
| Honored posthumously,
Petie Siler, a posthumous selection, did it all for Morristown during his lifetime and was a freshman coach at Tennessee in the early 1920s. His fingerprints are all over the growth and development of Hamblen County and he has been so recognized across the community.
His UT connection was being freshman coach in 1921-22, where he compiled an 8-4 record, but his mark was made on the city of Morristown throughout much of his adult life. The Morristown High School gymnasium was named in his honor in 1954, the football field in 1998 and the Petie Siler Park was opened in 1998. |
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