Sept. 4, 2010

By JOSH PATE
UT Media Relations

UTsports.com's Josh Pate turned to the ultimate Volunteer graybeard, the legendary Gus Manning, and asked the 60-year veteran of the athletics department to identify seven individuals who were instrumental in shaping Tennessee football into what it is today. So to ensure that the next generation of Big Orange fans develops an appreciation for those who "gave their all" while paving the way, for each UT home game on the 2010 schedule we'll profile... The Seven Pillars of Tennessee football.

When Nathan W. Dougherty graduated from Powell High School back in the early 1900s, the school counselors were wondering if he had what it took to make the grades here at the university. Dougherty, originally from Scott County, Va., moved to a home on Clinton Highway just outside of Knoxville when his father took a job in the area, and his aspirations were to obtain a college degree despite getting his high school diploma from one of Knoxville's surrounding county schools.

Needless to say, his academics were good enough.

Dougherty's name goes down in the University of Tennessee historical archives as one of the greatest academic leaders in school history. And his impact on athletics was just as important. Of course, he was team captain in football and basketball (Tennessee's first organized team, to beat it all) while studying engineering. He played guard for the Vols football squad from 1906-09. Dougherty was by all standards a good football player, landing on the All-Southern team in 1907 and 1908. They called him `Big un.' He was 6-foot-2 and weighed 190 pounds, and of course that was big back then.

He had a stint working for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and then went on to Cornell and George Washington for further studies. He was later called back here in 1916 as a professor in the College of Engineering. That's when he got going good here at Tennessee.

Hired Neyland as Coach
Dougherty served as chairman of the UT Athletic Council from 1917-56, a period that is the most instrumental in laying the foundation of Tennessee football. His first job was using his engineering background to design a new field for the football team. Back then, athletics was financially independent from the university and was able to purchase old houses down by what used to be Detroit Avenue (today, it's the intersection of Peyton Manning Pass and Philip Fulmer Way). With some financial contributions by Col. W.S. Shields and his wife, Alice Watkins-Shields, the turf layout that still serves Tennessee was constructed and open for play in 1919.

Shortly thereafter, with Dougherty heading the athletics department at UT, a successor to head football coach M.B. Banks was needed for the 1926 season. Dougherty called on one of Banks' assistant coaches who had one season of experience, was just 34 years old, and had an engineering background to boot: Capt. Robert R. Neyland.

Dougherty and Neyland were very close. They weren't socially close, but they were academically close. That's about the time bleachers around Shields-Watkins Field started transforming into a concrete stadium. Neyland provided the ideas; Dougherty provided the engineering and action. One time, when workers poured the concrete over in Section R, it had rained all week and the concrete was awful. They had to go in there and replace it and then refinish it all again. But under Dougherty's watch, the job kept moving.

With Neyland coaching and Dougherty overseeing the program from afar, the Volunteers competed in the old Southern Conference. Dougherty had helped get Tennessee into the conference, which soon became bloated with good competition. Dougherty even served as president of the conference in 1929. But just a few years later, he was the one who orchestrated Tennessee leaving the conference and forming -- along with 12 other schools -- the Southeastern Conference. Dougherty was instrumental in the SEC's creation of schools west and south of the Appalachian Mountains. Three of the schools didn't last: Sewanee, Tulane and Georgia Tech. But the other 10 remained and formed the nucleus of the SEC until it expanded in 1991.

Acting SEC Commissioner
Dougherty served as acting commissioner of the SEC in 1947 during the gap between Martin Connor and Bernie Moore holding the job. And he later served as vice president of the NCAA. In 1967, Dougherty deservingly was named to the College Football Hall of Fame.

What often gets lost in this history, however, is his impact on the university and the state. Dougherty was dean of UT's College of Engineering from 1940-56, and in 1963 one of the engineering buildings was named after him. Dougherty was a major advocate for long-range highway planning and has often been considered the father of the Tennessee state highway system.

So many times legends go down as having been instrumental in shaping the foundation for academics or athletics. Dougherty was both.

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