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Post by Thunder Good-Oil on Oct 20, 2015 12:05:40 GMT -5
37 years ago tonight. 10/20/1978, the night before the Alabama game. The Strip was shut down between 17th and 23rd. A Kerns bread truck tried to get through the mob... the mob opened the back, climbed in, and emptied the inventory into the crowd.
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Post by shimmy on Oct 20, 2015 14:32:17 GMT -5
Appalling behavior
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Post by TNCOWBOY on Oct 21, 2015 10:55:38 GMT -5
Lmao.
For real?
Back story?
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Post by Thunder Good-Oil on Oct 21, 2015 13:23:44 GMT -5
Unbelievable that Google only brings up a couple of message board links.
TN was 1-2-1 and had lost 7 straight to Alabama. They came in to Knoxville ranked #4.
Drinking age was 18. Cumberland Avenue bars were packed the Friday night before the 1978 Bama game. It probably started outside the Last Lap and the Library (or whatever it was called at that time). The mob started to spill out onto Cumberland Avenue. It kept growing and eventually the crowd had taken over and shut down the street between 17th and 23rd. Law enforcement had no idea what to do... they were there but were outnumbered a hundred to one or more. I climbed up a 15'-20' light post over the sidewalk across Cumberland from where the Long Branch is now. As I was hanging from the light, there were two or three KPD cops just standing in the street watching me. One came over and suggested that I get down, so I did.
The street was filled with empty beer cans and bottles. So I thought that it would be a good idea to start stomping on them. As I said, the drinking age was 18 in 1978. After smashing half a dozen or so a Michelob bottle was rolling by. When I stomped that one it cut right through my shoe and into the side of my foot. Blood was everywhere so we hiked up the hill to the Fort Sanders emergency room.
While at the hospital a Kerns bread semi-truck driver decided to attempt to push through the crowd. Somewhere around the Olde College Inn the back doors were opened by the mob. All of the contents were thrown into the crowd. By the time the truck made it to the Last Lap there were about ten guys riding on top of it. One or two were sitting on top of the cab with their legs dangling over the windshield. There was a picture of that in the Journal or Sentinel on the front page a day or two later. About that time the police shut it down. Anybody that did not leave was arrested. About that time we left the emergency room. As we're going down the hill towards the Strip (we were parked south side of Cumberland) some guy warned us that we'd be arrested if we went down there. We had proof of the ER visit so we kept on heading that way. It was like a nuclear winter... the place was empty. I don't even remember if we talked to a cop. So we got in the car and left. If we had ridden off with a famous country music star then it would have sounded like an OD story.
One other event at UT that I can find no internet record of is a riot at Stokely Arena during or after a basketball game between Austin-East and Fulton (definitely AE, not sure if it was Fulton). It was about 1970. Those metal folding chairs on the removable bleachers were thrown everywhere. Last time that I googled that I came up empty.
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Post by Thunder Good-Oil on Oct 21, 2015 13:28:55 GMT -5
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Post by MRM on Oct 21, 2015 14:15:11 GMT -5
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Post by Thunder Good-Oil on Oct 21, 2015 14:33:19 GMT -5
Did AJ give Mavis his log chain?
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Post by TNCOWBOY on Oct 21, 2015 18:18:49 GMT -5
Unbelievable that Google only brings up a couple of message board links. TN was 1-2-1 and had lost 7 straight to Alabama. They came in to Knoxville ranked #4. Drinking age was 18. Cumberland Avenue bars were packed the Friday night before the 1978 Bama game. It probably started outside the Last Lap and the Library (or whatever it was called at that time). The mob started to spill out onto Cumberland Avenue. It kept growing and eventually the crowd had taken over and shut down the street between 17th and 23rd. Law enforcement had no idea what to do... they were there but were outnumbered a hundred to one or more. I climbed up a 15'-20' light post over the sidewalk across Cumberland from where the Long Branch is now. As I was hanging from the light, there were two or three KPD cops just standing in the street watching me. One came over and suggested that I get down, so I did. The street was filled with empty beer cans and bottles. So I thought that it would be a good idea to start stomping on them. As I said, the drinking age was 18 in 1978. After smashing half a dozen or so a Michelob bottle was rolling by. When I stomped that one it cut right through my shoe and into the side of my foot. Blood was everywhere so we hiked up the hill to the Fort Sanders emergency room. While at the hospital a Kerns bread semi-truck driver decided to attempt to push through the crowd. Somewhere around the Olde College Inn the back doors were opened by the mob. All of the contents were thrown into the crowd. By the time the truck made it to the Last Lap there were about ten guys riding on top of it. One or two were sitting on top of the cab with their legs dangling over the windshield. There was a picture of that in the Journal or Sentinel on the front page a day or two later. About that time the police shut it down. Anybody that did not leave was arrested. About that time we left the emergency room. As we're going down the hill towards the Strip (we were parked south side of Cumberland) some guy warned us that we'd be arrested if we went down there. We had proof of the ER visit so we kept on heading that way. It was like a nuclear winter... the place was empty. I don't even remember if we talked to a cop. So we got in the car and left. If we had ridden off with a famous country music star then it would have sounded like an OD story. One other event at UT that I can find no internet record of is a riot at Stokely Arena during or after a basketball game between Austin-East and Fulton (definitely AE, not sure if it was Fulton). It was about 1970. Those metal folding chairs on the removable bleachers were thrown everywhere. Last time that I googled that I came up empty. Absolutely epic story ThunderThroe. Awesome. |
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Post by relic on Oct 21, 2015 21:51:16 GMT -5
Fantastic. Great memories, and thank ya for digging these up and sharing. Absolutely nest level... |
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Post by Thunder Good-Oil on Nov 12, 2015 20:53:09 GMT -5
Have a pic on my phone... can't get it to upload though. About 20 white thugs on the truck.
White Loaves Matter
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Post by Thunder Good-Oil on Nov 12, 2015 21:42:20 GMT -5
Ipad  |
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