(Mark Dyer is a native of Nashville, Tenn., graduating from UT in 1981. He is the former Vice-President/General Manager of the Tennessee office of Host Communications, and now is the owner of his own entertainment company in Las Vegas, NV.)

TRIBUTE TO A GREAT TENNESSEAN

At the risk of sounding like the kind of “old fogey” we used to love to ridicule, this is for the benefit of the younger Vol fans who probably don’t understand the contribution of Bob Woodruff, whose long and rewarding life came to an end last week at the age of 85.

Coach Woodruff was the athletics director when I was in school at UT, working in the Sports Information Office from 1976-81. Being college students, we made fun of everything in those days, and it was easy to make light of Coach Woodruff’s size and his communication skills. In fact, in brief encounters with the athletics director in those days, he seemed, well, slow. He didn’t move very fast, and he surely didn’t talk very fast. I mistakenly assumed he didn’t think very fast, or very well.

Two years after graduation, I was knee-deep in starting my business career at Host Communications in Lexington, Ky., and John Ward called to say he and Coach Woodruff wanted me to come back to UT and get involved with the athletic department’s expanding radio and television syndication program. I was raised in the tradition of God, Family and the Big Orange, so if any of those three called, you came running. So I did.

When I reported to work in Knoxville full of vim and vigor at age 24, I asked the location of my office. I was directed to Coach Woodruff’s office, and there in the corner of his rather large but unpretentious office was a desk with a phone: my new workstation.

I wasn’t particularly happy about it, fancying myself the next Roone Arledge and thinking I shouldn’t have to share an office with anybody – even the guy who ran the place.

Being young and foolish, I didn’t immediately grasp the opportunity that was being given to me. Day after day, I got to know Coach Woodruff. I saw him interact with his staff, conduct meetings with outside business people seeking to do business with the UTAD, soothe alumni, and take care of his family. Very rarely did he ask me to leave the room so he could hold a meeting in private.

He was something to behold in a business meeting, especially if a business person was making him a financial offer. I’ve seen powerful men in well-pressed Brooks Brothers suits tied up in knots by Woodruff during a presentation. I saw one entrepreneur up his offer before Woodruff could respond to his first one, being that the native Georgian had, shall we say, a very deliberate style in business discussions. When his quarry went for the sale, the wily Woodruff would often rear back in his seat, hook his fingers in his belt loops, close his eyes and for what seemed like forever, not say anything.

Most businessmen hate silence during an important meeting, and Woodruff was the master of saying nothing. My feeling was the game was to wait him out and not say anything until he did, but I never saw anyone do that.

We went on some business trips. I saw him struggle with walking, but never complain. I saw the respect accorded to him by other giants from the world of collegiate athletics. On one trip to Atlanta to an alumni meeting, he introduced me to his parents. They were advanced in age, but very sharp and spry. Coach Woodruff was like a little boy around his father, even though he was already well past 60 himself.

The development and destiny of the University of Tennessee has been shaped by a small handful of people, and Bob Woodruff belongs in that elite group when the history is written.

Do you think Doug Dickey has been a key figure in the rise of the UT football program in the modern era, post-single wing from 1960s to today? You bet he has been, as an ultra-successful head football coach and athletics director. Who do you think hired him?

Bob Woodruff.

Further, it could be argued that had Doug Dickey not been brought to Knoxville in 1964 to engineer the turnaround of Tennessee Football, Phillip Fulmer might have gone to Alabama, not Tennessee. Not a pleasant thought, given the fact the Winchester native is only the winningest coach in college football.

Do you think John Ward made a significant contribution to the expansion of the University’s influence statewide, taking the credo of Dr. Andrew Holt: “the state is our campus,” and bringing the University’s athletics program into the homes, cars, barber shops and deer stands across the state, long before anybody thought a radio network was important? Who hired Ward in 1968, and who gave him the marching orders to work with Edwin Huster and together go build the greatest college sports radio network in the country?

Bob Woodruff.

Who took the stadium expansion plan, brilliantly engineered years earlier by the general named Neyland, and with great foresight, understood that an improving statewide transportation system and expanding university could someday support a football stadium of more than 100,000 seats?

Bob Woodruff.

Who forced the rest of the Southeastern Conference to catch up in facilities? Who brought indoor practice facilities, artificial turf, lighting for night games at Neyland, integration of the university’s athletics programs and a long list of other innovations?

Bob Woodruff.

Who stepped out and said the University of Tennessee and the Southeastern Conference should set the pace in such sports as track and field, and said the women’s sports program should have its own identity and never get lost in the shuffle as part of the men’s program?

Bob Woodruff.

Granted, our University has had some rough times of late, and there are issues to be addressed. But the future will shine bright for the University of Tennessee and its athletics program, which exists very simply to promote the University and enhance the quality of life for citizens across the Volunteer State.

Bob Woodruff never forgot the purpose of the University and its importance to the state, and the athletics department’s role in fulfilling that mission. Let us not forget Coach Bob Woodruff.