Tennessee's Rick Barnes recounts friendship with late Gus Manning

Rick Barnes unlocked the door and looked around Gus Manning's office inside Thompson-Boling Arena.

Much of it has remained unchanged — a room frozen in time and littered with five decades worth of memories of Tennessee athletics.

The magnifying glass that Manning used to read box scores from past Vols' basketball games still sat on the desk. Like the seat reserved for Manning in the press box at Neyland Stadium where saw more than 600 consecutive games, it will remain unused.

Manning, a longtime steward of the Tennessee athletics department that served as a sports information director, ticket manager, promoter and associate athletics director among other roles, died Sunday. He was 99.

"I actually just walked back there because every time I've had people come to campus, one of the things I would do when I came into Thompson-Boling Arena was go in his office and let people see how time has kind of stood still," Barnes said. "I can remember going in and often times he had a big old magnifying glass that he'd be reading the stat sheets.

"He was obviously an icon, a legend. We lost a true legend. He loved Tennessee and he loved this place."

Manning was a Knoxville native and Tennessee alum. He was hired by General Robert Neyland as a sports information director in 1951. He retired in 2000 but maintained a presence around campus and at games.

When Barnes was hired in 2015, he became the Vols' 14th head basketball coach since Manning began working for the athletics department. It didn't take long for the two to form a friendship.

Manning told Barnes a plethora of a stories he had from working at Tennessee for nearly 50 years and Barnes hung on to every word, left now of a fond memory of those conversations.

A photograph in the office of Tennessee men's basketball sports information director Tom Satkowiak sums up Manning's personality. It's a famous picture that is as revered as any snapshot in Tennessee illustrious athletics history showing Manning carrying a briefcase and toaking on a cigar in the back of the end zone while celebrating with wide receiver Larry Seivers after his two-point conversion catch beat Clemson in 1974.

"He used to tell me about all of them," Barnes said. "From picking cheerleaders to doing everything (for the athletics department). … At the time, people tell me back in the day when everything was really just kind of getting started, he wore every hat that you could wear. He's a person that every time you're around him, he had something he could share with you. Loved telling stories. Back on his wall back there, he's got photos of Bear Bryant, Adolph Rupp. You go through the line from the '50s on. He's got all those legendary coaches and people he worked with.

"I think he had up most of the coaches here. He loved this place and this University loved him."

Memories of Manning outside of his office remain on campus. Barnes sees one of them nearly everyday.

It's the golf cart Manning used to drive around campus, parked outside of Thompson-Boling Arena. The tires are flat now and it hasn't been driven since Manning moved into a Knoxville long-term care facility.

"There's a monument out back that has been here since he left and that's his little golf cart," Barnes said. "It's still sitting out there. People tell me back in the day they would see him running up and down Kingston Pike with it, street ready. … It’s there. It shows you how much people respected him because I'm sure he kept the key with full intentions that he's planning on coming back, driving that cart."

Manning last saw Barnes' team in person on Feb. 8, 2017 when Tennessee played Ole Miss at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Vols won 75-66.

"I was fortunate to get to know Gus when I first got here and he really embraced me, took me in," Barnes said. "We truly lost a great legend today."

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