Former ABC sideline reporter Mike Adamle was at Neyland Stadium in 1986 for a Tennessee football game when he stated “you meet the nicest people at the college football scene.”
The camera panned to Charlie Daniels.
“Win, lose or draw, they’re my Vols, and I love them and I’ll be here,” Daniels said later in the interview.
Daniels died Monday after suffering a stroke. The Country Music Hall of Famer was 83.
Adamle noted in the clip that Daniels’ son, Charlie Jr., attended UT. But that wasn’t Daniels’ lone tie to the Vols.
Daniels did a voiceover in 2015 for a video featuring Tennessee’s Pride of the Southland Marching Band during the Big Orange Give campaign. He also did voiceovers for Tennessee football season-ticket advertisements.
Daniels also paired with Vols athletics director and former football coach Phillip Fulmer to host an annual golf outing to support the Jason Foundation, which focuses on youth suicide awareness and prevention.
The 21st Annual Phillip Fulmer and Charlie Daniels Golf Classic raised more than $240,000 for the organization in 2019. The event sold out in each of its 21 years, The Jason Foundation posted to its Twitter account.
Daniels also highlighted the Vols winning the 1998 national championship in his book, Ain’t No Rag: Freedom, Family and the Flag.
“It ain’t every day that all them East Coast Yankee sports writers have to eat all the disparaging and downright insulting things they’ve had to say about my beloved Vols all year long,” Daniels wrote.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.