Good Times on the Strip
More of your memories of Cumberland Avenue
In the early 60's the Strip was much more exciting than it is now with the bridge across Cumberland Avenue. On football weekends we would go to the T Room around 9 a.m. to watch the traffic pouring into campus for the game. It was amazing to us to see the reactions of the out-of-town drivers when students would rush to the center strip and stand sideways to avoid the cars until they could manage the other two lanes. Now with the bridge there is "no contest."
—Gary & Gayle Ford '62
No one has mentioned the Quarterback club on the strip. A Knoxville boy, in 1956, I drank my first beer there at age sixteen. I was at UT off and on for a very long time, B.A., B.S., teaching certificate, M.S., Ed.S.(’82). I dated my first wife there. The UT Singers of the earlier sixties under Ambrose Holford met there after practice. The pizzas were the best in Knoxville long before the other places mentioned. One could even order a formal dinner with wine and always the same friendly waiters we called by first name. I have been there with the entire place filled with one group or another. AXE friends from the Chemistry Department, whole classes of students from night grad school, fellow members of the UT band, 10-15 persons from the lab I worked at. It didn't matter, the Quarterback club was a Mecca from the hot spring and summer days when classrooms were not air-conditioned and instructors dismissed to reconvene at the kept cool Quarterback. Many a friendship was established over a trip to the club. I actually was lectured and taught in the back balcony while sipping a beer. The lines after home football games used to be blocks long far into the night.
—James R. Watson III, Knoxville
Although I only graduated a few years ago, I have so many memories of the Strip from my 4 years in school and the many years leading up to it from my dad bringing me to UT football games. Growing up, I remember coming to UT football games every fall decked out in orange from head to toe. My dad and I would drive up from Nashville the morning of the game and would get to the Strip early in the day so we could walk around and be a part of the massive amounts of orange that were everywhere. Once in school, I didn't always make it up that early due to the fun I had the night before on the Strip. I remember eating dinner regularly at a few different places. Copper Cellar and its burger night, El Charro’s and its awesome Mexican food, or the new Chili's. Then heading out to have a few drinks, we’d bar hop. We would often go to Charlie Peppers for “Animal Hour.” When the hour was up, we would walk over to Beer Sellar for a few pitchers of beer. When we finished there, we often found ourselves closing down Hannah’s. Many drinks later, we always found ourselves standing in line at Krystal at the famous walk up window. I sometimes find myself missing the many nights I spent hanging out on the Strip.
—Emily Bock ’05, sport management
