A Little Smokey History

Rebekah Dunlap

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Everyone knows Smokey, the University of Tennessee’s loyal Bluetick Coonhound mascot. With his 11 generations, Smokey has captured the hearts of every Tennessee fan since 1953. Smokey and his owner were in a competition where Tennessee students voted on several dogs to be Tennessee’s mascot but Smokey won the crowds over with his howling. When he howled, the students howled back! Smokey was then voted the first live mascot of Tennessee. Sadly in 1955 Smokey got hit by a car and died from his injuries shortly after. Soon Smokey’s son took over the role, but his time as the mascot wasn’t without events.

When he was just a puppy, he got dognapped by Kentucky students and was paraded around UK’s campus for a week. Then Tennessee's students started attempting to help Smokey ll escape, and the students who took him returned Smokey ll to his owners before the game. Then in 1957, Smokey ll got in a fight with Baylor’s Bear (the real one) and came out unscathed.

Another significant event was in 2006 when Smokey lX allegedly bit an Alabama player. Some claim it was payback because before the game the player landed full-on Smokey when practicing. Smokey was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2008 as Tennessee's official mascot. Now that Smokey X has entered retirement, Smokey Xl and his brother Ernie have started training to take over for his dad, Smokey X, and become the next Smokey.