Known in his playing days as “Gone with the Wind” or as “Blood,” Johnny Butler played tailback for the University of Tennessee from 1939 to 1941. He made what many call the most famous run in Vol football history in a contest against Alabama on October 21, 1939. The game was tied 0-0 in the second quarter, and both teams were unbeaten. The Vols had the ball on their own forty-four, when Butler ran a serpentine fifty-six-yard path, reserving his field again and again, and scoring untouched.
In the 1940s, Hollywood used footage of this run as the climactic scene of many sports movies. Butler was a key figure offensively and defensively on Vol teams which compiled a 28-4 record. The 1939 Tennessee team was the first to hold its regular season opponents scoreless.
Butler was also a legendary player in his prep days at Knoxville High School, earning all-state and All-Southern Conference honors. A seventh round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1942, Butler subsequently played for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1943 and 1945, the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1943-1944, the Brooklyn Tigers in 1944, the Boston Yanks in 1944-1945, and the Chicago Cardinals in 1944. His illustrious football career and famous run against Alabama earned Johnny Butler a place on the elite list of UT football legends.