There weren’t too many bright spots on the University of Tennessee football teams of 1962 to 1964. The teams went 13-16-1 over those turmoil-filled years which saw three different coaches – Bowden Wyatt, Jim McDonald, and Doug Dickey. Most definitely, the silver lining throughout those cloudy seasons was the great lineman Steve DeLong. Coach Dickey called him “the most team oriented, self-sacrificing player” he had ever coached. At 6’3″ and 245 pounds, he was a devastating presence on defense. Despite the coaching changes and mediocre records, DeLong played as well as any lineman in America, and he was honored as such. He was a two-time All-SEC and consensus All-American selection in 1963 and 1964. In addition, he won the Outland Trophy in 1964, given to the nation’s finest interior lineman, and SEC coaches picked him as the conference’s best defensive lineman for three straight years. DeLong played in the 1964 College all-star game in Chicago and was the MVP of the 1965 Senior Bowl. A first-round draft choice of the San Diego Chargers, DeLong had an eight-season NFL career with the Chargers and Chicago Bears. Football runs in the DeLong family: Steve’s brother, Ken was an All-Conference tight end at UT in the late 1960s, and Steve’s son, Keith, was a Vol All-American lineman in the late 1980s, marking the only father-son All-American combo in UT history.
