In the fall of 1935, Bowden Wyatt reported to Knoxville, fulfilling his schoolboy ambition for playing football at the University of Tennessee under General Bob Neyland. This he did, and did well, through hard work, great devotion to physical conditioning, natural speed, and an eagerness to learn as much as he could about the game of football. He soon established himself as one of the finest ends ever to wear the Tennessee orange and white. By his senior year, Wyatt was UT captain and consensus All-American. He then started his coaching career as soon as his college days were over. Though he received an attractive offer from the Chicago Cardinals to play professional football, Wyatt chose instead to accept a position on the coaching staff of Mississippi State. After a successful stay in Mississippi, he moved on to a head coaching position in 1947 at Wyoming, where he was three years later selected Skyline Conference Coach of the Year. Wyatt then moved on to Arkansas for two seasons and finally to Tennessee in 1955, where he stayed for eight seasons. At UT, Wyatt guided the Vols to the SEC championship and number-two national ranking in 1956, the same year he was SEC Coach of the Year and National Coach of the Year. Legendary on the field and on the sidelines, Bowden Wyatt is one of only three men to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.
