Keith Barnett hopped onto his 28-foot bowrider in 2014 and floated down the Tennessee river with 15 other football fans destined for Neyland Stadium. It’s tradition to tailgate on the docks near Neyland − sailgating, some call it − and many would argue no game is bigger than Tennessee vs. Florida.
They were about a quarter mile from Cherokee Country Club when the boat’s outdrive blew up, leaving them “dead in the water” with “no propulsion” and “no way to get anywhere,” Barnett told Knox News. They grabbed skis from beneath the boat and began paddling toward shore, determined to make the game on time.
“I’ve got all these people on the boat that are wanting to go to this big game,” he said. “They spent a lot of money on tickets, and we’re stranded.”
But then appeared a pontoon also destined for Neyland, Barnett said − a beacon of the Vol Navy spirit. While the boating club is not an official organization − no waivers, agreements or fees − there is an unspoken but assumed requirement that those who participate are passionate about the Vols, even if that means picking up stranded sailgaters on your way to the game.
“It’s not like an organization where people meet up and have meetings or anything like that,” said Barnett, who graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1999 and has been a part of the Vol Navy since 2012. “It’s just everyone that has a boat and loves Tennessee football going down river and tailgating.”
Now in its 63rd year, the longrunning tradition on the water is among Tennessee’s most famous − an impressive feat for a landlocked state − and its passionate followers continue to build on the extravagant, local history of the unofficial club that has captivated football fans far and wide, even forging connections on international cruise ships.
On Tennessee football game days, ‘you’re always doing something’
On any given day during Tennessee’s football season, you can walk down to Volunteer Landing on the southern edge of downtown Knoxville and find a string of boats docked between Calhoun’s on the River and Neyland Stadium.
It doesn’t matter if the Volunteers are playing at home, away or not at all; Vol Navy will be there all season long to support the team. The fleet’s history spans six decades, making it one of the university’s most intriguing traditions, up there with “Running Through the T” and enjoying a cigar after Tennessee beats Alabama on the Third Saturday in October.
While for many fans, game day is just that − a day − Vol Navy boats sometimes stay docked for weeks at a time. Some stay all season long. For the biggest of game days, hundreds of boats may be strung together, from house boats and yachts to dinghies and kayaks.
Some sailgaters spend the morning eating, drinking, swimming and mingling before making their way inside Neyland, while others opt to watch the game on TVs from the water where they can hear the roar of a touchdown and the cracks of fireworks, albeit 15 seconds before the play shows up on their screens.
Maddie Strauss moved from the Memphis area to Knoxville in 2020 to attend UT. She’s always been intrigued by the Vols way of life, and tailgating on game days is just the thing you do in the fall. Tennessee just happens to take it to the next level.
“What a lot of people don’t realize, being a Vols fan means you are up and at ’em, no matter what time the game is,” she told Knox News. “You’re either cooking, drinking, going to a tailgate early, prepping the tailgate, prepping your house to host it. Like, you’re always doing something.”
During her time as a student, Strauss only went to one UT football game due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she said. Post-graduation has presented her the opportunity to really experience a true game day, and it’s not tailgating on top of a parking garage near Neyland.
For many, floating the Tennessee River and docking at Volunteer Landing is the only way. And it’s been that way for decades.
Vol Navy dates back to 1962, with a boost from the city in the 1990s
The Vol Navy has a history dating back to 1962 when George Mooney, who called play-by play for the Tennessee football between 1952 and 1967, looked for a way around game day traffic. Mooney grabbed his tiny white runabout and drove down the Tennessee River to cover the home game.
Mooney tied his boat to a tree and climbed through weeds to reach the stadium. What started as one person looking for convenient transportation has since expanded to hundreds of people gathering on the water outside Neyland to cheer on the Vols.
More than 30 years passed before a more official way of docking outside of Neyland came to fruition. UT is one of only two universities in the country that is easily accessible by boat, according to the Tennessee Valley Authority. The only other school is the University of Washington, which borders up to Lake Washington.
Volunteer Landing is a mile-long riverfront development in front of Neyland Stadium built between 1995 and 1997. The entire project, which included a greenway, park, marina and docks, cost upward of $40 million, according to Knox News archives. Former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe pushed for the development and earned support from the city.
“Waterfront development has been a major project of Mayor Victor Ashe,” a Knox News editorial from January 1995 reads. “However, the mayor is not alone. Knoxvillians who have envied waterfront development in Chattanooga and in other cities have wondered why their hometown can’t spark the same kind of riverfront approval.”
A variety of logistical challenges has kept Knoxville from tapping into its full potential on the north side of the river, but the southern riverfront is bracing for a pedestrian bridge that is already spurring development and would connect to campus on the other side.
Among the advantages of the project − in addition to an estimated $1.83 million in tax revenue − would be new piers for the Vol Navy, according to the 1995 editorial. The Vol Navy was more than just an out-of-the-box tradition; it was a part of pushing forward one of the city’s biggest downtown developments in recent history.
Vol Navy in Knoxville considered a top college football tradition
This year, alone, the Vol Navy has made lists by both ESPN and Fox Sports detailing the greatest traditions in college.
ESPN listed Vol Navy as one of its favorite college football game day traditions, along with 36 others, including Texas A&M’s midnight yell and Alabama’s “Dixieland Delight.” In Fox Sport’s Top 10 list, which published in May, the Vol Navy was an honorable mention, barely getting beat by traditions like Penn State’s White Out game, Oklahoma’s Sooner Schooner and Ohio State’s dotting the “I.”
Strauss first heard of the Vol Navy from her boyfriend, Knoxville native Johnathan Travis, who dreamt of joining the iconic school tradition. The two started tailgating on Travis’ boat in 2023 and, though it’s only been two years, the couple never wants to stop.
“We already talk amongst ourselves and our friends that we want our future children to be a part of this,” she said. “This is something that we’d all love to carry on through generations because there’s just nothing else like it.”
Strauss remembers meeting a group of people on a Royal Caribbean cruise bound for the Bahamas and Mexico when the typical small talk crept into the conversation. “Where are you from?” and “Where did you go to school?” were the first two questions out of the strangers’ mouths. “Wait, are you in the Vol Navy?” was the third.
The strangers, who called New Jersey and Texas home, heard of the not-so-little Tennessee tradition. Even though they have no affiliation with the school, the state or the football team, they mentioned wanting to make a trip to Knoxville to participate.
Danielle Tabar, a senior engineering student at UT, said the Vol Navy sets the school apart from any other game day in the country.
“Every school that has a football team, even ones that aren’t big, tailgate,” she told Knox News. “Everybody can set up a table and have some food and some drinks and maybe you have a little TV set up and you do something special. But you can get that anywhere. Having the stadium on the river and being able to pull up the boats and have that community on the water like that is just so unique.”
Even people who have been tailgating in the same spot for years will pick up everything (no questions asked) and head to Volunteer Landing if they know someone who has docked, Tabar said. It’s that special.
Vol Navy culture ‘is just fanaticism’ for Tennessee football, sailgating
Strauss had two friends − one from Virginia and another from Texas − visit Knoxville just to see the Vol Navy for Tennessee vs. Georgia on Sept. 13, which also brought ESPN’s “College GameDay” to town for the 12th time. Neither friend has any affiliation with UT, but they know about sailgating.
UT last hosted “College GameDay” in 2022 for both the Florida and Alabama games. One Sept. 24, 2022, the Vol Navy became a highlight on the show when analyst Pat McAfee strapped into some orange and white checkered overalls, along with an orange bucket hat, and backflipped into the Tennessee River from a Vol Navy boat.
The fleet goes all out for bigger games and even has dedicated “hate weeks” when rivals come to town. The last time Tennessee hosted Florida, Strauss said, they hung alligators from the side of their boats.
It’s more than just partying, Tabor said. It can also be a chance to network. Tabor has a friend who has set up interviews while at Vol Navy.
“She’s down there handing out resumes,” Tabor said.
Vol Navy can mean docking outside Neyland for the entire season, floating down for a special rivalry game or joining the fleet whenever you friend’s boat gets to town. It doesn’t matter where you are from, if you have tickets to the game or if you own a boat. It’s all about a town with orange coursing through its veins bonding over what makes Knoxville, Knoxville: the Vols.
“The culture is just fanaticism,” Barnett said. “We love our university. We love our team. … I think the Vol Navy absolutely represents that passion.”
Knox News reporter Joanna Hayes is a part of the business growth and development team. Email: joanna.hayes@knoxnews.com; Instagram: @knoxeat65.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Vol Navy a top college football tradition for Tennessee Volunteers
