Sad news. He was THE guy when I first heard John Ward call a game. I was a devastated 6 year old when he got kicked off the team.
I was a pissed off 23 year old getting a haircut when the news broke mainly because: A) It was right before the Bama game. B) It was over drugs. We had just about lived down the Tony Robinson thing when Cobb got the boot...
Hate to derail but I watched some more highlights from that Auburn game. As it says in the comments, this is both absolute peak John Ward and peak Tennessee offensive line, against a sensational Auburn D. Neyland was in a frenzy during a heavy rain. Also, our idiot fans tore down the goalposts before the game was over. Pat Dye just conceded though. Glory Days. Somebody please make Tennessee great again.
Reggie was my favorite. I just liked the way he ran. Best UT backfield ever! This blows. Makes me feel old and like UT football, at least as I remember, is a thing of the past. Literally got chill bumps listening to Ward call that TD.
Thanks for the you tube A-S. I had actually forgotten how I use to really feel about Tennessee football. Great memories. RIP Reggie.
I was selling Cokes in the stadium for the game in that YouTube clip, and was strategically beside the locker room after the game. A trainer cut Cobb’s tape off of his wrist and he gave it to me. I was devastated when it was later lost in one of the many moves of my youth. Nowadays, I’d have thought that too gross, but 15 year old me thought it was great. Things like this always reminds me of that old jazz line, “Pretty soon, there won’t be no old folks left, at all.” Hate shit like this.
Cobb also came back to school in the late 90s to get his degree and was in my class on African American history. Ready nice guy, it seemed, although I'm not sure if I said more than 10 words ti him the entire semester.
I doubt it - I was standing right next to a chain link fence, just outside the locker room. It was as close as I could get before this guard (cop?) would yell at me.
We must have been there at the same time then, because I met him in the little snack shop in the basement of the UC one day and got his autograph.