Keith “HatVol” Hatfield Passing

You ain’t a real Vol message boarder if you never had a run in, friendly or otherwise, with Hat.

 

He had a few "gos" at me for when I was new and just talking out of my ass. Didn't like him at first, at all. Then saw more of who he really was, ended up just enjoying his internet persona for what it was.

 

Hat was a firecracker and always fun to be around. Even helped me when my old company screwed me with a 2 yr non-compete. Hate to hear about his passing, gone too soon.

 

So...I had one pretty huge in on that search and a few more good sources. I hinted around on VN about the possibility of Kiffin.

I met Hat for a few beers the day after that meeting he was involved with. He knew exactly what I knew and who was telling me the info, he told me I probably had a future in sports journalism.

 

Hat was awesome, he would do about anything for you if he liked you. He could talk about old school wrestling, basketball, football, baseball even soccer all night.

He'll be missed

 

Hat going in on Pearl about turning Ramar loose on Knoxville was fun to read

 

He was so good at finding and exploiting the faulty logic of the majority on VN (which frequently included a lot of us). I remember how he'd get tickled over dumb things that people would post and then mock them by throwing it back at them at every opportunity.

Some of his favorites were...

"HE WANTS IT!" - someone predicting what they knew would be what made Nick Reviez an all time great.

"Catching a punt is the hardest thing to do in football" - can't remember who said this but it became the mantra of the goofs insisting that despite his inability to cleanly field a punt, that Devrin Young was an all world talent that wasn't being properly utilized.

 

Uh oh. I'm one of those who said it was the hardest thing, taking into consideration if it's knuckling, turning over or losing distance and players at full speed coming at you.
There's usually only a few players on the team who can do it and be a threat as well.

 

Soccer was the thing that surprised me the most. Just shows that he couldn’t be put in any particular box. all around interesting dude

 

Another is knowledge of the Sermon on the Mount scripture

 

He came and did a couple of remotes for his show when we trying to get the local Arsenal supporters group up and running (we was also free advert for the bar). Didn't ask for anything but a beer and a scarf.

 

Hat had Lane Kiffin #2 on his Top 10 Candidate Wish List thread on VolNation when the search in 2008 began. Only Gary Patterson was ranked ahead of Lane if memory serves me correct. Knowing that UT actually included and utilized him in the search, I'll always think Mike Hamilton and other decision makers were at the very least fully aware of Hat's wishlist he published on VolNation. People on that campus took his opinion seriously, whether they would ever publicly admit it or not. Hat was that big of an online brand in that era of Tennessee Vol Internet.

Would love to hear more about how Hat was able to intertwine himself into the world of college athletics.

 

I enjoyed his lawyer stories too over the years. Something about a southern lawyer who had seen some things and can tell a good story. He also had interesting takes on politics and current events as well, despite finding myself vehemently disagreeing with many of his beliefs in that area.

 

You know what they say. If the Hat fits...

 

I had to do a double take when I first saw this thread since I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

I never got the pleasure of meeting the man but by all accounts have heard he was a good person and the complete opposite of the persona he exhuded online.

Hatvol will always be one of big posters that come to mind whenever I think of my time browsing and posting on here and VN back in the day. I hate that
this happened. At the end of the day we are all mortal and human and need to live each day trying not to take anything for granted.

RIP, Hat. A true legend.

 

Folks who can't field punts just don't WANT IT! like Nick Reveiz.

One of my personal favorites was his dig on Arian Foster.

Foster. It's Austrailian for fumble.

And you can't forget him ripping Foster's mom on VN calling her Fumble Mom. Good times.

 

My two favorites of all-time. Not just from Hat, but in all message boarding lore. Although, Jesse Scroggins love letter is very close behind.

 

One of the reasons I signed up for this board. I don't think I ever had the pleasure of a run-in with him, but he and quite a few of you here currently, just seemed much more in tune with reality than the typical VN poster(and it's only gotten worse over there). Was always entertaining whenever he posted. Was always waiting to see if he'd pop his head back in again. RIP Hat.

 

Just tragic. What makes it even more sad was that the last time I talked to Keith was to inform him one of his good friends, and fellow 8th member, Dan Korth had passed away. RIP, Keith.

 

Who was Dan on here? Didn't realize we'd had another member pass away.