Head to Knoxville for a University of Tennessee football game, and you’ll see all the passion fans expect from SEC football — a sea of team colors, those kids with chest paint, and ever-more elaborate tailgating in the hours leading up to the game. This being Tennessee, you’ll hear a lot of “Rocky Top.”
Go around the back of Neyland Stadium, and you’ll see what Tennessee has that its rivals don’t. The Tennessee River, about 100 yards from the stadium, is packed with yachts, houseboats, dinghies, and everything in between — all here for what Vols fans call “sailgating.” They have their own traditions and even their own flags, emblazoned with the logo of their collective name: they are the Vol Navy.
A few times every season, Patrick Deal and his wife load up their 52-foot Sea Ray Sand Ridge and boat from their home in Chattanooga to Knoxville to meet up with fellow Vols fans. “People come from all over the place,” Deal says. “It depends on the game. For the Alabama game, there will be a lot of folks from Alabama there. For the Oklahoma game, we had an Oklahoma fan who brought his own boat. Everyone is very welcoming, just there for a good time.”
The tradition began as a novel solution to a common problem: the headache of fighting traffic in and out of games. In 1962, play-by-play Vols commentator George Mooney decided to bypass all that and take his little boat up the river, tie it to a tree outside the stadium, and hike up the riverbank to the stadium. He told the story on the air, and others started to follow his example.
Today, big games attract hundreds of boats, and getting a good spot takes planning. Deal and his wife typically arrive on Wednesday and sleep in one of their three staterooms. “It’s kind of like anchoring out, but you’re tied to the dock,” he says. “You make it a vacation.”
With time to spare before kickoff on Saturday, the Deals and friends they’ve met on the river will walk to Market Square in downtown Knoxville to enjoy the local restaurants and rooftop lounges. Other times, they take the dinghy they’ve brought along to cross over to the South Waterfront, where they can enjoy the nearby taprooms with fewer crowds.
Back on the river, the Vol Navy is fully decked out. “My wife brings out all the orange and white and pompoms and flags and decorations on the tables and dresses it up,” Deal says. Many boats have open bars. Lots of boats have generators, so fans can duck into air conditioned or heated cabins to escape the heat of early-season games or the chill of winter.
Boat-hopping is expected. Friends who arrive early enough will grab adjacent spots, but strangers are welcome too. “A lot of people get to know each other over the years,” says Deal, who owns a yacht brokerage business, iDeal Yachts, and often sees his customers on game days as well. “You have people go around and visit one another, and sometimes we’ll get visitors. Some people from opposing teams are curious, so they’ll come down and we’ll invite them over, too.”
And while few Vols fans would ever say out loud that anything beats being inside Neyland Stadium, some say the experience of watching from their berth on the water is a close second. “A lot of people go to the game, but not everybody,” Deal says. “Sometimes we stay on the boat and watch the game on our TV. You can hear the noise and fireworks and get a good idea what’s happening in the stadium, and it’s a lot of fun.”
Vol Navy is now a tradition they’ve passed on to their son, Landon, a UT graduate who got a boat of his own — not just for game days, but as a personal floating dorm starting his sophomore year. “He graduated last spring, and he still lives on it,” Deal says. “He brings his boat down to the Vol Navy and saves us a spot. It’s all about being around friends and family with a common interest: football and boating. That’s what holds the Vol Navy together, spending time with family and friends.”
