The story of Tony White, aka: VOLdemort (vo_ldemort)
By: John Dunn
Founder, Managing Editor, Producer, Host
The All Vol Call in Show
20240702
This is the story of Tony White's fandom. As a life-long Tennessee fan, White has seen many ups and downs. He recounts some of his favorite memories throughout his life and what kept him hooked on Tennessee athletics. White has risen to Twitter royalty and is widely regarded as the best Tennessee fan account on Twitter.
"I started off as early as I can remember. I have always been a Tennessee fan. My dad was a huge Tennessee fan. I think it started with him. He would get extremely upset when they weren't playing well or would lose on Saturday, really setting the tone for the rest of the household; he even broke one of our T.V.s once. He worked in Alabama, so he had a lot riding on that Tennessee-Alabama game. Those are some of my earliest memories of being a Vol fan. Like many, the orange blood was passed on to me by my family.
Back in those days, the Tennessee-Alabama series was very back-and-forth. It was very streaky for both teams. They'd beat us seven or eight times in a row, then we'd beat them seven or eight times in a row, that's just kind of how it went.
I'm from a tiny town in middle Tennessee called Loretto. For some reason, it seemed like everyone in town was a Tennessee fan. It was a big deal to everyone. My friends and I all talked about Tennessee at school, we were all just very into it. We all played ball and were extremely invested.
I recall the Sugar Bowl win in '85 or '86, and I think that's the one that really hooked me for good. I also remember a lot of the down times, then the national championship in '98. I watched that with my best friend. It's really been a lifetime full of amazing memories watching Tennessee play ball.
My particular favorite memory has to be the "stumble and fumble." There were a large group of my friends watching. We were number one for the first time in our history and we were watching it slip away. We really thought we were going to lose the game after being ranked number one for only a week. We were all really bummed out. Then, the fumble happened and Travis Henry took over. From there, it was nothing but excitement. We were all jumping and celebrating, just screaming in the living room. I'll never forget how it felt. It felt like we were finally that "team of destiny," and it turned out we were.
As someone old enough to remember how much we dominated in the 90's, it wasn't like this. It's better now than it's ever been in my whole life. We just won a national championship in baseball. Considering my lifetime of watching Tennessee, that's an incredible accomplishment. Rick Barnes has turned our basketball team into an annual contender. If you've been around long enough, you know how to appreciate the incredible accomplishments of the men's basketball team. They're always in the tournament and always have a chance. You can't ask for much more than that.
As for football, Josh Heupel has us going great places. The quarterback room is deep and getting deeper and Tennessee is headed in the right direction. There has never been a better time to be a Tennessee fan."
Follow Tony on X, (@vo_ldemort)
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