Don’t Go Back to Knoxville

I lived in Knoxville when it was one of the biggest party towns in the nation. Indeed, the University of Tennesee-Knoxville (where I went to school) was the number one party school in the U.S. at that time. I think it had a lot to do with the Vols having won a national football championship the previous year with Peyton Manning (who is even now seen as a god in Knoxville), but it had even more to do with the culture surrounding the place. There were numerous fraternities, sororities, and various other “social” organizations that took up increasing space at the school. There was also the idea that the “extra-curriculars” had taken over. It got to a point where if it was football season and the team was playing at Neyland Stadium, you did not drive the streets on that Saturday. At all. And while I like the idea of having school spirit, I think it can go too far, and I think it can spawn too many other issues when it does.

The Road to Knoxville

On the highway as you enter the Knoxville area, you can proudly see the sign that announces the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team. That should give you a hint what else to expect. Even three or four years before I arrived there, Kingston Pike was a long stretch of road, and mostly just road, but during the previous two years there had been extensive work done to make it more of a welcoming strip for visitors to “Vol Nation.” A huge mall was put in, and before you knew it there were also a couple McDonald’s, a Burger King, a Wendy’s, a Mr. Gatti’s, and various other establishments for both eating and clothing, places that used to only exist on or near the campus. As the city spread out, the need for advertisement also did, with billboards springing up seemingly overnight all up and down Kingston Pike.

Up Close and Personal

The campus at UT is huge, sprawling even, with numerous parking lots and areas for mingling. In fact, students can often be found during class time having impromptu tailgate parties even when it’s not football season. The campus bookstore has more sports paraphernalia than it has books, on a 3:1 ratio, and the library is largely deserted during the time it is open. There are several sports bars just off campus (it is an “alcohol-free” campus), within easy walking distance, and during times in-between classes students can be seen mobbing these locations. If parking spaces weren’t so coveted they would probably also be driving down Kingston Pike to find entertainment as well.

Crime and Prejudice

You can imagine with such an emphasis on partying and extra-curriculars, that the crime rate in Knoxville (and particularly on the UT campus) is pretty high. In fact, it was in the top 5 for city crime at the same time that it was the number one party school in the nation, which makes perfect sense. There was a crime wave that passed through the school at my time there, the primary part of which was a series of rapes on and off campus, of girls who had been given roofies and had been date-raped. It was a stark reality juxtaposed against the “fun” atmosphere, a reminder that with fun comes responsibility as well. Luckily the rapist was caught, but the feeling of ease and relaxation changed to one of caution, something that should have been there the whole time. There was also a wave of hate crimes as well, the chief of which was what had been characterized as hazing, but which was just violence, pure and simple. These were also sobering to those who had no idea things could descend to that level. I believe these people felt empowered by the atmosphere to carry on these acts, which doesn’t excuse them, but which shows the power of the culture that had descended upon UT, and upon Knoxville overall.

A Sporting Chance

It all centered upon the football team, after all. On Fridays before away games, the entire school shut down. Professors canceled classes, students wouldn’t have shown up anyway, and everyone packed their bags as a caravan of vehicles drove out of Knoxville, leaving it a ghost town until late Saturday night when the team would usually return triumphant. Those were the glory days of Vols football, don’t forget. Flags could be seen hanging out of car windows: American flags, Vol flags, UT flags, and, yes, confederate flags on occasion too, as the raging caravan would roll back into town intent on getting drunk and celebrating the victory, or on rare occasions when they lost, on drowning their sorrows in alcohol. The school, and the town, lived and died with their football team, as if it was the heartbeat of the civilization, which was indeed scary, to me anyway. Everyone knew the stats, individual and team-wise, and everyone had an opinion about what was happening with Phil Fulmer and his coaching tendencies. You could honestly take the pulse of the town by checking the moods of the college’s football coach.

The Decline and Rebirth

As the football team began to flounder, however, then the second-guessing began, as well as the fall from grace of the city as a party scene. The mood began to shift more to academics, and the residents didn’t know what to make of it, but to me it made perfect sense. They could only mope so long before they had to shift their ideas and expectations. Or they could just live in the past, which many people in Knoxville do. When Peyton Manning returns for alumni events he is hailed as the conquering hero, and everyone comes out as they did in days of yore, when the winning took care of everything else. And so Knoxville has re-invented itself. Look at Kingston Pike now and you’ll see more grocery stores than bars, more bridal shops than fast food eateries. Even the mall has taken on a new look, and Neyland Stadium is almost ghostlike in that it doesn’t sell out every single home game anymore. But that’s okay. Crime has gone down in Knoxville. Family life has gone up. And for me, that’s a win.

I didn’t enjoy my time in Knoxville, but maybe if it had been the way it is now, I would have. I still doubt I’ll ever go back, but I am not afraid to anymore, and that’s good enough for me.

Sam