U.T. and Pink Out: 2 Examples of How College Football Has A Very Human Side
By: Tony Thomas
September 14, 2019
When talking about college football, most of the time the conversation focuses on rivalries and bowl games, T.V. revenue and ticket sales. But every now and then, a story comes to light that shows that college football is about more than just dollars and cents.
Make that 2 stories.
“U.T.”
A young Florida boy in the 4th-grade didn’t have a T-shirt to wear to his school on College Colors Day. So he cut out the letters of his favorite college team and taped them on a blank orange shirt.
Those letters were “U.T.”. And his favorite team was The University of Tennessee.
When the boy wore the homemade shirt to school, he was immediately ridiculed and bullied. A teacher took a photo of the shirt and posted it on social media with a post about bullying.
That photo went viral.
News of the photo and the story behind it reached administrators at The Univerity of Tennessee. They were moved by the story and decided to reproduce the shirt and sell it to the public.
That T-shirt sold 50,000 units. The proceeds were used to create a college scholarship form the young boy to attend Tennessee when he graduates high school.
Pink Out
The Georgia Bulldogs host Arkansas State today in a televised game in Athens.
Blake Anderson is the head coach of Arkansas State. His wife Wendy passed away just before the season started after battling an aggressive form of breast cancer. She was 49 years old.
Georgia fans were encouraged to “pink out” Sanford Stadium in memory of Wendy Anderson and to honor her life. #Wear Pink For Wendy.
The color pink was seen everywhere. Fans were shaking pink pom-poms. The network sideline reporter wore a pink dress. Coaches wore pink ribbons. There were pink T-shirts with the Georgia helmet logo, pink ribbons, pink signs, shirtless fans painted themselves with letters that read” Remember Wendy”.
It was a moving and emotional tribute, and a classy move by The University of Georgia to honor the wife of the opposing team’s coach.
These stories prove that we as a society can come together to support and honor those who need it and deserve it, even if we don’t know them personally. And this season, college football was the platform used to do just that.
Thanks for reading.
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In late news, it appears that Tennessee has offered this young man a full four-year scholarship according to some sources on secrant.com. This story is a heartwarmer and a tear jerker. UT has certainly stepped up to the plate as far as this story goes. Good on them! I think I’ll go online and purchase one of their new shirts based on this young man’s drawing.
I agree!! A classy move by Tennessee. It’s good that these types of stories can happen within college football.