Dr. Alvin Thaler, English Department, received the first Guggenheim Fellowship awarded to a UT faculty member in 1929. The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation was established in 1925 by US Senator and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim as a memorial to their son who died just before he was to go to college. The fellowships are for advanced … Continued
In 1919 Pi Kappa Alpha purchased the handsome Gaines home at 1305 W. Clinch Avenue. The fraternity had been renting the old Sanford house at 10 Maplehurst Park prior to the purchase.
One of the first projects of President W. D. Carnes (appointed in 1858) was construction of a gymnasium. The facility was completed for the 1860–61 academic year. The university was one of the first universities in the nation to have a gymnasium (Yale built one in 1859). The gym was destroyed during the Civil War.
The first faculty member to be awarded a Fulbright postgraduate fellowship was Dr. Alvin H. Nielsen, who spent the academic year 1951–52 in Liege, Belgium. In the summer of 1952, the first three UT students to be awarded Fulbright scholarships for international study were Mary J. Bell, John P. Blane, and William D. Foland.
Blair Gullion, who arrived to coach the men’s intercollegiate basketball team in 1935, was the first full-time basketball coach. (Men’s basketball began in 1909.) In his first season, the team went 15-6; won the SEC Basketball Tournament; and a member of that team, Harry Anderson, became UT’s first basketball All-American, being named in 1936.
The 1892 opening game against Maryville College was won by UT 25-0. Albert B. Wegener (who received his degree in 1896) scored the first touchdown. A reported 250 fans attended.
Edwin Wiley, UT’s first full-time professional librarian, was appointed in 1892.
In 1914 UT first defeated its bitter football rival, Vanderbilt. The victory caused such rejoicing that classes were suspended for a day of celebration.
Although no official records survive of the specific fundraising efforts, the Blount College Building (completed in 1799) was paid for by public subscription. In 1803 Dr. Charles C. Coffin, then president of Greeneville College, recorded in his diary an informal meeting in March with the trustees of Blount College. At that meeting Blount College President … Continued
The first formal inauguration of a president of the university was that of Dr. Brown Ayres and was held at Staub’s Theatre in downtown Knoxville in April 1905. Ayres had been elected president by unanimous vote of the trustees on August 2, 1904.