Bennett Jared

Bennett Jared, son of prosperous Putnam County (Rock Springs) farmer Joe Jared, was a football team substitute in 1915 and expected to be a starter the next year. He had scored two touchdowns in UT’s 101-0 win over Carson-Newman. In the second quarter of the October 30 game against Vanderbilt at Dudley Field in Nashville, with Vanderbilt ahead 7-0, Jared went into the game at halfback. He took the ball and sprinted to the right, but Vanderbilt closed the gap, and he was tackled and ended up on the bottom of a pile of Vanderbilt players. He did not get up. His teammates carried him off the field on a bench, and he was taken to a Nashville hospital. The game continued, with Vanderbilt the 35-0 victor. On October 31, the New York Times reported that Jared had survived surgery to remove a clot from his spine. UT cancelled its next game—with South Carolina—but he appeared to be improving, so Tennessee continued its schedule. Jared was a paraplegic and died in Nashville on July 13, 1917.