Jake Butcher attended the university in 1953–54 and 1959–61. He was a major figure in Tennessee banking and politics in the 1970s and early ’80s and was the chairman of the board of the Knoxville International Energy Exposition (1982 World’s Fair)—the driving force behind the successful fair. In 1968 he and his brother, Cecil H. Butcher Jr., began acquiring banks, borrowing large amounts of capital to finance their purchase of bank stock. By 1975 the Butchers controlled nine banks in Tennessee, including the Hamilton National Bank, Knoxville’s largest, whose name was changed to United American. Butcher was the 1978 Democratic gubernatorial candidate and lost to Lamar Alexander.
On November 1, 1992, a total of 180 FDIC investigators descended simultaneously upon all banks controlled by the Butchers. On February 14, 1983, the FDIC declared United American Bank insolvent. In August 1983 Butcher was involuntarily declared bankrupt. In May 1985 he pled guilty to federal charges of bank fraud and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released from prison on parole in 1992.