In early 1972 Johnny L. Braddon, age 26, of Nashville was killed while working on the project to create the southwest upper deck of Neyland Stadium. He was an employee of McDowell-Purcell Inc. of Nashville, a subcontractor hired by general contractor Rentenbach Engineering Company. Danny Whitt (Nashville) and site superintendent Lum Watson (Friendsville) were also injured in the freak accident while they and Braddon were pouring concrete in a hole using an apparatus that pumped concrete through pipes. The pipes were connected to a hose that was suspended about 30 feet in the air. As they were pulling one of the pipes out of the ground, the hose to which it was connected came loose, and the hose and the pipe fell on the three men.