Orange Nation, the expanded official pep club of the university, made its debut at the Tennessee-Kentucky basketball game in January 2004. It replaced the Collegiate Club, the lineal descendant of the Vol Pep Club, which selected Smokey as the official mascot. The Vol Pep Club’s name changed several times before it became the Collegiate Club in 1998, when the Volunteer Athletic Scholarship Fund became its official sponsor and membership fees began to be charged. Orange Nation charged a membership fee of $40 per academic year, which assured priority seating at basketball and football games (block seating at football games), monthly meetings with members of the UT athletic community, access to designated football and basketball practices, and free T-shirts. UT has had a pep club since the founding of the Beaver Club in 1921.
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