Tailgating

The first instance of tailgating at a football game was probably the party before the 1869 game at College Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey, between Princeton and Rutgers.  While today’s elaborate tailgating ensembles may have their roots in Charles Goodnight’s 1866 conversion of a US Army Studebaker wagon into the first chuck wagon, the post-World War II popularity of station wagons (an evolution from the earlier Depot Hack) provided the perfect venue for picnicking in areas without picnic tables. Tailgating literally denotes eating and socializing while perched on the open tailgate of a vehicle, but all gatherings of fans to socialize and eat prior to, during, and after sports events have come to be known as tailgating. At UT, the Vol Navy (with 1962 beginnings) takes advantage of the river location of Neyland Stadium to provide an extra element of tailgating, and special parking for RVs allows tailgating in real comfort.