From 1920 to 1926, the UT Medical Units football team cut a path of destruction through college football—undefeated for three consecutive seasons and outscoring their opponents 500-44. The four-acre intramural field at UT Memphis was named UT Doctors Field in their honor in 1979. The Tennessee Docs wore orange and white uniforms, and a season ticket for seven games cost $7.50. A crowd of 4,500 saw the Docs beat Ole Miss 24-6 in their first game against a big name school in 1921. On October 27, 1923, the Doctors played Carson Newman College (Parsons against Doctors) on Shields-Watkins Field, winning 7 to 0. In 1926 the Doctors lost to the Army team from Ft. Benning, Georgia, 14-0. One of the army team’s coaches was identified in a Memphis newspaper picture as “Major Eisenhamer,” the man who 18 years later would command the Allied invasion of Europe and who became a two-term president of the United States.
Following the 1926 season, the Athletics Committee at the Medical Units voted to drop football. The Tennessee Doctors are credited by some with saving the Medical Units. The school was in financial difficulty—there were fewer than 50 students and not enough money. Rumors were abundant that the school would close. The next fall, after the first unbeaten season, enrollment doubled, and it climbed even higher the following year. By the spring of 1923, the faculty adopted a resolution-limiting enrollment.