KNOXVILLE, Tenn. They start sailing up days or even weeks before kickoff, a blaze-orange armada of watercraft packed with beverages, Tennessee regalia and Volunteer fans who have turned a bend in the Tennessee River into one of the finest tailgating sorry, sailgating venues in college football. Sure, you could just tailgate on your schools quad, surrounded by academic buildings or you could enlist in the Vol Navy.
Every weekend the Vols are in town, massive yachts, tiny bass boats, stuffed-full houseboats and one-sailor dinghies tie up just outside Neyland Stadium, a massive flotilla dedicated to all things Rocky Top. Its a magnificent tradition, one thats either an every-game must-do or a one-and-done, depending on how hard you go at it before, during and after the game. If you havent yet been, youre always welcome, long as youre piloting something seaworthy.
The Vol Navys origins spring from that most relatable of gameday challenges: beating the traffic to the stadium. Neyland is one of only two college football stadiums beside a body of water Washingtons Husky Stadium, on the shores of Lake Washington, is the other which makes for a scenic vista but hellish traffic access.
In 1962, George Mooney, the longtime play-by-play man for the Vols in the 50s and 60s, hit on an innovative idea to get to the stadium: by sea rather than by land.
All the games back then were at 2:30 in the afternoon, says Bud Sherrod, a Knoxville insurance executive. We didnt have lights on the stadium. So he and a friend of his decided that traffic was such a pain in the butt that they would come up to a game in his little boat, a little runabout with probably a 30-horsepower on the back. And then he joked about it on the air, and other people caught on, and thought, Well, if he can do it, we can do it.
Sherrod, whose Vol fandom truly began when he sold Cokes at Neyland at age 12, was enamored with the fans who would sail up, scramble up the banks of the river and make their way to the stadium. I thought thatd be a lot of fun, he says with a laugh. Here we are, six decades later, and Sherrod is a longtime Vol Navy captain who pilots the 75-foot Hatteras motor yacht Cinco de Mayo.
Today, the formerly wild shore of Sherrods youth is now part of a city riverfront development that boasts multiple docks, the boathouse for Tennessees rowing team, and Calhouns, a restaurant that on game days is as lively as any in the country. T-shirt vendors selling Vol Navy gear set up on busy game days, and they never lack for customers. Vol Navy flags are visible on virtually every craft.
Plus, theres plenty of on-the-water entertainment. The boats that tie up for the Vol Navy feature everything from bands to bars, with dogs both the real and inflatable-Smokey variety visible everywhere. Stand among the Vol Navy, and youre likely to hear music blasting from a dozen different nearby speakers, and depending how close you are to kickoff a whole lot of whooping and celebrating, too.
There are some people that wear these little captain’s hats and they consider themselves to be the admiral of the fleet, Sherrod jokes. They’re the ones with the country music band and stuff on top of their boat. We don’t get that involved anymore. Now, when I was 40, yeah, I’d be down there just staying up most of the night, getting up as early as I could, but I’m not 40 anymore. We try to maintain a little decorum.
Dress code runs the gamut. The earlier games, the last couple days of August and September, youll see anything from fancy dresses to bikinis and swimwear out here, says Kevin Flint. And then as time goes on, the jackets start to replace a lot of that. Flint who did not go to Tennessee himself, but dated a bunch of girls who went to the school owns a 40-foot sailing yacht called Island Girl and, as of two weeks ago, a 60-foot houseboat called The Fourth Quarter, both of which will be dockside for the Arkansas game this weekend.
Theres both art and science involved in the Vol Navy. The art involves finding the perfect berth between the perfect neighbors; the science involves loading in everything youll need for a full game-day weekend, since theres no water or electricity available. Both require some substantial pre-planning, meaning if you wait until Saturday morning to join the Navy, youre probably in trouble.
There are some unwritten rules of the Vol Navy, the first being: tie up with your own kind. For the most part, the docks are free the donor docks at the boathouse right across the stadium are for the high-rollers but its first-come, first-docked, with some restrictions. Larger boats take one section of the river, smaller craft another, and you can probably understand why a tiny johnboat wouldnt fare too well tied up between the dock and a massive yacht.
Plus, know what youre doing at the helm of your craft. As anyone whos ever been on a busy lake knows, theres a wide variance of skill among boat drivers. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency patrols the river, keeping an eye out for would-be Navy enlistees who dont quite meet standards of behavior.
If a boat is coming in too fast and they dont look like they know what theyre doing, Flint says, TWRA will pull them over and, you know, talk with them.
Finally, be a good neighbor. For the most part, Vol fans allow others to walk across their back decks on the way to the shore. Every once in awhile someone will get a bit touchy about their space, and at that point dinghies will ferry people onto the shore.
One of the Vol Navys loudest traditions begins on Friday night, when the team leaves in a convoy of buses en route to its off-campus hotel. The Vol Navy salutes their departure up Neyland Drive and, on Saturday, their return with a fusillade of horns and cheers.
The vibrancy of the Vol Navy lands it on pretty much every greatest traditions of college football list thats ever aggregated. GameDay and the SEC Network do regular hits amongst the Navy. Three years ago, Pat McAfee, clad in orange bucket hat and checkerboard overalls, backflipped off the stern of Sherrods Cinco de Mayo:
Good thing he didnt dive; the river can get shallow that close to shore.
Even after kickoff, a substantial percentage of Vol Navy sailors never abandon their boats, preferring to watch the game or hear the cheers from the water. And whenever Tennessee scores, the boat horns sound.
Its like, lets be as loud as possible, Flint says. Neyland is loud, but we want Neyland to be able to hear us out here, too. Theres people with literal train horns on their boat.
Often, foreign navies will attempt an invasion. Alabama fans, for instance, have been known to sail up the waterways that lead to Knoxville from the Yellowhammer State. But the tide doesnt exactly roll this far from Tuscaloosa, and theyre outnumbered on every side. Fortunately, boat people being who they are among the chillest, most laid-back people on planet Earth there are rarely any incidents involving rival fans.
Those are the people that get told by multiple boat owners that they are not allowed to tie up to his or her boat anymore, Flint says. With that said, there are lots of middle fingers going up after touchdowns from both sides.
Accidents do happen, of course. Back in the day, you could be parked next to a boat, and they would be on the top of their houseboat, for example, with a charcoal grill going, Sherrod says. And the grill would be located about 10 feet above a 600-gallon gas tank. Its for that reason that the Knoxville Fire Department regularly practices catastrophe scenarios on the water none of which, thankfully, have ever been needed.
Vol Navy long-timers tell the tale of a boat that caught fire, apparently from a malfunctioning generator, and had to be untied and pushed out into the river lest it ignite the entire fleet. On a less serious level, phones, keys and laptops go into the water with regularity; Flint, whos a scuba diver, will occasionally rescue them, metal detector in hand to plumb the murky depths.
When the Volunteers win, which is happening with more frequency these days, the party keeps bobbing. And oh, if Tennessee beats one of its blood rivals
Anytime you beat Alabama or Florida, you know, you’re not gonna have a bad night that night, Flint says. When Tennessee knocked off Alabama in 2022, delirious Vol fans slung the goalposts into the river just a few yards from where the first ships of the Vol Navy were docked.
Theres a protocol to leaving, too. Whenever you go and tie up to somebody, you start talking, When do you plan to leave? Flint says. And then when youre down here enough, you start to know everybody and know the boat: These 10 boats will be here a month before the season until after the season, so theyre on the inside.
The Vol Navy brings together two truly epic American cultures: college football and boat life. In both cultures, no matter what happens, youre guaranteed to come away with a good story, drunk or sober, win or lose.
I had one Georgia fan tell me how much he loved me before the Georgia game this year, Flint says. I told him that we would be mortal enemies at 3:30, which he 100 percent agreed with. Every time Tennessee scored a touchdown or got a first down, I would look around and he would have a middle finger up at me. After the game, he came over and gave me a hug. Its just different on the water!
The Vol Navy will gather on the shores of Neyland this weekend for Tennessees game against Arkansas, and for every home weekend of the season (and playoffs?) to come. Tie up anywhere close by, Rocky Top travels remarkably well over water.