When Charlie Fulton saved the day for the Vols vs. Auburn in 1967

Charlie Fulton ran one way and Richard Pickens ran another. As the Tennessee quarterback and tailback split apart, the ball laid on the turf at the 40-yard line. The Vols’ offense, which had overcome the loss of starting quarterback Dewey Warren earlier in the afternoon to put themselves on the doorstep of the knockout punch against Auburn, had made their first glaring mistake clinging to a one-score lead late in the third quarter at Neyland Stadium on Sept. 30, 1967. Two weeks earlier, Tennessee had given up a fourth quarter lead in a 20-16 loss to UCLA at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Now, the Vols were on their heels again. Tigers’ quarterback Loran Carter escaped the grasp of the Tennessee pass-rush on the first play of the ensuing drive, completing a pass to Dwight Hurston for 12 yards to the Vols’ 28. Two plays later, he was pinned by Steve Kiner. Kiner knocked the ball loose, Jimmy Glover pounced on it and Auburn never threatened again. Fulton got another chance at burying the dagger, this time leading an inspired 82-yard touchdown drive that put the finishing touch on a 27-13 Tennessee triumph that paved the way to the program’s first SEC title in more than a decade. “Before the boogyman gets you, please take back all of those bad things you’ve been thinking about Tennessee,” the Knoxville News-Sentinel’s Marvin West wrote. “The Orangemen aren’t so ill after all. In fact, they may have gotten well (Saturday) at Neyland Stadium before 54,113 who will testify that the Volunteers are much better than two weeks ago.” Tennessee entered that season with hope. The Vols closed out 1966 winning six of their last seven games, including an 18-12 win over Syracuse in the Gator Bowl to finish with eight wins for the second-straight season under head coach Doug Dickey. Warren, who burst onto the scene halfway through the 1965 season, was now Tennessee’s unquestioned leader at quarterback and Ken DeLong, Richmond Flowers, Walter Chadwick and Pickens made up one of the top offenses in the SEC playing behind All-American center Bob Johnson. The defense had an embarrassment of riches between Jack Reynolds and Kiner, who were early in All-American careers at linebacker and a secondary that featured Albert Dorsey, Benny Dalton, Bill Young and Jim Weatherford. All the Vols needed to do now to prove they were back among the college football elite was beat Alabama and win a conference championship. Tennessee was tested right out of the gate, going up against soon-to-be Heisman Trophy winner Gary Beban and UCLA in Los Angeles in week 1. It was a rematch of the 1965 game in Memphis, when Warren capped a do-or-die drive with a game-winning touchdown run in the final minute to win, 37-34. In a flip of the script, it was Beban this time that played the role of hero, scoring on a 27-yard touchdown run to bring the Bruins from behind to beat the Vols late. Missed tackles proved costly for Tennessee, none more than on Beban’s game-winning run. UCLA gashed the Vols’ defense for more than 300 rushing yards. “We’ve got to get better and we don’t have much time to talk about it,” Tennessee defensive coordinator told reporters in an otherwise silent visiting locker room at the Coliseum. The Vols’ goal of an SEC Championship remained, but they needed a better performance in their league opener against Shug Jordan’s Auburn team to get those dreams off on solid footing with games against Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss on the schedule. “If we win, we could go on to a fine season,” Dickey told reporters. “If we lose, we’ll have to fight like everything to be 5-5 this year.” After opening the season on the other side of the country and a week off to ponder defeat, demand to see Tennessee play in Knoxville against a rival was high. The game was deemed a sellout early in the week and student tickets that weren’t claimed sold out quickly down the street at Stokely Athletic Center 24 hours before kickoff. A pep-rally was held that Friday night inside Neyland Stadium with Dickey and the team in attendance. As fans poured into the stadium to fill seats, a new voice echoed through the public address system. It belonged to Bobby Denton, a disc jockey at WIVK. It was the first of 46 years as the voice of Tennessee’s football cathedral. The Vols’ run game set an early tone. On a day in which Tennessee racked up 421 yards of total offense, Chadwick ate up 20 yards on a run to set it up inside 20. Pickens inched closer with a 8-yard run to the 3 and Warren paid it off with a touchdown pass to DeLong to go up, 7-0 early. Auburn answered quickly, going 76 yards in nine plays to draw even in the first couple of minutes of the second quarter. The Vols marched right back into Tigers’ territory, reaching the 26 before DeLong coughed up the ball at the end of a catch. A few plays later, Auburn took a 10-7 lead on a field goal. Tennessee needed an answer. It struck out for much of the rest of the half until Warren pump faked a pass and handed the ball off to Pickens for a 13-yard gain. Chadwick followed it up with 10 more, back to the Auburn 26. Fulton ran for 12, Warren darted a pass to DeLong that went to the 1 and Warren finished off the advance with a touchdown run to go in front again, 14-10. Auburn, aided by a failed onside kick by Tennessee, took advantage of short field position and hit another field goal at the end of the half to trim the Vols’ lead. Despite the Tigers’ momentum swing at the intermission, Tennessee’s offense kept rolling in the early-going of the third quarter. Then Warren took off for a first down. He lowered his shoulder and tried to power forward until an Auburn player’s helmet clashed with his knee. Warren laid on the turf before being helped off by trainers. Dickey called for Fulton. It wasn’t an unfamiliar spot for Fulton. He had quarterbacked the Vols much of the 1965 season until he twisted his ankle fighting for extra yards against Ole Miss at Memphis Memorial Stadium. Warren, then a sophomore with very little playing experience, took over, nearly led Tennessee to an upset in Dickey’s second season and was the starting quarterback for the next two seasons. Now, it was Warren limping to the sideline as Fulton came in to fill the role of hero. On his first drive at quarterback, Fulton accounted for much of the 47 yards Tennessee gained. He ran right, then left, churning up turf behind strong blocking. He kept the drive going when the Vols needed five yards and he ran for six. Tennessee was within striking distance, but the Auburn defense forced Dickey to make a decision on fourth down. The offense stayed on the field. Fulton pitched for Chadwick and he ran past Tigers’ defenders and into the end zone untouched, firing the ball off into the stands on the north end of Neyland Stadium as the Vols swelled their lead to 20-13. During an offseason speaking circuit around the state, members of the Big Orange Booster Club in Chattanooga told Fulton they would be happy to keep covering the cost of the footballs he lost to fans on his signature scoring celebration. “I hope my friends there don’t forget about what they said about paying for the footballs I lose,” Chadwick quipped after the game. When Fulton and Tennessee got the ball back two possessions later, they were on the brink of putting it away. The botched exchange between Fulton and Pickens gave Auburn new life, but the Vols’ defensive stand that followed put on full display that this team was different then the one that struggled in Los Angeles 14 days before. It was even more evident in the fourth quarter, when Tennessee had the ball around midfield. It was third-and-six and the Vols needed to extend the drive to keep chewing clock. Fulton tried to hand the ball off, but the play broke down when the tailback went the wrong way. He tucked the ball, reversed course and took off, covering 16 yards before Auburn defenders were able to bring him down. Six plays later, Chadwick landed the haymaker, scoring his second touchdown and again tossing a souvenir into the stands. Fulton finished 167 all-purpose yards, including 119 rushing. “I’m sure glad I didn’t mess up,” Fulton told the sporting press. Tennessee won the rest of the games on its schedule, thumping Alabama, 24-13 two weeks later on its way to the SEC title and an Orange Bowl berth against Oklahoma. The win over Auburn was the catalyst. “We all got together to do the job,” Vols center Bob Johnson said. “It’s more fun that way.”