I am a member of the Tennessee cross country and track team who ran during the Coach Rohe era from 1964 until 1968. My fondest memory of Neyland Stadium was running interval 440’s around the cinder track that used to be outside the football field. Coach Rohe would time us and we usually would run 40 x 440 with a 70 second rest on Monday’s. When were were finished, the cross country team had its locker room under the stadium where we would get a shower. Then, it was off to Gibbs Hall where we would sit down to dinner on the training table and eat like ravished wolves after expending all that energy running 40 x 440.
When I came back to Tennessee in 2014 for a cross country and track team reunion, I was in the book store in the student union. There was a family there looking at a present day picture of Neyland Stadium. I casually told them that I was a member of the cross country and track team during the Coach Rohe era and that there was a track around the football field. I mentioned that one of our workouts was running 40 quarters on the cinder track and that the stadium was open at the north end forming a horse shoe. There was no second deck and the stadium was not a closed oval like it is today. They listened to what I had to say with great interest and they were fascinated that I happened to be in the student union and was able to share the memory of the cinder track around the football field and the stadium being open like a horse shoe. Go Vols!
– Paul Ladniak