Chris Low, ESPN Senior Scribbler
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It’s been just about 25 years, however J.R. Greene nonetheless has the pale orange supremacy hat sitting in his workplace, the similar one he frantically clutched on his head as he led Tennessee’s soccer workforce onto the farmland for the nationwide championship Fiesta Bowl recreation towards Florida Shape, a paranormal evening for the Volunteers and their fanatics.
The supremacy hat was once simply a part of his apparel. A 24-year-old pupil running on his MBA on the generation, Greene was once additionally wearing an orange-and-white tuxedo with similar orange gloves and a Energy T cummerbund.
The utmost birthday celebration crasher within the utmost generation for his cherished Vols, Greene was once the “Big Orange Tux Guy,” a word he repeated over and over again to finagle his approach onto the degree to sing “Rocky Top” with a band taking part in earlier than the sport, onto the ESPN “College GameDay” all set — and maximum improbably — onto the farmland in a type of Ferris Bueller-like odysseys that just about appears like a fairy story.
But there he was once, praying each and every short while that he “wasn’t going to end up in jail and miss the biggest game of my life,” as he raced from the Solar Satan Stadium tunnel with lecturer Phillip Fulmer, Tee Martin, Al Wilson, Peerless Value and all of the Tennessee contingent in tow.
“It’s no fairy tale. He was there. Wasn’t supposed to be, but he was there,” Fulmer joked. “I’m still not sure how he pulled it off.”
No one is — no longer even Greene, who figured the timing was once proper to inform his mind-boggling tale publicly for the primary generation. That is the twenty fifth yearly of Tennessee’s 1998 nationwide championship season, and the workforce might be commemorated Saturday at Neyland Stadium right through the sport towards South Carolina.
And, sure, Greene — a donor and lifetime fan — plans to be in attendance. He has had season tickets in his population going again to his great-grandfather, John T. O’Connor, who was once the mayor of Knoxville within the Thirties. Greene offered systems at Tennessee wearing occasions as a center faculty pupil within the Nineteen Eighties.
Just lately, Greene dug out his vintage tux from the closet, however he wouldn’t dare fracture it again out to put on this weekend.
“Oh no, I’m 1-0, unbeaten,” Greene mentioned. “I only wear the tux for championship games.”
GREENE HAD HIS tux on dazzling and early 25 years in the past, launch that Jan. 4, 1999, morning within the foyer of his lodge. He was once able to turn it off, have some a laugh and ship a message. However by no means in his wildest desires did Greene envision that a number of hours upcoming, he could be eminent the Tennessee workforce out onto the farmland.
“Everything sort of perfectly fell into place, and every time somebody asked me who I was or what I was doing, I would just say, ‘I’m J.R. Greene, the Big Orange Tux Guy. I’m here to show Tennessee has class,'” Greene recounted. “That’s all it was about.”
A minimum of, that’s how it began.
Like many Tennessee fanatics, Greene was once ruffled over comments made by means of ESPN’s Chris Fowler a 12 months previous. In referencing the nasty backlash and warnings directed at him by means of some Tennessee fanatics over Peyton Manning no longer profitable the Heisman Trophy, Fowler old the time period “trailer park frenzy,” one thing he has apologized for a number of instances. Fowler if truth be told voted for Manning within the Heisman voting that 12 months.
Sarcastically, Greene mentioned, Fowler performed a an important function in his getting onto the farmland that night in Tempe, Arizona. Greene controlled to move his approach onto the “GameDay” all set by means of mountaineering up the again stairs from the farmland. He had ran into ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit the evening earlier than in Scottsdale and advised Herbstreit he was once committing to put on an orange-and-white tux to the sport.
“He told me if I showed up in an orange-and-white tux that he’d get me on ‘GameDay,'” Greene recalled.
Crawford Wagner, one in every of Greene’s pals who made the go back and forth to the Fiesta Bowl, recalls that dialog. Now, Wagner had negative concept Greene would achieve success in making his option to the ESPN all set, however having a look again, he’s no longer shocked.
“J.R. has always been a guy that could sell things and would usually end up in places you didn’t necessarily expect to see him,” Wagner mentioned.
Greene’s penchant for appearing up in such playgrounds was at every other degree next his Fiesta Bowl escapades. Upcoming in 1999, he advised his tale to screeners for “The Price is Right” and made it on degree as a contestant at the Bob Barker-hosted recreation display. In 2001, next taking a role in Los Angeles, he offered himself to actor Hugh Handover pace on the Beverly Hilton and adopted him into the fairway room on the Yellowish Globe Awards, the place he rubbed elbows with Dick Clark, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise.
“Let’s just say the confidence I gained from being the Big Orange Tux Guy that night changed my future,” Greene mentioned.
Herbstreit was once in best his 3rd 12 months of doing “GameDay” right through the 1998 season, and now, next visiting such a lot of venues and encountering such a lot of blissful fanatics over time, he doesn’t in particular have in mind the “Big Orange Tux Guy.” Nevertheless, he thinks Greene’s eagerness is the type of factor that makes faculty soccer distinctive.
“His story adds up because there were back steps to the field, and our set was right in the middle of the Tennessee section,” Herbstreit mentioned. “The thing I remember most is that I picked Tennessee, and when Peerless caught that first deep pass, I almost came out of my seat because, especially back in those days, you were married to your picks.”
Fowler has what he referred to as a dense recollection of Greene and the irregularity of his appearing up at the all set with an orange-and-white tux, which had some customized “tailoring,” because of Greene’s creativity.
Greene’s first struggle to dye a tux orange ended up as extra of a peach colour. So he purchased every other tux and coloured within the lapels and alternative gardens with an orange charm marker.
“That’s not real. You’re not a real mascot,” Greene recalls Fowler telling him because the “GameDay” host moved in nearer and learned the orange was once coloured in with a marker. “But if you’ve got the guts to do that and come up here, why don’t you walk down to the field with us?”
Greene, nervously having a look round to look whether or not any safety guards may well be zeroing in on him, went bopping alongside in the back of the ESPN duo indisposed the stairs.
“I remember we had a big net around us, and there were thousands of whiskey bottles on top when we were done with the show,” Fowler mentioned. “The Tennessee fans were so hyped to be in that game. But [Greene] looked the part, so I can see why nobody would stop him.
“Hi there, if I helped him get indisposed at the farmland by hook or by crook, I’m happy, particularly if he was once committing to put together that more or less constancy. Someplace, that matches right into a chaotic cap to what was once a chaotic season.
“Why not have a guy who’s not supposed to be there running around on the field?”
GREENE HAD ALREADY morphed into a celeb of types previous within the future as a sea of charged-up Tennessee fanatics tailgated out of doors the stadium. It were just about 50 years for the reason that Vols had endmost received a countrywide championship, going the entire as far back as the times of mythical lecturer Gen. Robert Neyland.
“You could feel the energy and the anticipation. It was like the whole state of Tennessee was there,” Greene mentioned.
Greene flew to the sport with friends Robbie Pope and Mark Sykes. He was once to begin with committing to put on the tux at the aircraft, however Pope satisfied him that might be sinful success. Rather, Pope talked Greene into getting up onto a degree right through pregame festivities and making a song with the band.
“J.R. said something about getting up there and singing ‘Rocky Top’ and was going to chicken out,” Pope mentioned.
The later factor Pope knew, ever-persistent Greene was once on the nook of the degree seeking to get the drummer’s consideration. A hulking safety secure dressed in all unlit requested Greene who he was once, and Greene advised him he was once there to sing “Rocky Top.” The secure advised Greene he had to communicate to the drummer, who was once proper in the midst of a tune. After all, the drummer angrily motioned for Greene to attend, and next the tune, the drummer accrued the band in combination and put a headset on Greene.
Having a look out into the folk and optical the entire orange, Greene bellowed, “Who’s going to win the national championship?”
And proper on cue, the band needy right into a rendition of “Rocky Top.” The one disease was once Greene iced over and forgot the phrases.
“All I knew was the chorus,” he mentioned bashfully. “Thankfully, the band bailed me out and started singing. One of the guys started playing the fiddle.”
Simply as Greene began to belt out “Rocky Top, you’ll always be home sweet home to me,” he pointed to 2 ladies from the target market to secured him on degree, they usually related palms for a negligible nation dancing twirl.
Out within the folk, his pals may just best surprise what may occur later.
“We were probably 100 feet away from the stage, and vintage J.R., when he forgot the words, he ad-libbed and ran with it, which he’s good at,” Wagner mentioned.
Pope mentioned when Greene hopped off the degree, everyone concept he was once a celeb and swarmed him for footage, and that’s when the legend of the “Big Orange Tux Guy” in reality ignited.
“I didn’t want it to end. The rush was incredible,” Greene mentioned.
IN THOSE DAYS, there have been negative virtual tickets, simply paper tickets that have been torn on the gate as you entered the stadium. Greene, who by means of now was once separated from his pals, didn’t need his price ticket to be torn and began having a look round for otherwise to get into the sport. (Greene nonetheless has the price ticket intact and was once ready to get the Expression of the Vols, radio broadcaster John Ward, to signal it.)
Greene walked across the out of doors of the stadium, scouting out other entrances. He spotted bowl officers, media and alternative workforce group of workers going thru a different front coated with velvet ropes.
Indisputably, he concept to himself as his self belief was once effervescent, anyone dressed in an orange-and-white tuxedo and supremacy hat would glance reputable plethora to go into there.
“I thought, ‘Why not?'” he mentioned. “Even then, I wasn’t thinking about getting onto the field. I just wanted to get into the game without my ticket being torn.
“I had negative cross, negative credentials, negative not anything.”
Keep in mind this was pre-9/11, and security measures weren’t nearly as stringent as they are today. Greene strolled right through the participants entrance smiling and nodding at the security personnel the whole way. Within minutes, he found himself in the bowels of Sun Devil Stadium, just off the field. One of the first people he saw was Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, who took a cursory glance at him and kept walking.
“I’m form of shaking at this level, pinching myself. I ruthless, I’m strolling out onto the farmland the place Tennessee’s on the point of play games for the nationwide championship,” Greene said.
Then he noticed the back stairway to the “GameDay” location. He thought about it (for about two seconds), then climbed up awkwardly and pushed open a little wooden door to the back of the set.
“Herbstreit sees me and buries his forehead into his arm as though to mention, ‘He in reality wore an orange-and-white tux,'” Greene said. “I stored looking ahead to anyone to return kick me out they usually by no means did.”
Anything but bashful, Greene approached Herbstreit and Fowler. To this day, he is grateful they were his escorts back onto the field and eventually to the most exhilarating run of his life.
“I do know Chris Fowler had grow to be the enemy of Tennessee fanatics, however had he no longer invited me to progress backtrack to the farmland with them, there wouldn’t be any ‘Obese Orange Tux Man’ tale,” Greene said. “I’ve were given not anything sinful to mention about him.”
Once they all got down to the field, kickoff was fast approaching, and Fowler and Herbstreit went about their business. Greene, his heart pounding, saw a member of the Tennessee dance team he knew and hugged her. By then, he was near the front of the Tennessee tunnel to the locker room, where the cheerleaders, mascots and other members of the Vols’ spirit squad were gathering.
Nobody knew who he was or what he was doing there.
Adam DeVault, who wore the Davy Crockett outfit and carried the giant orange “T” flag onto the field, remembers seeing Greene out of the corner of his eye.
“That’s the one reason why I have in mind,” DeVault said. “It was once any such weighty recreation with such a lot happening. Not anything is commonplace a couple of recreation like that, in reality. I assumption I thought he was once a donor that had paid a dozen of cash to expire with the workforce. I know I’d had been lunatic had he run over in entrance of me.”
As the minutes counted down to the Tennessee players filling the tunnel, Greene felt a tap on his shoulder.
“Hi there, we’re already on the NCAA restrict for mascots,” Greene remembers someone from Tennessee telling him.
To this day, Greene doesn’t know who it was.
“I simply know that I used to be certain after that it was once over, that I used to be committing to prison,” he said.
Barry Garner was in charge of the Tennessee spirit squad that day, filling in for regular coordinator Joy Postell-Gee, who missed the trip at the last minute because she was close to giving birth. (“I dislike to mention it, however it will had been a special result for [Greene] if I were there,” Postell-Gee said. “He would have by no means made it onto the farmland.”)
The scene was chaotic, including the opposing players jawing at each other in the locker room area as they neared the tunnel. Garner said he might have alerted authorities if Greene had appeared any earlier.
“That is actually mins earlier than we ran out. We’re ready on Professor Fulmer and observing for him, and after you glance on your facet and this man with an orange tuxedo is solely status there,” Garner recalled.
“I mentioned one thing like, “Who are you? What are you here for?”
Greene’s reaction was once a regular one: “I’m the Big Orange Tux Guy.”
Garner checked out him quizzically and requested, “Wait, are you supposed to lead us onto the field or something?”
Forgetting for a couple of seconds his Eagle Scout vow to all the time inform the reality, Greene nervously nodded his head sure, to which Garner answered, “Well, let’s go, lead us to a national championship.”
Greene, in fact, was once oblivious to the workforce’s regimen for operating onto the farmland, which integrated Fulmer pointing and pronouncing “Go,” and after Smokey, the Vols’ bluetick coonhound mascot, being led out first, adopted by means of Davy Crockett (DeVault) wearing the workforce flag, the costumed model of Smokey, the cheerleaders and after the workforce. However a minimum of Greene knew to stick to the proper.
One in all Smokey’s handlers warned Greene proper earlier than they ran out that Smokey preferred to zigzag and that if Greene were given tripped up and fell, he could be trampled by means of the gamers as a result of they wouldn’t cancel.
Willis Jepson, who was once the manage handler for Smokey that season, laughed when requested in regards to the wild scene.
“I was so busy trying to keep Smokey calm because so much was going on that I can’t say I remember any of that, but it sure sounds like something we would say,” Jepson mentioned. “That’s funny, though. We’re getting ready to play for a national championship, and we’ve got some guy running out there with us that nobody knows who he is.”
Greene didn’t simply run. He stored operating. Because the workforce grew to become left towards the sideline, he sprinted out towards midfield by means of himself earlier than knowing that he had to put together a left flip.
In the meantime, just about an era had handed since Greene’s pals had endmost discoverable him. They have been already within the stadium. Observing from his seat within the reverse finish zone, Blaine Cloud’s visible opened vast as he noticed the Tennessee workforce come racing onto the farmland.
“Coming right toward us was J.R.,” mentioned Cloud, who was once in trade faculty with Greene and whose seats for the sport have been akin Greene’s. “I’d seen him in the tux earlier in the day, but he was moving around all over the place. I didn’t know where he was. Knowing J.R., he could have been anywhere, including jail.”
However operating out with the workforce?
“We’re yelling and screaming. There he was, right next to Smokey,” Cloud mentioned. “It’s still hard to believe how everything had to align just right for him to be out there.”
Pope by no means noticed Greene at the farmland. And when Greene in any case were given to his seats someday within the first quarter, Pope didn’t imagine his good friend’s tale.
“I just told him he was full of s—, but that’s what I usually told him about those things,” Pope mentioned. “I wasn’t inclined to believe him at first blush because I wasn’t looking for him on the field. Nobody was. I needed some corroboration, and I guess I didn’t really believe it until I saw the video when we got back home.”
One in all Greene’s pals, Meredith Christenberry, had a camcorder on the recreation and recorded the Vols’ front. The video obviously displays Greene making his run for the ages.
Greene remained at the sideline in the back of the gamers and cheerleaders for a part of the primary quarter. He figured he was once residing on borrowed generation by means of after. Plus, he mentioned, he couldn’t see the sport, so he discovered his option to his seats.
Christi Meadows Dorsey was once a Tennessee cheerleader that season. Through the generation the sport began, pledge it appears began to unfold amongst bowl officers that there was once an unauthorized particular person at the Vols’ sideline.
“Somebody came over there, and we all got a little scolding that everybody had to have the right credentials to be on the field,” she mentioned. “I didn’t notice [Greene] at the time, but it started getting around. It was bizarre. Even all these years later, it’s bizarre.”
Upcoming the sport, the cheerleaders and spirit squad contributors have been on a bus celebrating Tennessee’s 23-16 victory over Florida Shape when the Obese Orange Tux Man got here up in dialog.
“We’d just won a national championship, and that’s what we were talking about,” Meadows Dorsey recalled. “At the same time, we were all trying to figure out who this guy was and where he came from.”
That man was once the Obese Orange Tux Man, the man with “class” and the man who dared to continue to exist the wild facet that historical evening for Tennessee soccer 1 / 4 century in the past.
Some tales develop to the purpose of turning into myths over generation. However no longer this one.
“This isn’t a Bigfoot or Sasquatch thing or just a wild rumor,” DeVault mentioned. “He was there. I saw him, and there are pictures to prove it.”
The one factor lacking is a Obese Orange Footprint.
