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The UT Docs

In the fall, Southerners' fancies turn to football, and, in the 1920s, football included the amazing UT Docs. 

In 1920, the University of Tennessee School of Medicine was struggling to attract students, staff, and money. Students organized an informal team, the UT Docs. They played a few games, and they won. By 1922, they were better organized, better financed, and had hired a coach.

The first game that season was on October 7. They beat Southwestern Presbyterian University 45-0. Their biggest win that season was a 32-0 drubbing of Ole Miss. The Docs were undefeated that year and the next season.

The team had the advantage of using players who had played college football before entering med school. They attracted a lot of local support, and went undefeated during three seasons.

Whether because of that, or other causes, enrollment increased from 56 to 400 during those years. The team was disbanded in 1926, largely because of faculty disapproval of medical students engaging in intercollegiate athletics.

But the UT Docs went out as champions.

To learn more about all of our region's history, visit the Pink Palace Family of Museums, or on Facebook, or at http://www.memphismuseums.org.