RTI contributor Noah Taylor is the author of this article
Former Tennessee head coach Johnny Majors is still being remembered nearly a month after his death.
Majors passed away on June 3rd at the age of 85, leaving behind a legendary college football career as an All-American player for the Vols and an impressive head coaching career that included a national championship at Pittsburgh and several SEC titles at Tennessee.
On July 3rd, ESPNU will air “Johnny Majors: Straight Ahead,” an hour-long documentary that will focus on Majors’ life and contributions to the game of college football.
VFL Films produced the documentary, and it will air on the network at 8 p.m. and then again on July 5th on WVLT Channel 8 in Knoxville at noon Eastern.
Prior to the documentary, ESPNU will air five hours worth of Majors’ coverage, including the 1991 Sugar Bowl between Tennessee and Virginia at 6 p.m.
In that Sugar Bowl game, the SEC Champion Vols scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to come from behind and beat the Caviler 23-22.
As a player between 1954-1956, Majors was twice named the SEC’s Most Valuable Player, as well as an All-American in 1956. That same season, Majors was a Heisman Trophy finalist, finishing second to Notre Dame’s Paul Hornung.
After winning a national championship at Pittsburgh in 1976, Majors returned to his alma mater and coached Tennessee to three SEC Championships and two Sugar Bowls from 1977 through 1992.
Majors’ most impressive win as UT’s head coach came in the 1986 Sugar Bowl when the Vols routed the heavily favored and No. 2 ranked Miami Hurricanes, 35-7, in the Superdome in New Orleans.
Majors was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987.
