Tennessee is getting ready to honor one of its greatest players, and they’ve chosen a big date - the March 1 game when in-state rival Vanderbilt comes to Thompson-Boling - as the perfect time for the ceremony.
The Vols will run Dale Ellis’ number 14 jersey to the rafters in front of a rabid, partisan crowd, and a national television audience. The game is set to be shown on one of the ESPN networks.
Ellis was a two-time All-American and SEC player of the year, back-to-back in the 1982 and 1983 seasons. As Brendan F. Quinn of the Knoxville News-Sentinel pointed out, Ellis would have been higher on the list had he played in a later era:
Ellis had nine career 30+-point games in his Vols career, including a 30-point effort against Vanderbilt on January 29, 1983.