Mark Wiedmer: UTC's new athletic complex may make late Bucky Wolford greatest Moc ever

Mar. 27—According to Chattanooga businessman and entrepreneur John "Thunder" Thornton, the late Bucky Wolford's first meeting as a member of the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees went something like this:

As was/is the custom on the gathering of a new board, the members were all asked to introduce themselves and give a very brief summation of their lives and why being on the board meant something to them. Most wrapped up their comments with something about "bleeding UT orange." But when Wolford's turn arrived, the former star running back for the University of Chattanooga Mocs announced, "I bleed blue and gold, and I always will."

In the ultimate tribute to such loyalty and passion, the power brokers and highest-ranking administrators at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga ceremonially broke ground Friday morning on what will become Wolford's enduring legacy — the Wolford Family Athletic Center.

At least a decade, if not longer, in planning, the 60,000-square-foot facility, which will be attached to McKenzie Arena, will benefit all 300 or so of the school's student-athletes, none more than its football players.

"It's going to change our kids' daily lives," UTC football coach Rusty Wright said. "It's going to make us have one of the top two or three facilities in the Southern Conference."

Few men have more dramatically changed the expected direction of their own lives more than James L. "Bucky" Wolford, who died in September 2017 after a lengthy illness. Raised in Kimberly, Alabama, just north of Birmingham, his father was both a coal miner and a revival preacher who struggled mightily to make ends meet for his family.

Said Thornton during an emotional speech concerning his longtime friend: "The first night Bucky stayed anywhere with indoor plumbing was the first night he was on this campus as a football player."

But if the family lacked material wealth, his father nevertheless instilled the timeless values of honesty, integrity and hard work in his son. Wolford was both the captain of his high school football team and president of the school's National Honor Society chapter.

"He was the toughest, fairest, sweetest guy I ever met," Thornton said. "The greatest smile. He was a magnet for people everywhere."

He was clearly the magnet the UTC athletic department needed to encourage donors to finally build the athletic complex. After all, this had been in the works for at least a decade, ever since Russ Huesman — a UTC alum who was the school's football coach at the time — convinced chancellor Steven Angle in 2013 that "the quality of our facilities are not an indication of the quality of our program."

Even years before that, when Huesman's predecessor Rodney Allison was still in charge, there were already serious discussions about the need for such a facility for football locker and training rooms, locker rooms for men's and women's basketball, training and equipment facilities, coaches' offices, pretty much anything you might hope for that would cost a total of $34 million and serve the entire athletic department.

"We'll even be able to seat 300 people for a meal," Angle said Friday morning. "It should be finished two years from now, hopefully a little earlier. But we're going to do it right."

There hasn't been a lot right about McKenzie for more than 20 years. Merely consider this single story to frame an entire facility's state of decline: Back in 1994, a training room on the ground floor was converted into an office space. As part of the transition, a sink was pulled from the wall. Some 28 years later, the hole where the sink once stood is still visible.

Forever a proud and loyal Moc as he built the hugely successful Wolford Development, Inc., his own retail shopping center company, Wolford was determined to spearhead the athletic complex project with the same determination that helped him lead the Mocs in interceptions as a defensive back in both his freshman and sophomore years before becoming the team's leading rusher his junior season. No wonder he was named a "Little All-American," as players below the Division I level were honored in those days.

He lobbied business leaders, state legislatures, anyone he thought could make a difference. A little less than five years after his death, and with Thornton picking up the torch, it is now a reality.

Or as UTC vice chancellor Kim White noted Friday: "This building addition is such a fitting way to put an exclamation point on all of the years of service Bucky gave to this university."

It is a tribute to the whole Wolford family, beginning with Wolford's wonderful widow Diane, who first caught Bucky's eye one afternoon when the football team was waiting for the UC marching band to finish practice.

Of his first glance of Diane, one of the majorettes, Wolford later told a UT system publication: "They were marching downfield, and she was up in front with her baton, twirling, and that was the most beautiful lady I'd ever seen in my life. Two weeks later, I had my first date with her and I can tell you it was on Nov. 11, 1967."

Two years later they were married, a union that lasted a magical 48 years. Their sons Clint and Chad later arrived. Then grandchildren.

Added White: "We cannot thank the Wolford family enough for their continued generosity."

There will never be enough Bucky Wolfords in the world, servant leaders driven to leave the world a better place than they'd found it. Anytime you were in his presence, he would never talk about what he was doing for UTC, but rather all the school had done for him.

"This was Bucky's dream for years," Diane said Friday. "He loved this place so much."

Now, thanks to that dream coming true, Chattanooga will forever more know that Wolford gave back to the school he so loved at least as much as the Blue and Gold ever gave him.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @TFPWeeds.