Lisa was at a faculty meeting late last week as she gears up for the new academic year in her role as Senior Lecturer at UT’s School of Journalism and Electronic Media. During one of the breaks that day, one of her colleagues brought up the topic of The Phuds.
Ah…the Phuds…I hadn’t thought of them in years until we invited a friend over for dinner a few weeks ago. He also brought up the topic and we enjoyed some hours of reminiscing.
Who were the Phuds? Well, I’m so glad you asked. The Phuds are just about one of the most successful college intramural softball teams in UT rec sports history!
Long before I had success coaching the Concord Choppers youth baseball team I served as coach of the Phuds – the College of Communication and Information intramural softball team.
The name ‘Phud’ was originally supposed to note the fact the team was made up of Ph.D. candidates and faculty members. I always thought another reason for the name was that “Phud!” was the sound the ball makes when a bat strikes it in the sweet spot before it becomes a perfect line drive.
My run with the Phuds coincided with my grad school years. Not long after I was accepted into the JEM Master’s program, I was asked to join the college softball team as a networking opportunity and social outing. Not long after joining the team, the coach was ready to pass along the torch – and the clipboard – and he hired me to do the job.
It was a fun job.
There were actually two types of Phuds teams and, at different times, I coached both of them. One was a guys’ team. I remember we won the UT intramural faculty/staff championship during the fall of ’92. We also had a mixed gender team that was quite formidable. I actually coached the team, and Lisa played on the team, during my grad school years and for a couple years after that while I served as a part-time/evening teacher.
We won intramural titles during the summer of ’93 and the summer of ’96 - my last season. Sometime, perhaps, I might add a Coach Jeff’s Blog posting discussing some of the colorful match-ups over the years. One that comes to mind was one time that we faced a team of ‘90s Vols football players competing under a fake name. Needless to say, that night spiraled into an episode of ‘Home Run Derby.’ We got creamed and laughed all the while at the ridiculous nature of the match-up.
There are some other classic Phud memories that I might consider putting on paper at a later time. Stay tuned.
All of these great moments in Phud history came rushing back after our dinner conversation a few weeks ago – and the break-time discussion at Lisa’s meeting. As I said, I hadn’t thought about the ballclub in years.
When our friend was at our place, we started talking about former teammates, and great team milestones. We wondered, aloud, about the ultimate destiny of the team? Did it fizzle after the turn of the millennium? What are the chances for some re-incarnation of the team (with different players, of course).
Eventually, talk turned to the team shirts.
I told my friend that I still had some of the shirts in a box downstairs in a box that also contained team photos scorebooks, line-up cards and team newsletters.
Once, I mentioned the newsletter – The Phud Report – during a game and a member of the other team asked, incredulously, “You guys have a newsletter?”
Proud of this fact, I replied, “Yes, we’re good softball players but even better writers!”
I went downstairs that night and retrieved the box. It included a faded purple Phuds shirt, a bright green one and the original gray. Holly and Paul immediately clamored for the shirt of their choice – Paul thought the purple one looked cool even with the odd psychedelic pattern of fading that turned parts of the purple into odd configurations of red and orange in places. Holly spoke up for the green.
As for old gray, the shirt had originally belonged to my friend and he gave it to me years ago. I mentioned this fact and encouraged him to take it. You see, he was generous enough to give me the ‘shirt off his back.’ But more importantly, he got me involved with the team and helped me to create some wonderful memories.
Getting the shirt back to its original owner just seemed like the right thing to do.
JG
Originally posted 8/19/2013
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