When Coach Ray Mears took over the Tennessee basketball program in 1962, the Vols had won just 4 games in the previous season. He quickly built the Vols into an SEC power, winning three titles and finishing no lower than third in 10 other seasons. The Ernie & Bernie era was the climax of Coach Mears 15-year tenure at the helm of the Vols basketball program. Ernie Grunfeld and Bernard King, the high scoring forward tandem from New York City, dominated the Southeastern Conference scoring charts for three seasons during the mid 70’s- resulting in the now famous “double trouble” picture (adjacent) that appeared on the cover of Sport Illustrated in April, 1976.

Grunfeld became the Vols all-time leading scorer with 2249 points by the end of his four-year career ( broken by Allan Houston a few seasons ago), while King tallied 1962 points in three seasons. Ernie & Bernie both moved onto the NBA, and after retiring as players, Grunfeld has stayed in the league as the General Manger of the New York Knocks. King is retired and now lives in Atlanta with his family.

During Coach Mears tenure, the terms ‘Big Orange’ and the ‘Tennessee Volunteers’ were coined, and the marketing mayhem Coach Mears brought to the various league venues- Harlem Globetrotter style drills, jugglers, the band forming the ‘T’ on the floor of Stokely, and the general rowdiness of the standing room only student sections- only added to the hey days of Vol basketball that culminated with the Ernie & Bernie show. The Big Game was the Kentucky game, much as it is today, and ‘Double Trouble’ lost only once to the blue in King’s frosh year winning 5 straight thereafter. To this day, Grunfeld is often remembered not scoring 43 points against Kentucky his senior year- rather his two free throws he hit to seal the win. And if you were lucky enough to King play, well, in the immortal words of John Ward, the Vols legendary broadcaster, “ladies and gentleman- he can play the game”