BIG ORANGE TIPOFF CLUB

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, February 22, 2007
Contact: Mark Hancock, Media & Public Relations, Phone (865) 522-8547,
or Hilary Phillips, E-Mail: tipoff@utfan.com

ESPN’S WOODY PAIGE, U.T. ALUMNUS, TO BE BIG ORANGE TIPOFF CLUB SPEAKER AT FOUNDRY AT WORLD’S FAIR PARK ON TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 27^TH

The Big Orange Tipoff Club is proud to announce its next scheduled meeting this coming Tuesday evening, February 27, at 7:00 p.m., at the Foundry at World’s Fair Park in Downtown Knoxville, where a buffet dinner for only $20, including a variety of entrees and side dishes, drink, dessert, etc., will be served. That is just before the big Senior Night UT-Florida men's basketball game in Knoxville, with UT alumnus and ESPN personality Woody Paige as the featured speaker. It will be our last weekly meeting of the season.

There is plenty of parking available, but please plan to arrive as early as possible to enjoy all of the festivities. The Foundry will open the cash bar at 5:30 p.m. and the buffet lines at 6:00 p.m. to accommodate what is expected to be another overflow standing-room-only crowd to hear Woody, who is widely known and much in demand as a speaker.

BIG ORANGE TIPOFF CLUB PHOTO GALLERY: We have been working on getting our photo gallery online. We have all of the archives up now from last season, courtesy of our website host, Carl Swanson, of utfan.com. Most of the photos from last season are courtesy of Big Orange Tipoff Club Charter Member Jerry Upchurch. You can download any of them that you want from the following link:

http://www.utfan.com/volgallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3118

You can also access the Photo Gallery from our main website, www.utfan.com/tipoff , as there is now a link to it from the main home page. We are working with Megan Ellis to get all of the photos from this season online, too, as well as with both Jerry and Megan to get all of our photos from bus trips to the away games online. We hope you enjoy this pictorial record of our club’s activities. Please feel free to use the photos to accompany any media coverage about our club. We will have them captioned soon, so please keep checking back for identification of those pictured in the photos.

THIS WEEK’S VOL & LADY VOL BASKETBALL CALENDAR: UT Men’s Head Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl is also expected to be in attendance to say a few words about his team’s big game with Florida coming up that night, as well as reviewing the big home win over Alabama, the game on Saturday at Arkansas, and also looking ahead to the trip to Georgia a week from this coming Saturday to end the regular season. UT Lady Vols Head Coach Pat Summitt will also hopefully be in attendance to speak to us, to review her team’s big televised Senior Day home game with Vanderbilt to end the season a week from Sunday, as well as give us a preview her team’s upcoming trip to the SEC Tournament, which for the first time will be played in Duluth, Georgia.

The fact that both UT’s men’s and women’s basketball teams are drawing capacity crowds and are ranked high in the college RPI, will drive attendance upward for this meeting. UT Men’s and Women’s Athletics Directors Mike Hamilton and Joan Cronan are also expected to be on hand.

BUS TRIP TO GEORGIA MEN’S GAME IN ATHENS: The Club is sponsoring bus trips to the Georgia men’s basketball game in Athens, on Saturday, March 3. Coach Bruce Pearl has encouraged all Vol fans to go on the road to support the team as they attempt to sweep the Bulldogs this season. Everyone who went on the trip to South Carolina last weekend had a wonderful time. We have arranged through our corporate sponsor, Premier Transportation, for nonstop luxury motorcoach roundtrip transportation, meals and entertainment en route, and tickets to the games, all for only $99 per person. This is a day-only trip that leaves Knoxville mid-morning before the game and returns immediately after the game.

We will have sign-up forms at the meeting for those who are interested in going to Georgia, and will take your check or credit card number to secure your place. We would also encourage you, however, to download the form on our website, www.utfan.com/tipoff and to email Hilary Phillips at tipoff@utfan.com immediately or call Lloyd Richardson at 588-5433 or fax him at 588-2083 if you have an interest in making next weekend’s Georgia trip, so that we can secure enough game tickets for everyone. The form is also attached to this email for you to print out.

FEBRUARY 27 SECOND-ANNUAL PRE-GAME BASH AND SEASON FINALE EVENING DINNER GALA EVENT TICKET ORDER FORM ATTACHED: The Big Orange Tipoff Club is proud to announce its second-annual pre-game bash and season finale evening dinner gala event, on Tuesday evening, February 27, at 6:45 p.m., at The Foundry at World’s Fair Park in Downtown Knoxville, where a buffet dinner will be served. UT alumnus, Denver Post journalist, and nationally-known ESPN television personality Woody Paige will be speaking just prior to the final Senior Night home UT men’s basketball game against Florida, which tips off at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, February 27.

The UT cheerleaders and Big Orange Banditos Band will be there as well, making it a festive pre-game pep rally. Dress is “game casual”, so whatever you plan to wear to the game, jeans, sweater, etc., is fine. We are keeping things very informal and prices low so it is affordable for the whole family or all your clients. A special commemorative "thank you" collectible gift will be given to everyone that you don't want to miss.

Tickets are only $20 for members, $25 for guests, and $250 for a reserved table of 10, and are now on sale. Many tables have already been reserved and space is limited. The cash bars will open at 5:30 p.m. and the buffet lines will begin at 6:00 p.m., with the program to start at 7:00 p.m. The event will be over by 8:00 p.m., in plenty of time to get to the big game or to get home to watch it on TV, since it has a late tipoff time and it is only a short 5-minute ride through Fort Sanders from the Foundry to the arena. We expect this event to be a sellout, as was last year’s, so please get your tickets early so that you won’t get left out.

Parking will be free and plentiful. Roving photographers will be there to take individual, group, and candid photos that you will be able to purchase as souvenirs.

We expect many former players to attend. There will be a silent auction of autographed UT basketballs signed by our speakers for the year, as well as by the UT men’s and women’s basketball coaching staffs and lettermen.

Attached please find a ticket order form for that event for you to print and mail, fax, or e-mail back, or bring it with you along with your check to the meeting to purchase your tickets, which are going fast. The form is also available on our website.

We encourage you to get your order in as soon as possible to secure your seat. Since it is Senior Night, we hope to host Dane Bradshaw’s family and a contingent from Memphis, and the Chris Lofton’s family and friends from Maysville, Kentucky, have also indicated they may attend.

OFFICIAL BIG ORANGE TIPOFF PHOTOS: Many of you may not be aware that we now have an official Big Orange Tipoff Club photographer, Megan Ellis. You may have seen her roaming around our big meeting room taking pictures before, during, and after our meetings. If you would like Megan to take some photos of you, the people at your table, your guests, etc., please don’t hesitate to flag her down when you see her and her camera, as she will be most happy to do so for you. To view and purchase pictures from last week’s Big Orange Tipoff Club meeting and those for future meetings from her, please go to www.meganellisphotography.com and click on the “TN LOGIN” page. The password is simply “tipoff”. You can also e-mail Megan with any questions you may have at megan@meganellisphotography.com .

THIS WEEK’S SPEAKER: Woody Paige, a native of Memphis, began is career as a sports columnist in with The Whitehaven Press in 1963 after graduating from the University of Tennessee. He later went on to cover politics for The Knoxville Journal and civil rights for The Memphis Commercial Appeal and The Rocky Mountain News. Paige joined The Denver Post in 1981.

Over his thirty-five year career, Paige has covered sporting events in over 22 countries. His resume includes27 Super Bowls, 12 Summer & Winter Olympics, over 18 World Championship Fights, as well as the World Series and the NBA & Stanley Cup Finals

A recipient of more than one-hundred local, state and national media awards for column writing and sports stories, Paige is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee and is a Baseball Hall of Fame and ESPY Award voter.

Paige is a regular contributor to ESPN Classic's Emmy Award winning Sports Century series, and his work has also appeared in The Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, Time and Street and Smith. He is also the author of seven sports books. He is a regular on ESPN’s “Around the Horn” and hosted the popular long-running “Cold Pizza” on the network as well.

He is involved in more than twenty-four charitable events annually and currently serves as Chairman of Fund-A-Cure of the Children's Diabetes Research Foundation.

2008 CLUB MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION AVAILABLE ON WEBSITE: The club is soliciting individual members for next season at only $75 and discounted senior citizen memberships at only $60. Spouses of members are free, making this an excellent deal. In addition, corporate memberships, which include up to 5 members of a firm, are being offered at only $250.

Annual membership applications are still available by calling Club President Lloyd Richardson at (865) 588-5433, by faxing a request to (865) 588-2083, by e-mailing at tipoff@utfan.com , or by visiting the website at www.utfan.com/tipoff . A membership application for downloading with the Big Orange Tipoff Club logo on it is available on the website.

All former UT men’s and women’s basketball lettermen, former UT Orange Tie Club members, Knoxville Quarterback Club members, VASF donors, Boost-Her Club members, UT students, UT alumni and friends, as well as the general public, are invited to attend and join as well. Legendary former UT Head Basketball Coach Ray Mears is an Honorary Member. Many members of the UT athletics administration, coaches, etc., are in attendance regularly.

MEDIA INFORMATION: All media are invited to attend and will have the opportunity to record and film any portion of the meeting, ask questions of Woody Paige in a public forum at the conclusion of his remarks, and will be able to interview him, as time allows, on both a group and individual basis. Each of our meetings so far has been covered extensively by print and broadcast media, including TV stations and several newspapers. Local talk show hosts are planning live remote radio broadcasts for some meetings.

All media are also invited to call J. Mark Hancock at (865) 522-8547 or e-mail Hilary Phillips at tipoff@utfan.com to schedule radio, television, and newspaper interviews with various Big Orange Tipoff Club steering committee members, including Charles W. Morgan, Barry J. Smith, Michael J. Turner, Christy Gentry, J. Mark Hancock, and Club Historian R. Larry Smith regarding the club, its promotion of UT basketball, its purposes, its sponsoring of awards and contributions to scholarships, and its charitable endeavors in supporting college and amateur athletics in East Tennessee. Steering committee members have been making radio and television appearances and doing newspaper interviews regularly, and are available for speaking engagements to any groups.

OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE: The Big Orange Tipoff Club is offering special merchandise for sale with the distinctive club logo on it, including T-shirts and caps, each for the low price of only $10. Only a limited number of each is available, and they are quickly becoming collectors’ items.

NEXT YEAR’S SPEAKERS AND FEEDBACK: We invite you to send us email suggestions on future speakers and to make other comments through our feedback form that you can download from our website and return to us. We are always interested in getting suggestions from anyone to improve our meetings.

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