University of Tennessee at Chattanooga vice chancellor and athletic director David Blackburn stared across the Council Fire parking lot, the one overflowing with cars from those participating in Tuesday afternoon’s 17th annual Porky’s Open golf tournament, which raises money for UTC athletic scholarships.
Noticing the “Power C” decals on so many of those cars’ windshields, the same stickers he sees all over town these days, Blackburn said, “In one sense, those decals are a small thing. But it’s an indication of what we’re hoping to build here. There are a lot of people here who are proud to be Mocs.”
At least 140 of those people participated in the Porky’s Open, plopping down $300 each – or $1,200 for each four-man team in the select-shot event – in the hopes of continuing perhaps the greatest athletics run in school history.
Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 4/13/15. UTC’s David Blackburn announces Matt McCall as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s new head men’s basketball coach while at the UTC University Center on Monday, April 14, 2015. McCall was an assistant coach at the University of Florida and is the 19th head coach in the history of Chattanooga basketball. Not only has UTC set academic records for the last few years, but football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball all reached the NCAA playoffs in the same year for the first time ever this 2015-16 school year.
Throw in a landmark year for volleyball, continued excellence in wrestling and golf and improvement in tennis and it’s clear that the $1.4 million raised by the Porky’s since its inception is achieving its goal to make the entire UTC athletic department the pride of the Southern Conference.