Nobody was keeping count but there had to be a record number of fights between opposing fans when the University of Louisville and Tennessee football teams squared off in September 1992. The introduction of Muhammad Ali before the game may have set a pugilistic tone.

“It was unlike anything we had ever seen,” recalled Bill Olsen, former athletic director. “Fights were breaking out everywhere. I was called before the athletic board the next week for an explanation.”

One of the major reasons was that Tennessee required 15,000 seats for its traveling fans. “It wasn’t feasible to contain the visiting fans in one section. We had only about 2,000 seats in the visitors section so all the Tennessee fans had to be interspersed with U of L fans throughout the stadium.

“It was not a good situation to begin with,” he says. “The place was packed with about 36,000 people, and Tennessee fans are pretty serious about their football. We also had a lot of fans not used to having access to beer.”

Tensions were high at the half because Tennessee only led by a touchdown.  UT fans feared Howard Schnellenberger and remembered that U of L had thumped Alabama 34-7 in the Fiesta Bowl a few months earlier.

Tennessee broke it open in the third quarter, winning the game 28-11. It was a skirmish some fans would not soon forget.

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By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.

One thought on “Looking Back: Fight Night at Fairgrounds”
  1. I know that I will never forget that game. The atmosphere was electric. That was a game where I had one of those “you just had to be there” moments when a good buddy of mine standing next to me rewrote the lyrics to Rocky Top spontaneously which shall not be repeated in this post, except for ending with “Go back to Tennessee!” That line was about the only one that was not rather profane. You just had to be there.

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