The Jellico Blue Devils play in the state basketball tournament at Murfreesboro next Wednesday

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – It was 70 years ago tonight when the La Follette Owls punched their ticket to the state basketball tournament with a win at the University of Tennessee’s Alumni Gym. Linda Miller Prim, whose father Kenneth “Smiley” Miller starred on that fabled 1954 team, has so kindly provided this memorabilia for WLAF.

TOP PHOTO: The town came out to celebrate the La Follette Owls on a Sunday afternoon in March.

Miller and the Owls made quite the run in the four game tourney, winning their first three contests enroute to the championship game. The tournament was held at Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gym which is still used by the university for its men’s and women’s basketball games.

Nashville West dashed the Owls dream of a state title in 1954 with a 42-40 win.

Now known as the Alumni Memorial Building, Alumni Gym had a maximum seating capacity of 3,200. The building, no longer with a gym, still sits right behind Neyland Stadium on the north end. It was replaced by the Stokely Athletics Center in 1958, a building which has since been razed and replaced by Thompson-Boling Arena (Food City Center). (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 03/06/2024-7AM)

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