Memories: College Days at Tennessee Polytechnic Institute (now Tennessee Tech University)
From Bobby Greenwood:
“My freshman year at Tennessee Tech University in 1958-1959, formerly called Tennessee Polytechnic Institute (TPI), was exciting and a bit scary at times, to say the least.
My love for basketball was still intact so I walked on the freshman team and played under the great Coach Johnny Oldham.
I also joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and was a member of the TPI’s Rebel Rifles Drill team.
Our golf team won the Tennessee Interscholastic Athletic Conference (TIAC) tournament that year and I was Runner-up in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Championship.
That was the first of my 4 runner-up finishes in college golf conference championships. So, I figured I was ‘first loser’ 4 times!… later to be told by TTU Golf Coach Bobby Nichols that he would always be happy to recruit any player that could finish 2nd four times in the Conference tourney.
As a member of the “T” Club, the initiation week was not much fun. Each freshman was designated an animal to keep with you. Mine was a horse that I rode to school each morning. They shaved our heads and cut a “T” in the top. One morning we were told to catch eggs in our mouth that were to be dropped from the roof of the cafeteria building… We were all given a wooden paddle and told to get 35 signatures before the week’s end. Each name was accompanied by a big lick with a paddle. Blood blisters were common on our backside. I don’t think they do that anymore…
I grew up loving Tennessee Tech and the Golden Eagles; I am so proud of the great University here in my hometown of Cookeville, Tennessee.”
Note:
*Bobby Greenwood was a member of the 1958 Collegiate All-State Golf Team, Tennessee Interscholastic Athletic Conference (TIAC).
*[Transcript: “THE BEST-DRILLED CADET”
“Cadet Pvt. Robert S. Greenwood of Cookeville received Tennessee Polytechnic Institute award as the best-drilled cadet private in the ROTC regiment. President Everett Derryberry made the presentation.
Platform guests, in addition to General Westmoreland, Colonel Thompson, and President Derryberry, were Col. C.A. Holmes Eubanks, PMST; J.M. Henderson, head of the school of engineering at TPI; Mayor Dero Brown; Col. William G. Downs, reserve officers association; Wilbur Shell, General Telephone Company; Miser Richmond, president of the Rotary club; Herman Yeatman, president of the Jaycees; and Hubert Crawford, president of the Lions.” — END. Source: Local newspaper published in Cookeville, Tennessee, c. 1958.]
Photo collage sources:
*1959 Eagle Yearbook, Tennessee Polytechnic Institute (now Tennessee Tech University), Cookeville, Tennessee.
*Personal recollections of Bobby Greenwood, February 18, 2020.
*Local newspaper articles dated 1958 (from private scrapbook collections of Bobby’s grandmother, Viola Simrell-Greenwood).
Source: https://www.facebook.com/greenwoodpga/posts/2790264491010759
BOBBY GREENWOOD, PGA
Former PGA Tour Player
Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame
PGA of America Life Member
Official Website: http://www.greenwoodpga.net/
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