The Fourth Saturday in August

In Tennessee, we revere fall Saturdays. Many of us cope with the long, hot weeks of summer especially suffering through the Dog Days of August on the hopes of cooler weather, renewed pigskin rivalries, and satisfaction of our hunter/gatherer gene.

In east Tennessee, there’s nothing bigger than the six Saturday “reunions” of the Volunteer Nation. A little over a hundred thousand members of the family meet at Neyland Stadium for each of these. Eating and playing games fill the agenda for such reunions. Small children are taught the importance of Saturday reunion attendance is on par with the importance of Sunday church attendance.

“Rocky Top” is the anthem of the Vol Nation. Unlike other national anthems, it is played intermittently, preferably often, throughout the Saturday football game. Its lyrics are imprinted on the brain (genetic I suspect) of each member of the Vol Nation. Those lyrics seem to flow as freely as does the favored beverage of certain members of the family:

Corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top
Dirt's too rocky by far
That's why all the folks on Rocky Top
Get their corn from a jar

Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ol' Rocky Top
Rocky Top Tennessee,
Rocky Top Tennessee


At one of these Saturday reunions every other year, clans from Alabama are invited to be guests at Neyland Stadium much like the Christians were invited to be guests at the Roman Coliseum. Al Browning wrote a book about this particular date: The Third Saturday in October.

The coincidence of the fall football and hunting seasons causes considerable consternation amongst those of us who enjoy both. In fact, my favorite UT joke addresses this subject. “Why do Vol fans wear orange in the fall? So they can go from the tree stand, to the ball game, to the drunk tank, and then to the road crew without having to change clothes!”

Only Vol fans will fully understand this next statement. At the Faulk house, anticipating of the fourth Saturday in August was on par with anticipating the Third Saturday in October!

Squirrel season traditionally opens in Tennessee on the fourth Saturday in August. Ushering in all the fall hunting seasons, this much anticipated date was the harbinger of good things to come: cooler days, foggy mornings, sleeping with the windows open, meat on the dinner table, turning leaves, and near silent mornings in the hardwoods.

Much of what I learned as a child about the character of my father, I learned preparing for and participating in hunting. Among those character traits were a strong conservation ethic [“good hunting begins with good conservation” and “if you’re not going to eat it, don’t kill it”], appreciation of the journey [“hunting is 90% of the fun; harvesting 10%” and “that’s why they call it ‘hunting’ instead of ‘killing’”], and self-control [“what you do when no one’s looking defines the your measure as a man” and “safety first, safety last, there’s never a substitute for safety in the woods”].

The excitement of that first day in the woods, squirrel hunting, and the build up to it is strongly with me today – the fourth Saturday in August here in Tennessee. I believe it always will be. This day has me humming: “Good ‘ol Rocky Top. Rocky Top, Tennessee!”

Tomorrow is Free Hunting Day!