Paul Payne: Chief Chattamoc Helped Ignite Early Passions For UTC Basketball

It is a moment frozen in time, the images still etched in my mind 52 years later as if they happened only yesterday, serving as my indoctrination into a lifelong passion for University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball.

The setting was Maclellan Gym on a frosty Saturday night in February of 1973 during coach Ron Shumate’s first season leading the Mocs program. Shumate’s brash prediction of bringing a national championship to Chattanooga within three years coupled with his relentless showmanship had captured the attention of the community, and I tagged along with my older brother to experience it first-hand that evening.

Shumate had connived to place a large spotlight outside the gym on game nights, its piercing beam circling the sky, beckoning curious fans to embrace the product he deemed “the Greatest Show in Town.” Once inside of “Big Mac,” my loyalty to the Mocs was stirred to a fever pitch by a rather unlikely source that captivated me as an 11-year-old.

UTC’s mascot at that time was an Indian in full leather skins accented with intricate beads and a flowing headdress known as Chief Chattamoc. The Chief was introduced as the new university mascot in the spring of 1970 with students originally filling the position. But sometime over the next two years the role was assumed by a Chattanooga firefighter - known then as Larry Myers - who would take on the name James Larry McKinney later in life to honor his late birth farther.

McKinney was first exposed to the role of Chief Chattamoc by accident. UTC had added fireworks following touchdowns at the football games, and McKinney was on the scene to ensure safety protocols were being followed as part of his role with the fire department according to former UTC basketball star Tom Losh, who was an assistant on Shumate’s staff for four seasons.

“Larry in his everyday job was a firefighter, so he was up there to protect everybody and make sure the explosives were detonated properly,” Losh said. “One thing led to the other, and he kind of put himself out there as a Native American reenactor.

“Well, that’s all Shumate needed to hear. I’m not sure how it all got started, but Larry showed up in the most beautiful set of skins and a headdress. Most of the students playing the role would be wearing a corduroy outfit that didn’t fit right and weren’t very believable. Larry was the real deal and he fit right in with what Shumate was promoting. He was a big addition to that atmosphere in Big Mac. What started off as a firefighter evolved into him becoming famous as Chief Chattamoc.”

McKinney and his wife were well connected in the community of historical reenactors. He had performed the role of Dragging Canoe in the Last Battle of the Revolution at Reflection Riding, and he was a regular contributor at Fort Loudon reenactments.

“We were always the Indians up there,” Jo Ann McKinney said. “Through his time in The Boy Scouts, he was in the Order of the Arrow. We all dressed up like Indians and attacked the fort.”

McKinney took his role as Chief Chattamoc seriously as he became immersed in the character. His repertoire featured a bear claw mounted to a pole where he would attach feathers representing conquered foes. He often carried a stuffed animal resembling the opponent’s mascot he would torment. He had a pistol loaded with blanks he would fire, and he would toss ceremonial fire paper into the air beckoning the spirits to provide a Mocs victory as he performed a Native American ritual dance to a drumbeat produced by the UTC pep band.

Whenever the opposing lineup was announced, the Chief would wave his tomahawk in menacing fashion that would stir the Big Mac crowd into a frenzy accompanied by a cast that included his teenage daughter, Debbie, and a young boy in full Native American regalia.

This was only my second Mocs game, and the Chief had a special skit prepared for that evening because of an altercation that had transpired two nights earlier when UTC traveled to Cookeville to take on Tennessee Tech. Tech had dropped a close decision at Big Mac earlier in the season, so emotions were high when UTC traveled to Cookeville a few weeks later. But there was a surprise awaiting the Chief once he arrived.

Stories vary on exactly what transpired that evening. A piece in the next day’s Chattanooga News-Free Press had the following news blurb: “UTC’s mascot, Chief Chattamoc, got a rude reception at Cookeville last night. The Chief was escorted from the gym by lawmen. The colorful character, whose war dances and sideline antics entertain fans in Chattanooga, as he puts his “hex” on rival players, had a pistol confiscated. He would shoot blanks occasionally after a UTC basket. Then he was told he had to go to the police station to reclaim it. He came back to the gym at halftime dressed in civilian clothes and watched the rest of the game from the stands. A busload of Chattanoogans who came for the game were upset by the actions of the Cookeville officials.”

However, according to McKinney’s widow, she had always understood that her late husband was removed from the team bus after arriving in Cookeville and taken to the local jail.

“The police stopped the bus, and they took him off of it,” said Jo Ann McKinney, who now lives near Fall Creek Falls State Park. “He never, ever even got to the gym. They let the basketball players go, and he was stuck in jail until the game was over. They told them to come by and pick him up at the jail. That had never happened before, and it never happened after.”

Connie Inman, who was the Tennessee Tech head coach at the time, could not confirm which of the versions of McKinney’s arrest was true when contacted this week.

“I remember hearing the next day that our police chief had confiscated the handgun and hosted the Chief at the county jail overnight. That's all I know,” Inman said. “If blanks had been fired, I most likely would have heard about it. I have no knowledge about where he was arrested or exactly when the arrest took place.”

No matter how the incident in Cookeville unfolded, the Chief was in rare form when the Mocs returned home two nights later. With the house lights off at Big Mac and a lone spotlight shining on center court, McKinney was rolled out inside a makeshift jail cell wearing a jumpsuit emblazoned with “Cookeville Jail” on the back. After escaping from his confinement, the Chief shed his prisoner garb and ripped it to shreds with his war hatchet, performing a war dance around the crumpled remains on the court as the crowd roared with approval.

The Chief was not worried about political correctness or afraid of offending the Mocs opposition. He was immersed in the moment of beseeching the basketball gods seeking retribution for his treatment in Cookeville, a moment of defiance proving that Chattamoc could not be constrained.

It was at that moment that I became hooked on Chattanooga basketball as the Mocs went on to pound West Florida, 85-68, eventually earning their first NCAA Division II postseason berth later that season after finishing 19-9 in Shumate’s maiden campaign. From that point forward until I moved from Chattanooga a decade later, I rarely missed a home basketball game.

Chief Chattamoc was instrumental in creating a decided home court advantage as Mocs basketball began to gain traction among the locals. This was a year before the infusion of talent from Louisville brought the Mocs the integral pieces of their future success. Tickets to games at 4,177-seat Maclellan Gym became a hot commodity, and McKinney’s passionate theatrics contributed to the program’s prominence that reached the pinnacle Shumate called “Rocky Top” four years later with a promised national championship.

Jimmy Earle, who led MTSU to two NCAA appearances during his decade as the Blue Raiders coach that would lead to induction into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, vividly recalls the antics of the Chief when visiting Big Mac.

“I remember one time we were out there warming up, and he had what looked like a snake wrapped around his neck,” Earle said. “It was rubber, but some of the kids on my team were scared to death of snakes, and he's out there walking around, waving that snake up and down. I went to Shumate, and I told him to get that that damn snake out of there. I said, ‘They're scared to death, and I need you to get him to stop waving that thing at them so we can warm up.’ That Chief Chattamoc was a piece of work.”

The Chief added fuel to the fire in creating an imposing environment at Maclellan, serving as a vital component of Shumate’s desire to draw attention to his program.

“The Chief would take the intimidation right up to the edge, whatever it took,” Losh said. “It was funny to us, and Shumate liked it because he was making the Big Mac environment a place that nobody wanted to come visit. They were uncomfortable when the game started, and the end results were usually good because that place was packed and it was rocking.”

McKinney was a Chattanooga native who got his first taste of performing as a cast member in school plays at Chattanooga City High. He was an Eagle Scout as a youth, and later became a Marine Corps veteran where he was selected to serve on Dwight Eisenhower’s Presidential Honor Guard. After a short stint with the Chattanooga Police Department, he retired after 27 years as a captain with the Chattanooga Fire Department where he was also the city’s first fire safety officer.

But McKinney’s true passion was rooted in history, and he celebrated that through his role as a reenactor for more than 30 years and his four decades of involvement with the Boy Scouts of America and its Explorers Program. He was a Civil War historian involved with the Battles of Chattanooga Museum, played the role of the sheriff in a skit at Gatlinburg’s Silver Dollar City before it became Dollywood, and served as Santa Claus for years at Rock City’s holiday festivities. McKinney also spent several seasons as Chief Lookout for the Chattanooga Lookouts. He died in 1996 at the age of 60.

“Whenever you talked to him as Captain Larry Myers, he was all business and reserved as a firefighter,” Losh said. “But when he put those Indian skins on, that personality completely consumed him and I'm sure it did when he was a military reenactor as well. He had studied all about his role and it was authentic. It was important to Larry to portray his character with precision. There was no cartoonish edge about it because he was so serious about it. He viewed it as an honor in portraying a very dignified Indian.”

His role as Chief Chattamoc brought great satisfaction to McKinney according to his daughter, Debbie.

“He never tried to pass himself off as a Native American,” Debbie McKinney said. “He did the best he could to show the respect for them and their lifestyle and to be true to what would be natural for them. It was very important for him to portray them correctly. Everybody loved him – the fans, the team, the cheerleaders. He worked hard for them, and he loved what he was doing. Coach Shumate was such a nice man, and he had great respect for daddy, and daddy had great respect for him.”

McKinney would arrive early and meticulously apply his warpaint makeup prior to each home game, and even performed on horseback during football games according to his daughter.

“There were times he was at Chamberlain Field riding a white horse,” Debbie McKinney said. “That was my horse. We rented a U-Haul trailer and put her up in that thing and cross-tied her because we didn't have access to a horse trailer. He rode the horse up and down the field a couple of times, but I think that only happened one game because some grounds keeper complained.”

While McKinney was generally reserved in nature when not in costume, he fully embraced whatever role he was playing. His flair for the dramatic was revealed in an unscripted fashion as UTC basketball emerged into national prominence.

“There were always people that thought his act was staged and planned ahead of time,” Debbie McKinney said. “But he got into the spirit of things and just started going and the other team never had a clue what he was going to do. He fed off the crowd, and the crowd fed off him.”

But the Chief’s involvement with UTC sports ended abruptly in December of 1975 when his enthusiastic portrayal led to an unfortunate encounter. According to newspaper reports, he was “suspended indefinitely from participation because of an incident involving West Georgia cheerleaders.” In one of his skits during a timeout, the Chief inadvertently got tangled up with the visiting cheer squad and university officials decided to discontinue his role.

His absence from Maclellan Gym left a void, but McKinney knew it was time to walk away according to his daughter.

“He loved what he was doing, and he did it to the best of his ability,” Debbie McKinney said. “He didn’t do it for the sake of him getting any glory. He did it because he felt like it was helping the team. I think when it got to a point where it wasn't helping the team anymore, that’s when it all stopped.”

UTC’s campus newspaper advertised tryouts for students the following spring to fill the “position formerly held by Chief Chattamoc” as the mascot. The name was changed to Chief Mocanooga the next year, before the university completely eliminated Indian mascots in 1996 as part of a rebranding after groups voiced displeasure about having a Native American as the mascot.

Dr. Valerie Rutledge, UTC’s Dean of the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies, was a Mocs cheerleader back in the era of Chief Chattamoc. While there is increased awareness of social issues today that were not in place during that era, she has an appreciation of McKinney’s contributions.

“He was enthusiastic and was a representation of what we had as a mascot back then,” Rutledge said. “Today’s mascots are more focused on interacting with children in a non-threatening way, but he was definitely passionate about his role. I appreciate the fact he did this all on his own, but culture is different now.

“The fact that you had an adult male who would have invested himself in creating the right atmosphere around his role is commendable. He took his time and effort and his energy to entertain the fans every night.”

McKinney’s abbreviated tenure as Chief Chattamoc did not deter him in his lifetime of role playing through other reenactments and his tireless devotion to his Explorer Post 2030 that won the Freedoms Foundations at Valley Forge gold medal. In fact, he was buried in the full, authentic uniform of a Confederate artillery officer. The Cairnes Battery, a Confederate cannon unit active in reenactments, fired a cannon round in his honor. He was also beloved in the scouting world, where he was known as Fox Jim McKinney, and he graduated dozens of Eagle Scouts as scoutmaster to his troop in Red Bank.

But to me, the Chief was part of the fabric that made Chattanooga basketball an intoxicating phenomenon in the 1970s. His fervor helped turn Big Mac into a cauldron of deafening noise and energy as Shumate was laying the foundation of future success. Chattamoc was fiercely loyal to the Mocs and helped spark a devotion in me that, despite being away from Chattanooga for 33 years, still burns strongly today.

Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com