Jim Haslam was an above average football player. At best, he was an average basketball player, as he puts it.
But being a star on the St. Petersburg High School football team in Florida brought a special visitor to one of Haslam’s basketball games. Haslam, who was being recruited by Florida, Clemson, Duke and Tennessee for football, remembers his coach calling a timeout.
“General Neyland is sitting there,” Haslam’s coach said. Haslam was surprised. He had no idea that Robert Neyland, the Tennessee football coach and retired U.S. Army brigadier general, would be attending his basketball game. But his presence was undeniable.
“If there were 100 people, you saw General Neyland,” Haslam told Knox News. “If he were here now, I would be afraid. General Neyland was a big man, he was a dominant man. He never spoke out loud, but when he spoke, he was heard. He was smarter than anyone.”
That visit convinced Haslam to sign with Tennessee and set him on a path that changed him (and Knoxville) forever. Haslam led the Vols to the consensus national championship in 1951. On Saturday, he will be inducted into the National High School Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Haslam, 93, a member of multiple halls of fame, is a pillar of the Knoxville community, and it’s all because of a decision he made as a teenager.
Why Jim Haslam’s life wouldn’t have been the same without UT
Neyland’s visit convinced Haslam about Tennessee. He also made the reputation of the football program, of which he did not realize the full weight of it until after he committed.
When Haslam was in high school in the late 1940s, all the athletes in the area knew each other because they competed so often in multiple sports. He recalled meeting Lucian “Skippy” Whitaker, who would play basketball for Adolph Rupp at Kentucky, at a track meet.
“Skippy, my goodness, you’re going to Kentucky on a basketball scholarship. I’m really impressed,” Haslam told Whitaker, who won the 1951 NCAA championship.
“Well, you’re going to Tennessee on a football scholarship!” Whitaker responded.
Haslam had never thought about it that way before. But without that scholarship, he wouldn’t have gone to college. World War II had ended a few years earlier and there were three options after high school: get a job, go to college, or enter the service.
“It was divided into three parts. Until World War II, not many people went to university,” Haslam said. “A lot of my friends just worked for Florida Power Company climbing telephone poles.”
But he went to Tennessee and started at right tackle from 1950 to 1952. He joined the Army after graduation and returned to Knoxville.
“I never thought about going anywhere else,” he said.
UT’s placement service found him a job at Fleet Oil, which was based in LaFollette. That set Haslam on the path to founding Pilot Oil, which eventually became the largest travel center empire in North America. In January, the Haslam family sold the rest of their property to Berkshire Hathaway in an undisclosed multimillion-dollar deal.
“Nothing would have happened the way it did without UT,” Haslam said. “I mean, I wouldn’t be in Knoxville, number one. I wouldn’t have found the job, because UT’s placement service found it for me. So who do I owe the credit to? UT.”
Why Jim Haslam started philanthropic work early
From the Haslam College of Business to the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, the family’s presence is felt throughout the university. Tennessee’s football practice field is called Haslam Field. The $32.5 million gift in 2006 from Jim and his wife, Natalie, represented the largest gift ever made by the university.
His philanthropic work also extends to the Knoxville community. It all started thanks to a conversation Haslam had with Max Friedman, a city councilman who owned a jewelry store on Gay Street.
Friedman had called and asked Haslam to work with Community Chest, what is now known as United Way.
“Well, Mr. Friedman, I appreciate it very much, but you know, I just started a business and I have three little kids. I’m very busy,” Haslam said.
Friedman asked, “Mr. Haslam, what kind of business are you in?”
Haslam, who owns several gas stations, said he sold gasoline, prompting the question: “Well, who do you sell it to?”
The people of Knoxville, Haslam said.
“He told me, ‘Son, if you’re going to have a business, you have to pay rent,'” Haslam said. “If you want to profit from people, you have to give back. That’s part of your obligation as a businessman.”
He has done it ever since. Education and health are most important to him and the Haslam family remains committed to his philanthropy in the Knoxville community.
“If you want to live a good life, there are two things that are important: education and health, and I think that’s what we have to focus on,” he said. “We have to have good health care systems and we have to have good education systems.”
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