Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412300140
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL LENGTH: Medium
Defiantly, Virginia Tech graduate Moore's building is painted with his alma mater's colors. But it's no use. His employees at Budget Office Furniture - like most people hereabouts - are rabid University of Tennessee fans.
If you think of Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee as an expanded gridiron for tonight's football game, then Bristol's State Street is the 50-yard-line. It runs atop the state border between Virginia and Tennessee and divides this community into separate but unequal municipalities.
The Gator Bowl game will be, in miniature, a tale of two cantankerous cities vying for field position. The exact location of the Virginia-Tennessee state border was disputed for years, and the resolution of that basic issue created a spirit of competition.
Today, Bristol, Va., and Bristol, Tenn., share only a few services, such as a post office, a library and waste-water treatment.
"We have two of everything," said Moore. "This is a town divided."
"There's always been a Virginia-Tennessee thing," said Bristol resident Bill Hale. "It probably comes naturally."
Even though relations have been cordial lately, the Gator Bowl may enliven the old feud. Pre-game gibes between Hokie and Volunteer fans generally have been low-key, yet Tech partisans in and around Bristol are uneasy.
"After the game, nobody's going to be speaking to each other. A lot of people are really apprehensive," said Elizabeth Leonard, president of Tech's Southwest Virginia Alumni Association.
"You may see a civil war of sorts," threatened Joe Lyle, nearby Washington County's attorney and a University of Tennessee graduate.
Bristol-area Volunteer fans believe their team, bolstered by football tradition, regional influence and the oddsmakers, will dominate upstart Virginia Tech.
"I do pity them," said Hale, a Tennessee alum who manages the Siesta Motel on U.S. 11. "The betting line's eight points, but I've been giving 14."
Passers-by who see the orange and white flowers spelling "UT" in school colors on the motel's lawn know where Hale's coming from.
"I've been telling them, 'I hope to God you're not going [to the Gator Bowl] to holler for the Hokies. Well, have a miserable time.'''
Tech supporters struck back by buying all the Hokie paraphernalia in stock at the CMT Sporting Goods store on Volunteer Parkway.
"It was wiped out quick," said sales clerk Debbie Dingus. "We had the Roanoke store send more, and they were gone, too."
Also, earlier this month, the Washington County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution declaring Dec. 25-31 "Hokie Week." Anything referring to the University of Tennessee was banned from the county's Administration Building, which forced County Attorney Lyle to take his college diploma off his office wall.
"Psychologically, it was devastating," Lyle said, threatening the retaliation of "potential litigation" should Tech lose the football game.
Tech's alumni chapter president in East Tennessee, Michael Lambert, calls the days leading up to the bowl game "grueling."
Living behind enemy lines, Lambert said, "It's been one harassment after another. It's like Tennessee fans think Tech's not good enough to play them. All I've heard is `What the heck's a Hokie?'
"I put on my Tech sweatshirt and they say, `Boy, you're brave to wear that around here.' It gets me fired up."
"It's been kinda hard here on State Street," said Kenneth Sproles, co-owner of Norma's Downtown Restaurant in Bristol. "We're too close."
by CNB