THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 11, 1995 TAG: 9508110052
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KNOXVILLE, TENN. LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
``Say Hi to Heath.''
That's what the Knoxville Sports Corporation has asked its fair constituency to do in a pamphlet promoting Saturday's exhibition game between Heath Shuler's post-graduate employer, the Washington Redskins, and the Houston Oilers at hallowed Neyland Stadium.
Folks here have been more than happy to oblige.
A band was waiting at McGhee-Tyson Airport on Wednesday night when the Redskins arrived. Although the mayor presented coach Norv Turner with the keys to the city, the band and small welcoming committee were there to see and serenade Shuler.
When the team arrived Thursday at Maryville College for the first of two days of practice sessions against the Oilers, another band was waiting, and Shuler was accorded the largest cheer.
Heath Shuler's training-camp diary, as told to a member of the Redskins' public-relations staff, appears daily in the Knoxville News-Sentinel. ``Heath Hysteria,'' as it was hyped, was one of the lead stories on WBIR's evening news.
Why not? Shuler left Tennessee in 1994 as the school's third all-time leading passer. He tied or broke six Volunteers records, including most touchdown passes in a game, with five against Florida.
Although he was benched and often mediocre in his rookie season, people here live by the credo splashed boldly on a sign hanging over the McMillin Clothing Company on Cumberland Street: ``Tennessee Football is life - the rest is just details.''
``Heath Shuler will always go down as one of the town's favorites,'' David Watkins, manager of Hooray's Sports Bar and Grill in what's called Old City, said. ``He was a good people person. He got out in the community. He made friends.''
Watkins has a picture of a Redskins quarterback hanging in his establishment, but it's not Heath Shuler.
``Best wishes, Joe Theismann,'' reads the 8 by 10 color photo hung a few feet from an autographed picture of young Mickey Mantle reclining in a Yankee Stadium dugout.
``It's hard getting anything like a jersey from UT,'' Watkins says. ``Hugh Ray (Hooray's owner Hugh Ray Wilson) knows some people with the Redskins and they're trying to get something from them.''
Hooray's didn't have a satellite dish last year, so showing Redskins games wasn't possible. They have a dish now and, despite last season's failures, Watkins promises Redskins games will be a Sunday staple this fall.
``I have a lot of friends here and it was special, the fans and the support I got here,'' Shuler said following a rainy morning practice. ``It's sort of special that they still remember me. Hopefully, they'll remember me more as a person as opposed to the player I was on the field. That means more to me.''
Right now, there are certain places in town where people couldn't get Shuler out of their minds if they wanted.
McMillin's has a couple rows of Heath Shuler Redskins caps, a small basket of orange buttons sporting Shuler's Tennessee No. 21, and, oh yes, the Heath Shuler CD.
McMillin's has just two left at $6, down from last summer's $12.88. It has but two songs, ``The Gunslinger,'' which runs 2 minutes, 45 seconds and ``Heath, we wish you well,'' at 3:30. Shuler doesn't sing; seven musicians from Nashville handle that.
But Heath does talk, specifically on the $9.99 telephone calling card on display at the cash register of the campus bookstore next door.
On the back of the card, 4,000 of which were printed and put on sale three weeks ago, Shuler serves as step-by-step guide placing your call. They arrived in a box of 20; as of Thursday, 18 remained.
Other than the practice field and on Saturday, no one here is sure they'll even see Shuler the next couple of days. He just bought a 650-acre ranch, with 125 head of cattle, outside Knoxville. Because he lived in Washington almost all of the offseason, Shuler has barely seen the place and he's going to stop by while he's in town.
When someone asked if getting enough tickets for Saturday's game had been a problem for him, Shuler didn't know.
``I don't fool with tickets,'' he said. ``I've got more important things to worry about than who's sitting where. My mind is focused on the game.''
Perhaps anticipating that Shuler's mind would be elsewhere during this visit, a bagel store across the street from campus tacked up a sign the Knoxville Sports Corporation would admire:
``Hi Heath'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
From left, Trevor Matich, Jim Lachey and Heath Shuler take a water
break during Thursday's Redskins practice in Knoxville, Tenn.
by CNB