Jim Haslam was an above-average football player. He was at best an average basketball player, as he puts it.
But being a star on the St. Petersburg High School football team in Florida drew 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's sitting over there," Haslam's coach said. Haslam was surprised. He had no idea Robert Neyland, the Tennessee football coach and retired U.S. Army brigadier general, was coming to his basketball game. But his presence was undeniable.
"If there were 100 people, you saw General Neyland," Haslam told Knox News. "If he was here now, I’d be scared. General Neyland was a big man, he was a dominating man. He never spoke loudly, but when he spoke, you listened. He was smarter than anybody."
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 1951 consensus national championship. 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 sold Haslam on Tennessee. So did the football program's reputation, which he didn't realize the full weight of until after he committed.
When Haslam was in high school in the late 1940s, all of the athletes in the area knew each other because they competed so often in multiple sports. He recalled running into Lucian "Skippy" Whitaker — who would play basketball for Adolph Rupp at Kentucky — at a track meet.
"Skippy, my gosh —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 hadn't thought about it like that before. But without that scholarship, he wouldn't have gone to college. World War II had ended a few years prior, and there were three options after high school: Get a job, go to college or go into the service.
"It was split about three ways. Until World War II, not many people went to college," Haslam said. "A lot of my buddies just went to work 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 graduating, and returned to Knoxville.
"I never thought about going any place else," he said.
The UT placement service found him a job with Fleet Oil, which was based in LaFollette. That set Haslam on a path to starting Pilot Oil, which eventually developed into North America's largest travel center empire. In January, the Haslam family sold its remaining ownership to Berkshire Hathaway in an undisclosed multibillion-dollar deal.
"Nothing would have happened like it happened without UT," Haslam said. "I mean, I wouldn’t be in Knoxville, number one. I wouldn’t have found the job, because the UT 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 across the university. Tennessee football's practice field is named Haslam Field. The gift of $32.5 million in 2006 from Jim and his wife, Natalie, represented the university’s largest ever.
Their philanthropic work extends to the greater Knoxville community, too. It all started because of a conversation Haslam had with Max Friedman, a city council member who owned a jewelry store on Gay Street.
Friedman had called, asking Haslam to work with the Community Chest, what is now known as the United Way.
"Well, Mr. Friedman, I appreciate that very much, but you know, I just started a business and I have three young kids. I’m awfully busy," Haslam said.
Friedman asked: "Mr. Haslam, what kind of business are you in?"
Haslam, who owned a number of gas stations, said he sold gasoline, which prompted the question: "Well, who do you sell it to?"
The people of Knoxville, Haslam said.
"He said, 'Son, if you’re going to be in business, you have to pay the rent,' " Haslam said. "If you want to profit off the people, you have to give back to them. That’s part of your obligation as a business person."
He has done that ever since. Education and health are most important to him, and the Haslam family remains committed to its philanthropy in the Knoxville community.
"If you're going to lead a good life, there are two things that are important: education and health, and I think that's what we have to concentrate on," he said. "We have to have good health care systems, and we have to have good education systems."
