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A Fur-Filled Easter: The Story Behind Tennessee’s Newest Celebration Coat

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Do you know the story about Tennessee’s traveling fur coat? No, not that fur coat, meaning the one bought by Evan Russell to serve as a 2022

Jake Nichols

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Do you know the story about Tennessee’s traveling fur coat?

No, not that fur coat, meaning the one bought by Evan Russell to serve as a 2022 addition to the ‘Daddy’ hat, so that the coat graces the shoulders of whichever Tennessee player has blasted the Vols’ most recent home run (of which there are plenty).

I’m talking about the other fur coat, which made its first appearance at Tennessee’s Easter Sunday finale against Alabama — on the shoulders of a 7-foot Serbian man, no less — before somehow finding its way to the grand-slam-knocking Tennessee softball team a few short hours later.

Well, here you can get the full scoop, both on the coat itself and the woman who decided to share it.

Before we get too deep into this story, though, let’s first establish some differences to avoid confusion.

The coat Russell bought is lined with fake fur, has lots of cheetah print spots and, quite frankly, looks almost like a long shawl when draped over one’s shoulders and strutted through a dugout.

But this newer coat? Well, it’s real mink, thank you, and would probably extend to the lower leg of any regularly-sized person — yet doesn’t even touch the knees when worn by Tennessee basketball forward Uros Plavsic.

Oh, and one more thing: the “other” fur coat is also at least two decades older than anyone who has worn it in the last 48 hours.

Regardless of the differences in material and age, though, one thing is certain about both pieces of material: they draw attention in a way only Vols fans can love.

How It Started

When Jennifer Morris moved to Knoxville from West Virginia more than 20 years ago, she did so in search of baseball.

Morris had grown up a lifelong Braves fan, the sports junkie having learned from her father and grandmother, so she was thrilled to start a post-college job with the Tennessee Smokies — despite being mired in the thick of controversy when she arrived.

As Morris came to East Tennessee, the Smokies were in the midst of their final year in downtown Knoxville before making the move to their current (and soon former) stadium in Kodak.

There has since been a vote to move the Smokies back to Knoxville — a decision that Morris said makes her “so happy,” despite how the other stadium flourished in a more tourism-driven part of the state.

At the time, though, controversy reigned, with Morris at the center of it.

Her job — or so she thought —- was to sell suites and porches at the then-new venue.

Then again, few things go as planned in minor league baseball.

“What I learned quickly, especially in the minor leagues, is the first thing you need to know is that it’s all hands on deck,” Morris said with a laugh. “I thought I was going to start selling suites, and the first thing I learned to do was pull tarp!”

Still, fueled by her love for a sport that she loves “second only to my husband,” Morris was hooked.

That passion remained through her time at Tennessee, where she earned a Master’s degree in Sports Management, and the love only intensified when Morris witnessed firsthand the passion of Vols fans.

“I love the passion of the Vols,” said Morris, who quickly found her way from the Smokies’ ballpark to Lindsey Nelson Stadium — even when tickets were only $6 apiece.

“You really could put us in front of any sport, and people would think we were going for the title of everything,” she said. “Whatever it may be.”

So when Morris — now a Knoxville realtor for Keller-Williams and a season ticket holder for Tennessee baseball — kept seeing the Vols break out Russell’s “pimp coat” this season, it didn’t take long for her mind to drift back to her family.

Not just because of the sports fandom that had been passed down, but because of another heirloom she had been given: a full-length mink coat that had belonged to her grandmother, yet had not been worn in decades.

Morris could not even remember seeing her grandmother, who passed in the late 1990’s, don the item, and she had even tried to sell it over the years.

Morris’ grandmother, Violet Snead, who passed away in the 1990’s and owned the coat worn by Uros Plavsic this weekend

But when she saw the Vols break out their own fur coat? Well, Morris knew hers had to be part of the revelry, too.

“I’d been to several games thinking, ‘I need to get my Granny’s fur coat down to the guys somehow some way,’” Morris said. “But they already had one.”

Fast forward to Saturday night.

After Tony Vitello and Frank Anderson had been tossed from the Vols’ second matchup against Alabama, Jordan Beck hit a game-clinching grand slam.

On cue, the Vols brought their cheetah coat out of the dugout — and then umpire Jeffrey Macias put a stop to it.

Macias told the Vols they could not flash the coat outside the dugout to celebrate, despite the fact that Tennessee had gone through 34 games with nary an issue on the matter.

Naturally, Macias drew the ire of Tennessee fans, who redirected that same passion that first attracted Morris when they addressed how to finagle some fur for Sunday’s game.

One of those fans was Plavsic, who put out a tweet asking where he could find a fur coat by noon on Easter Sunday.

Morris responded with a picture of her grandmother’s coat, adding that she had tried to give it away or sell it — but that her grandmother was also a “firecracker” and would love for it to be part of the game.

Plavsic sent Morris a message, they exchanged numbers, and she brought the coat to him the next morning with one request: hang it up when it’s not being used, and she’d take care of the cleaning.

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By that afternoon, Plavsic strutted into Lindsey Nelson Stadium wearing a coat that Morris — who was born in 1976 — said is “much older” than she is, with a pink ‘Daddy’ hat to match.

To make the bit even better, Plavsic even took the coat to his girlfriend, Kiki Milloy, who’s on the Lady Vols’ softball team.

And then? Well, you saw what happened next:

How It’s Going

Overall, the moments represented the full-circle turn of Tennessee athletics, which hasn’t seen simultaneous success like this in years.

Across Danny White’s athletic department, the Vols are dominating and having fun.

But so are the fans, Morris included, with plenty of celebration and joy to match.

“That’s why I felt so comfortable giving Uros the coat,” Morris said of Tennessee fans’ love for their team. “I knew his passion for the Vols. His enthusiasm, it’s infectious with people. I knew he’d do right by the coat, and he sure did.”

Morris and Plavsic are still in communication, and she said that Uros has planned to keep the jacket for “at least a few more games.”

Could the coat end up at other Tennessee athletic events?

“It may show up at softball again, who knows?” Morris said. “It may show up at tennis, it could be on the plane to Omaha. I truly don’t know!”

If the Vols should make a return trip to the College World Series, and her grandmother’s coat were to end up being stowed alongside the cheetah print one? 

“I would eat up every single minute of it,” Morris said. “I love it. Bring it.”

Whatever happens from here on out is icing on the cake, though, given what happened Sunday.

“Knowing my granny like I did, and hearing stories from my dad — this is my dad’s mom — I can say that she would have shown up with Uros if she could have,” Morris said with a chuckle. “She would have strutted all the way to the student section with her nose high up in the air.”

“It was so exciting, and I know that my grandma would absolutely love every single bit of this if she was still here,” she added. “I know that she was smiling down from Heaven and laughing. I knew it would make Vol Nation excited. But I had no idea how nuts it would get, and it’s been a joy.

“I don’t know that I’ve had as fun of an Easter as I had (on Sunday).”

Cover photo courtesy of Uros Plavsic/Twitter

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Jake Nichols
JAKE NICHOLS

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