PITTSBURGH – The late Johnny Majors made football history for Pitt and Tennessee.

When the two teams step onto the pitch at Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon, the two programs will meet for the first time since 1983 – when the Majors led his alma mater against Pitt, the school he had coached for a championship. national during the 1976 season.

The majors, who passed away in June 2020, will now be honored by Pitt and Tennessee who jointly decided to name this weekend’s game the Johnny Majors Classic.

“We are honored to join the University of Tennessee to celebrate the life of Coach Johnny Majors,” Heather Lyke, director of Pitt Athletic, said in a statement last month. “Beyond the victories, Coach Majors has had a huge impact on the lives of his players. It is his greatest legacy and the University of Pittsburgh is incredibly proud to be a part of it. We look forward to being with the Majors family when we visit in September. ”

“Honoring Johnny Majors in this way creates another really special and unique element for an already special season as we celebrate the centenary of Neyland Stadium,” said Tennessee Vice Chancellor / Athletics Director Danny White. “I appreciate the Pittsburgh partnership on this. It will be a day to remember for the Majors family as well as fans of both schools who appreciate Johnny Majors’ Hall of Fame legacy. “

Hailing from Tennessee, the Majors played for the Volunteers from 1953 to 1956. The Majors won back-to-back SEC MVP honors in his last two seasons as a player and finished second in the Heisman vote in 1956, leading the Volunteers to a 10-1 record that year. Majors began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in Tennessee the following season. He held assistant coaching positions in Mississippi State and Arkansas before obtaining his first head coaching position at Iowa State in 1968, where he remained until he came to Pitt in 1973.

The arrival of the majors had an immediate impact on the Panthers. The local star, running back Tony Dorsett of Hopewell High School, was part of the Majors ‘first recruiting class at Pitt and Dorsett quickly became the Panthers’ top player. The Majors led the Pitt to his first all-time winning record in a decade and his first bowl appearance in 17 years, earning him Coach of the Year honors in 1973. Pitt had a record 1 -10 the season before he was hired, and the Majors turned the team into national champions in just four years, as Dorsett amassed more than 6,000 yards during his career at Pitt, setting an NCAA record.

Dorsett would go on to be the first – and so far the only – Pitt player to win the Heisman Trophy in 1976.

After the 1976 National Championship and another Coach of the Year award, the majors left Pitt to coach in Tennessee. Although he did not win another national title, the Majors led the Volunteers to three SEC championships during his 16-year tenure in Knoxville and were inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987.

Majors returned to Pitt for a second stint as head coach from 1993 to 1996, but was unable to regain the glory of his previous stint. The Panthers failed to set a winning record in any of the four seasons during his second tenure at Pitt. The majors retired from coaching after the 1996 season.

The impact of the majors on Pitt is still felt – and visible – to this day. It was the Majors who originally chose to change the team’s colors from navy blue and old gold to royal blue and mustard yellow – in part so that the Panthers’ uniforms didn’t look like their rival’s. Notre Dame, which they played every year at the time.

Majors was also responsible for the Pitt script logo, hiring an artist to design the iconic “Ucla” script-inspired look on UCLA helmets. The Pitt colors and script will be worn by Pitt legends including Dorsett, Dan Marino, Jimbo Covert, Hugh Green and Bill Fralic. The Panthers reverted to the navy blue and old gold color scheme after the Majors retired in 1996 and added the infamous “DinoCat” logo around that time. They also started going through “Pittsburgh” instead of Pitt. The school then started using a capitalized Pitt logo in 2005, but reverted to the script logo in 2016. The royal blue and mustard yellow color scheme was re-enacted full-time in 2019.

On Tuesday, ESPN announced that assistant coach and longtime friend of the Majors, Jackie Sherrill, will be the Panthers’ honorary captain for Saturday’s game and speak to the team ahead of the game. Sherrill and the majors coached together at Arkansas before Sherrill spent eight years as an assistant under the Iowa State and Pitt majors. Sherrill was the chief recruiter who helped turn Dorsett into a panther. Sherrill took over from the Majors to Pitt, coaching the Panthers from 1977 to 1981. The two remained close and even spoke on the phone the day before Majors died.

“He called me and we talked for an hour and a half,” Sherrill told ESPN. “He was in a good mood and said he was feeling good and kept saying, ‘I want to come see you. I told him that my grandchildren live in Nashville and that we are due to meet in Nashville later in the month.

“It’s still hard to believe he’s gone,” Sherrill continued. “We had so many good times together. I always used to tease him by telling him that I think we only had a crossword in all the years that I worked for him.

Pitt’s current coach Pat Narduzzi is delighted to honor one of his predecessors on Saturday. Narduzzi and Majors developed a relationship during Narduzzi’s time in Pittsburgh.

“I love it,” Narduzzi said of his team competing in the Johnny Majors Classic. “I love him the most because I’ve had a relationship with Coach Majors since his time here in Pitt, the days he came here to visit the college he loved here. I spent a few flights with him. I spent a lot of time with him at some of the Nike clinics he was heavily involved with during his retirement years.

“I think it’s a great thing in honor of the Majors family,” Narduzzi said. “We are delighted with this. “

A second edition of the Johnny Majors Classic will take place next year when Pitt and Tennessee meet at Heinz Field on September 10.

Amanda Filipcic-Godsey is a freelance writer in Pittsburgh. She covers Pitt’s football and basketball for CNHI Pa newspapers. Follow her on Twitter @AmandaFGodsey

Amanda Filipcic-Godsey is a freelance writer in Pittsburgh. She covers Pitt’s football and basketball for CNHI Pa newspapers. Follow her on Twitter @AmandaFGodsey