For the first time in over a half century, longtime Tennessee fixture Gus Manning won’t be attending the Volunteers’ home opener Saturday against Indiana State.

The lifelong Vol has been coming to games in Neyland Stadium for quite some time. In fact, Manning’s place on Rocky Top has been stretched on for decades.

Manning worked in a lot of different areas at Tennessee. He was its sports information director, a business manager and Senior Associate Athletic Director. Manning is also a 1994 Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame inductee.

“Gus is one of the all-time icons, I guess you’d say,” former Tennessee football coach and star tailback Johnny Majors said, “of Tennessee’s great football and great athletics.”

Like Majors, the Volunteers know what Manning has meant to their program. They honored him with a special display in the press box today.

Manning is 94, living in rehab quarters in Knoxville, Tennessee.