RonnieAdventures

Friday, June 13, 2025

RonnieAdventure #0674 - Knoxville to Ozone Falls, Tennessee

The 266-foot tall Sunsphere from the 1982 World's Fair in Nashville (population 715,884), Tennessee, is still standing in the downtown World's Fair Park. When open, visitors can ride to Sunsphere's observation deck for $5.

In addition to Sunsphere, other remaining structures in the park are the Tennessee Amphitheater and some statues.

While walking in the park I found a statue of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, the greatest concert pianist of his time. He traveled all the way from Russia to Knoxville, played a concert in an auditorium, boarded a train bound for Russia, and then died on the train ride. The people of Knoxville felt so bad that he died after his Knoxville concert, they commissioned Russian sculptor Viktor Brokarev to make a statue of Rachmaninoff for the World's Fair Park. This is the only statue of Rachmaninoff in the Western Hemisphere.

The southwest corner of the park is dedicated to the famous basketball coach Pat Summitt.

Picture by Ashley

While we were in Knoxville we also drove by the University of Tennessee, Brenda Lawson Athletic Center, and Neyland Stadium.

Picture by Ashley

Kingston (population 5,953) is the county seat for Roane County, so we visited the various exhibits and memorials around the original and current courthouses. The original courthouse has an interesting history and is now the Roane County Heritage Center.

On September 21, 1807, the State Legislature met on the courthouse site and named it to be the State Capitol site for a day. This location was named as the capitol site to fulfill an agreement with the Cherokee Indians, so that the Indians would relinquish the proposed capitol site at the Fort Southwest Point. The Capitol was eventually built in Nashville.

Picture by Ashley

Fort Southwest Point was a frontier outpost that was constructed in 1797 and served as the meeting place between the Cherokee Indians and the United States government. It was also a way station for early settlers traveling westward.

The fort was abandoned in the 1800s and the structures were destroyed. However, archaeologists have excavated the site and determined the fort's layout. Based on the archeologists' findings, part of the fort has been reconstructed on the original site on a hill overlooking the the confluence of the Tennessee and the Clinch Rivers. The site is now part of the City of Kingston.

On our map, Ozone Falls appeared to be just a short distance from the Interstate; so we put the GPS coordinated into our phone and followed a lesser used winding road through the forest. After several miles, we began to wonder if we had the correct GPS coordinates. Then, we went around a bend in the road, and there was a sign for the falls, and the trailheads for several hiking paths.

Ozone Falls are 110-feeet tall, located along Fall Creek in the Ozone Falls State Natural Area. Disney used the falls as a location when filming the live-action file Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.

We were told that there was a hiking trail to the bottom of the falls, but we could not find the trailhead. Other people were also looking for the trail and could not find it, so the trailhead must have been located farther downstream.

Across the road from the trailheads was an old train trestle and several patches of blooming plants.

Picture by Ashley

Friday, June 6, 2025

RonnieAdventure #0673 - Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, Knoxville, TN

The "Largest Basketball in the World" is located at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville (population 190,740), Tennessee. The ball is 30-feet tall and weighs 10 tons.

Entrance to the building is on the second level into a rotunda that contains a two-story sculpture of women playing basketball. Displayed on the wall are the words to The Dream, which was a song written and performed at the 1999 dedication of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. On the self-guided tour a placard stated that "Our official song celebrates the drama, drive, and heart of the women who play the game."

Picture by Ashley

After watching the 25-minute video Hoopful of Hope about women playing basketball from the past to the present, the self-guided tour goes past exhibits of how the game of women's basketball was started.

Senda Berenson pioneered women's basketball when she was the first physical education director at the all-women's Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1892, a month after men's basketball was invented, she developed and wrote the first basketball guide for women.

A display of historic basketballs revealed that everything about basketballs has changed over the years, except the shape of the ball.

At first, women's basketball locker room were any unused space that could be found in a building. An example of an early women's basketball locker room was on display, which was a storage area under a flight of stairs. Other women's locker rooms were reported to have been repurposed storage closets or rooms in basements.

Over the years, basketball uniforms worn by women have changed substantially. On display were uniforms worn by various university players at college games, national championships, international games, and Olympic events. Some materials used in the uniforms were on display for visitors to touch.

Picture by Ashley

In the Huddle allowed visitors to listen to what coaches tell players while they are in a huddle.

Autographed basketballs, trophies, and other awards were also on display.

Picture by Ashley

The "All-American Red Heads" was a touring women's basketball team that was popular from 1936 to 1986. They were the first professional women's basketball team that demonstrated their playing skills and showmanship on courts around the United States, which was similar to the Harlem Globetrotters.

The team was started by "Ole" Olson and the team's name came from Olson's wife that owned a number of beauty salons. The team was unique for the time because they wore bright uniforms, all of the players had red hair, and they traveled around the country in a stretched limo. Although all of the players were "red heads," only their hairdresser knew for sure.

Picture by Ashley

Pat Summitt was coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team from 1974 to 2012 and is considered one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. Her teams had 1,098 wins, which was the most in college basketball history at the time of her retirement. She won a silver medal as a player in the 1976 Olympic games and then in 1984 she was head coach for the U.S. women's basketball team that won the gold metal. She was the first Olympian to win a basketball medal as a player and then as the coach of a medal-winning team.

A number of her personal items were on display, along with many of her famous quotes, and quotes from other coaches.

Picture by Ashley

Tara VanDerveer was the Stanford Cardinals coach from 1986-2024 and won three NCAA Women's Division 1 Basketball Championships: 1990, 1992, and 2021. She also coached the women's national team that won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games.

Picture by Ashley

Although most of the museum displays featured women basketball players, one section was dedicated to game officials.

In the downstairs area there were a series of hands-on activities and four different courts that featured basketball equipment from four different time periods. The captain of the 1940s team was there poising for pictures.

Picture by Ashley