Tom Mattingly

For Knoxville News Sentinel

Bob Sandlin, a three-year letter winner and 1958 starter at wingback under University of Tennessee football coach Bowden Wyatt, passed away on Saturday. He was 80.

Sandlin, who wore No. 17 for the Vols, came to Tennessee from Lake City, Fla., after a four-sport career at Columbia High School. Playing at 5-foot-11, 173 pounds, he was a member of the 1956 SEC Championship team that ranked No. 2 in the country and played in the Sugar Bowl against Baylor. The next season, Sandlin was a part of the Vols’ Gator Bowl victory over Texas A&M.

After the Vols’ 10-6 victory over Vanderbilt in the 1958 season finale, the News-Sentinel’s Frank (Red) Bailes reported on Nov. 30 that, “Carl Smith and Bob Sandlin, playing the entire game, turned in tremendous efforts in their final game for Tennessee.”

“We called him ‘Bullet,’ because he ran straight and strong,” said teammate Bo Shafer, who was also on the squad from 1956-58. “We had a good time around East Stadium Hall. I remember when it snowed, and the boys from Florida went crazy because they had never seen snow before.”

Sandlin was selection No. 285, in the 24th round, in the 1958 NFL draft by the Baltimore Colts.

After graduation in 1960, Sandlin moved to Florida, where he was a teacher and coach. He then had a successful career in the oil industry, joining Texaco in 1965 and later moving his family to Chattanooga where he became vice-president of Benton Oil Company. Sandlin completed his career with Mansfield Oil and retired to Tellico Village in Loudon County.

On Aug. 20, 2013, Sandlin’s sons, Rob and Scott, honored him by dedicating a locker in his name inside the Peyton Manning Locker Room at Neyland Stadium.

Sandlin Honored With Locker Dedication - University of Tennessee

Sandlin is survived by his wife of 58 years, LeVerda Sparrow Sandlin, and his two sons.

Funeral services will be at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at Click Funeral Home Farragut Chapel, Rev. Jim Greer of Tellico Village officiating. The family will receive friends from 2-4 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to University of Tennessee Medical Center designated to UT Hospice, www.utmedicalcenter.org/giving, or to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, www.stjude.org.

Tom Mattingly is a freelance contributor.