Ranking Sports Illustrated's Tennessee Vols covers amid SI layoff news

Sports Illustrated may be on the road to extinction after 70 years, and so could those iconic Tennessee Vols SI covers.

The Associated Press reported SI is planning to lay off most or all its staff. Time will tell if that holds true.

UT athletes, coaches and even fans have been featured on dozens of SI covers over the decades, and it's hard to pick a favorite.

But here are our top five SI covers of the Vols.

1. ‘Peerless’ national championship performance

Peerless means unequaled or unrivaled. So Peerless Price, the star of UT’s national championship game, was perfectly cast for the SI cover on Jan. 11, 1999.

It was released one week after the Vols beat Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl for a perfect 13-0 record and a national title.

The complete headline said, “No doubt about it: The Vols are Peerless.” But most UT fans only remember it as the “Peerless” cover, which featured the wide receiver scoring a 79-yard touchdown pass from Tee Martin in the fourth quarter.

More: Relive Tennessee football's epic 1998 national championship with this commemorative book

Granted, many UT fans recall a different SI cover from that national title. It featured Martin and the headline, “PerfecT.” That cover is framed on walls throughout Tennessee to this day.

So why isn’t it on this list? It was a commemorative issue and not the weekly magazine. It's a technicality, but both were memorable covers for the Vols.

2. ‘The Tennessee Waltz’

On Oct. 7, 1985, UT quarterback Tony Robinson donned the cover with the headline, “The Tennessee Waltz.”

Any UT fan of that era (or many years afterward) knows that image. They also recall the game that produced it – the Vols’ 38-20 upset of No. 1 Auburn.

Veteran SI writer Rick Reilly penned the cover story. It was evident that he went to Knoxville to write about eventual Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson.

Instead, SI called an audible when Robinson tossed four TD passes to shock the top-ranked team in college football. The Vols seized the opportunity and stole the cover fair and square.

3. ‘Ernie and Bernie’ were double trouble

On Feb. 9, 1976, the cover said, “Double Trouble from Tennessee.”

It could’ve easily said, “Ernie and Bernie,” referring to UT basketball stars Ernie Grunfeld and Bernard King. That was the title of ESPN’s “30 for 30” documentary on the hoops duo 40 years later.

From 1974-77, Grunfeld and King put UT basketball on the map with a 61-20 record, two NCAA tournament appearances and an SEC regular-season title in 1977.

The pair of New Yorkers brought a unique style and competitiveness to the Vols. And the SI cover caught them at their zenith, just before they were voted SEC Co-Players of the Year.

4. ‘The Wizard of Knoxville’

On March 2, 1998, the cover asked, “Is Tennessee’s Pat Summitt the best college basketball coach since John Wooden?”

The answer: Probably so.

It was an NCAA tournament preview edition, and the Lady Vols were vying for a three-peat as national champions.

They won that third straight national title – the sixth of eight during Summitt’s reign – and finished with a perfect 39-0 record.

A month later, the Lady Vols were back on the SI cover: “Perfect” with a Chamique Holdsclaw photo. And there were several other covers that featured Summitt and UT women’s basketball.

But the “Wizard of Knoxville” cover gets the nod in this ranking because it featured a close-up of Summitt and her iconic stare. No other coach ever held such intensity in her face, and that cover captured that.

5. ‘In His Father’s Image’: Peyton and Archie

There could be a separate ranking just of Peyton Manning SI covers. He was a glossy fixture there for almost a quarter-century, but that run started when he was a Vols quarterback.

The first time Peyton Manning appeared on the SI cover was Aug. 26, 1996.

It was a dual image. On the top, Peyton posed as the cover boy of the 1996 college football preview edition. On the bottom was an archived version of Archie’s 1970 cover.

The headline: “In His Father’s Image: Peyton Manning, Idol of No. 1 Tennessee.”

UT fans already knew Peyton Manning was a star. This cover introduced him to the rest of the country as Archie’s son. After that, Peyton stood alone.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Sports Illustrated's Tennessee Vols covers: Pat Summitt to 'Peerless'