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A few thoughts about TEE...

Todd Unzicker

Letterman and National Champion
Gold Member
Jun 23, 2001
2,553
524
197
Like many of you, I was so saddened to hear the news that our friend TEEDawg lost his battle with cancer. I went to bed last night thinking of fond memories with him and praying for his family and all of us that we would receive comfort during this time of grief. That hasn't changed this morning.

For those of you new to UGASports, I had the privilege of serving various roles on the site from 2002 through 2005, lastly as Managing Editor. There were so many great memories during my time with this site, one of the greatest being getting to know many of you.

This was no better personified that when I met TEE. Over the past 12 hours or so I can't seem to remember when I first met him. There are probably a lot of reasons for that, especially my life style during that time. :cool:

What I do remember was how much of an encourager he was to me, especially when I first got started in the business. TEE was always interacting with me either on the The Dawgvent-Chat (as it was known then), shooting me emails or giving me a call. He was always one of the guys I spent time with during our social get-togethers and his tailgate was right next to ours for years. On those big game weekends, it was hard to tell where our tailgate ended and his began. We would have literally hundreds of folks all together with TEE and I holding court and leading cheers.

Two main things I wanted to share with you guys that I thought you would want to know:

About 10 years ago (last month actually), I was headed back from Destin where we covered the SEC meetings. The site was growing so fast and the two "Dawgvents" were creating some confusion as to which one was actually "the Vent". It was my suggestion (yes, if you are still mad, you can blame me) to Steve Patterson at the time that we do something to separate the two active communities, designating one for primarily Dawg talk and the other being for everything else. That day, the DawgChat was born. Before we did it though, there were several people we wanted to get input on and one was TEE. He was such a staple on the Dawgvent-Chat that we didn't want to upset him. I don't remember all his feelings, although I know like many of you initially he was skeptical of the change; however, I do remember him saying, "General (as I was known at the time), I know you guys are doing what's best for the site and I trust that, I'll keep the Chat going." That was such a great move by a guy that was not a paid employee; but rather, a good friend.

The last item I want to share with you is my favorite memory of TEE and one where I think of him all the time to this day. He and I shared a love for fishing, especially bass fishing. During one of our many fishing talks, I shared with him that I needed a new canoe. The exact one I was looking for, TEE had. He "sold" me his canoe for a price that actually almost gave it to me. He was so generous. One of his two conditions were that if I ever talked about fishing during my radio segments, I mentioned his canoe. His other condition was that I keep the "Fire Mike Adams" bumper sticker on the canoe. This bright red bumper sticker, contrasted with the forest green canoe, stood out like a sore thumb. For those of you who remember, I always had that thing loaded on my black truck while driving around Athens. It must of looked funny to see it parked at the Butts-Mehre everyday for practice with a "Fire Mike Adams" bumper sticker in the lot.

I still have the canoe 12 years later. The canoe was featured in Bassmaster magazine when I caught a 10lb bass in it. My kids now go with me in it. I use it for camping, recreation, and still catch bass out of it. There isn't a day that goes by when using it that I don't think of TEE's smiling face as he gave it to me. Over the past 10 years, we talked a few times a year, and always about that canoe.

It was an honor to have known him through UGASports.com. It was a blessing for him to give me his canoe. It was a joy to continue our friendship long after I left the site, went to Honduras, and entered the pastorate. I'm thankful to have called him my friend and will always cherish the memories I had with him.

May God bless his family during the grieving time. May God bless us with peace as we all will miss him. I know I will.

Your friend,

Todd U
 
Like many of you, I was so saddened to hear the news that our friend TEEDawg lost his battle with cancer. I went to bed last night thinking of fond memories with him and praying for his family and all of us that we would receive comfort during this time of grief. That hasn't changed this morning.

For those of you new to UGASports, I had the privilege of serving various roles on the site from 2002 through 2005, lastly as Managing Editor. There were so many great memories during my time with this site, one of the greatest being getting to know many of you.

This was no better personified that when I met TEE. Over the past 12 hours or so I can't seem to remember when I first met him. There are probably a lot of reasons for that, especially my life style during that time. :cool:

What I do remember was how much of an encourager he was to me, especially when I first got started in the business. TEE was always interacting with me either on the The Dawgvent-Chat (as it was known then), shooting me emails or giving me a call. He was always one of the guys I spent time with during our social get-togethers and his tailgate was right next to ours for years. On those big game weekends, it was hard to tell where our tailgate ended and his began. We would have literally hundreds of folks all together with TEE and I holding court and leading cheers.

Two main things I wanted to share with you guys that I thought you would want to know:

About 10 years ago (last month actually), I was headed back from Destin where we covered the SEC meetings. The site was growing so fast and the two "Dawgvents" were creating some confusion as to which one was actually "the Vent". It was my suggestion (yes, if you are still mad, you can blame me) to Steve Patterson at the time that we do something to separate the two active communities, designating one for primarily Dawg talk and the other being for everything else. That day, the DawgChat was born. Before we did it though, there were several people we wanted to get input on and one was TEE. He was such a staple on the Dawgvent-Chat that we didn't want to upset him. I don't remember all his feelings, although I know like many of you initially he was skeptical of the change; however, I do remember him saying, "General (as I was known at the time), I know you guys are doing what's best for the site and I trust that, I'll keep the Chat going." That was such a great move by a guy that was not a paid employee; but rather, a good friend.

The last item I want to share with you is my favorite memory of TEE and one where I think of him all the time to this day. He and I shared a love for fishing, especially bass fishing. During one of our many fishing talks, I shared with him that I needed a new canoe. The exact one I was looking for, TEE had. He "sold" me his canoe for a price that actually almost gave it to me. He was so generous. One of his two conditions were that if I ever talked about fishing during my radio segments, I mentioned his canoe. His other condition was that I keep the "Fire Mike Adams" bumper sticker on the canoe. This bright red bumper sticker, contrasted with the forest green canoe, stood out like a sore thumb. For those of you who remember, I always had that thing loaded on my black truck while driving around Athens. It must of looked funny to see it parked at the Butts-Mehre everyday for practice with a "Fire Mike Adams" bumper sticker in the lot.

I still have the canoe 12 years later. The canoe was featured in Bassmaster magazine when I caught a 10lb bass in it. My kids now go with me in it. I use it for camping, recreation, and still catch bass out of it. There isn't a day that goes by when using it that I don't think of TEE's smiling face as he gave it to me. Over the past 10 years, we talked a few times a year, and always about that canoe.

It was an honor to have known him through UGASports.com. It was a blessing for him to give me his canoe. It was a joy to continue our friendship long after I left the site, went to Honduras, and entered the pastorate. I'm thankful to have called him my friend and will always cherish the memories I had with him.

May God bless his family during the grieving time. May God bless us with peace as we all will miss him. I know I will.

Your friend,

Todd U


Fine work, General.
 
The Vent is, IMHO, forever indebted to the irascible Tee. He was a "Reply" magnet and his 300k+ posts almost certainly generated a million more. I am so glad I got to see him one more time at the Pig in February. If there ever was a DGD, Tee was it.
 
Like many of you, I was so saddened to hear the news that our friend TEEDawg lost his battle with cancer. I went to bed last night thinking of fond memories with him and praying for his family and all of us that we would receive comfort during this time of grief. That hasn't changed this morning.

For those of you new to UGASports, I had the privilege of serving various roles on the site from 2002 through 2005, lastly as Managing Editor. There were so many great memories during my time with this site, one of the greatest being getting to know many of you.

This was no better personified that when I met TEE. Over the past 12 hours or so I can't seem to remember when I first met him. There are probably a lot of reasons for that, especially my life style during that time. :cool:

What I do remember was how much of an encourager he was to me, especially when I first got started in the business. TEE was always interacting with me either on the The Dawgvent-Chat (as it was known then), shooting me emails or giving me a call. He was always one of the guys I spent time with during our social get-togethers and his tailgate was right next to ours for years. On those big game weekends, it was hard to tell where our tailgate ended and his began. We would have literally hundreds of folks all together with TEE and I holding court and leading cheers.

Two main things I wanted to share with you guys that I thought you would want to know:

About 10 years ago (last month actually), I was headed back from Destin where we covered the SEC meetings. The site was growing so fast and the two "Dawgvents" were creating some confusion as to which one was actually "the Vent". It was my suggestion (yes, if you are still mad, you can blame me) to Steve Patterson at the time that we do something to separate the two active communities, designating one for primarily Dawg talk and the other being for everything else. That day, the DawgChat was born. Before we did it though, there were several people we wanted to get input on and one was TEE. He was such a staple on the Dawgvent-Chat that we didn't want to upset him. I don't remember all his feelings, although I know like many of you initially he was skeptical of the change; however, I do remember him saying, "General (as I was known at the time), I know you guys are doing what's best for the site and I trust that, I'll keep the Chat going." That was such a great move by a guy that was not a paid employee; but rather, a good friend.

The last item I want to share with you is my favorite memory of TEE and one where I think of him all the time to this day. He and I shared a love for fishing, especially bass fishing. During one of our many fishing talks, I shared with him that I needed a new canoe. The exact one I was looking for, TEE had. He "sold" me his canoe for a price that actually almost gave it to me. He was so generous. One of his two conditions were that if I ever talked about fishing during my radio segments, I mentioned his canoe. His other condition was that I keep the "Fire Mike Adams" bumper sticker on the canoe. This bright red bumper sticker, contrasted with the forest green canoe, stood out like a sore thumb. For those of you who remember, I always had that thing loaded on my black truck while driving around Athens. It must of looked funny to see it parked at the Butts-Mehre everyday for practice with a "Fire Mike Adams" bumper sticker in the lot.

I still have the canoe 12 years later. The canoe was featured in Bassmaster magazine when I caught a 10lb bass in it. My kids now go with me in it. I use it for camping, recreation, and still catch bass out of it. There isn't a day that goes by when using it that I don't think of TEE's smiling face as he gave it to me. Over the past 10 years, we talked a few times a year, and always about that canoe.

It was an honor to have known him through UGASports.com. It was a blessing for him to give me his canoe. It was a joy to continue our friendship long after I left the site, went to Honduras, and entered the pastorate. I'm thankful to have called him my friend and will always cherish the memories I had with him.

May God bless his family during the grieving time. May God bless us with peace as we all will miss him. I know I will.

Your friend,

Todd U
 
This is a beautiful post. Tee will be missed, as will the golden era of the Vent/Chat. For several years (up until just recently), Tee WAS the Chat.

-- 00 Dawg

So tied to this place that it made me think of when couples have been together for years and a spouse passes away. You will then hear of the other one dying within days. This was his home. Todd and Tee packed up everyone and moved to another "home" but it isn't the same. Everything came down shortly after the move. The one positive that is coming out of this is seeing a lot of old names and people coming back here, even if it is just to pay respect to Terry. May he R.I.P. and catch up with those that left before him.
 
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So tied to this place that it made me think of when couples have been together for years and a spouse passes away. You will then hear of the other one dying within days. This was his home. Todd and Tee packed up everyone and moved to another "home" but it isn't the same. Everything came down shortly after the move. The one positive that is coming out of this is seeing a lot of old names and people coming back here, even if it is just to pay respect to Terry. May he R.I.P. and catch up with those that left before him.
Didn't TEE post something here a week or so ago? It was a little cryptic but I can't find the post
 
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