University of Tennessee Athletics
Inside The T - A Dream Job
February 27, 2015 | General
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
What's your dream job?
I don't mean the kind of job that you think about as a kid that does not turn out to be realistic. Everyone can't be an astronaut. My ability to hit a curveball never developed. A fear of flying (and terrible eyesight) put a crimp in my fighter pilot aspirations.
But when I say dream job, what is that career that you love so much that going in every day does not even feel like work at all?
Mary Underwood had that kind of job at Tennessee. For 38 years covering 37 football seasons, Underwood was a loyal and dedicated employee of the ticket office at Tennessee.
To work at a place like this for so long, the loyal and dedicated part has to be the most important. There are no 8-to-5 jobs in college athletics. For all those years, she was there in the booth for nights and weekends, even after that usual daily shift that we're all still expected to work through.
Such is the life of working in athletics. There may have been a game last night that had you at the arena until midnight, but there is still someone out there the next morning looking for tickets to the next game. Mary was there for them, just as she had been the night before.
"That's the beauty of working in athletics, especially the people that have been here so long realize the hours," Associate Athletics Director for Ticket Operations Joe Arnone said. "Everyone says they want to work in sports, but they don't realize the amount of hours and all the weekends and long nights. It was a great asset to have someone accountable and reliable for all of those events for so long."
Mary was hired in 1978 by Gus Manning when the athletic department was a much smaller place and Gus had a list of titles and job responsibilities under his name that now take a whole list of people to pull off.
In more recent years, Mary led the accounting effort in the ticket office, including the yearly audits of the finances and operations. Arnone came to Tennessee nine years ago to head up the ticket office with an accounting background, which boosted his appreciation for her work.
"When I came in here, the first thing I told the staff was `You guys are going to make me succeed or fail,'" Arnone said. "'You guys have more knowledge of Tennessee athletics than I could ever hope to accumulate.' Being there nine years, I'm still the least-tenured person in there."
That longevity of not just Mary, but of all the staff in the ticket office made her last day on Wednesday even more poignant. After being recognized in the athletics department all-staff meeting in the morning, the ticket office held a going-away party for her, complete with a personalized Tennessee football jersey.
"It was an emotional day when she left on Wednesday," Arnone said. "Danny Burnley in our office has worked here for 32 years and he's never worked in the ticket office without her."
Tennessee is a family, and that's what makes it a very special place to work. People like Mary Underwood set the tone, and it is up to all of us that are lucky enough to be a part of it to keep up that legacy.
Working here was a dream job for Mary, it's a dream job for all of us. We wish her well in her retirement, although I'm sure we'll still see her around. After all, she knows the number to call when she needs a ticket.
