A little bit of the Volunteer legend has left the UT community.

Martha Gower Hudson, who, with her husband Earl Hudson, has supplied and trained the famous bluetick coonhounds known simply to fans as Smokey since 1994, died Nov. 29 in Knoxville.

Smokey became a UT staple in 1953 when he made his first appearance as UT’s official mascot at the Vols’ season opener against Mississippi State.

According to Earl, Smokey’s selection is as much legend as it is fact.

Earl’s brother, Rev. W.C. Brooks, entered his “Houn Dawg,” then called “Brooks’ Blue Smokey,” into the mascot selection contest for UT. Smokey competed against 18 other dogs, only four of which were “true hounds,” Earl said. The contest was designed as a howl-off between the 19 canines, and as Earl told it, “the more Smokey howled, the more the fans cheered.”

The rest, as they say, is history. Rev. Brooks and his wife, Mildred, carried on the tradition of raising and training the dogs until their deaths in 1986 and 1994 respectively.

At that point, Earl and Martha assumed the responsibility of supplying the hounds for UT — starting with Smokey VII, and Earl said that without his wife, things may not have been the same.

“She was the driving force behind us taking over Smokey,” he said.

Earl also added that being part of the UT tradition is something that he and Martha loved very much.

“It’s been a real joy to be able to participate (with the UT community) by providing the mascot,” he said.

“Martha and I always went to games … and it was wonderful to get to go games and travel.”

The Vol Spirit has been part of their lives from very early on, Earl said.

Earl attended his first UT game in 1938, and said he “was smitten from the word ‘go’. There was a whole lot of spirit in that time.”

Earl also added that one of the last things Martha talked about before she died was the 2003 UT-South Carolina halftime show, which commemorated Smokey’s 50th anniversary.

When asked if he would keep up the tradition of training the mascots — now on Smokey IX — Earl said he would continue until one of his and Martha’s five children took over.

“There’ll probably be a contest to see which one will get to do it,” he joked.

Martha’s impact on UT was not limited to football, however.

Smokey’s caretaker at the UT Veterinary Hospital, Dr. Kate Stenske, said that Martha “was a wonderful dog owner and lover and a wonderful contributor to UT and all of veterinary medicine.”

She also spoke about Earl and Martha’s relationship.

“Their relationship was amazing,” she said. “They loved each other very much.”