This morning, in conjunction with the 2024-25 college basketball season, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled a first-of-its-kind Tennessee Volunteers Basketball Top 25 Ranking Tracker Bobblehead. Tennessee is currently ranked #11 in the AP Top 25 and #9 in the Coaches Poll. Tennessee has gotten off to a 5-0 start and will face 13th-ranked Baylor on Friday night in the Continental Tires Baha Mar Championship in the Bahamas.
The unique bobblehead will let fans change the teamโs ranking each week for many years to come. The officially licensed bobbleheads are being produced by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, an official licensee of the University of Tennessee.
- Released in conjunction with the 2024-25 college basketball season, the bobbleheads are now available in the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museumโs Online Store at this link.
- The bobbleheads, which are expected to ship in April, are $40 each plus a flat-rate shipping charge of $8 per order.
- Each will be individually numbered to 2,024.
- Standing on a basketball court base, the Smokey bobblehead is positioned on a numbered block that can be adjusted when Tennesseeโs ranking changes. Smokey is also holding a basketball with the Tennessee Volunteersโ logo.
- The costumed version of Smokey made his debut in the 1980s as a cartoon-like orange and white dog. Smokey was redesigned in the late-1980s, and the redesign quickly became a fan favorite and remains the face of Tennessee athletics to this day. Smokey is a perennial favorite when he competes in national mascot competitions, and he was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2008. In 1953, the University of Tennessee Pep Club held a contest to select a coonhound, a breed common to Tennessee, to serve as the schoolโs live mascot. Smokey XI took over as the full-time live mascot in 2023. Smokey XI ran through the T for the first time on November 25th against Vanderbilt, accompanied by his father, Smokey X.
- Tennessee is currently ranked #11 in the AP Top 25 and #9 in the Coaches Poll. Tennessee has gotten off to a 5-0 start and will face 13th-ranked Baylor on Friday night in the Continental Tires Baha Mar Championship in the Bahamas.
- “Weโre excited to unveil the College Basketball Top 25 Ranking Bobblehead Series in conjunction with the 2024-25 season,โ National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. โThis bobblehead will be the perfect way for Tennessee fans to track the teamโs ranking each week for many seasons to come and a great way for fans, alumni, students, faculty, and staff to show off their school pride all year long!โ
- The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, which is located at 170 S. 1st. St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, opened to the public on February 1st, 2019. The HOF and Museum also produces high quality, customized bobbleheads for retail sale as well as organizations, individuals, and teams across the country.