Funeral services will be Tuesday for Albert Kirk, who captained the Tennessee basketball team in 1933-34 and is believed to have been the oldest living former UT basketball player until his death Saturday.
Mr. Kirk, 99, grew up in Knoxville near Cumberland Avenue and followed UT athletics his entire life.
“I love the Volunteers and I believe once a Vol, always a Vol,” Kirk said in a story written about him in 2006.
His chance to play for those Vols came in 1931 when he joined the basketball team.
Called “Red” by his teammates for his red hair, Kirk led the team to a 10-7 record in 1933-34. The team played at Jefferson Hall and Alumni Gym.
“I always loved playing Georgia,” He recalled. “It was my most memorable game.”
Mr. Kirk and his late wife Martha Gibbons Kirk supported the Vols after his playing days.
“My wife and I were season ticket holders for many, many years,” he said, “but now it is difficult for me to get over to the games so I watch them all, football and basketball, on TV.”
Mr. Kirk, who lived in Fountain City, worked in many professions. He was in construction, was a truck driver, owned a restaurant on Union Avenue, was in the insurance business then the postal service.
He played golf on his 95th birthday and was charter member of Beaver Brook Country Club.
Funeral Mass will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Holy Ghost Catholic Church with internment to follow..
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