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Davy Crockett was one of the volunteers leading to Tennessee being called the Volunteer State and the modern football team the Vols.

Davy Crockett And The Tennessee Volunteers: A History Behind The Name by Noah Taylor

The ‘Volunteers’ name derives from the 1,500 troops from Tennessee that fought under General Andrew Jackson against the British at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. That same Volunteer spirit carried on when the war of Texas Independence broke out in 1835.

Again, men all over the great state of Tennessee took up arms to aid the Texans in their revolution against the Mexican Army. One such man was the legendary David “Davy” Crockett, a soldier and congressman from Greene County in East Tennessee.

Crockett is the personification of the Volunteer name. So much so, he was the inspiration for the logo Tennessee athletics adopted in 1983. Like so many men who fought in that Texas campaign, Crockett paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to the cause. He died at the Alamo March 6, 1836, and he and six of his men stood to the last until being shot while surrounded.

Andrew Jackson had feuded with him and Jackson and his friends were behind Crockett losing the election in 1835. In response, Crockett said, “You can go to hell — I’m going to Texas” .