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A young University of Tennessee fan in Florida inspired many with his homemade Volunteers shirt for his school's college colors day last week, reported WNEP-TV.
The student, whose name was withheld due to his age, did not have a jersey to rock for the spirit day and so made his own by drawing his version of a UT logo on a piece of paper he pinned to his orange shirt.
In a Facebook post his teacher, Laura Snyder of Altamonte Elementary School, in Altamonte Springs, Fla., outlined how he was so proud to show off his design, but following his classmates' lunchtime bullying he was in tears.
The teacher posted to Facebook asking her friends with Tennessee connections to help her out and get him some official gear. The post spread quickly among other Vols fans, and the merchandise came pouring in.
That's when Tennessee officials took notice. They helped the student and his classmates stock up with various Vols paraphernalia and even turned his homemade design into an official shirt. The new shirt was so popular it temporarily crashed the Vol Shop website. According to the UT Twitter account, some proceeds from the sales will go to an anti-bullying charity STOMP Out Bullying.
UT interim president Randy Boyd tweeted his appreciation of the student's design on Thursday, saying he was "touched" and "loved his imagination behind designing his own shirt."
