Charlie Lee Smith, a local businessman in Livingston, was always a big supporter of the Livingston Wildcats, and had a sports program on WLIV radio called "The C.L. Smith Sports Report." His broadcast included updates on national games as well as local sports. In support of Livingston Academy, he wrote his own song called "Hogeye Boogie" that he often played during his broadcast.  Prior to Saturday’s game that was broadcast on WLIV, C.L.’s "Hogeye Boogie" was played. I was able to obtain a CD of that song from C.L.’s son, Aaron, and after a lot of rewinding, I finally got all the words to the song written down. I’m including them here, but having the music to accompany the words makes all the difference. C.L. begins the song with the famous cheer, "H-O-G-E-Y-E, Hogeye, Hogeye, TNT", and then music that makes you want to get up and boogie begins to play. The words are as follows:

"That Hogeye Boogie sure sounds good to me,"

"When you mix it up with a little T-N-T,"

"I don’t know where it come from,"

"But I know it’s gonna live on and on,"

"That Hogeye fight song really turns you on,"

"In Wildcat Country it will always come on strong,"

"We sing Hogeye here at home,"

"We sing it on the road,"

"Now play it boys!"

"I don’t reckon anyone know where that Hogeye stuff got started anyway,"

"Every time you ask a different person, you come up with a different answer,"

"Ole timers say they used to yell out that Hogeye stuff at horseshoe games and at marble games,"

"Well, it must be a real sport that started it,"

"You can hear ‘em yellin’ Hogeye at football games and basketball,"

"Yep, we play that game too here in Wildcat Country,"

"And you can always tell what the score is,"

"When the cheerleaders and the fans start yellin,"

"H-O-G-E-Y-E, Hogeye, Hogeye, T-N-T!"

"That Hogeye Boogie goes on and on and on, you see,"

"When the sun goes down in Middle Tennessee,"

"It’ll start you to hoppin’ around,"

"When you live in this Hogeye Town,"

"Yeah, on and on and on,"

"Yeah, on and on and on,"

"T-N-T and all that kinda stuff,"

"Wildcat Country!"

"So-o-o-e-y!"

WLIV radio station’s idea to play C.L.’s song prior to Saturday’s game was a wonderful tribute to one of Livingston Academy’s biggest fans. I feel sure he’s up there smiling today not only because someone remembered to play his song, but most of all, because he’s so proud of his hometown team. Two other sports personalities, John Mark Windle and Mark Houser, that later had a sports talk show on WLIV, used Charlie Lee’s "Hogeye Boogie" as their theme song too. Charlie Lee passed away some 20 years ago, but is alive and well in the memories of many Livingston residents.

Another person I contacted was Drue Huffines, a well known radio personality associated with WLIV radio. Drue has lots of good memories of working with Charlie Lee, but he also had a version of how Hogeye originated. His story is that a group of men from the Independence /Monroe and other neighborhoods in that area would often gather to play various games that included anything from horseshoes to pick up basketball games. And at any time during these games, when a good play was made, or a team had scored, and when a game was won, the word "Hogeye" was yelled. That Drue’s version of how the name got started.

Sometime ago, I received an email from one of my readers, Charlene McMahan. She remembers hearing a story that a young man got off one of the county buses after arriving at the high school one morning and yelled "Hogeye". According to what Charlene was told, that’s how the name got started.

Anyone of these stories might be the way it all began, but I don’t suppose we’ll ever know for sure. But one thing is absolutely certain, a cheer Wilbur C. Smith remembers definitely applies to our winning Livingston Academy Wildcat team for bringing home the state championship trophy Saturday night. That cheer goes like this:

"Buttermilk Avenue, Sweet Milk Street, Hogeye, Hogeye can’t be beat!"

(Right Click HERE and select "Save Target As" to save the Hogeye Song on your computer.)