‘Big Orange Tux’ creator releases children’s book with University of Tennessee Press

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -J.R. Greene, known as the “Big Orange Tux guy,” has released a children’s book based on his experience during the University of Tennessee’s 1998 championship season.

Greene said he put on a white tuxedo and used an orange permanent marker to decorate it 28 years ago “to be able to show the world that Tennessee had class,” after an announcer said Tennessee was in a “trailer park frenzy.”

Original tux led Greene onto the field

Greene said he wore the tuxedo to the national championship game and ended up on the field, where a security guard approached him.

“A security guard came up to me and said, excuse me, sir, who are you?” Greene said. “I’m J.R. Greene. I’m the Big Orange Tux guy. I’m here to show the world that Tennessee has class.”

Greene said the guard asked if he was there to lead the team onto the field, and Greene said yes. Greene said the alternative was going to jail. Tennessee won the national title that day.

Family history with the university

Greene said his ties to the University of Tennessee go back generations. He said his great-grandfather, Punch O’Connor, was an Irish boxer in Knoxville who later became mayor of the city. Greene said he is a fourth-generation Vol, accounting for nearly 100 years of family involvement with the university.

Twenty-five years after the championship game, Chris Lowe wrote an article about Greene’s story on ESPN. Greene then worked with the University of Tennessee Library and the University of Tennessee Press to turn the story into a children’s picture book called “My Magic Tux.”

Idea originated from a teacher

Greene said the idea for the book came from a conversation with a school teacher at a tailgate about two and a half years ago. Greene said the teacher told him she had printed out the ESPN story to share with her students and told him, “Your story is magical. It should be a children’s book about courage and competence.”

Greene worked with co-author Joe Shands and illustrator Nicholas Child, who lives in England, according to Katie Hanna, director of the University of Tennessee Press. Hanna said the book is formatted as a “tete-beche,” meaning readers turn it upside down halfway through to read a second half.

Hanna said work on the book began in the summer of 2024, and the book was released July 28, 2026.

Proceeds support UT Libraries literacy programs

Greene said all proceeds from the book and 100% of his royalties go to UT Libraries to support literacy across the state. He said the book is the first children’s picture book in University of Tennessee Press history.

Hanna said the University of Tennessee Press typically publishes scholarly titles and regional trade books, such as hiking guides. She said “My Magic Tux” marks the press’s first picture book.

“I was so happy to see it,” Hanna said. “And it’s the start of a children’s publishing program that I hope will last for a long time.”

Hanna said the University of Tennessee Press plans to release another children’s title, “Nora T and the Champion Tree,” later this month. She said it is a middle-grade fiction book about a girl who discovers a tree on her grandmother’s property and enters it into competition as a Tennessee champion tree.

Message for young readers

Greene said he hopes readers take away a message about courage and confidence.

“I say, take the leap. Take the chance,” Greene said. “Every time you try to do something, you’re only going to end up getting better the more you try. But if you don’t try, you’re never going to do it.”

“It’s all about courage and confidence and improving their confidence to improve in everything and make magic happen in their own lives,” Greene said.

“My Magic Tux” is available through the University of Tennessee Press at utpress.org.