Al Roker paid a visit to the University of Tennessee on Wednesday morning to help 4,223 students, staff and alumni break the Guinnes World Record for the largest human letter. The event took place at the Neyland Stadium.
Students were encouraged to come to the stadium at 5:30 a.m. and many had arrived at 4:30 a.m. People filled the stands and showed their support by dancing to the Pride of the Southland pep band as they waited to break the record.
Roker of the Today show had visited three universities for his Rokerthon project, which help schools break records. He aims to visit five colleges across the country by the end of the week.
Roker said the schools were different but had something in common, incredible school spirit. They each had the desire to show that their school can make the difference.
During the show, football head coach Butch Jones and Chancelor Beverly Davenport appeared within Neyland where they drew names and gave two lucky students a total of $5,000 in scholarships.
Davenport said she was excited for the publicity the event brought the university. When she found out their students had entered them into the competition she was positive they would deliver as the university was known all over the country and furthers the legacy according to UT Daily Beacon.
Skyla Smith, a graduate student in public health said that she did not sleep to make sure she would take part in breaking the record. She said she came from a small undergrad school and to have that much spirit meant a lot her.
The record for the largest human letter was previously set in 2016 by Queen's University in Canada, where 3,373 people formed a Q. There were more than 6,000 people registered online to participate in UT's event, but only 4,223 actually came.
UT is renowned for its business, engineering and law schools, and it's also famous for the Power T as their logo. A Guinness World Record adjudicator, Michael Empric, travelled with Roker this week and was surprised that UT was able to beat the record.
