KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Alex Magnuson and the Smoky Boot will always share a connection.
In fact, it’s an indelible one that, no matter how many miles the unique trophy travels or how many fingerprints are smudged on it, the bond between a creator and their creation will always be the strongest. So when Magnuson saw the Smoky Boot for the first time in a few years, a grin across his face quickly appeared – the same one that showed up when he initially finished the project.
“I see it and it’s just pure nostalgia,” says Magnuson. “Just being a part of this is so special to me. I love art, I love sculpture and I love soccer. It’s awesome to be able to look at it again.”
“It’s one of my favorite pieces.”
With One Knoxville SC and Asheville City SC resuming its Smoky Mountain Series on Tuesday for the Second Round of the 2026 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, the Smoky Boot is up for grabs once again. Nothing would make One Knox happier than keeping it in Knoxville, but this a match that the club isn’t taking lightly because of the history and stakes involved.
“We’ve got a tall task ahead,” said One Knox Head Coach Ian Fuller. “After watching their First Round win over Greenville (Triumph SC), we know a very competitive match is coming our way.”
This will be Fuller’s first taste of the Smoky Mountain Series – a rivalry that began with One Knox’s founding for the 2022 USL League Two season, falling to Asheville 2-1 on May 14, 2022 for its first ever match. Since then, One Knox has since gained the upper-hand in the series with a 3-1 victory later in that same season, and then another win in the 2024 US Open Cup, this time a 2-0 result.
With Knoxville having made the jump to the professional ranks of USL League One in 2023, the two sides – separated by 116 miles of Smoky Mountain landscape – have not met on the pitch often, but that’s what makes the rivalry, and the chance to claim the Smoky Boot, even more special.
“These type of games always call for more emotion and more focus,” said One Knoxville defender Dani Fernandez, who has been a part of the previous three Smoky Mountain Series matchups. “There’s a little something extra involved because it’s a rivalry and we’re playing for a trophy. I love it personally, it’s scruffy, so it represents us well.”
Scruffy was exactly the idea Magnuson had in mind when he was first approached to design a trophy for a then-budding rivalry.
A Knoxville-native that played soccer collegiately at nearby East Tennessee State University, Magnuson originally had dreams of playing for his hometown club of One Knox. But with injuries forcing him off the pitch, he jumped at the opportunity to forge a legacy with the club through another avenue.
No longer able to express himself with a ball at his feet, Magnuson began working at a local metal shop, where he learned the art of metal inert gas (MIG) welding and forging by working at a local metal shop, thus a new form of expressionism was born.
“I get lost in it,” Magnuson explains. “It’s such a fun way to create art where I have this abstract thought in my head and then find a way to put it together. It’s not just the work that I put into these pieces, but it’s also putting my identity into something tangible.
“I look back on how an injury-riddled soccer career where I was not able to fulfill that dream opened a door to something else.”
The three-day project saw Magnuson entrenched in his family garage, relentlessly hammering and bending away. Using a two separate types of his father’s hiking boots as an inspiration, slowly but surely, the raw sheets of steel were shaping into something that has long been a staple when it comes to traversing the Smoky Mountains by foot.
It total, the Smoky Boot consists of 10 separate pieces formed together for the main piece of the trophy, complete with steel bootlaces, staked down to a wooden base.
“It combines my love for the sport and the community by doing something that I love,” he says. “I made sure to put a lot of effort into perfecting my craft for something like this. It was a dream scenario to kind of have everything come together the way it did.”
From Magnuson’s mind, through the delicate work of his hands, the Smoky Boot in all of its quirky glory quickly grew on the players competing for it.
“It’s fun when a little something extra is on the line and anytime we play Asheville, we know we’re playing for the Boot,” said One Knox defender Finn McRobb who played in the first two Smoky Mountain Series matches. “Where I grew up, the Old Firm Derby between Celtic and Rangers is a big part of our culture, so it’s always fun to experience these rivalries. We’re fired up for this match for multiple reasons, but keeping the Boot is a big one.”
“That’s so cool to hear that it is a motivating factor,” adds Magnuson. “Going into every match as if it’s a championship is a great mindset, so if this adds more fuel to the fire, that’s amazing.”
And as One Knoxville and Asheville City get set for the latest iteration of the Smoky Mountain Series, one that may have the highest stakes ever in the history of the rivalry considering that reward for winning could mean potentially hosting a club from Major League Soccer in the next round, make no mistake where Magnuson’s allegiances lie.
He crafted the Smoky Boot with one city in mind – his city – and he hopes that at the end of the 90 minutes played at Greenwood Field on Tuesday, it’s One Knox bringing his trophy back across the mountains.
“This is something that I created, so I don’t want it living in Asheville,” he laughs. “I want the One Knox players to be able to lift it at the end of the game and know that they worked for it, that they earned it and deserved it.
“Lets keep the Boot in Knoxville.”
