Norm Carlson

Steve Spurrier

Spurrier Kicks Winning FG vs Auburn

Spurrier with Heisman

Coach Steve Spurrier

Tim Tebow

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Norm Carlson started working at the Florida athletic department in 1963 after working for a few years as a sportswriter.

• His staff consisted of a part-time secretary and a student assistant.
• One of his first actions was to change the atmosphere in college foot­ball press boxes to make them more professional. He enforced the rule, "No rooting in the press box."
• That was particularly hard to do at the annual Florida-Georgia cocktail party at Jacksonville's Gator Bowl. Every year, numerous boosters and nonmedia types filled the press box, yelling and cheering and detract­ing from the working atmosphere.
• Carlson stationed security guards at the press box door, instructing them to admit only those with press passes. Norm recalled: One guy did bully his way in. He was a very, very big Gator booster. He knew the president of the university and also Coach [Ray] Graves. He had a pal with him, and he was carrying a fifth of whiskey.
• When Carlson had them removed, the booster cried, I'll have your job by Monday! You'll never work here again!

Nevertheless, Norm was still on the job when QB Steve Spurrier entered his senior year in 1966.

• Carlson changed Steve's number from 16 to 11. Spurrier: Norm liked same-digit numbers like 11 and 22 and so forth. He thought it was easier to promote guys with those types of numbers, that people could remem­ber them better. The next thing I know, I show up to practice one day, and I have number 11. That was Norm's doing.
• Norm thought the Gators' sensational QB was Heisman material. But, with no Florida games on TV that year (in an era when the NCAA con­trolled all telecasts and severely rationed them), he decided he had to take matters into his own hands to make Heisman voters appreciate Steve's accomplishments.
• He put together a film of Spurrier's best plays from the 1965 season and mailed it to 500 TV stations all over the country.
• Each Sunday, Carlson phoned sportswriters and influential Heisman voters, recounting Steve's accomplishments the day before as QB, punter, and kicker.
• When he obtained a list of Heisman voters, Norm was shocked to learn how few there were in the South. (A blatant example of prejudice that was matched by the paucity of AP poll participants in Dixie.) So he led a campaign for more Heisman voter registration in the South and urged those who were registered to be sure to vote.
• Carlson: I had always wanted to know why Johnny Majors [of Tennes­see] didn't win the Heisman Torphy in 1958, and he had a phenomenal year. Yet it was Paul Hornung on a 2-8 Notre Dame team who won.

Carlson received unexpected help from an influential source.

• Midway through the season, he received a call from Governor Haydon Burns, who asked what he could do to help the Spurrier-for-Heisman campaign.
• Norm sugggested sending out another batch of films featuring Steve's highlights from the current season.
• Carlson recalls that Governor Burns called the Tourism Department and said, "I want these Spurrier clips sent to all these places." So the state of Florida, through the Tourism Department, sent out another 500 film clips in the middle of the year.

Spurrier greatly aided the quest by his heroics in the Auburn game.

• A record crowd of 60,511 packed Florida Field, including many national media representatives in the press box.
• Coach Graves recalled: I had heard before the game that Steve told some of the players during breakfast that he dreamed he kicked a field goal to beat Auburn.
• Spurrier: It was a frustrating game because we were really a lot better than them. But they ran a kickoff back for a touchdown and got a fumble in midair and the guy went 91y. I think they had about 125y of offense and we had 400-something, and yet it was 27-all in the fourth quarter.
• Steve completed 27-of-40 for 259y, a TD, and no INT.
• Late in Q4, the Gators drove to the Tiger 24. Graves called timeout with the intention of sending in regular FG kicker Wayne Barfield. But Steve went to Ray, pointed to himself, and said, Let me have a shot at this one.
• On the Auburn sideline, coaches yelled, Watch for the fake! when Spur­rier lined up to kick. But head coach Shug Jordan supposedly told his assistants, You better hope its a fake, because if Steve Spurrier tries this field goal, he will make it in this situation.
• Spurrier: I laced my shoe on and kicked it through. No doubt. I kicked it right in the middle of the goalposts. It was sort of ironic, because I hit it right on the seam, which was exactly facing me.

The dramatic boot sealed the Heisman for the Florida QB.

• Spurrier received 1,679 points in the voting to 816 for pre-season fav­orite Bob Griese, the Purdue QB.
• Beano Cook, ABC college football commentator at the time, recalls: To win the Heisman Trophy without being on national TV is like winning the presidential election without winning California. Without Norm, Spurrier doesn't win the Heisman Trophy. Spurrier should at least give one of the arms to Norm, and I think Spurrier knows that.
• In those days, the announcement was not carried on live TV. In fact, the ceremony was held two weeks later with just the winner coming to New York's Downtown Athletic Club.
• After receiving the trophy, Steve called the UF president forward. Dr. Reitz, come up. This trophy doesn't belong to me. This belongs to the University of Florida. Spurrier handed the precious hardware to the shocked president. I want to present this trophy to the University of Florida where students and alumni can see if if they so desire.
• When the Gator faithful heard about Steve's gesture, they started a fund-raising campaign to provide money to the Athletic Club for anoth­er trophy that Steve could keep.
• The NYDAC did provided another trophy and, ever after, has issued two statues each year, one for the athlete and one for his school.

Carlson continued at Florida until his retirement in 2006.

• He got to enjoy the glory years when Spurrier returned to his alma mater in 1990 as head coach. In fact, Steve made Norm his right-hand man and confidant, the guy who introduced the coach at Gator gather­ings.
• The Gators won the SEC six times and the national championship once during Steve's twelve years at the helm.
• Carlson and Spurrier wrote a book together about the Gators' 1991 SEC championship season.
• Norm served as Florida's athletic historian when Tim Tebow became the second Gator to take home the Heisman in 2007.

• At that time, freshmen were not eligible for varsity competition.
• So schools operated freshmen teams that played their own schedule.
• The freshmen teams had their own nicknames that were offshoots of the varsity's monicker, such as "Baby Tigers" or Texas "Shorthorns."

Baylor's freshman coach was Milburn A. "Catfish" Smith, the quintessential cantankerous but ultimately lovable coach.

• Catfish had been a successful player, high school coach in both basketball and football, and college coach in East Texas.
• He was eventually inducted into four halls of fame, including the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

As the Baby Bears prepared to face their Texas counterparts, Smith pulled out all the stops to motivate the team. Let Stockdale tell the story.

Right before the game, Catfish started crying, telling us that he was about to die and that we needed to win this game for "the old man." True, he had had part of his stomach removed, and true, no one knew exactly what the final results of that surgery would be. You would have thought he had one foot already in the grave and that he might not be able to make it through the game alive. It was a true "win one for the Gipper" story, and we tore out of the dressing room ready to play.

Since he would alternate quarters with Terry Southall, Stockdale's job to start the game was to stand beside the coach and chart the plays.

I was more concerned about Catfish's health than I was about the actual game. What if he went down beside me? What could I do to help him? My worry would be short-lived.

• Early in the game, Baylor ran a screen pass to flankerback Paul Becton, a 9.7 sprinter, who lined up right in front of the Baylor bench.
• Southall faked a handoff and threw to Becton, who eluded the first defender and set sail down the sideline.

  Then I realized Catfish wasn't beside me. He was running down the sideline matching Becton stride for stride. He actually beat Paul to the EZ and was the first to maul him as we celebrated the TD. I thought Catfish might have a heart attack or pass out, but he wasn't even winded! So much for the "one foot in the grave" theory. ... We went on to win that game 21-17, and Catfish was in rare form for several weeks.

Catfish lived 31 more years. Stockdale had a productive career, first as a backup and then as the starter under C for head coach John Bridgers.

• "UT students view Aggies as simple-minded farm boys who were thrilled to wear soldier suits," an observer once said. And "boys" they all were until the first female students were admitted to Aggieland in 1963.
• A&M is actually the older school. It was founded in 1870, 13 years before UT.
• About 100 miles apart, both schools are among the largest in the nation: 49,500 in Austin and 46,500 in College Station.
• The two schools first played football against each other in 1894. Texas holds a huge lead in the series: 73-36-5 (through 2007). That's the most victories for UT vs. any opponent, edging Baylor (71-22-4) by two.

Texas A&M – Texas 1902

• Texas boasts four national championships: 1960, 1963, 1970, and 2005. A&M claims one: 1939 when they crushed UT 20-0 as part of an 11-0 season under Homer Norton.
• Some interesting facts about the series:
  • A&M failed to score in five straight games from 1898-1902, although the first 1902 game (in San Antonio) was a scoreless tie. When the teams played again that season at Texas, A&M won 12-0.
  • From 1900-1909, every game was played in Austin (except the first of two in 1902 and the first of two in 1909, which were both played in Houston). The only contests in 1910 and 1911 took place in Houston.
  • A&M won only one of the first 17 contests. However, new coach Charley Moran, hired specifically to beat Texas, defeated the Longhorns three times in a row, including twice in his first year, 1909.
  • UT charged that Moran achieved his success with illegal players, leading to a suspension of the series from 1912-1914.
• In 1915, a group of Aggies sneaked onto the UT campus and branded the Texas steer with the score of their 13-0 victory that season. Some Texas students supposedly used a running iron to turn the numbers into the word BEVO, which has been the name of the UT mascot ever since.

The most famous tradition of the series is the Bonfire, which started in 1909 when Aggie students ignited a pile of junk just to keep warm. But the idea caught on as a way to symbolize A&M's "burning desire to beat t.u." (lowercase initials intentional by the Aggies). Texas also lit pregame bonfires for many years, leading to a series of pranks by both sides.

• 1949: Four Aggie students drove onto the Texas campus in broad daylight and poured gasoline on the Longhorn woodpile and tried to preignite it. However, the flames jumped to the car and burned two of the Aggies. (Were they burnt orange?) Undeterred, they tried again the next day and were successful.
• Texas students piloted a private plane over the A&M campus and dropped incendiary bombs into the woodpile.
• In 1999, tragedy struck as the huge Aggie woodpile collapsed in the early morning hours, burying students trying to finish the structure. 12 died and 27 were injured. University officials suspended the event. So students have done the bonfire off-campus in recent years.

Some memorable games in the series:

• 1908: The first of two games scheduled between the rivals that year took place in Houston as part of a carnival called No-Tsu-Oh (Houston spelled backward). Ahead 14-0 at the half, Texas students paraded onto the field with broomsticks to mock A&M's military tradition. Aggie cadets stormed the field. When the brawl ended, UT completed a 24-8 victory.
• 1915: Aggie "Rip" Collins punted 23 times for an amazing 1,026 yards, an average of 45 yards per punt. The reason he punted so much was that A&M coach E. H. Harlan felt his best chance lay in keeping UT bottled up in its own end of the field. When the Longhorn safety man mishandled several punts, the Aggies capitalized for a 13-0 upset in the two schools' first year in the new Southwest Conference.
• 1920: The Aggies hadn't been scored on in two years (17 games) under new coach Dana X. Bible but lost to Texas 7-3 in a battle of unbeatens. Bible later coached at Texas.
• 1922: Despite a 22-3-1 record in three seasons, UT coach Berry Whitaker was fired after losing to A&M 14-7.
• 1933: Both coaches – Madison Bell at A&M and UT's Clyde Littlefield – were fired after the game ended 10-10.
• 1940: Texas A&M was striving to complete its second straight undefeated season and earn its first trip to the Rose Bowl. The Longhorns gleefully spoiled both dreams with a 7-0 victory in Austin.

Charley Moran, who was also a MLB umpire.

Rip Collins, who pitched for the Detroit Tigers.

E. H. Harlan

Dana X. Bible, who coached both Texas and A&M

Morris Newburger

• He didn't believe all the scores he read in the newspaper each weekend. In par­ticular, he refused to accept that there really was a Slippery Rock State Teachers College.
• To show how easy it was to get a fictitious score in the newspaper, he called the New York Herald Tribune sports desk Saturday evening, October 15, 1941, and, giving his name as Jerry Croyden, provided the score of a small college football game: Plainfield Teachers College 27, Winona 3.
• The reporter, Harold Rosenthal (who would later serve on the staff of the Ameri­can Football League), asked if Plainfield was a New Jersey school and "Croy­den" assured him it was. (Newburger's secretary was from Plainfield NJ.)
  Rosenthal would later write: It was not uncommon for the smallest schools to telephone their scores because of a lack of telegraph facilities. Also there were a good many small schools taking up football and dropping it continually. Teachers college were in the van in this respect.
• The score was dutifully listed the next day not only in the Herald Tribune but also in the New York Times.
• At lunch at a Wall Street brokerage firm the following Monday, Morris mentioned to a fellow broker that he was quite interested in a small New Jersey college football team. The other broker bet $5 against Newburger's team. When Plain­field beat Randolph Tech 35-0, Newburger returned the $5 and explained the joke, which began to spread through Wall Street.

• A free-lance financial writer, one of Newburger's Wall Street circle to whom he bragged about the hoax, didn't find his stunt amusing and revealed the duplicity to Caswell Adams of the New York Herald Tribune. Adams's editor, Irving Marsh, called the Board of Education in Plainfield NJ and found that no Plainfield Teach­ers College existed.
• After confronting Newburger, who confessed, Adams wrote a story in the Herald-Tribune that included this parody sung to the tune of Cornell's "Far above Cayu­ga's Waters":
  
  Far above New Jersey's swamplands
  Plainfield Teachers' spires
  Mark a phantom, phony college
  That got on the wires.
  Perfect record made on paper,
  Imaginary team!
  Hail to thee, our ghostly college,
  Product of a dream!
  
  
• Jerry Croyden issued his final press release: Due to flunkings in the midterm ex­aminations, Plainfield Teachers has been forced to call off its last two scheduled games.
• The Philadelphia Record, which had been brought in on the hoax, rued the loss of Plainfield Teachers. It published an unsigned item titled Football Casualty.
  
  [The paper] regrets the passing (of Plainfield Teachers). The place had possibili­ties. We don't see why exposure of the gag should have to end the team's career. It should keep playing the rest of the season. We want to know how it made out with the now-cancelled games. And we want to know if the "Celestial Comet" could make All-American.
  

Several weeks after the end of Plainfield's "season," the Japanese attack on Pearl Har­bor changed everyone's life.

On December 4, 1948, the Red Drew's Crimson Tide routed the Plainsmen of Earl Brown 55-0 at Legion Field in Birmingham. Before the game, Bull Connor, the Birmingham police commissioner who 15 years later would turn water cannons and attack dogs on African-American civil rights marchers, met with student leaders of both schools to warn them that no shenanigans before, during, or after the game would be tolerated in his Iron City.

It didn't take long for Auburn to gain revenge. In 1949, star TB Travis Tidwell, who had suffered a fractured vertebrae in the '48 game, led the 1-4-3 Tigers to a 14-7 lead before a "packed house" of 44,000 "in a wild, fight-marred game" on a cold, clear afternoon. Then Bama scored with 1:20 left, and their star QB Eddie Salem lined up to kick the tying point. Tidwell explained later: "I played safety on defense, and we made eye contact. I had my hand straight out in front of me, twitching my fingers kind of voodoo-like. He saw that and had a strange look on his face. He missed the extra point. I've always said that I put my voodoo on him."

Travis Tidwell

• Bryant grew up in Fordyce, a small town in Arkansas.
  Personal aside: My aunt and her husband lived in Fordyce in the 1970s. I remember visiting them and seeing the large sign at the edge of town proclaiming Fordyce as the home of Bear Bryant.
• In 1927, when Paul was 14, a carnival passed through town. The owner offered anyone a dollar a minute to wrestle the bear. Growing up in poverty, Bryant jumped at the chance to earn a dollar a minute. He may have been trying to impress a girl at the same time.
• The owner posted signs proclaiming PAUL BRYANT WILL WRESTLE A BEAR TONIGHT AT 8 PM AT THE LYRIC THEATER. The youth could hardly back down after all this build-up.