7 minute read
Thanks, Coach; We’ll Take it From Here
Columnist CHARLIE BARNES
Charlie Barnes is the retired Senior Vice President and Executive Director of Seminole Boosters; he is also President of the Seminole Greek Alumni Foundation.
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Contact him at cbarnes161@comcast.net
Some years ago, FSU Vice President for Alumni Affairs Jim Melton was squiring around a group of visitors, most of whom, he chuckled, “represented rival institutions.” When the van topped the hill going down toward Doak Campbell stadium, the visitors gasped. “I wanted to be gracious,” Melton said, “but one of them actually cried when they saw our stadium for the first time.”
“Isn’t it amazing,” he confided later, “the effect that five million bricks can have on some people.”
Melton plucked the five million number out of the air because none of us knows how many bricks there are. But here’s what is known: each one of the bricks in those massive walls represents a single, separate act of tribute, of support, of ambition, of vision on the part of hundreds of thousands of Seminole fans across seven decades. Every brick carries within it the hopes, dreams and commitment of fans who began building this magnificent structure exactly 70 years ago when it was just a small ‘erector set’ with wood plank seats.
You know about the time value of money. Blend that principle with the time value of loyalty, and the result is the most beautiful college football stadium in the country; the largest contiguous brick construction in the United Sates.
Those individual bricks represent volunteers who sold Seminole Booster license tags door-to-door for $5 each in 1951 to support the new stadium. How many more bricks account for the thousands of Seminole Boosters who gave $10 and $25 each to be members in the years when we weren’t winning many games, but the promise of better days sustained their pledges of loyalty?
Many of those bricks symbolize the first appearance of Golden Chiefs in 1976. They reflect the intense and abiding loyalty of thousands of Seminole Booster volunteers who made personal calls and visits to encourage their friends and other Seminoles to join the cause throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The bricks soared higher with the reality of our first $1 million donor in 1989; then those monumental walls drew even greater strength from more than 100 $1 million donors over the course of the next 30 years.
Doak Campbell Stadium stands on the same formidable ground where it first appeared in the fall of 1950. All the while, the campus, the city, the people and all the accommodating environment surrounding it have evolved.
You may have read recently that the Seminole Boosters sold Burt Reynolds Hall. President Thrasher assigned David Coburn to focus on cleaning up the Athletic Department’s recent shortfalls, and solving that plight includes selling off some income-producing Seminole Booster assets to raise ready cash.
The new Florida State University Athletic Association (FSUAA) brings Seminole Boosters and the Athletic Director to the same table. Certain Athletic Department contracts and expenditures will be subject to more timely oversight. In addition, any new Athletic Director will bear enhanced responsibility for fundraising.
Athletic Director David Coburn is performing his task with the impressive intellect and no-nonsense stoicism that has long been his signature.
Be assured that our Florida State Athletic program is making the right moves going forward.
Going forward is the key phrase here. Going forward has always been the vision of our fans, donors and supporters. Not every institution has the capacity or the will to do so. The right decisions, the hard ones, usually in the wake of misfortune, are always daunting. But the goal, always, is
restoration of good order and prosperity.
If we allow ourselves to become complacent, we may easily lose our sense of place in the stream of time. One unsettling thing about the speed of time is that names and events familiar to one generation are often lost to the next. The Bowden Dynasty in which we take such justifiable pride ended 20 years ago; most of our current players were not yet born. In the last two decades our Seminoles have triumphed, and we have also tumbled. Last year, President Thrasher made the difficult decision, the right decision, and FSU will pay the freight.
We are hardly the only illustrious program to have gone through a rough passage and re-emerged as champions. There will never be another Bear Bryant, but the fellow at Alabama now is doing pretty well. There will never be another Danny Ford, but the fellow at Clemson now is doing pretty well.
Look forward. There will never be another Bobby Bowden, but there is no reason why Florida State cannot conjure up yet another Dynasty, given the right mix of coaching and talent, priorities and continuing leadership from our loyal fans and supporters.
Burt Reynolds Hall was dedicated on a balmy Friday 33 years ago in September, 1987. It was the first weekend of the first game of the Bowden Dynasty. Thousands of Seminoles packed into the Civic center to delight in this celebration bright with energy, light and hope. Burt dressed as The Bandit; University President Bernie Sliger dressed as Sheriff Buford T. Justice. Burt’s wife and actor pals entertained everyone. Burt threw the spear at mid-field to start the game against Texas Tech.
Burt is gone now, but his demonstrated, lifelong Seminole spirit is the standard by which every Seminole might take inspiration, and reaffirm their own faith in Florida State’s potential. There is a measure of immortality in those five million or so bricks, however many there really are, which symbolizes the loving endeavors of all the fans for all the many years.
There is a photograph on social media now of 90-year-old Bobby Bowden, seated while reaching his hand upward to shake the hand of Coach Mike Norvell. Norvell’s expression shows his admiration and respect for Bowden.
Someone has written a caption, suggesting that Norvell is saying, “Thank you, Coach Bowden, for everything. I’ll take it from here.”
Three national championships, thirteen ACC conference titles and three Heisman winners. The seeds of all this originated more than seven decades ago within the determination of committed volunteers & donors.
Three decades ago, eleven major donors plus President Bernie Sliger comprised the legendary ‘A-Team’ in 1989. To secure Legislative support for the construction of University Center, the Advance Team’s task was to create Seminole Boosters’ first-ever capital campaign from scratch, and to raise $10 million before the end of the Legislative Session.
New FSU head coach Mike Norvel meets legend Bobby Bowden
These Seminole heroes raised $56 million in six months! Through the genius and leadership of the A-Team and our allies in the Legislature, Florida State’s football facilities were elevated to among the most magnificent in the nation.
New generations of Seminoles rise as others pass. Now, in 2020, a new elite cadre called ‘The Twenty’, has embraced their role in the latest challenge. Twenty individuals or couples have each pledged a minimum of $1 million to create the anticipated ‘Renaissance’.
These Twenty visionary donors are inspiring new generations of leaders. Students and fans who sat in the stadium decades ago, are now at a place in life where they are able and willing to reinforce the program’s financial foundations. Thousands have accepted the challenge to double their Seminole Booster gift in 2020, or to increase their membership up to the next giving level.
Our fans have come to like Coach Norvell, and Norvell likes us. Fans also like what they’re hearing about him from older voices, from the men who coached with Bowden, or who played during the glory years.
It is as if ‘The Twenty’ and all of the Seminole Booster faithful have reached out their hands and said, “Thank you FSU, for all you mean to me, and for the opportunity to give back. Mike Norvell, you’ll have whatever you need. We’ll take it from here…”
The poet Yeats spoke of time as an endless song. Our “Hymn to the Garnet & Gold” was first played at Homecoming, that first year in the new stadium in 1950. Perhaps more than any other music, that song is the endless echo of our Seminole story, and the people whose love and loyalty made it glorious.
