Former Florida and South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier had a highly successful career before leaving the game last fall.
He was so successful, particularly at Florida, that he became known for ribbing teams like Tennessee and Georgia during his glory years of the 1990s.
But Saturday during an interview while in Knoxville to receive the Robert R. Neyland Trophy for contributions to intercollegiate athletics, he was deeply respectful remembering playing against Central High.
From 1959-62 while he attended Johnson City Science Hill High, the Hilltoppers played Central High early in the season every year, with Central winning all of the games during the Purple Pounders’ glory years.
“We never scored on them.
They were really good,” coach Spurrier recalled in an interview after receiving the award Saturday morning at the Foundry event center in Knoxville by World’s Fair Park before also being honored at Tennessee’s Orange and White spring game.
He even seemed to remember the general scores. He said he thought the scores were something like 14-0, 14-0 and 21-0 in favor of Central. A look at some Central football historical information found online reveals the scores his last three years were 12-0, 14-0 and 14-0.
He was exactly correct, though, in remembering who the Central coach was – E.B. “Red” Etter – and called him by name.
Coach Spurrier went on to win the Heisman Trophy at Florida in 1966, and was one of two future Heisman recipients coach Etter coached against. The other was 1956 winner Paul Hornung of Notre Dame when he played for Louisville, Ky., Flaget High.
A brief audio clip of the interview -- during which coach Spurrier also recalled living in the three different East Tennessee towns of Athens, Newport and Johnson City as the son of a Presbyterian minister -- can be heard below.
Also during the same brunch event Saturday, longtime television sports announcer Brent Musburger was honored with the Lindsey Nelson Broadcasting Award. While receiving the award, he told the audience that he was a spotter for Mr. Nelson for a pro football game on TV while trying to break in as an announcer, and he realized he told Mr. Nelson the wrong player who had scored.
Rather than scolding the young Mr. Musburger or blaming him, Mr. Nelson simply said they had the wrong name of the player who scored the touchdown when they came back from the commercial break. Mr. Musburger said he appreciated and learned from that civil treatment.
In front of the Saturday audience, Mr. Musberger also jokingly referred to his infamous gaffe in the January 2013 BCS national championship football game between Alabama and Notre Dame. That occurred after he made what some called a sexist or inappropriate comment by mentioning the physical attractiveness of Katherine Webb, Miss Alabama and the then-girlfriend of Crimson Tide quarterback A.J. McCarron.
With Alabama comfortably ahead, he said on the air while she was shown in the stands, “You quarterbacks, you get all the good-looking women. What a beautiful woman.”
Mr. Musburger said Saturday that he helped take the heat off Notre Dame’s poor performance by being the focus of discussion among sports fans after the game for the comment.
“I think the Irish should apologize to me because I took them off the hook that night,” he said Saturday to the crowd. “I caught all the flack.” He added that he told his wife, Arlene, when the controversy was at its height, “I can’t believe I’m taking all this heat for calling a beauty queen beautiful.”
In an interview after the brunch, Mr. Musburger discussed Tennessee, saying his most memorable Tennessee game to cover was the Florida-Tennessee football game in 1995 under heavy rains. It was a 62-37 win for Florida under coach Spurrier.
He also said that Neyland Stadium has one of the great atmospheres in college football.
That interview can also be heard below.
Also during the event sponsored by the National Football Foundation, several area high school football players were named Scholar-Athletes. They were Alex Darras of Notre Dame High, Cooper Hodge of Boyd-Buchanan, Brandon Jackson of Tyner Academy, Greg Layne of Whitwell, Ryan Parker of Baylor School, and Taylor Schultz of McMinn County High. Mr. Layne also spoke for the players.
Among the other dignitaries in attendance Saturday were former Tennessee coaches Johnny Majors and Doug Dickey. Coach Dickey, who also served as athletic director at Tennessee, introduced coach Spurrier.
He pointed out that he hired coach Spurrier in 1978 after his NFL career came to a close, but unfortunately coach Dickey was fired after that year. So coach Spurrier went to Georgia Tech the next year, and that coaching staff under Pepper Rodgers was also fired after that season.
However, a successful career soon followed for coach Spurrier, as coach Dickey pointed out.
In referencing the award being named for Gen. Neyland, the successful former Tennessee coach, Coach Dickey also said that Gen. Neyland’s famous maxims for success in football were mentioned by former Tennessee player and coach Bob Woodruff when coach Dickey played for him at Florida. And they were also mentioned by Frank Broyles when coach Dickey was an assistant at Arkansas. Coach Broyles had played at Georgia Tech for Bobby Dodd, who had played for Gen. Neyland at Tennessee.
Coach Dickey jokingly said he figured he better use the maxims when he came to Tennessee as coach in 1964.
ESPN announcer Dr. Jerry Punch was also in attendance due to the fact that his son, Logan Punch of Knoxville Catholic, was also honored as a Scholar-Athlete.
Current Tennessee football coach Butch Jones also made a brief appearance and said he remembered cheering for the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League as a young man while coach Spurrier was the coach in the 1980s.
To listen to a brief interview with Steve Spurrier, click here.
To listen to a short interview with Brent Musburger, click here.
jcshearer2@comcast.net