In the spirit of second sons and perfect women

By Charlie Barnes, Executive Director - Seminole Boosters

From comments Charlie Barnes made Oct. 25 at the final celebration of the Dynasty Campaign to raise money for FSU athletic capital needs:

In so many ways, Florida State is unique among American colleges and universities, just as our great country is unique—the only nation in the history of the world founded on principles of individual liberty.

The people who forged America in the fire of their magnificent vision were not kings and emperors. They were not the rulers of the Old World. They sought the independence of the New World.

They arrived with little, sometimes nothing. Sometimes all they had to sustain them was their dreams and the intoxicating freedom to make those dreams come true.

Bill Murray said it to be clever, but he was right. We Americans are descended from people who were thrown out of every decent country in Europe.

In the Old World, the first son in a family inherited everything. Daughters inherited only if there were no sons, and the second sons were generally left to choose the priesthood or the military.

But many of those second sons were ambitious. Many burned with a passion for success. Many of them came to America, where their talents and their energies could carry them to whatever heights their imaginations could reach.

America is the result of the spirit of those second sons.

Our university is the result of that same unique spirit.

One hundred years ago, the Florida Legislature declared that all boys would go to the Florida Agricultural College and all girls would go to Tallahassee, to the Florida State College for Women.

The boys made an Old World assumption in the context of the times that they had inherited the mantle of superiority.

Fortunately, the women had better ideas. They created one of the most prestigious women’s universities in America and brought the first chapter of the academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa to the state of Florida.

And they were, and are, fiercely proud of their creation.

Fran Cannon and I were discussing the motto on the great seal of FSCW: Femina Perfecta. I goaded her a little. “You know, Fran, Femina Perfecta doesn’t mean perfect women; the proper Latin translation is the complete woman.”

Fran said, “You can translate that any way you want, Sparky, but I know what it says, and perfect women is exactly what it means.”

Some 50 years ago, when we became Florida State University, we arrived with very little. We were a New World school, different, dynamic, willing to compete against the established Old World schools for our own destiny on our own terms.

While other schools may proudly sing, “We are the boys,” Florida State’s alma mater just as proudly proclaims that here, sons and daughters stand faithful and true.

Good luck and burning ambition and great leaders compelled by magnificent dreams have accomplished this wonderful achievement.

These last five years, we have had one window of opportunity, while Coach Bowden was still here and while key political leaders proudly wore their garnet-and gold ties.

This was a critical time, and you—thousands of great, loyal, generous Seminole fans and alumni and supporters—you made this dream become real.

So, here we all are tonight, together relishing our success in the spirit of —second sons and perfect women.