At the first official meeting Bannerman was elected President, Harold Carswell, vice president, Kuersteiner, secretary and Zack Shelley, Sr., treasurer. In March, 1952, with 25 members present the name "Seminole Club" was selected, and a board of directors was elected. Dues were set at $5 and a membership goal of 1,000 was set. It was decided that women could be members "on exactly the same basis as to men." FSU Athletic Business Manager Ralph Matherly asked for help in selling season football tickets for the 1952 season.

Raising money for FSU's football program was the overriding reason for formation of the Boosters, but football is nowhere mentioned in the group's original constitution, perhaps an effort to soothe opposing elements at the university. The constitution's preamble states the club's purpose was to "...promote, support, stimulate and assist the development of The Florida State University." Six standing committees were established--Finance, Legislative, Athletic, Music and Arts, Publicity and Community-University Relationship. The club's first fund-raising effort was a door-to-door blitz of downtown merchants seeking $5 and $10 donations. The total revenue for 1952, according to official Booster records, was $397.

Nic Gavalas, a charter member who, as the owner of Nic's Toggery, was a target as well as a participant in the early blitzes, remembers them well. "It was a tough sell," he said. "I remember going into barber shops trying to get $10. You might get it from the owner, but that was a full day's work for a barber in 1952."

There also was an effort, perhaps borrowed from similar programs in western schools, to implement a "Live Stock Round-Up" program to get donated beef to feed the football team. The program's failure was announced early in 1953, the beginning of a new era for Seminole football and its infant booster organization.

Veller resigned as football coach following the 1952 season, but stayed to serve as associate athletic director and, later, golf coach and became one of FSU most popular and enduring athletic figures. His replacement, Tom Nugent, whose VMI team had defeated the Seminoles in '52, made his first appearance at the March meeting, attended by 21 people. Charles Rosenberg was elected president for the first of two consecutive terms, and a new fund-raising method was launched.

Businessman Albert Yates, a future Booster president, suggested a series of social gatherings as fund raisers, reportedly quoting poet Ogden Nash, saying: "Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker." Barbecues, fish frys, oyster roasts and other Booster parties, usually staged in the back yards of members' homes, quickly became a popular part of Tallahassee's social scene.

The parties could be rowdy, boisterous and fun, but with a serious bottom line. Rainey Cawthon became the "chief extractor" of funds according to Bannerman who, before his death in June, 2003, told Tallahassee Democrat writer Gerald Ensley, "He was brutal in raising money in a nice way. He would pit law firm against law firm, business against business. He was an artist at raising money."

Timidity was not a virtue at these raucous affairs where well-lubricated arms were vigorously twisted. A common practice was to plant pre-arranged bidders in the crowd to drive up pledges. The parties were thrown together on short notice whenever funds ran low. A progress report in December, 1953, said that several parties were held at the homes of builder Syde Deeb and banker Julian Smith, raising $15,000. On one occasion the Board noted plans for a party for "major contributors only." This fund-raising method didn't meet with universal approval in "dry" Tallahassee where no liquor could be sold, when dining at the Silver Slipper or Joe's Spaghetti House meant bringing your alcoholic beverage in a brown paper bag.

On party days, cases of liquor arrived by Greyhound bus from Taylor County, the nearest "wet" county, recalls Jim Tippen, a former FSU student body president who served briefly in 1953 as the Boosters' first executive secretary, then became a field secretary in the FSU Alumni Office after Booster promises fell short of the mark. "They convinced me to drop out of graduate school to develop this thing," he said. "It was glorious talk, but they couldn't pay me. I lost about 22 pounds during the six weeks I worked for them." With the Alumni Assn. Tippen put his undergraduate experience in radio to work in lining up TV appearances for Nugent and taking the coach around the state to meet with alumni and form alumni clubs. The support of the alumni office was invaluable in starting the Boosters and its continuing administrative support gave the young organization both a headquarters and a staff.

Booster founder Bannerman carried the interests of the club to his new job as assistant athletic business manager in 1953, and to his subsequent appointment as FSU's Director of Alumni Affairs, where he also served as Executive Secretary of Seminole Boosters, Inc., now a non-profit corporation. This arrangement would continue throughout his tenure there as well as that of his successor, Tom Waits, who coordinated Booster activities throughout the decade of the 1960s.

With alumni support and the colorful Nugent as coach, both FSU football and the Seminole Boosters thrived in the early '50s. President Spencer Burress, who succeeded Rosenberg, reported at the end of 1955 that since its beginning in 1952, membership had increased from 65 to 800 and contributions from $397 to $23,116.25. Booster tags with accompanying stadium parking privileges, which were distributed for the first time in 1954 had risen from 700 to 1,157. The first successful "Booster Blitz" was organized and carried out, and a direct mail campaign proved effective, so much so that only one party was held that year.

Since his arrival Nugent had goaded the University of Florida for a game. In February, 1955, the Board of Control directed the two universities to play in all sports. That fall, FSU played its first season classified as a major college, and early in 1956 the first game with Florida was scheduled to be played in Gainesville in 1958. Almost immediately Boosters began to use the game as a membership tool, requesting that all 5,000 allotted tickets be earmarked for members.

Booster money then, as now, was used to supplement the budget of the athletic department. Then, most of it went to defray the travel expenses of coaches on recruiting trips. Also, Booster money was used to pay transportation lodging and entertainment of recruits. At one meeting, Nugent reported he wanted to bring in 300 players to sign 50 for the next season. At that time, Boosters and alumni were expected to actively recruit high school players for the university. Without a full-time recruiter and with a limited travel budget, they were the eyes and ears of the coaching staff statewide. Jobs for players were also a major item requested by coaches, and the Boosters were pressured to provide those.

Contributions reached a plateau in 1955 and would stay in the $20,000 neighborhood for the remainder of the decade, save for a boost to $30,692 in 1959, boosted by the success in Nugent's final season which featured a victory over Tennessee and the first game against Florida. Payne Midyette, Sr., 1956, Albert Yates, 1957, and W.G. "Babe" Starry, 1958-9, kept the ship on course. Doak Campbell retired in 1957, leaving legacy of contributions for the university and its athletic program. Perry Moss's single season as FSU football coach in 1959 survives as little more than a footnote today.

Seminole Boosters, Inc., finished the '50s as it had begun, essentially a Tallahassee civic organization. As Jim Joanos remarked in his "Garnet and Old" column in this publication in 2001, "A literal 'Who's Who' of the Tallahassee business community was involved in the early Booster activities." Many of them were University of Florida graduates who supported FSU's fledgling program because they felt it was good for the community.

Most of the founders and pioneers are gone now, but take an evening's drive in Tallahassee with your windows rolled down and your imagination turned up. Drive through Betton Hills, Los Robles, Waverly Hills or other popular upscale neighborhoods of the day, and listen for the clink of glasses, the strident challenges of the "extractors" and the cheers urging bigger and bigger contributions. Listen for the sounds of a dynasty's birth.

Next: Bill Peterson demands, Seminole Boosters respond, and Florida State hits the big time.