By Bill Bunker

9/2003

Editor's Note: This is the second of a multi-part series on the history of Seminole Boosters and is written by former FSU Sports Information director Bill Bunker who served from 1963 to 1966.

Peterson leads Seminoles into big time

Coach Bill Peterson

Bill Peterson arrived in Tallahassee at full speed and never slowed down during his 11 years as FSU's head football coach. He accepted the job in late 1959 without ever seeing Doak S. Campbell Stadium, then presented Seminole Boosters, Inc. with his first request the day he hit town. Bill McGrotha gave this account in his book, Seminoles! The First Forty Years: "Well, I had not seen the facilities," he (Peterson) said. "They were terrible. When it rained, it rained inside that locker room. There was no office space, and what we had was cramped underneath the stadium. Hardly any space. Everything leaked, and there would be water all around."

"I went to a boosters' meeting that first night in town, and I said something had to be done. Then I asked if anything could be done." The president just shook his head no. "And I was really upset. But I had five kids to feed and had to make the best of it."

"Really upset" was a state that many at FSU would come to know well. Soon, Peterson found some office space in Tully Gym. Soon, Gov. Farris Bryant listened to his plea for permanent offices and assisted in a maneuver that had new facilities built by 1964. No one who ever used or visited those dressing and office facilities under Doak Campbell Stadium would disagree with Peterson's assessment. Anyone who ever knew Bill Peterson knew things would change, and soon.

Like his predecessor, Tom Nugent, Peterson was an innovator. His pro-style passing attack heralded a new era in college football, and many of his assistants enjoyed successful careers as college and pro coaches. Pete, as he was affectionately known, was a bundle of contrasts, demanding, cajoling, petulant and tempestuous on one hand; warm, friendly, personable and humorous on the other. He was a workaholic who expected the same dedication from all around him be it the coach, player staff, booster or fan.

Florida State University and Peterson found each other at an ideal time. Pete had served five years as offensive line coach under Paul Dietzel at LSU where they fashioned a national championship in 1958. He knew what a major college program and facilities should look like, and he was ready for the challenges as a head coach. FSU, though taken aback by the sudden arrival and departure of Perry Moss, nevertheless was poised for success.

Fueled by Florida's population growth, an attractive community and campus, the university's enrollment grew dramatically in the 1960s, accompanied by a building boom of classrooms, dorms and athletic facilities, including two stadium expansions. The second of these, to a capacity of 40,500, played a key role in bringing the University of Florida to Tallahassee for a football game. Typically, Florida resisted.

Several accounts survive as to how the deal was done, who attended the meeting, who said what to whom, etc. Vaughn Mancha, FSU's athletic director from 1959-1971, tells it this way: "The Gators wanted to play in Jacksonville, saying they couldn't make any money in Tallahassee. So Dean (Coyle) Moore and (Mode) Stone and I go down there an have a nice talk with Ray Graves (UF coach and AD) and Vice President (Harry) Philpott. After we talked awhile, Ray said, 'Well, Vaughn, we'll lose so much money. You don't have the seats.' Mode Stone said, 'Mister Graves, how many seats would it take?' Graves said, 'Oh, I don't know. Maybe 40,000 or so.' Stone said, 'You've got it, Mister Graves. Doctor Philpott, you have it.'

"We came home. We didn't have any money. The president wanted to fire all of us. I just got behind Stone and Moore and let them do the talking."

Having Deans Moore and Stone in a leadership role was never a bad idea during the first three decades of Florida State University's existence. Along with President Doak S. Campbell, their contributions were greatly responsible for shaping the young school's athletic destiny. Peterson, famous for twisting his words around, counted heavily on support from "Mode Dean Stone" as he once introduced the Chairman of FSU's Athletic Committee.

The Moore-Stone Award is presented annually to a person who has made extraordinary contributions to FSU athletics. Of the 24 recipients since the award's inception in 1980, seven were presidents or major contributors in the early years of Seminole Boosters, Inc. They are: J. Edwin White, F. Wilson Carraway, Godfrey Smith, Rainey Cawthon, Louis Hill, Syde Deeb and Weldon "Babe" Starry. Tom Waits, who served as Executive Secretary of the Boosters and FSU Alumni Director for ten years (1963-72) believes those honors were well-deserved.

"We never properly expressed our appreciation to those early guys, the businessmen in downtown Tallahassee for the things they did to try and push the program," Waits said. "The businessmen in Tallahassee were just wonderful about promoting football ticket sales. The important thing was getting people out there as well as to get them in the Boosters, because we never filled that stadium even though it only seated 18-20,000. So ticket sales were very important and the Boosters were very concerned about that. We knew that if we didn't get people to go to the ball games we weren't going to get them to give us money."

The Boosters also understood politics and did not hesitate to exert persuasion in that area. A letter from FSU President Gordon Blackwell to Booster President Louis Hill, dated Feb. 18, 1964, reprinted in The Grandstand Coach, the Boosters newsletter, read:

During the 1960s, Seminole Boosters, Inc. began its transformation from a group of local businessmen to a statewide and, eventually, the national organization that exists today. As Peterson's football teams created excitement and national interest, the rapidly growing number of male graduates of the former women's college began to make their presence felt in university affairs, business and politics, statewide.

Bob Lee Bannerman, a 1951 grad, founded the Boosters in 1952, and became the organization's first president, then doubled as FSU's Alumni Director and Booster Executive Secretary until 1963. Waits, his successor, in both the Alumni and Booster positions, was a 1956 accounting graduate of FSU. A cheerleader and circus performer as an undergraduate, Waits joined the Alumni Office in 1960 as a field secretary with the task of forming and strengthening alumni clubs throughout Florida. In this pursuit he found willing helpers in Peterson and Mancha. "Bill was a breath of optimistic fresh air, who was extremely cooperative and accessible," Waits said. "What we tried to do was enlist Booster support through the alumni clubs.

"Bill would go with me to alumni meetings where we also tried to recruit booster memberships. We would usually stop on the way to wherever we were going so that he could visit some high schools, then arrive for a five or six o'clock affair where the local alumni contact had gathered 15, 20 or maybe 50 people. Pete would talk, we'd spend the night and be off to another city the next morning. We shared hotel rooms to save money, and sometimes, he would sleep in the back of my station wagon on the way home.

"We knew we had to branch out to grow, and that was the era (1960s) when all that started. I'd like to think we generated enough interest outside Tallahassee that they were able to build on it through the 70s and 80s."

FSU supporters and alumni across the state and elsewhere began to surface. Hugh and Tom Donovan in Jacksonville, Howard Womack and Carmen Battaglia in Atlanta, Nelson Italiano in Tampa, Bob Crisp and Art Hempel in St. Petersburg, Harry Massey in West Palm Beach, Don Grant in Perry and others around Florida and Georgia became vital contacts and organizers.

Alumni also began to join the Booster board of directors. Bill Carraway became president in 1963, the first alum since Bannerman. Theo Proctor, Jr. followed him as president in 1968. Other prominent alumni members of the 1960s included J.T. Williams and Herschel Williams along with former football players Nat Polak, Tom Feamster and Ron Schomburger. In addition to Carraway, Hill and Proctor, Booster presidents in the 60s were representative of the group's roots. Banker Godfrey Smith led off in 1960, then attorney Weldon "Babe" Starry served an unprecedented third term (1958, 59, 61). Others were Syde Deeb (1962), Dr. Ed Haskell, MD, (1965), Bill Lee (1966), Frank Pope (1967), and Bill DuBey (1969).

Fundraising was continually refined. Major donor parties at the homes of Carraway, Haskell, Deeb and others reached their peak in this decade, and the Annual Booster Blitz produced a growing membership, as did the "Teleblitz" which started in 1967. Minimum contributions were increased from $10 to $15 to $30. From 1960 to 1969 total revenue grew from $25,548 to $95,403.

Under Waits' stewardship the Boosters became an efficient and professionally run organization. Potential problems with the IRS and the NCAA were resolved. Activities included payment of expenses for recruiting and hospitality, and charter trains and planes for away games. Ongoing concerns were ticket priorities and parking for members. Then there were the Peterson requests. The popular coach not only presented an annual budget request to the Boosters, but often approached members collectively and individually for needs and wants that occurred during the year. Not all of these were approved, but the Boosters did pay moving expenses for two assistant coaches, purchased an early videotape recorder for Pete's use, installed a sauna in the field house, and approved purchase of a "motivating machine," the exact description of which was not disclosed. And, when the locker room walls in the new field house somehow were painted orange and blue, the Boosters found a paint donor and swiftly rectified the situation.

In appreciation of the 1964 season, the Boosters built a family room on Peterson's house and treated the assistant coaches to a cruise to Nassau.

Looking back on a program that has won two national championships, produced 25 consensus All-Americans and posted an NCAA record 14 straight top four finishes in the AP poll, it may be difficult to appreciate the impact that Bill Peterson had on FSU's football program. The Seminoles first appeared in the national polls in 1964, following a 48-6 victory over 5th-ranked Kentucky. Fred Biletnikoff became FSU's first consensus All-American in 1964, followed closely by Ron Sellers (1967-68), who set NCAA pass reception yardage records that stood for 20 years. Against heavy odds, Peterson forged a 62-42-11 record in 11 years and took the Seminoles to four bowl games.

Fenner's famous "non-catch"

One of his biggest contributions may have been the provocation and promotion of the FSU-Florida rivalry. The teams had played in 1958 and 1959 with Florida winning rather routinely. However, with the arrival of Peterson and Ray Graves at Florida in 1960, the landscape changed forever. Pete's Seminoles lost to the Gators 3-0 that first year, then tied them 3-3 in 1961. He beat them in the first game played in Tallahassee, raged at the injustice of the famous Lane Fenner non-touchdown in 1966, then beat them for the first time in Gainesville in 1967. Throughout, he goaded the mild-mannered Graves and exploited FSU's status as the underdog, a role he cherished and used to full advantage.

Despite FSU's unprecedented growth and success on field during his time here, things never moved fast enough for Pete. At the 1970 annual business meeting, in an echo of his first appearance before the Boosters in 1959, he asked for support in providing facilities to attract better prospects. The minutes reflect that the membership, approximately 100 strong, having received their annual plea from the coach, watched the 1969 highlights film, in color for the first time.

The facilities Pete desired were coming, but it would take awhile.

Next: "The Times They Are A-Changing" sang Bob Dylan. The early 70s ushered in a time of trial and turmoil for FSU football.