An Early Star...Guyte P. McCord

By Jim Joanos

Not unlike other Florida State fans, I have accumulated a few autographs of former football players. I have ones of Charlie Ward, Chris Weinke, Deion Sanders, and Peter Warrick, among others. Most of the autographs that I have are on footballs. However, my favorite Florida State autograph is not on a football. It is at the bottom of a Supreme Court of Florida certificate licensing me to practice law. I have had it since 1962.

Guyte P. McCord was clerk of the Supreme Court of Florida in 1962 when I was admitted to practice in Florida. As such, he signed my certificate. In all, he served as Clerk of the Florida Supreme Court for over twenty-five years, from 1939 to 1964.

McCord played football for Florida State (then titled, "Florida State College") on its three first ever intercollegiate teams. That was in 1902, 03, and 04. A big kid on the team, he lined up at guard or tackle, mostly, but on occasion, played fullback. Before he stopped growing he would become 6' 4" in height and weigh over 220 pounds. At Florida State, McCord had a number of other activities. He played first base on the school's baseball team and being rather learned, served as President of the Anaxagorean Literary Society, among other things.

Florida State's first ever intercollegiate football game was played in Tallahassee on November 21, 1902, against the South Georgia Military Institute of Bainbridge. The school yearbook, The Argo, described the game as follows:

The day was an ideal one, not a cloud to be seen, and at 3 o'clock the field was crowded to its utmost capacity with an excited mob awaiting with interest the coming struggle. Along the side lines they stretched; on the left in the center the college contingent was grouped in a body, with colors flying and determined to see the boys through to the last. On both sides and opposite to these was a seething mass of people eager and anxious for the fray.

Florida State won the game by the score of 5 to 0. Touchdowns counted five points then.

Again, according to The Argo:

Thus, Florida State won its first ever intercollegiate football game. The 1902 team played two more games, both against the Florida Agricultural College of Lake City, which shortly thereafter would have its name changed to the "University of Florida". Florida State won in Tallahassee, 6-0, and FAC won in Lake City by the same score.

The 1903 Florida State team played six games. The first two games were both against South Georgia Military Institute. Florida State won both, first in Tallahassee, by a 22-0 score, and then in Bainbridge, 5-0. The third game was lost to the East Florida Seminary from Gainesville at Tallahassee, 16-0. The fourth game was lost to Georgia Tech in Atlanta, 17-0. Florida State won the fifth game of the season at home against the University of Florida (by this time the Florida Agricultural College at Lake City had changed its name), 12-0. The season ended with a tie game against Stetson in DeLand, 5 to 5.

Although it would be a chmpionship year, the 1904 season began on a sour note, with Florida State losing to Georgia Tech in Atlanta, 35-0. Tech was coached at the time by John Heisman, for whom the Heisman trophy is named. The Florida State team won the second game of the season at Lake City over the University of Florida, 23 to 0. The next two games were on the road against non-collegiate teams. Florida State lost at Savannah, Georgia, to the Savannah Athletic Association, 6-0, and at Jacksonville to a Consolidated team from that area, 6-0. The final game of the season in Tallahassee was won by Florida State over Stetson, 19 to 6. Included in the score was a touchdown by Guyte McCord. Stetson had previously twice beaten the East Florida Seminary in Gainesville, consequently, Florida State was awarded the Florida Times Union's College Cup as the State of Florida's Collegiate Champions for 1904. Following the 1904 season, Florida State would not play intercollegiate football again until 1947.

In early 1905, the "Buckman Bill" was enacted by the Florida legislature and reorganized Florida's collegiate system. The Florida State College at Tallahassee, which had been coeducational, was converted into an all women's institution. It was first named the "Florida Female College" and then, the "Florida State College for Women", a name that it kept until 1947 when it once again became coeducational and named, "The Florida State University". The University of Florida moved from Lake City to Gainesville as an all male institution. Jack "Pee Wee" Forsythe who had been the coach of the 1904 Florida State team moved to Gainesville and became the University of Florida football coach. Several of Florida State's team members also made the transition to Gainesville and became members of the UF team. Forsyth, the former Florida State Coach, not only coached but played Fullback for the University of Florida in 1906. Apparently, the rules were not as they are today.

There is another indication that the rules were different then. McCord, the former Florida State star, also played on the 1906 Florida team, although his family is unaware that he ever attended college there. Sometime after a book was published in 1966 on Florida's football history, his son, Guyte, Jr., upon seeing his father's name listed as a starter on the U of F 1906 team, asked him, "how could that be?", without him having gone to school there. The elder McCord, answered, with a smile, "I was a ringer". My understanding is that good football players then might move about and play on more than one team, as the rules restricting that pattern either did not exist or were not strictly enforced.

After his schooling at Florida State College, McCord went on to law school at Washington and Lee. He obtained a kind of scholarship in that he lived for free in a rooming house. He played football for W and L, and, also, as part of the arrangement, he was in charge of keeping order at the rooming house. Again, he was a big guy. He was a member of the first W and L football team to beat a University of Virginia team. That coupled with his experience of having been on the first Florida State team to beat a University of Florida team was a source of pride to him throughout his life.

After obtaining a law degree at Washington and Lee, McCord came back home to Tallahassee to practice law. He had an active practice and got into local politics. But he was not through with sports. He played several seasons on the town baseball team, "The Tallahassee Capitals". In 1909, he helped organize a Tallahassee town football team named, "The Tallahassee Athletics", that played at least a couple of games. McCord helped coach the team and played on it as well.

In addition to practicing law, McCord served as U.S. Commissioner for the Northern District of Florida from 1911-15, and as Deputy Clerk of the U.S. District Court, 1911-16. He married Jean Patterson of Escambia County in 1912. He served as an alderman on the city governing board as it existed at the time and ultimately was elected Mayor. As Mayor, he was troubled by the city's economic problems. He believed that the problems were mainly caused by the "aldermanic" form of government that existed in that it was too political and lacked proper controls over spending policies. Consequently, he led a vigorous, successful campaign to alter the form of city government to the commission-manager form of government. The new governmental structure approved by the legislature solved many of the old problems and with a few modifications has been used by Tallahassee ever since. Very popular in Tallahassee, McCord was the last mayor under the old system and was elected the first mayor under the new one. Throughout his life he would be regarded as "the father of Commission-Manager government in Tallahassee".

McCord, his wife, Jean, and family were very active in Tallahassee community and church activities throughout the years. He was Leon County's first prosecuting attorney and was city attorney from 1927-36. At some point in his law practice, McCord was joined by a young lawyer named LeRoy Collins, who would years later become Florida's Governor. They formed a partnership and practiced as "McCord and Collins". McCord would become regarded as one of Florida's most outstanding attorneys and in 1939, he became the Clerk of the Florida Supreme Court. In that capacity, he shouldered a major role in the administration and development of Florida's court system for over a quarter of a century as the state grew at a rapid rate.

After World War II, in 1947, Florida State, was again converted to a coeducational institution and began to play intercollegiate football again. From the beginning, McCord was an ardent fan and supporter of FSU. He looked forward each year to the game in which FSU would gather all of the remaining players of the early teams and introduce them at halftime. Several of them still lived in the Tallahassee area. Others would come from out of town. It was a fun time for him to see former teammates.

Both his son, Guyte, Jr., a retired Florida Court of Appeal Judge, and his grandson, Guyte, III, a prominent Tallahassee attorney, tell of his devotion to Florida State football. They tell of his watching the team on television when he could not attend. Even when his eyesight was greatly diminished in his later years, he would peer into the television, his face just inches away. He never tired in his love of football. He told numerous stories to his children and grandchildren. He disclosed to them that he played in the first football game that he ever saw. He also told them of one early game that ended in a huge fight when one of the players picked up a bucket of the lime, that they used to line the field with, and dumped it on an official's head. He died at age 86 in 1970, an FSU fan to the end.

Guyte Pierce McCord was a real pioneer of Florida State football and a great Floridian.