A New Beginning

By Jim Joanos

Centennial Field, Tallahassee, October 18, 1947. I was thirteen years old, an eighth-grade student at Leon High School (the school at that time included grades 7 through 12). As a member of the Leon football “C Team”, I had a free pass to the football game to be played in Tallahassee between Florida State University and Stetson University of Deland, Florida.

It was a special night. While Florida State had a college football team back from 1902 to 1904 when it was a coeducational institution, it had been a women’s college from 1905 through 1946 so there was no football during those years. When World War II ended and the US government through the “GI Bill” financially enabled hundreds of thousands of military veterans to attend college, there were not enough existing male or coed institutions to accommodate the flood of new students. One of the things Florida did was to convert the highly regarded Florida State College for Women from a women’s college into a coeducational one to make room for some of the overflow. Because of the popularity of college football, the FSU administration had almost immediately set about to renew football at the school. A physical education teacher, Ed Williamson, a Tallahassee military veteran who had played at the University of Florida before the war, was selected to organize and coach the team. He was joined by one assistant coach, Jack Haskins. This is the same Coach Haskins who soon thereafter founded the popular FSU Flying High Circus and was its director for a long number of years.

An organizational meeting had attracted about sixty-five wannabe football players. The coaching duties were divided so that Williamson would coach the linemen and Haskins the backs. Soon there were a few practices and a short four game season schedule was put together. Stetson ironically was scheduled to play at FSU in the first of those games. Stetson had been the last team that Florida State had played in 1904 after which college football was terminated at the Tallahassee institution.

It was not yet dark when I got to Centennial Field. As I lived about a mile away I had walked to get there. Centennial Field was a city maintained sports field. It was primarily a baseball facility but in the fall, bleachers and appropriate striping converted it into a footall venue. It was located in a portion of where Cascades Park exists today. As I got near the gate, a yellow school bus passed me. On board was a festive group of FSU students singing and cheering. That was just a small sample of the excitement that had embraced the community in regard to the return of college football to Florida State. Days ahead there had been posters on store windows and the newspaper had been filled with stories in anticipation of the game.

Once inside the gate I located a couple of school friends and we proceeded to walk around and look for folks that we knew. The bleachers at Centennial Field only held seating for about 8,000 and soon they were filled and some fans were left to stand and watch the activities. The wooden goal posts were wrapped with yellow and red crepe paper (as close as they could come to garnet and gold at the time). Looking out on the field, the Stetson players in green were warming up. Soon the FSU players showed up and started doing side straddle hops in their mustard-colored uniforms with helmets painted maroon and yellow. As we approached a small group of Stetson fans, I recognized a family friend who was a student at Stetson apparently up for the game. I chuckled when I saw him as he sported a green derby hat on his head.

Soon they were ready to play. Stetson kicked off to FSU. Number 14 Don Grant, of Perry, FSU’s quarterback, received the kickoff and advanced the ball to the 32 yard line. After that the teams tussled back and forth. FSU’s offense utilized a split-t offense. Sometime in the second quarter, Charles MacMillan, an end from Quincy caught an end zone touchdown pass and FSU led 6-0. Sometime during the game at least one train came by chugging across the train tracks on the hill behind the south end zone. The fans were in a great mood and added their own choo-choo sounds to those of the train(s).

At halftime, a ceremony took place where some “old fellows” were awarded some papers. I later learned that Florida’s Governor and University President Doak Campbell had presented lifetime “F Club” memberships to four former players and two coaches from the 1902-04 teams.

Stetson scored a touchdown in each of the third and fourth quarters and went on to win, 14-6.

A victory would have been great but very few FSU fans seemed unhappy. For the most part, the excitement of having college football return to Florida State far outweighed the game’s loss.

As for me, I went home that night having had a wonderful adventure and looked forward to more FSU football. Little did I realize at the time that my enjoyment over FSU football would stretch out over 75 years. There have been wins and losses, great happiness, sometimes not so great, but overall a great ride. Looking forward to more.

About the author:

Jim Joanos

Memories of Garnet and Gold

Jim Joanos and his wife Betty Lou have deep roots at Florida State University. Avid sports fans, they have literally seen, and done, it all. Fortunately for us, Jim loves telling first-hand accounts dating back to FSU’s first football game, a 1947 clash with the Stetson Hatters on Centennial Field, where Cascades Park is today.

The Osceola will run a series of these colorful stories written by the former Tallahassee lawyer and judge, which we feel our readers will find enlightening and/or nostalgic.

Jim and Betty Lou, who was Associate Director of the FSU Alumni Association (1991-2003), have been married 65 years and are each listed as one of FSU’s 100 Distinguished Graduates. The couple were enshrined in the FSU Hall of Fame in 2015 as Moore-Stone Award Recipients. Ironically, both Deans Moore and Stone were instrumental in the Joanoses career development.

“Both Jim and Betty Lou Joanos have been exemplary fans and supporters of Florida State University, both academically and athletically,” said Andy Miller, retired President and CEO of Seminole Boosters, Inc. “You can’t go to an athletic event of any kind that you don’t see both Jim and Betty Lou Joanos together. They love their university as much as they love each other.”