Tackle by McCullers

By Jim Joanos

Dale McCullers

I have wonderful memories of FSU football during the sixties. Among the outstanding players during that time was a linebacker, one of the greatest to ever play at FSU. His name was Dale McCullers.

He got to FSU in 1965 but had to play on the freshman team his first season as was the requirement then. His sophomore year, his first with the varsity, he played sparingly, mostly on special teams. At some point, he became disillusioned about playing football and very seriously considered leaving school and pursuing a military career. He credits encouraging conversations with assistant coaches Gene McDowell and Bobby Jackson for his decision stay with football and stay he did. Coach Jackson, has said that somewhere between his sophomore and junior years, McCullers “caught fire.”

During his junior and senior seasons, he terrorized FSU’s opponents. It seemed like after every two out of three plays when FSU was on the defense, the public address announcer would report, “tackle by McCullers.” At Memphis State in 1967, he made 17 unassisted tackles for which he was named the AP’s lineman of the week. He topped that in 1968 when he made 20 unassisted tackles at home against Texas A&M and was again named the lineman of the week by the AP. His total of tackles in that game, 29, fifty-four years later is still the record for total tackles in a game. Also, his 108 during the 1967 season and 102 in 1968 are still number one and two in the FSU records for unassisted tackles during a season. Keep in mind, that a football regular season when McCullers played was only ten games. In recent times, it is now twelve. In all, McCullers made a total of 343 tackles playing at FSU.

Bowl games were not easy to come by in the 60’s but during his tenure on the varsity, FSU went to bowl games all three seasons, the Sun, Gator, and Peach. For his accomplishments on the field, after his senior season he was honored as a first team All-American by NEA, and third team by the AP and as a member of the All-Southeastern Independent Team. He was also invited and played in the post season All-American Bowl.

McCullers’s teammate, John Crowe who played safety, describes him as: “…a quiet leader, a mild-mannered gentleman, and unassuming person, but when he went on the football field, he was different, roaming from sideline to sideline like an assassin waiting to strike.” Crowe went on to say that playing with him “made it difficult to record a solo tackle because Dale was usually making a hit on the opposing team’s ball carrier and the best you could do was join the collision and get credit for an assist.”

His former position coach, Bobby Jackson, has said, “I didn’t need to over-coach Dale, I just lined him up and told him to go to the football, which he did and when he got there, he was usually in a bad mood.”

After FSU, McCullers played linebacker three years in the NFL, first with the Miami Dolphins and then with the Baltimore Colts where he was a member of the Super Bowl V World Champions.

McCullers was born in Live Oak and had a tough childhood. One of three children, his parents divorced when he was five. His father, an Army officer, remarried and was transferred overseas. HIs mother soon thereafter suffered major health issues and spent long periods of time in a mental health facility. McCullers for the most part, raised himself with his grandparents having official parental responsibilities. In the summer months, he worked in the tobacco fields of Suwanee County. During the school season after school and on weekends he worked in his grandfather’s department store. He did not play high school sports until his junior year when he went out for football. He played offensive guard and defensive linebacker. As a linebacker, his senior season he attained all-state honors and was recruited by FSU which was then coached by Bill Peterson.

At FSU he had majored in Criminology. Consequently, after his three years in the NFL, he chose that as a career path. First, he served as a Florida state probation officer, then as a state criminal investigator, then he spent 23 years as an NCIS special agent with worldwide jurisdiction. From 2000 to 2006, he served as an NCIS Homeland Security Instructor. Since his retirement he has been very active as an Elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS. He travels, speaks often, and writes on behalf of his faith.

Recently, McCullers and Crowe have authored a book entitled, “FSU’s Sons of the Sixties.” It is mostly about some of FSU’s defensive teams and players of the 60’s. Through the sales of the book along with some donations, they have obtained over $64,000, all of which has been donated to the FSU Johnnie Stephens athletic scholarship fund. Stephens was a former FSU teammate who was killed in the Viet Nam war.

In 1984, Dale McCullers was inducted into the FSU Athletics Hall of Fame. It was well deserved.

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.”